Robbins Receives Rose Lubin Jewish Pride Award
search
NewsCommunity

Robbins Receives Rose Lubin Jewish Pride Award

Ana Robbins of Atlanta has been honored with the inaugural Rose Lubin Jewish Pride Award, granted by The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life.

Sasha Heller is the Web Editor and Copy Editor for the Atlanta Jewish Times

Ana Robbins, recipient of the inaugural Rose Lubin Jewish Pride Award.
Ana Robbins, recipient of the inaugural Rose Lubin Jewish Pride Award.

We all want to change the world. We all want to say we’ve made a difference with our lives. Rose Ida Lubin went and did just that, and she will forever be remembered for her sacrifice.

Lubin, a Dunwoody native, left a legacy of commitment after being killed in action while serving as a Lone Soldier near the Gaza border.

To memorialize Rose, The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life established the Rose Lubin Jewish Pride Award and recently announced that it will honor Ana Robbins, founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based nonprofit Jewish Kids Groups (JKG), with its inaugural award.

Congregation Ariel Rabbi Binyomin Friedman posed with Rose Lubin at the FIDF gala event honoring her.

Founded in 2012, Jewish Kids Groups provides children ranging from kindergarten to tenth grade with camp-style Jewish learning and companionship throughout the school year. Jewish Kids Groups’ flagship program, JKG Afternoon Community, features Jewish enrichment courses and weekday afternoon childcare.

Steinhardt Foundation President Rabbi David Gedzelman discussed the importance of providing Jewish children with beneficial resources and curriculum, so they are raised with the full context of their Jewish identities.

“Jewish after school provides an additional option to the typical Sunday and Hebrew school model, inspiring families to immerse their children in a Jewish social and programmatic context every day instead of just one or two days a week,” said Rabbi Gedzelman. “Now, the kids’ primary social group is Jewish so, for them, belonging to the Jewish people becomes part of their core identity, not an occasional experience. This is life-changing for individuals and families and represents a potential cultural shift for American Jews.”

Robbins expressed her gratitude in receiving the honor and shared about the many ways the award and recognition will help JKG further its efforts.

“I am deeply honored that The Steinhardt Foundation has chosen to recognize me and Jewish Kids Groups with the Rose Lubin Jewish Pride Award,” said Robbins. “The funds JKG receives from this award will enable Jewish children across the country to explore their heritage, forge lasting Jewish friendships, build a meaningful relationship with Israel, and ultimately ensure the strength of the Jewish community for generations to come.”

Sgt. Rose Ida Lubin, originally from Dunwoody, was stabbed to death while on patrol with Israeli Border Police. Lubin is pictured during the Friends of Israel Defense Forces annual gala.

The Rose Lubin Jewish Pride Award totals $100,000 — a portion of which will be allocated to supporting the work of Jewish Kids Groups — and recognizes an individual whose work exemplifies leadership, innovation, and creativity through an initiative that champions the Pillars of Jewish Pride described in Michael Steinhardt’s 2022 book, “Jewish Pride.”

“Rose Lubin is the epitome of Jewish pride,” said The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. “By honoring individuals, organizations, and programs that exemplify the pillars of Jewish pride – peoplehood, excellence, and joy – this award has the broader purpose of inspiring their adoption as central goals and aspirations throughout the Jewish world and of encouraging new initiatives based on the principles.”

Lubin fulfilled her dream of making Aliyah as a combat-trained IDF soldier, specializing in fighting terrorism. Lubin, who was 20 at the time, had been deployed with the Israeli Border Police and was off duty on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked her host kibbutz and neighboring communities. Lubin bravely stepped up to help injured victims to safety near the Gaza border. Several weeks later, Lubin was killed during a terrorist attack in Jerusalem.

“Strengthening Jewish pride and supporting a positive sense of belonging to the Jewish people is of critical importance for the future of this generation. We can think of no one who exemplifies Jewish pride more than Rose Lubin. Ana Robbins’ work in leading Jewish Kids Groups fosters this ideal in a realistic and replicable program that can scale nationally,” said Sara Bloom, Vice Chair of The Steinhardt Foundation.

This map depicts the expansion of Jewish after school programs nationally through the Jewish After School Accelerator.

Through JKG’s Jewish After School Accelerator, 11 U.S. synagogues including congregations in Plano, Texas; Livingston, N.J.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Brookline, Mass.; San Leandro and Oakland, Calif.; and across South Florida, are now running their own Jewish after-school programs.

For more information, please visit jewishafterschools.com. For more information about The Steinhardt Foundation, please visit https://steinhardtfoundation.org.

read more:
comments