Embracing her own distinct breed of secular Judaism and Israeli identity, Neta’s deep roots would inform and strengthen her belief in the bond between world Jewry and the state of Israel. That ideology led her to a critical engagement regarding global movements such as BDS. Believing that such political responses were inherently flawed in dealing with the wider world community’s response to Israel’s government policies, and that characterizations of Israel as “an apartheid state” were nonproductive in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Neta opted for another route. She believed in the importance of disseminating the positive aspects of Israeli culture to the Jewish community of Amherst, and worked tirelessly to introduce new faces to the local JCA. In doing so, her hope was that the community would come to appreciate the beauty of Israel’s diverse, complex, multilayered society and would embrace it as a beacon for Jews globally. Together with Yaffa Gunner who had been engaged in similar initiatives earlier, she focused her efforts on bringing Israeli and Palestinian speakers and activists dedicated to promoting co-existence of Jews and Arabs in Israel and in the larger Middle East together to speak to the Amherst community.

 Groups such as “Seeds of Peace” and representatives from the Shalom Hartman Institute, the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem, and many others were part of both Neta and Yaffa’s campaign to strengthen ties between the Amherst community and Israel. Together, Neta and Yaffa annually planned the yearly Rabin Memorial Lectures, the yearly Holocaust Memorial events at the Jewish Community of Amherst, and both were equally committed to the important Project Rehovot in Israel, which was dedicated to assisting disadvantaged Ethiopian children in the elementary school educational system.

Yaffa came of age during the Holocaust and found her relation to Judaism in a lifelong commitment to the State of Israel. Throughout her life, she was a stalwart protagonist of the Zionist ideal and of its justified role in global relations. Known for her staunch views and open mind, she was committed to a balanced assessment of the role of Israel in the Middle East. A founding member of the Jewish Community of Amherst, Yaffa served as chair of the World Jewish Concerns and Action Committee which brought in speakers and set up seminars to explore pressing Jewish issues. In 1989 the committee founded Project Rehovot, a program designed to facilitate the integration of immigrant children into the Jewish state, and in 1995 it instituted the annual Rabin Memorial Lecture, a program designed to bring experts on Israeli politics to the Jewish Community. Her contribution to the Neta Bolozky and Yaffa Gunner Fund is an appropriate resolution of her lifelong dedication to the support of Israel and its mission as the focal point of Jewish identity.