we would be the young people who would make the difference, and because of us, a Holocaust would never happen again. I was still in school and working summers, but I pledged right then to give $52. In 1948 and still in school, that was a sacrifice. Little did know it was only the beginning. That night my life changed and would never be the same again. Ten months later, I married Jerome Kipnis and we raised our five children in Miami. I became Co-Chairperson of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s Women’s Division Campaign with Toby Friedland, of blessed memory. In obsessing about raising the campaign to a higher level of giving, it was there that I dreamed of the Lion of Judah. Husband and children aside, because that is a different story, the Lion became my identity and my legacy. As I write this in 2015, there are 18,000 Lions throughout the world. It is my heartfelt opinion that my love of Judaism and what it means to the world is what brought me to this point in my life. As co-founder of the Lion of Judah, I pride myself in the fact that good women from everywhere were captured by the Lion and made it the success that it is today. My love goes out to all of them and to those who will follow. You all have made my dream a reality. That is why I have chosen to endow my gift, so that I will always be a part of the Jewish women who care and make a difference.
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