Renowned philanthropists Martin and Ilana Moshal recently endowed the Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus at Yad Vashem, as well as the Archival Repository in the David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center, where all of Yad Vashem's original archival documents will be preserved for eternity.
The Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus is expected to be completed in 2023 on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem. The Campus will house the David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center, which will consist of four underground floors containing Yad Vashem’s unrivalled collections of Holocaust-era archival materials, artifacts and artworks and conservation laboratories, as well as a gallery endowed by the Wolfson Foundation on the ground floor, which will be open to the public; the Joseph Wilf Curatorial Center, which is already complete; the renovated David and Ruth Mitzner Auditorium and its temporary exhibitions lobby; the new Family and Children’s Exhibition Gallery; the Legacy Sculpture Garden; and the Legacy Plaza.
Martin Paul Moshal, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, was born in Durban, South Africa in 1970. He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a degree in Business Science, and has been engaged in the development and commercial expansion of a range of businesses. Today, Martin is a successful long term investor and is involved in several technology companies, including a number of start-ups.
Martin firmly believes that there is no secret formula for success, other than hard work, motivation, a lot of patience and no small amount of luck. “I was lucky enough to have been given two things that, more than anything else, helped me on the road to success: a good education, and the support and encouragement of my family to believe in myself.”
In 2009, Martin founded the Moshal Scholarship Program, which currently supports 967 financially disadvantaged university students in Israel, South Africa and Ukraine, and has 616 alumni. He believes that inequality in education caused by financial circumstances is one of the greatest ongoing tragedies, and that education is the most effective route out of poverty. The values of the Moshal Scholarship Program include hard work, perseverance, integrity, respect, community and the ”Pay It Forward” principle of contributing to the Program and wider society. Martin encourages his scholars to give back to others however they can, whenever and wherever they have the opportunity.
Martin has made significant contributions to Israel not just through his scholarships, but also by supporting technology companies through the SigmaLabs start-up accelerator and the Bar-Lev High Tech Park, which will bring 5,000 jobs to the Western Galilee. In 2017, Martin received an Honorary Doctorate from the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, and in 2018 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Martin’s wife Ilana, a children’s clothing designer by profession, was born in Jerusalem in 1979. At the age of 11, she moved to South Africa with her family. Ilana’s paternal grandparents survived the Shoah, but three of Ilana’s great-grandparents and her great-uncle were murdered during the Holocaust. Martin and Ilana have four children: Joseph, Zoe, Nellie and Bella.
The Moshal’s generous endowment is in memory of Ilana’s relatives, distant cousins of the Moshal family and all others who were murdered in the Shoah; and in support of the vital role Yad Vashem plays in preserving the physical evidence of the Holocaust in order to remember the past and thus shape the future. In the words of Martin Moshal,
"We are immensely honored to be allowed to play our small part in the continued work of such an important institution. Yad Vashem is vital not just for Israel and the Jews of the Diaspora, but also for all humanity."
Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev stated, "I particularly want to note the outstanding generosity of Martin and Ilana Moshal, who have enabled us to establish the Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus.
Their remarkable commitment to Yad Vashem is the inspiring epitome of the special partnerships that we enjoy with our leading friends around the world. This commitment... is the true foundation of Yad Vashem's unique, universal and healing impact in this turbulent world."
Especially with the passing of the generation of survivors – witnesses to the horrors of the Holocaust – the preservation of their stories and memories, as well as those of the six million Jewish victims, must be ensured for generations to come.
The Moshals’ donation is the third-largest donation in the history of Yad Vashem, and it is Yad Vashem's distinct privilege to welcome Martin and Ilana Moshal as its first “Torchbearers.” Yad Vashem expresses its heartfelt appreciation to the Moshal family for their strategic donation, in particular during these difficult and uncertain times.
This article originally appeared in the "Yad Vashem Jerusalem Magazine," volume 93.
