On Thursday, 100% of sales at four Philadelphia Israeli restaurants, including the acclaimed Zahav — will be donated to a charity that has been providing free medical services to people in Israel since Saturday’s terrorist attacks by Hamas.
The fundraiser applies to sales at Zahav, Laser Wolf, K’Far and the five Goldie locations in the city. All the restaurants are part of the CookNSolo group owned by Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook, who announced the campaign on Instagram on Tuesday.
The money raised will be given to Friends of United Hatzalah, which has been working on the ground in Israel since Saturday’s attack. Friends of United Hatzalah is an independent, civilian-led organization with more than 6,500 volunteers who respond to emergency situations throughout Israel by providing medical assistance.
“We are very much looking forward to you attending, to you donating and to you participating in something that we think will be very meaningful to our friends and our family back home,” Solomonov says in the social media post.
Solomonov, born in Israel, spent parts of his life growing up in the U.S. He dedicated his culinary career to making Israeli cuisine after his brother David, a volunteer soldier for the Israeli Defense Forces, was killed in a sniper attack during a 2003 military campaign on the border of Lebanon.
Solomonov’s family-style Israeli restaurant Zahav opened in 2008 in Society Hill and has been a perennial fixture on “best of” lists in the culinary press. It remains one of Philadelphia’s most sought-after reservations. Zahav also has won multiple James Beard awards; in 2019, it earned the foundation’s award for best restaurant in America.
Saturday’s surprise attack by Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, including the massacre of babies and toddlers. Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed at least another 1,055 people, CNN reported Wednesday. Hamas also says it has taken 150 hostages from Israel into Gaza, and the U.S. has pledged its military and political support for Israel.