The owners of Philadelphia’s acclaimed Israeli restaurant Zahav will donate 100% of this Thursday’s sales at four of their restaurants to an Israeli nonprofit that provides free emergency medical services.
CookNSolo cofounders Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook announced in a video on Instagram that all proceeds will go to Friends of United Hatzalah, which is working on the ground in Israel in the wake of Saturday’s attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The restaurant group’s fundraising campaign applies to sales on Thursday at Zahav, Laser Wolf, K’Far and all Goldie locations.
“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 said.
Friends of United Hatzalah is an independent, civilian-led organization made up of more than 6,500 volunteers. The group responds to emergency situations in Israel.
Solomonov, an Israeli native, spent parts of his life growing up in the U.S. He dedicated his culinary career to 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 put a modern spin on family-style Israeli dining with the opening of Zahav in 2008. The restaurant in Society Hill has become a perennial fixture on “best of” lists in the culinary press and 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 has left more than 1,200 people dead in Israel, and 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, complicating efforts to establish a truce. The U.S. has pledged its military and political support for Israel as violence returns to the decades-long conflict.