Dr. Steven Katz, the chief of emergency medicine at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines, chose to go into his field for one simple reason: to help people. But that passion and philanthropic spirit have taken him far beyond his career.
Katz founded the nonprofit Jewish National Fund-USA (JNF) Brotherhood Mission to Israel in 2023 to raise money for the country and the Jewish people.
Along with other community members, Katz travels to Israel once a year to pitch in however needed — whether that means preparing a BBQ for soldiers stationed along the border or assisting with construction projects.
February 2026 will mark the third official Brotherhood Mission. Last year, 45 men from across the United States and Israel went on the mission and raised $2.4 million, more than doubling the amount from the inaugural trip in 2023. Funds are raised by participants and their networks — everyone must meet a minimum fundraising requirement to go on the trip (it’s $18,000 for next year).
We spoke with Katz to learn more about the mission and what he hopes for the future. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Why was it so important to you to create the Brotherhood Mission to Israel?
A: After Oct. 7, 2023, my feeling was that we all need to help the Jewish nation and we can’t sit on the sidelines. If you’re not going to fight or fly or do something to defend the land, you have to do something to support those that live there and support the country.
Q: Tell me more about your experience on the most recent Brotherhood Mission.
A: We were active from morning to night — we woke up early every morning and were up late every night. It was all about the two missions of the trip: acts of love and kindness and raising money for projects in the state of Israel. Many were JNF-related projects but we also did BBQs for soldiers on the border and for the airmen. If you were defending [Israel], by air, land or sea, we wanted to be involved in it.
We went to hospitals and visited amputees. We visited the families of the severely injured, people getting prosthetics. We made multiple meals for soldiers on Shabbat who are on the front lines. We went to the Gaza border, the Syrian border, and the site of the Nova Festival to pay tribute and never forget all the enemies we have and to always be there for our people. It was a very loving and accepting group. Most people didn’t know each other, but by the first day everyone was calling each other by our Hebrew names rather than English names. It was just a really beautiful experience. Some [of the men] were religious. Most had been to Israel before, but on both trips, we had a first-timer. One of the guys put tefillin on at the Kotel for the first time.
Q: What meaning did the trip bring to you and the other participants?
A: If I had to pick the common theme that linked people to the trip and why people want to come back, it’s because the trip is about giving and not about getting. I think, at our essence, our sole meaning is to give. We derive the most when we are giving everything, and even though everyone was physically exhausted by the end of the trip, there was so much love for our people. I think that it really lit a spark in a lot of people, which is why there was so much motivation about returning and doing it again. A lot of people on the trip got activated. They got home and started doing their own projects for Israel.
Q: The mission raised $2.4 million this past year and $1.1 million the year before. What does this money go toward?
A: There’s a finance committee on the trip and they decide where the money goes, but it mostly goes to various JNF projects and a big project at Rimon Farm (a therapeutic agricultural farm) in the Negev Desert area, which supports children in distressed homes and PTSD for soldiers. We’ve heavily donated into that particular cause both years. I’ve been back there in between both trips to see the real tangible benefits of what we donated there, whether it was infrastructure or animals or therapists or social workers for the soldiers and people in real emotional pain.
Q: The Jewish climate has continued to change, often for the worse, since you started this organization in 2023. How have your efforts shifted since then?
A: Our efforts have not shifted. In fact, it’s the opposite. My feeling is that we can’t get complacent whether it’s in times of good or bad. We have to always be on the front line helping. What makes the Jewish nation so amazing is that we are not people with a victim mindset. We are there to be proactive and help and make it better, and that’s all we’re trying to do. Whether you live in America or the diaspora, we all have to be there to help. This trip has created a whole army of men that are absolutely committed to their people.
The people on the trip are from all different walks of life. We had doctors and lawyers and business people, we had physicians but also personal injury attorneys. We are all brothers and on the same team. All different tribes, but part of the same nation. We were not pulled apart by our differences — in fact, we were united. We had a general contractor and he was the one who spearheaded our entire day at a Kibbutz Eilon, near the Israel-Lebanon border. We were painting and doing small construction projects that we wouldn’t have been able to do without him.
Next year, we are planning to create pickleball courts at many army bases because our contractor also constructs courts. [Last year], we made the first pickleball court ever on the IDF army base and the guys loved it and went crazy for it.
Q: What can people expect for the third annual mission, taking place in February 2026?
A: We are going to try to spend more time with fewer projects. We are really investing ourselves. We are planning a huge Purim party on the last night of the trip with several hundred guests including the Ethiopian community in Be’er-Sheva. We engaged one of Israel’s well-known jugglers and are in conjunction with several army units.
Q: What are your goals for the future of the Brotherhood Mission to Israel?
A: Our goal [for the next mission] is to get 90 guys to attend and to raise $4 million. I want to keep going and keep doing and, at some point, expand to a women’s trip, a couple’s trip or a family trip and use this template that has been so overwhelmingly successful. I want to expand to other genres so people can bond together for the same purpose: to raise money and do acts of loving kindness. No politics, no agenda, no nothing.
If you are interested in joining the next Brotherhood Mission to Israel, email travel@jnf.org.
