Jewish Week 36 Under 36 2015

THE JEWISH WEEK, JUNE 5, 2015

Meet The

MILLENNIALS

Who Are Remaking The Jewish Community

EIGHTH ANNUAL EDITION

The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

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We’re Kvelling Congratulations to each of you — the 36 Under 36 — for innovating, inspiring, and changing our community for the better.

And for enriching Jewish life in your own unique ways.

We’re so proud to call so many of you our friends.

You’ve sat at our tables as supporters, lay leaders, grantees, community organizers, and changemakers.

And we can’t wait to see what you do next.

We’re thrilled to celebrate with you.

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debate in our community about the nature of Jewish values hovers over our annual 36 Under 36 section. Would those values best be put to use in the service of Jews or for the good of the wider world? Should they be expressed in a particularistic way or a universal one? How far does repairing the world extend?

In a sense, the young social entrepreneurs, activists, educators and artists profiled here in the eighth installment of our “36” section attest to the hollowness of the debate. They’re local and they’re global. They help make mikvahs accessible to more Jews on the Upper West Side, and they provide micro-grants to communities in East Africa. They help instill pride in Bukharian teens in Queens, and they help community centers in Malawi launch small businesses. Some have worked both inside and outside the Jewish community. Some have overcome great odds. All are inspiring.

What sets them apart is that, unlike so many of us, they put their shoulders to the wheel, and they put their values into action. They push for change, and they hew to tradition. They carry out cancer research and they combat anti-Semitism and they work toward a more inclusive, more welcoming and more equitable Jewish community.

It’s as if they stepped out of the pages of Pirkei Avot: “It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work,” the Sages proclaim, “but neither are you at liberty to desist from it.” There’s no “desisting” here.

Welcome to the work-in-progress Jewish future.

Hannah Dreyfus and Robert Goldblum Profiles by Hannah Dreyfus, Maya Klausner, Amy Sara Clark, Steve Lipman, Jonathan Mark, Stewart Ain, Adam Dickter, Miriam Lichtenberg, Tova Ross and David Hammerschlag Section curated by Hannah Dreyfus and Maya Klausner Photographs by Michael Datikash

said Fisher, who grew up in a traditional Jewish home in Tribeca. “I hope to see a world where everyone can live with dignity, and where everyone can define their own positive future.”

The Jewish kabbalistic idea of tzimtzum, God removing himself to make space for the world, fuels her vision.

“Sometimes, the most important way to create something is by removing ourselves from the picture,” she said.

“Open space draws attention to what’s already there.”

Abstract altruism: Taking after her father, Fisher is an abstract artist. The money from selling her first painting helped fund her first trip to Rwanda. sparkmicrogrants.org Hannah Dreyfus

JOY FRIEDMAN, 32 Rallying RabbisTo A Cause

O

nce voted “most likely to be Sandra Bullock” by her high school class thanks to her involvement in the arts, Joy Friedman shifted her focus to community organizing in 2004, while a student at Carleton College.

SOCIAL ACTION

Running start: Freidman celebrated her 30th birthday by running a marathon in Sedona, Ariz. and she’s signed up for the New York City Marathon this coming fall. rac.org/advocacy/ror Tova Ross

RAYSH WEISS, 31

Building Community, And Bridges

SASHA FISHER, 26

R

Sparking Change, Enabling Others

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fter she graduated from college, Sasha Fisher booked a one-way ticket to Rwanda.

She went with one suitcase, few contacts and no knowledge of the local language.

Still, she went with a vision. Fisher wanted to help small, impoverished communities take collective action to improve their own lives.

“I didn’t want to prescribe solutions for other people’s problems — instead, I wanted to enable community members to find their own solutions,” she said.

Her trip was the beginning of Spark MicroGrants, a rapidly growing organization that helps residents of rural villages in East Africa fund their own development ideas. Today, the organization has given micro-grants of up to $10,000 to 102 communities in Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, affecting more than 75,000 lives and boasting a 94 percent project sustainability rate.

“Men and women sit together and plan for their collective futures,” she

together to advocate for such causes as comprehensive immigration reform and racial equality.

For example, during last year’s High Holidays, dozens of rabbis called Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters to ask them to stop the deportation of the stepfather of two children with American citizenship.

“After the 50th call from a Reform rabbi, an ICE official asked, ‘Is this person even Jewish?’” recalled Friedman.

“I’m proud to work with rabbis who are doing Pikuach Nefesh [saving a life] not just for other Jews, but for all people.”

Ruminating on her passion for social justice, Friedman offered this: “The benefit of growing up as one of the few Jews in Kansas was that I got to define Judaism. People asked me what Jews stood for, how we celebrated our holidays, and why we ate such strange food.

I was the resource. I struggled with that at times, but I loved that I got to represent and define my Jewish faith to my secular community.”

said, describing how community members collaborate on resource mapping, budget building and risk assessment.

“Our rule: we can’t impose ideas. We can only ask questions.”

Fisher, Spark’s executive director and co-founder, was inspired to start the organization after a trip to South Sudan in 2008 left her with serious questions.

During her fieldwork, she saw several empty schoolhouses, a confounding phenomenon since access to education in the region was already low.

“It was apparent that some foreign aid organization had come in and tried to help, but they’d failed,” she said.

“More local ownership could have saved the project.”

Though many consider her altruistic, Fisher firmly believes that work to benefit one benefits the whole.

“We’re all deeply interconnected,”

“That was the year that the most famous community organizer, Barack Obama, gave a speech at the DNC that changed his career and, arguably, America,” said Friedman, who is Reform. “I fell in love with the work and wanted to do it with my Jewish community. Congregation-based community organizing felt like the right way to do that.”

Following college, Friedman worked for the Jewish Community Relations Council in Boston, engaging teenagers and adults in community organizing.

After moving back home to Kansas, she was recruited to work for the Union for Reform Judaism, eventually moving to its New York office in 2012.

As a senior organizer for Just Congregations, a URJ’s social action initiative, Friedman works primarily for an offshoot group called Rabbis Organizing Rabbis, which brings Reform rabbis

aysh Weiss, who is to be ordained next year at the Jewish Theological Seminary, noticed last spring that Iftar, the evening meal that ends Muslims’ sunup-tosundown Ramadan fasts, would coincide with the Jewish fast on the 17th of Tammuz. She and a friend, who had a strong relationship with the Malcolm Shabbaz Mosque in Harlem, where Malcolm X had preached, saw an opportunity for collaboration.

In July, after discussions about that summer’s Israeli war in Gaza and Jewish and Muslim worship services, several dozen members of both faiths broke the day’s fast — and mutual

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WHAT’S NEXT

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stereotypes — over kosher-halal couscous.

The event was Weiss’ latest foray into interfaith work. Growing up in Chicago’s Orthodox community, she had little exposure to other religions. But in Minnesota, where she attended college, and New York City, where she moved afterward, she’s brought Jews together with Muslims and Christians, not only for the sake of dialogue, but to work on such issues as affordable housing and discrimination against minorities. Her goal: building bridges to other groups, and building “community” within the Jewish world.

“Judaism is about obligation … [to] know what’s going on with our neighbors,” she said.

That has included establishing small, chavurah-style prayer-andlearning communities, designing and writing egalitarian Jewish marriage contracts for Jews uncomfortable with traditional, Orthodox-style ketubot, contributing to T’ruah’s recent Anti-Slavery Haggadah, co-editing jewschool.com, a progressive Jewish blog, and creating a “yentanet” training program for matchmakers to work with Jews of color, Jews by choice and LGBTQ Jews, who often encounter problems with mainstream shadchan programs.

Sax appeal: Beginning with an interest in jazz she inherited from her father, Weiss has expanded into klezmer, which she calls “infectious” and “deeply emotional.” She’s formed and performed in several bands, playing saxophone, a skill she began refining at 7.

Linguist: Daughter of a mother whose first language was Yiddish, Weiss is fluent in German and Hebrew, and is “proficient” in Talmudic Aramaic and Yiddish.

Her mamaloshen, “very Litvish” [the Lithuanian dialect] grew out of her interest in klezmer — “I wanted to understand the words,” she said. facebook.com/rayshweiss Steve Lipman

MELISSA KUSHNER, 35 Helping Malawians HelpThemselves

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elissa Kushner unexpectedly fell in love with Malawi.

In 2002, between her undergrad years at the University of Penn-

sylvania and graduate school at NYU, Kushner worked as an intern at the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships, focusing on building connections with the private sector. Her boss at the time had previously worked for UNICEF in Malawi and invited Kushner to accompany her on her next visit.

the second language of Malawi. Her children all have Chichewa names. goodsforgood.org Miriam Lichtenberg

JEREMY BALKIN, 31 Tikkun Olam On Wall Street

J Malawi, known as the “warm heart of Africa,” is the seventh poorest country in the world and home to an estimated 1.3 million orphans, 90 percent of whom are receiving care in their communities as opposed to institutionalized orphanages.

During her time at UNFIP and NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service, Kushner visited Malawi several times a year, bringing toys, clothing and other supplies for the children. Upon graduating in 2006 with a master’s in public administration and international development, she founded Goods for Good (GFG) a 501c3 public charity, providing supplies for Malawi orphans and vulnerable children.

After launching GFG, Kushner spent a year in Malawi with her husband, teaching and forging local partnerships.

In 2007 Kushner returned to New York, diving into GFG. In 2011, GFG shifted its focus to economic stimulation, creating jobs in the community and providing ongoing revenue for orphan care by helping local community centers launch small businesses.

For most Malawians Kushner encounters, she is the only Jewish person they will meet. “It’s very fun explaining to people when they kill a chicken in your honor that you can’t eat it because you’re kosher,” said Kushner. Back in Brooklyn, Kushner frequently hosts Shabbat dinners and is active at Kane Street Synagogue in Carroll Gardens, where her daughter goes to preschool.

With plans to return to Malawi this summer, Kushner, a recipient of NYU’s Distinguished Alumni Award, said, “Founding and running Goods for Good has been one of the most challenging but also rewarding experiences. ... I embrace the successes and challenges that lay ahead.”

Trilingual: Kushner is fluent in English, Hebrew and Chichewa,

eremy Balkin has been called t h e “ A n t i - Wo l f o f Wa l l Street,” not because he is less inclined to pursue capital but rather because of his ethical approach. The native Australian thinks of himself as “an activist investor.”

A Modern Orthodox Jew living with his wife on the Upper West Side, Balkin said, “I’m a capitalist. I believe in the power of free markets.” But he’s advocating an ethical realignment of the capitalist system. “I’ve been on a journey ever since I gave a TED talk about using financial services and capital to, dare I say, repair the world — tikkun olam,” said Balkin.

That 2013 TED talk — “The Noble Cause: Positively Influencing the Allocation of Capital” — has gotten more than 358,000 views on YouTube, leading to Balkin’s newly published book, “Investing with Impact: Why Finance Is a Force for Good.”

Balkin has fears about the economic conditions that may come with being Jewish in the coming century. “Look at the cost of living in big cities, the cost of Jewish education, the cost of Jewish food. What’s going to happen in 2045 or 2065? Will the Jewish wealth be there?” he asked. He suspects the demand for Jewish capital will be greater but the supply will be less.

Balkin has been talking to friends in philanthropies about building a Jewish endowment fund, perhaps for Jewish education in particular, as education is such a core part of Jewish identity. “We have enough capital, enough expertise, and enough intellectual capital to build this and make it successful,” he said. “We should not have a community where being Jewish is an economic decision.”

On the move: When Balkin

isn’t racing for economic ethics, he loves to run marathons and cycle.

Man of Steel: Balkin’s friends call him Superman because he has an 8-inch titanium plate, 14 screws in his left arm and 2 screws in his left leg from sporting injuries in Australia. www.balkin.me | @jbapex Jonathan Mark

LANI SANTO, 35 Supporting Jews InTransition

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hen Lani Santo was 13 and living with her Modern Orthodox family in the increasingly black-hat neighborhood of Kew Gardens, her mother came out as gay.

“I couldn’t tell anyone or be my authentic self because I had the understanding that everyone was basically the same ... even in the Modern Orthodox world,” she said.

Now, as executive director of Footsteps, an organization that helps Jews leaving black hat and chasidic communities, the experience resonates.

“Although I didn’t come from a charedi background, I have a firsthand understanding of some of the challenges that a veil of conformity in a community can do to an individual’s self-actualization, becoming who they feel they authentically are,” said Santo.

Helping people figure out who they “authentically are” has been a theme in Santo’s career. She came to Footsteps after earning a master’s in public administration from NYU and working at American Jewish World Service, where she developed a yearlong program for young adults volunteering in India while they “figured out what they wanted to do with their lives.”

Santo, who lives in Kensington with

her husband and 10-month-old son, said she’s passionate about “both helping people figure out who they want to be in the world and building supportive communities around that.”

She brought that passion to Footsteps, where during her five-year ten-

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The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

Make a

Wurzweiler School of Social Work

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ure it grew from three to 10 employees, moved to a bigger space and increased its annual budget from $340,000 to over $1 million. She launched career and peer mentoring programs and developed a partnership with New York Legal Assistance Group to offer help in divorce and custody cases. Membership has grown to 1,000.

Founded in 2004, Footsteps also offers support groups, social events and counseling.

“Many people lose their entire support system because they can no longer pretend to be something they’re not,” Santo said. “They don’t know that there are people out there that have done this and have been successful in life. ... Finding a community when you think you’re the only one is huge. Many people have told me that just finding this community has saved their life.”

Wurzweiler School of Social Work congratulates one of its newest graduates, Temimah Zucker, on her inclusion in The Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36 supplement for her work with the eating disorders population.

We take pride in Temimah’s resilience, compassion and ultimate ability to utilize her past experience to empathize with and help others. She is exemplary of our student body and alumni. www.yu.edu/wurzweiler

!‫מזל טוב‬

Mazal Tov to Raysh Weiss!

Thank you for bringing your awardwinning energy to our community.

We are grateful to have learned with and from you this year!

Rabbi Carie Carter and the PSJC community

Globe trekker: Through her work at AJWS, Santo traveled to 10 countries on four continents over just three years. footstepsorg.org | @notinabox_ls Amy Sara Clark

SOPHIE ACKOFF, 26

Planting Seeds For Sustainable Farming

“Farming is a community project—taking care of our spot of earth is better for the environment and for the people who are a part of it,” she said.

Ackoff, who worked on several organic farms in the Hudson Valley before joining NYFC full time, doesn’t mind getting dirty. On an average day on the farm you might have found her in muck boots, transplanting seasonal plants from the greenhouses to the fields, or back again. In order to plant cabbage and kohlrabi, she used a hori hori knife, an ancient Japanese hand tool used for digging holes.

“You definitely have to scrub your fingernails,” she said, laughing.

Growing up in a Reform Jewish community in Los Angeles, Jewish values have always motivated her work. Her bat mitzvah portion dealt with the laws of allowing the land to lay fallow every seventh year.

“Judaism is sensitive to the land,” she said. “Being accountable to the earth is a Jewish value.”

Though it’s been hard to connect with Jewish life in the Hudson Valley, she’s hoping to start making Shabbat dinners on the farm.

“Growing food ultimately grows community,” she said.

Going the distance: Sophie likes to run marathons with her dog, Sutter. She has completed eight marathons to date.

Hannah Dreyfus

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ophie Ackoff is no stranger to environmental causes. In high school, she petitioned to get elephants removed from the Los Angeles Zoo and for the protection of boreal forests.

But it wasn’t until college that she joined a farm.

“It wasn’t really on my radar until I started visiting nearby farms during my free time,” said Ackoff, who studied biology and environmental studies at Wesleyan University.

Today, as the field director of the National Young Farmer’s Coalition, a grassroots network of 60,000 farmers and consumers, her goal is to fix the “broken food system,” on both a macro and micro level, she said.

The macro level entails affecting federal policy.

“Farming should be an economically viable option,” she said. “We need to lobby for policies that make land affordable and available to beginning farmers, and policies that incentivize real food, instead of commodity operations. The future of agriculture in the United States depends on us.”

Working on the micro level means encouraging farmers to implement sustainable farming practices that sustain healthy soil, water and air and protect the climate.

INCLUSION ADVOCACY ADAM DAYAN, 31

Advocating For Students With Special Needs

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s a kid in a Sephardic family in Flatbush, Dayan thought he’d become a writer or lawyer. Eventually he decided that a writer’s life was not necessarily financially lucrative.

In college he majored in industrial/organizational psychology, thinking he’d become a psychologist. Later, he considered becoming an international businessman.

Now, Dayan combines all of his interests is his work as an attorney who focuses on children with autism and other special needs, helping their families, sometimes on a pro bono basis, obtain government benefits and schools’ often-hard-to-line-up services.

On the job, Dayan writes such lawyerly fare as briefs and appeals, and a more creative, special education-centered blog. He gets to use his knowledge of psychology in dealing with educators and the legal system. And his interest in special education advances of other countries has taken him around the world; One day, he said, he may act on his interest in business as well, maybe by becoming a consultant.

“I’ve always loved kids,” he said. “School should be easy for kids. Life should be easy for kids.”

Dayan, who is Orthodox, attended the Yeshivah of Flatbush and is an active member of the Safra Synagogue on the Upper East Side.

His interest in special education was sparked by a research project on autism while an undergraduate at Baruch College.

He traces his interest in helping society’s powerless to what he learned at home and at school.

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“That’s part of your Jewish education,” he said.

Going bananas: On a recent flight to Japan, Dayan and his wife Michelle discovered that their kosher meals hadn’t arrived.

Instead, the flight attendants brought the couple a platter of “20, 30, 40 bananas,” Dayan said, “the only thing that wasn’t treif on the plane.” It was, he said, “a beautiful way to start the trip.”

Ravenous reader: One of Dayan’s favorite books is “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” Mark Haddon’s 2004 mystery novel told through the perspective of a teenage boy with autism. “The book captivated me,” Dayan said. “It reinforced what I was studying.” blog.dayanlawfirm.com Steve Lipman

hood reading books instead of romping with friends.

“People didn’t treat me so nicely. They judged me by the way I looked,” she said.

Even today, audiences are often surprised when she first walks up to the podium. “They’re expecting someone big and important, and here’s this small little girl,” Juni said. “But when I start speaking, they shift their focus. It’s not about my exterior — it’s about what I’m saying.”

When not on speaking tours, Juni works with special needs children. During the school year, she serves as a preschool teaching assistant; in the summer, you

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TIKVAH JUNI, 32

Public Face Of Special Needs Advocacy

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hen Tikvah Juni was 16, she received her first standing ovation.

“I remember all the people, cheering and smiling,” said Juni, who had been the guest speaker at an event hosted by Yachad: The National Jewish Council for Disabilities.

“That was the first time I really believed the world could change,” she said. Since then, she’s been trying to change the world one speech at a time.

Juni, who has Down syndrome, travels around the U.S. teaching audiences about inclusion. In Washington, D.C., she even lobbied state and federal legislators

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The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

to increase resources for special needs students.

Though she begins each speech with a thought on the weekly Torah portion, she ends by detailing her experiences as someone with special needs.

“I hate the words ‘disability’ and ‘consumer,’” she said, two words commonly used to describe those with special needs. “People with special needs aren’t takers, and we aren’t incapable. We want to be accepted just as much as everyone else.”

Growing up in the 1980s when inclusion was rarely a topic of conversation, Juni often felt excluded.

“Schools kept closing their doors to me after they heard about my special needs,” said Juni, who grew up in the Orthodox community of Flatbush. Socializing was also difficult, and Juni spent much of her child-

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can find her at Camp HASC. To reach an even broader audience, Juni completed a several-hundred page book about her experiences.

Though not yet published, she’s hoping one day her story, and her message, can reach thousands.

Capturing color: In her downtime, Juni loves oil painting.

She is particularly fond of landscapes. “An artist can see the world in a way no one else can,” she said. “It’s important to notice things other people don’t.”

Hannah Dreyfus

LGBTQ LEADERSHIP DASHA SOMINSKI, 22

A year ago, Sominski came out as queer to her classmates at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women. The next fall, she founded Merchav Batuach, or Safe Space, a sensitivity training program for straight Orthodox Jews who want to support LGBTQ Jews.

“There are a lot of people who could be allies,” she said, citing the support for her efforts she’s received from straight Stern students.

Sominski, who now identifies as “culturally” Jewish, founded Merchav Batuach under the auspices of Eshel, a national organization for gay Orthodox Jews. She also serves as a volunteer for Footsteps, a Brooklyn-based support group/social service agency for men and women who have left black hat and chasidic communities.

“I was always very public,” said Sominski, who posted on her Facebook page a survey she conducted of Stern students about their attitudes toward sex.

Advocating For Orthodox LGBTQ Jews

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ominski’s days as a minority began in her native St. Petersburg. Growing up in a large, Lubavitch family, her unfashionably long skirts would draw stares from non-Jewish Russians.

That, she said, helped prepare her for her new life, advocating for the acceptance of gay Jews within the Orthodox community. A community of which she is no longer a member.

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She frequently speaks about the subject of gay Orthodox Jews, writes for campus publications, designed a curriculum for Merchav Batuach and distributed “This is a Safe Space” stickers to be posted on Stern dorm room doors.

According to federal statistics, about 2 percent of Americans over the age of 18 identify as gay or lesbian. That would include at least 20 of Stern’s 1,000 current students — and many of its graduates.

The number of gay Jews “who used to go to Stern is enormous,” Sominski said. “I’ve dated three of them.”

Literary birthdate. Sominski, a prolific writer, shares the same birthday as novelist Vladimir Nabokov and William Shakespeare.

Literary language study: Sominski, who learned English in school in Russia and later at movie theaters in London, supplemented her grasp of the language by reviewing a bilingual edition of Hamlet. merchavbatuach@eshelonline.org Steve Lipman

JOHANNA SANDERS, 23 Jewish Voices Transcending Generations

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rowing up in Forest Hills, Queens, surrounded by German-Jewish refugees, Johanna Sanders did not emerge from the typical millennial cocoon. Her accomplishments are just as distinct.

In 2011, the SUNY Binghamton student publication Prospect Magazine designated Sanders the 29th most influential student on campus out of a student body of 20,000, and in 2013, Sanders was one of 20 women from New York State selected for the New Leadership New York Summer Institute.

“I do my best work when I have an overflowing plate,” said Sanders. And her plate, indeed, runneth over. Sanders serves as the chairwoman of Aleinu, the LGBTQ community of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah; a peer counselor at Identity House, an LGBTQ walkin center, and is active in her Upper West Side synagogue, Congregation Habonim. She also takes classes at Broadway Dance Center and sings in the CBST chorus.

When Sanders is not putting on Shabbat dinners and coordinating adult education programs for CBST, she is developing a discussion series: Architects of the LGBTQ movement.

Sanders attended Etgar, an Israeli Hebrew school in Forest Hills, from kindergarten to fifth grade and was the

only American in her class. As an only child, the experience only deepened her sense of self-sufficiency. After graduating college in 2013 she traveled solo for nine months throughout South Africa and Australia, researching same-sex, inter-partner abuse and tutoring underprivileged children.

“I really believe in causes,” Sanders said. “When something really affects me I throw my life into it.” That kind of passion shows through Sanders’ commitment not only to social justice causes, but also to carrying on the stories of older generations. “I have one grandmother who is 98 years old, but really all of these people [including the older congregants at Habonim] are my grandparents. In many ways their story is my story.”

Laying down the law: Sanders is studying for the LSATS even though her parents say “it’s OK if she dances in a field.”

One with nature: Sanders finds being immersed in nature particularly liberating: “When you’re snorkeling in Fiji the fish are in their own world; they’re not like, ‘Oh my God there’s a gay person above us. Run!” Maya Klausner

OLIVER ROSENBERG, 29 Orthodox Davening, LGBTQ Pride

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hen Oliver Rosenberg came out to his friends and family, he did so on a one-on-one basis. When he spoke about his sexuality for a communal cause, 800 people, mostly students he didn’t know, showed up to listen.

In 2008, Rosenberg was one of four members on a panel called, “Being Gay in the Orthodox World,” hosted by Yeshiva University, where Rosenberg went to school. The reaction was as split as Moses’ Red Sea. Faculty members were largely critical while students were supportive.

Inspired by the panel, a rabbi de-

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The Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising Salutes the Winners of the “36 Under 36” Award Fundraising is a critical component in American civil society. Without it the thousands of nonprofit organizations and institutions, including universities, medical centers, museums, cultural institutions, and thousands of organizations that help the poor, the aged, and the ill, could not exist. Our society would not be what it is today. And those organizations could not exist without the fundraisers who keep them financially alive.

To be an effective fundraiser, however, you need knowledge as well as experience. The Heyman Center at New York University was created to provide such knowledge and to indicate to the community that fundraising is an important profession that requires extensive education.

Now is the best time ever to be a professional in the world of philanthropy and fundraising. Why? Because every cultural, educational, and nonprofit institution has an urgent and growing need for financial support from the private sector because of government cutbacks.

The nonprofit initiatives launched by the young innovators featured in The Jewish Week’s 36 Under 36 section are some of those that will need financial support from the private sector. Whether the projects are global or local, whether they help develop impoverished communities in East Africa or help Upper West Siders find a spiritual connection, these efforts need to be nurtured. We salute the work of the young leaders and social entrepreneurs featured in these pages, as they act on their values and work to improve society.

Today the nonprofit sector is the third largest employer in the United States with the nearly 2 million nonprofit organizations employing 10.7 million people — a little over 10% of the private workforce. The opportunities are there, but you need an education to be effective in this field.

The Heyman Center provides such an education. As part of New York University it is proud that its standards and quality of education reflects the high standards and academic recognition that NYU bestows.

Naomi Levine Executive Director and Chair of the NYU-SPS Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising

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The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

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veloped a statement of principles advocating for inclusion of LGBTQ people in the Orthodox community; over 300 Modern Orthodox rabbis from around the country signed the document. A nonprofit called Eshel, which provides inclusion education to Orthodox communities and resources to parents of LGBTQ Jews, also sprung from the event.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Rosenberg describes his younger self as “a poster child for Modern Orthodoxy.” Now, living on the Upper West Side, he is a leading member of the LGBTQ Jewish community as the founder of Or Chayim, a yearold congregation that holds monthly Orthodox-style Shabbat services and dinners for LGBTQ Jews and their allies.

“Shabbat dinner is a place for real conversation,” he said. “Orthodox or not, people know to keep their phones in their pockets.”

During the work week, however, Rosenberg’s phone is front and center. At the same time he started Or Chayim, Rosenberg launched Prealth,

munity that celebrates both identities equally.

“People feel like I’ve given them a sense of belonging,” he said.

Kicking back: When Rosenberg isn’t spending his time launching congregations or tech start-ups, he can be found at Therapy — which is not a psychologist’s office, but a gay bar in Hells Kitchen.

Prealth.com | info@prealth.com Maya Klausner a healthcare tech start-up that is developing a medical cost comparison app. Rosenberg, a former investment banker, envisions the app as a sort of Uber for healthcare, allowing people to compare doctors based on cost, insurance information and patient reviews.

At night and on weekends, Rosenberg’s likely to be found spreading the word about Or Chayim.

The 2008 panel, he said, illuminated the sense of displacement many people felt when trying to reconcile their gay identity with their Judaism.

Or Chayim was Rosenberg’s answer to that discord, cultivating a com-

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Backing Israel By Supporting Two States

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ra Stup likes to joke that Israel advocacy is part of his DNA. A founding staffer of J Street U — the campus arm of the liberal Israel advocacy group J Street — Stup has been hearing tales of Israel activism his entire life.

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nah, and my paternal grandparents were leaders in Israel Bonds and other organizations helping to build the State of Israel,” the Philadelphia native said. Stup even decided to forgo a big bar mitzvah party in favor of visiting Israel for the first time.

While an undergrad in a joint Columbia University/Jewish Theological Seminary program, he began thinking more critically about Israel.

“I had spent almost all my life at day school, Camp Ramah and USY, and college was the first time I was confronted with such diverse opinions about the Middle East,” he said. “It forced tough new thinking about the

impact of a decades-long occupationH on Israeli society and the Americans i Jewish community.”

But Stup found few progressive voices on campus who could give hima m satisfactory answers.

After a year in Israel as a Dorot Fellow, volunteering and doingw research on Jewish and Palestin-t ian communities in the West Bank,t Stup became a campus organizerI for J Street U, eventually becoming its director.

“My goal was to empower students to organize as a serious, sophisticated force for change in the American Jewish community and in our political system,” said Stup.

Now preparing for law school, Stup serves as a senior consultant to the organization.

“My parents and grandparents have more than demonstrated that we’re responsible to help ensure a vibrant future for Israel,” said Stup.

“They had questions when I first joined J Street U, but I’ve brought them in a deeper conversation about my concerns for Israel’s future. Now, they’re very supportive and involved with J Street themselves.”

t Anthem aficionado: Stup l has always been interested in what countries focus on in i their national anthems. He has l a special fondness for Austra- S lia’s, which, like the America’s, i celebrates the country’s naturalh beauty rather than God or war- c fare. That, and the fact that the tune is really “catchy,” spurs him d to try, largely unsuccessfully, to r o teach it to all his friends.

Tova Ross a w a JORDAN CHANDLER a HIRSCH, 27 c Fearless Israel Supporter i

A

n unabashed defender of Israel, Jordan ChandlerS Hirsch developed some ofa his confidence in 2006 when, as ane 18-year-old student at ColumbiaW University, he rose to ask visitingb Iranian United Nations Ambassadorf Mohammad Zarif an intentionally A prickly question.

“Do you believe that 6 milliond Jews died in the Holocaust?” hew f asked.

Zarif, now Iran’s foreign minister,j dodged the question.

“He’s an educated man,” HirschM recalled. “I’m sure he knew theK truth, but he was a member of a

they are concerned about practical things and things like human rights and identity and Israel are not an issue for them,” Hirsch said. “They are not ideological. I would have preferred to live through the Soviet Jewry movement. Today, people know what is going on but they don’t want to deal with it. Israel has become so contentious that people … don’t feel comfortable in asserting a pro-Israel stance.”

Thus it was that Hirsch suggested to fellow students that they organize a pro-Israel rally after Israel’s 2008 war with Hamas to show “we are proud of who we are.”

“I didn’t think I was asking too much, but it was astonishing how afraid Hillel was,” he said. “They wouldn’t do it, so pro-Israel groups did and I wrote about it for a campus publication. …So fighting against the organizational mindset in the Jewish community has been a big part of how I see my role in the Jewish community.”

Hirsch is expected to graduate from Yale Law School in December. He has been a staff editor at Foreign Affairs, where he commissioned and edited articles, and an assistant op-ed editor at the Wall Street Journal. He said his dream job would be working at the senior foreign policy level in the federal government.

A righty ... and a lefty: Hirsch is ambidextrous, which means he can switch-hit when playing baseball and can throw a football with both hands. jordanchirsch.com | @jordanchirsch Stewart Ain

MELANIE GOLDBERG, 23

Kicked Out And Pushing Back

I

n 2013, Goldberg was one of four students forced to leave an anti-Israel forum at Brooklyn College because they were holding pro-Israel fact sheets. The experience made her a more vigorous activist, not only for Zionism, but also for other students who feel intimidated on campuses.

“I started getting involved when I was a freshman,” said the Shulamith High School alum, veteran Fresh Ink writer, and former Israel Campus Coalition intern.

She was also spurred to activism by a global studies professor who casually skipped over a lesson about the Holocaust, saying people already knew enough about it.

“No one was speaking out about this kind of thing,” she said. “I started realizing there were a lot of apathetic people on campus.”

Goldberg and the other three students — Michael Ziegler, Ari Ziegler and Yvonne Juris — fought the school’s administration until an independent report said there had been no basis for them to be removed from the forum. In March 2014, President Karen Gould formally apologized to the students.

These days, Goldberg is a student at Cardozo Law School, where she’s founded a chapter of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights to provide legal advice to undergraduates who feel they are victims of anti-Semitism. She believes no student should be removed from a campus event unless there are guide-

2015

providing inspiration to the next generations The Charles Bronfman Prize is proud to announce our 2015 recipient, Rebecca Heller, whose work is dedicated to providing comprehensive representation to individual refugees seeking resettlement through direct legal aid and broad policy advocacy. As Director and Co-founder of the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center, Heller has helped Rebecca the most vulnerable refugees in countries Heller including Afghanistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria, Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project setting legal precedents and achieving Director + Co-founder legislative victories around the world.

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JEWISH VALUES. GLOBAL IMPACT. www.TheCharlesBronfmanPrize.com

The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

Holocaust-denying government. So he simply said that if it were true, it was not the Palestinians’ fault.”

Hirsch said he could “see that I had rattled him, and I got a lot out of challenging this guy. … It gave me a lot of confidence.”

He went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude with a degree awarded with honors for his senior thesis, “The Soviet Jewry Movement, the Right to Leave, and the Rise of Human Rights on the International Stage.”

“I live in a generation that is very pragmatic —

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The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

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issues that come up.”

Off color: When she’s not demonstrating or advocating, Melanie runs half-marathons, goes to concerts and paints. She prefers landscapes with alternative colors, such as purple skies. @ThatMel Adam Dickter

ROSS DEN, 33

Gearing Up To Help The IDF

lines in place, and there should be consequences for any administrator that prevents freedom of speech and promotes hate and incitement.

Goldberg is also advocating for more education about Israel and modern Jewish history in day schools, rather than just “telling students to love Israel,” which she feels makes them ill-prepared to respond in the face of adversity.

“It’s becoming more and more commonplace on campus for anti-Zionism to morph into anti-Semitism,” Melanie said. “It’s very important to educate the next generation of students to have some confidence when responding to

R

oss Den was born in Ukraine in a family of medical professionals, but didn’t follow in their footsteps.

After his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was a child, he became enthralled by the new freedoms he enjoyed and developed a commitment to justice. While at John Jay College, Den entered the NYPD’s part-time police cadet program. After 9/11, he and some of his friends felt compelled to sign up with the IDF, and Den served two years carrying out anti-terror missions in the West Bank and on the Lebanese border.

His experience in the Israeli army, he said, solidified what he

Eshel salutes our Merchav Batuach partner, Dasha Sominski, for her creativity and courage.

Congratulations on becoming one of the 36 Under 36!

If you would like to bring Merchav Batuach (Safe Space trainings for Orthodox allies of LGBTQ people) to your college campus or day school, please contact merchavbatuach@eshelonline.org.

For more information, visit our website www.eshelonline.org.

already knew about life, “You never know [what can happen], and never give up.”

Observing that the gear provided by the Israeli army is sometimes of poor quality, when Den returned home, he worked with the Council of Jewish Émigré Community Organizations to raise $30,000 to buy such gear as LED flashlights, hydration systems, headlamps and knee pads for Israeli soldiers in combat. To distribute the equipment, he works with an organization called Chayal le Chayal, meaning soldier to soldier.

Perhaps because he never experienced much anti-Semitism (there were very few Jews in his hometown of Blay Tserkov) Den hasn’t felt compelled to live in the Jewish state he once defended, but he’s keeping his options open. “One day it would be great to settle in Israel and enjoy the Holy Land to the fullest,” he said.

Den, who works as a professional photographer, also applies his altruistic efforts at home. During Hurricane Sandy, he organized grassroots relief and recovery efforts, directing volunteers from Russian-speaking communities in the area and as far away as Philadelphia.

“If I feel something needs to be done,” he said, “I do it.”

Freedom rider: Ross can be seen zipping around Midwood on his Kawasaki Ninja.

Stroke of luck: When he went to the Shorefront Y to pick up the competitive swimming he had left behind, he found his coach from Ukraine, who had emigrated two years earlier.

Adam Dickter

ARTS SIVAN HADARI, 33 Staging Positive Change

W

ho is Persian, Tunisian, American and Israeli but can play any nationality on stage? The answer is actress, producer, event planner and activist Sivan Hadari.

Born in Brooklyn, Hadari moved to Tel Aviv at the age of 12, where she volunteered with the IDF working with underprivileged children. In 2006, Hadari, who has studied acting since the first grade, moved back to New York to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

In 2008, Hadari founded Isramerica, a nonprofit composed of emerging Israeli and Jewish-American artists who celebrate their Jewish heritage and spread a positive image of Israel through art.

Now living in the East Village, in the heart of New York bohemia, Hadari works not only as Isramerica’s artistic director but also as project manager and marketing consultant for the Kings Bay Y in North Williamsburg. In addition, she serves on the boards of the Jewish International Connection in New York (JICNY), a nonprofit that offers programming for Jews who have relocated to New York, and Moatza Mekomit, an Israeli-American Leadership committee. She also runs a workshop for individuals with dual identities and “tridentities.”

When Hadari was acting in a play called “Sex In The Holy Land,” in which she played eight different characters, she noticed the theater was half empty. “I’m a problem solver,” said Hadari, who proceeded to launch a marketing campaign that resulted in the theater having to turn people away at the door.

Raised Orthodox, Hadari chose to switch to a secular education for high school and now calls herself a “Jewlebrtiy” or “Jewaholic.” Even though she has moved away from the Chabad lifestyle in which she was raised, Hadari remains deeply tied to Judaism, noting that she feels “fulfilled by do-

13

A memorable embrace: Orthodox rap star Matisyahu once recognized and hugged Hadari backstage at Terminal 5.

Fin fan: Hadari’s favorite television show is “Shark Tank.”

Isramerica.com @SivanHadari Maya Klausner

SIMON CADEL, 15 Standing Up For His Dream

S

imon Cadel is a comedian who happens to be a kid. He’s not a kid comedian. Cadel, who is in ninth grade, has performed at iconic New York comedy clubs like Caroline’s, Comic Strip Live and The Stand.

Cadel lives in Tarrytown and attends The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, known for its strong creative curriculum and progressive teaching style.

In other words, he was allowed to take dance to fulfill the team sport requirement.

Cadel began his comedic journey at the age of 12, working with comedy coaches at the Longlake Camp for the Arts in the Adirondacks. In 2014, he was the Breakout Artist of the Month at Caroline’s on Broadway and this past December he performed for more than 500 people at the Kung Pao Kosher Comedy Show in San Francisco as part of the Jewish Comedy Festival.

Cadel, who attended Hebrew school at Bet Am Shalom in White Plains, culls a lot of his material from his Jewish upbringing, such as his bit about the 10 plagues lacking in creativity as they evolve.

He’s also not afraid to poke fun at himself.

His Facebook bio reads: “I’m short, unathletic and like video games. Spoiler alert: Single.” His professional website has the tagline, “When it comes to comedy, size doesn’t matter.”

Cadel’s comedy career gained momentum when he was given an unusual bar mitzvah gift: a person. Knowing he was into comedy, a passion that was not kept secret during the 15-minute set he performed at his party, a family friend procured lessons with a comedy coach, who has taught little known hacks like Jon Stewart.

For his mitzvah project, Cadel organized a fundraiser called “Laugh ’Til It Helps,” raising $1,000 for the Family Service of Westchester.

Last month, he was the opening act at “Stand Up for Peace” at Ohev Shalom Synagogue in Wallingford, Pa. But despite his bar mitzvah, Cadel calls himself a “Jathiest”, identifying more culturally with Judaism than religiously.

“Instead of texting OMG — Oh my God,” he said, “I have to text OMSPP, oh my scientifi-

cally proven principles.”

Eel enthusiast: Cadel had a pet eel named Jaws for many years who died from old age and “not from being stabbed in an alley.”

A joiner: Cadel is part of the theater club, gaming club, anime club and is an apprentice on the school newspaper. simoncadel.com | @Simoncadel Maya Klausner

The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

ing things that support Jewish causes or Israel.”

In 2012, Hidari implemented programming for the Chavaya Fellowship, an international social awareness fellowship for young professionals and artists living in New York, Israel and Germany.

Her next big project will be Israel Rockfest, a summer block party showcasing Israeli and Jewish American bands, on June 18th.

The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

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YONI OPPENHEIM, 33 Making Theater Frum-Friendly

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s the co-founder of 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company, Yoni Oppenheim has been adapting classical theater to address issues unique to the Jewish community since 2010.

“While in school for a master’s degree in Ibsen Studies, it struck me that the issues that Henrik Ibsen, a founder of modern theater, wrote about over a century ago remain pressing concerns for our community today,” Oppenheim said. “The misuse of power and communal funds, the role of women and the tensions when modernity and tradition collide, are all relevant to the modern Jewish community.”

The company re-imagines classical plays within the context of Jewish life. In one such production, Ibsen’s “Doll House,” the characters corresponded to those in Megillat Esther; the theme was feminism as it relates to Jewish life today.

Oppenheim and Soroka first met

at Yeshiva University High School, where they directed and performed in its first musical, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Oppenheim went on to study at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where he was the only shomer Shabbat, kipa-wearing student among over 1,000 undergraduates.

In a world filled with Jewish doctors, lawyers, and accountants, Oppenheim’s professional pursuits are unique. Though he faced discouragement from others in his community, he is grateful it never came from those most important to him. “I was raised with a deep appreciation for

Congregation Or Chayim New York’s traditional Shabbat experience for LGBTQ Jews and allies congratulates our founder and President

Oliver Rosenberg on being named one of the “36 under 36 Jewish Leaders of the Year”

by The Jewish Week

(‫ה‬:‫ השתדל להיות איש )משנה אבות ב‬,‫במקום שאין אנשים‬ Oliver, because of your inspired leadership, Orthodox and traditional LGBTQ Jews now have a place to celebrate our faith, our families and our future with integrity and pride; we bless you with strength and love

lgbtminyan.org

the value of culture and the arts in nourishing a spiritual life,” he said, “and my family and close friends have always been supportive of my theatrical pursuits.”

But Oppenheim, who lives in Washington Heights with his wife, Rivka, and daughter, Hadar, is cognizant of the fact that other artistically inclined Jews haven’t been so lucky.

“Theater helps people be more empathetic, and we believe our community needs more empathy to grapple with many of its challenges,” he said. “Our company allows the increasing number of Shabbat-observant theater artists in our community to have a voice in the conversation.”

to that, it is a means to empower women. “It’s about women’s need to rock out without feeling intimidated,” said Wolfe. The band streams live shows for male fans. (Men have joked about coming in drag.)

There is always a diverse group of women who attend shows, both secular and religious, and from all walks of life; the only requirement is having the urge to rock. Wolfe also hopes to inspire women in the Orthodox community to answer their artistic calling.

Royal debut: Yoni once did Hebrew voiceover dubbing for an episode of the TV show “Royal Pains” for a scene involving Israeli security guards. twentyfoursix.weebly.com @246Theater Tova Ross

PERL WOLFE, 28 Alt Rock, Chasidic-Style

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erl Wolfe is committed to the rock and roll lifestyle: she is currently without a home. Wolfe, who was living with her band-mate Dalia Shusterman in Crown Heights, recently moved out and has been couch surfing.

The move was business related, not personal, and a testament to their growing success.

Growing up Lubavitch in Chicago, Wolfe opted out of the religious lifestyle in high school, later rediscovering her Chabad roots after going to seminary in Israel.

Wolfe formed Bulletproof Stockings in 2011 as the band’s lead vocalist with Shusterman on drums. The name is a tongue-in-cheek play on a term for the super-thick stockings worn by women in some charedi communities; it also happened to be Shusterman’s email address.

“It fit, we’re chasidic women and we’re in a rock and roll band” said Wolfe.

The most distinguishing factor of the band is that the group plays exclusively for women. “Hashem put this idea in my head, you’re making a woman’s band and you’re going to play for women only,” said Wolfe.

The philosophy behind the gender-specific audience stems from a respect and understanding of the chasidic community, but paramount

The band is planning a domestic tour and expects to release an album in the fall. Their next show is June 11th at Bar Matchless in Greenpoint as part of the Northside Festival.

One with nature: When Wolfe isn’t serenading the ladies she takes to the outdoors for camping.

Fellow fandom: Wolfe would love Chris Cornell, of the rock supergroup Audioslave, to perform her music one day. facebook.com/BulletproofStockings @BPStockings Maya Klausner

ARYEH NUSSBAUM COHEN, 21

Using His Voice For Performance And Politics

I

n 2012, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen was the first freshman to win Princeton University’s Handel Singing Competition.

The Prospect Heights native, now a 21-year-old senior, Cohen is driven by two passions: music and politics. In junior high, he began singing with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, a preeminent children’s choir that exposed Cohen to both contemporary and classical music.

He appeared with iconic, pop artists

Singing for his supper: Cohen plans to pursue a career in music, and while still in school, performed the lead role in the first modern revival of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera, “Demofoonte” at Austria’s historic Theater an der Wein. aryehnussbaumcohen.com David Hammerschlag

MEDICINE ELANA SIMON, 19

collecting tumor samples from patients and survivors.

Through genome sequencing, she found that all the samples shared the same genetic mutation.

“It was weird, but it was awesome to see all the pieces come together,” she said.

In February 2014, Simon co-authored a study, published in Science magazine, about the mutation. The next month, she personally presented her work to President Barack Obama at the White House Science Fair.

“It was definitely a proud moment,” she said.

Today, a freshman at Harvard University studying computer science and dramatic arts, Simon hopes

Cancer Survivor, Cancer Researcher

A

t age 12, Elana was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer. Four years later, as a high school sophomore, she re-confronted her disease — as a medical researcher.

“This cancer had almost taken my life. Even though little research [on liver cancer] had been done, that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible,” said Simon, who grew up on the Upper East Side.

Her father, Sandy, a biophysicist, made space in his lab at Rockefeller University, and Simon set about

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GREETINGS FROM DAN ABRAMS, ABC NEWS AMBASSADOR IDO AHARONI THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL DAN ABRAMS, ABC NEWS

AMBASSADOR IDO AHARONI THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL PROCEEDS SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND SOROKA'ʹS THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL PROCEEDS SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND SOROKA'ʹS EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND TRAUMA CARE CENTER THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL PROCEEDS SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND SOROKA'ʹS

EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND TRAUMA CARE CENTER PROCEEDS SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND SOROKA'ʹS AWARD RECIPIENTS EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND TRAUMA CARE CENTER EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND TRAUMA CARE CENTER AWARD RECIPIENTS Distinguished Service Award -­‐‑ Dr. Amit Frenkel -­‐‑ Senior Intensive Care Specialist AWARD RECIPIENTS Distinguished Service Award -­‐‑ Dr. Amit Frenkel -­‐‑ Senior Intensive Care Specialist AWARD RECIPIENTS One of Israel’s most acclaimed physicians and a specialist in neuro-­‐‑ trauma, Dr. Frenkel worked tirelessly during Distinguished Service Award -­‐‑ Dr. Amit Frenkel -­‐‑ Senior Intensive Care Specialist One of Israel’s most acclaimed physicians and a specialist in neuro-­‐‑ trauma, Dr. Frenkel worked tirelessly during Operation Protective Edge, providing heroic critical care to wounded soldiers.

Distinguished Service Award -­‐‑ Dr. Amit Frenkel -­‐‑ Senior Intensive Care Specialist One of Israel’s most acclaimed physicians and a specialist in neuro-­‐‑ t rauma, Dr. Frenkel worked tirelessly during Operation Protective Edge, providing heroic critical care to wounded soldiers.

Defender of Israel Award -­‐‑

Brigadier General Dr. Daniel Gold One of Israel’s most acclaimed physicians and a specialist in neuro-­‐‑ t rauma, Dr. Frenkel worked tirelessly during Operation Protective Edge, providing heroic critical care to wounded soldiers.

Defender of Israel Award -­‐‑ Brigadier General Dr. Daniel Gold Operation Protective Edge, providing heroic critical care to wounded soldiers.

Recipient of the Israel Defense Prize for his role in developing the Iron Dome defense system, Dr. Gold is CEO of Defender of Israel Award -­‐‑ Brigadier General Dr. Daniel Gold Recipient of the Israel Defense Prize for his role in developing the Iron Dome defense system, Dr. Gold is CEO of Gold R&D and headed R&D at the Israel Ministry of Defense and IDF. Defender of Israel Award -­‐‑ Brigadier General Dr. Daniel Gold Recipient of the Israel Defense Prize for his role in developing the Iron Dome defense system, Dr. Gold is CEO of Gold R&D and headed R&D at the Israel Ministry of Defense and IDF. Inspirational Leadership Award -­‐‑ Rabbi David Greenberg Recipient of the Israel Defense Prize for his role in developing the Iron Dome defense system, Dr. Gold is CEO of Gold R&D and headed R&D at the Israel Ministry of Defense and IDF. Inspirational Leadership Award -­‐‑ Rabbi David Greenberg Gold R&D and headed R&D at the Israel Ministry of Defense and IDF. Senior Rabbi at Temple Shaaray Tefila in Bedford, NY, Rabbi Greenberg has been a devoted advocate for Soroka Inspirational Leadership Award -­‐‑ Rabbi David Greenberg Senior Rabbi at Temple Shaaray Tefila in Bedford, NY, Rabbi Greenberg has been a devoted advocate for Soroka and our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Inspirational Leadership Award -­‐‑ Rabbi David Greenberg Senior Rabbi at Temple Shaaray Tefila in Bedford, NY, Rabbi Greenberg has been a devoted advocate for Soroka and our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. and our protected Neonatal Intensive Care Unit campaign.

Senior Rabbi at Temple Shaaray Tefila in Bedford, NY, Rabbi Greenberg has been a devoted advocate for Soroka SOROKA EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND TRAUMA CARE CENTER

and our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. and our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

SOROKA EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND TRAUMA CARE CENTER

In light of the expected exponential growth of Be’er Sheva and the Negev, coupled with our experiences SOROKA EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND TRAUMA CARE CENTER In light of the expected exponential growth of Be’er Sheva and the Negev, coupled with our experiences during Operation Protective Edge, Soroka is at the forefront of treating Israel’s wounded. We must urgently SOROKA EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND TRAUMA CARE CENTER

In light of the expected exponential growth of Be’er Sheva and the Negev, coupled with our experiences during Operation Protective Edge, Soroka is at the forefront of treating Israel’s wounded. We must urgently expand and upgrade our Emergency Medicine and Trauma Center infrastructures, to allow us to be prepared In light of the expected exponential growth of Be’er Sheva and the Negev, coupled with our experiences during Operation Protective Edge, Soroka is at the forefront of treating Israel’s wounded. We must urgently expand and upgrade our Emergency Medicine and Trauma Center infrastructures, to allow us to be prepared in the best possible way for emergencies of all kind and to save lives in times of peace and war alike. during Operation Protective Edge, Soroka is at the forefront of treating Israel’s wounded. We must urgently expand and upgrade our Emergency Medicine and Trauma Center infrastructures, to allow us to be prepared in the best possible way for emergencies of all kind and to save lives in times of peace and war alike.

Soroka is one of Israel’s largest and most strategic hospitals: The sole major medical center for the vast Negev expand and upgrade our Emergency Medicine and Trauma Center infrastructures, to allow us to be prepared in the best possible way for emergencies of all kind and to save lives in times of peace and war alike.

Soroka is one of Israel’s largest and most strategic hospitals: The sole major medical center for the vast Negev region and just 15 miles from Gaza, Soroka serves over 1 million residents in a profoundly diverse area, and is in the best possible way for emergencies of all kind and to save lives in times of peace and war alike.

Soroka is one of Israel’s largest and most strategic hospitals: The sole major medical center for the vast Negev region and just 15 miles from Gaza, Soroka serves over 1 million residents in a profoundly diverse area, and is essential to meeting the medical needs of the IDF. Soroka is a symbol of peaceful coexistence, providing Soroka is one of Israel’s largest and most strategic hospitals: The sole major medical center for the vast Negev region and just 15 miles from Gaza, Soroka serves over 1 million residents in a profoundly diverse area, and is essential to meeting the medical needs of the IDF. Soroka is a symbol of peaceful coexistence, providing excellent healthcare to all regardless of race, religion, politics or national origin. region and just 15 miles from Gaza, Soroka serves over 1 million residents in a profoundly diverse area, and is essential to meeting the medical needs of the IDF. Soroka is a symbol of peaceful coexistence, providing excellent healthcare to all regardless of race, religion, politics or national origin.

essential to meeting the medical needs of the IDF. Soroka is a symbol of peaceful coexistence, providing excellent healthcare to all regardless of race, religion, politics or national origin.

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The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

including Elton John and Sting, and soon became comfortable performing at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

For Cohen, music has always been a way to connect with others and participate in tradition.

With his unique status as a countertenor, meaning he can sing higher than most women, Cohen saw his time at Princeton as a way of pursuing his intellectual curiosity about the relatively idiosyncratic music he is dedicated to, such as baroque opera and chamber music, by researching its history.

Singing has also connected Cohen to his Jewish roots. For seven years he has served as assistant cantor at East Midwood Jewish Center, where he helps lead High Holiday services. “Singing and performing is a lot about connecting with people,” said Cohen. “When people leave a performance I want them to feel fulfilled.”

Cohen also uses his voice for social issues.

His interest in the Middle East was first piqued by his time as a Bronfman Fellow in 2010, during which he studied in Israel and developed a social action project, and then fully catalyzed by the clashes on his campus caused by the 2012 conflict in Gaza. Princeton, conventionally viewed as the “quiet Ivy,” has managed to cultivate a reputation as comparatively free of divisive political debate. However, in 2012, students were looking to engage in a political issue but lacked pre-existing infrastructure that could lead them to productive debate.

“There was a real need for constructive dialogue on campus,” said Cohen. In response, Cohen helped launch a Muslim-Jewish dialogue group and started a chapter of J Street U, the campus arm of the nonprofit liberal advocacy group.

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first year medical student Yair Saperstein to address the problem.

The pair launched Project TEACH: Together Educating All Children in Hospitals, which provides pediatric patients and their siblings with a chance to participate in hands-on science workshops while in the hospital. Through the program, children conduct such science experiments as designing a contraption to protect a dropped egg from breaking, using chemistry to make silly putty and building a model using yeast and balloons to demonstrate the concept of respiration. to pursue a future in high-tech medical research. This summer, as an intern at Facebook Inc., she hopes to learn more about trends in computer technology.

Simon’s Jewish identity has remained a source of pride and strength throughout her journey. One of her fondest Jewish memories was attending Camp Simcha, the Jewish camp for young cancer survivors and patients.

“It was one of the most uplifting places I’ve ever been,” she said.

She also grew up attending synagogue, and her family remains active members of Temple Shaaray Tefila.

Most important, however, is the value placed on family.

“My parents raised me to believe in the importance of family — it’s engrained in my Jewish identity,” she said.

To this day, her two heroes remain her father and the surgeon who removed her tumor.

“Both of them taught me how to give selflessly,” she said. “I hope, in my lifetime, I can learn to do the same.”

Trapeze artist: Simon’s favorite pastime is as lofty as her career aspirations. Since she was child, she has attended performing arts camp. Today, she is an experienced trapeze artist, taking classes in Midtown whenever she’s back in NYC. Hannah Dreyfus

YOSEFA SCHOOR, 22

Bringing Science Workshops To Pediatric Patients

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hen Yosefa Schoor began shadowing a pediatric neurologist in high school, she quickly noticed that when a child is admitted to the hospital, three things tended to occur: “Time freezes. Apprehension rises.

Boredom ensues.”

After becoming an undergraduate at Yeshiva University, she teamed up with

The idea was a hit. Originally based at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Project TEACH has grown. Today, the program has about 500 graduate and undergraduate volunteers running the workshops at 11 hospitals in three states.

For now, the TEACH curriculum consists of five science lessons, which volunteers present from a patient’s bedside or from a broadcasting room in the hospital. Often, parents request access to these projects at home, a demand that was met by creating comprehensive instruction worksheets.

“You’re teaching them and connecting to them in a way that playing blocks with them can’t,” said Schoor.

Project TEACH, she said, “exemplifies the Jewish value of tikkun olam in its most sincere sense. TEACH enables hundreds of Jewish and nonJewish students of all ages to utilize their academic passions to help children of all ages and cultures.”

Schoor, who currently works as a clinical research coordinator at Montefiore, plans to attend Albert Einstein Medical School in the fall. She hopes to “help as many children everywhere as possible” through TEACH, which continues to grow.

“We have already began our expansion into Israel,” she said, “and we intend to help all pediatric patients, who, unfortunately, are everywhere.”

Farm fun: Schoor was born and raised on a farm in Monsey, N.Y.,

growing up with 16 goats. For an 11th grade history project on Mamie Eisenhower, she spray painted her goat (named Snow White) pink and brought her into school to illustrate the former first lady’s obsession with pink. projectteach.info Miriam Lichtenberg

TEMIMAH ZUCKER, 23

Supporting Jews With Eating Disorders

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hen she was in the throes of anorexia, Temimah Zucker, 23, had no way of knowing that one day in the near future, not only would she be fully recovered but she’d create Tikvah V’Chizuk, Hebrew for hope and strength, a support group Jews struggling with eating disorders and their loved ones.

“Religious people with eating disorders might feel isolated from the more general population of those with eating disorders because there are so many nuances that pertain to our culture and community,” said Zucker.

and speaks to schools and other groups about eating disorders and body image.

She even appeared in Glamour last year, along with a group of other women, to share her story of recovery, which she attributes to the help of her family, boyfriend, therapist — and her faith.

“A great source of strength is my religious beliefs and connection to Judaism,” said Zucker, who is Orthodox.

“Believing in a higher power is a big part of that, and knowing that I’m part of a community and that my beliefs and practices reinforce my desire to live a full and fulfilling life.”

Dueling duo: Temimah is an amateur fencer and often duels with her father. www.tvcsupport.org @temzuck Tova Ross

RUSSIAN OUTREACH MANASHE KHAIMOV, 27 Instilling Teens With Bukharian Pride

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It’s difficult to address eating disorders in the Jewish community because of a lack of awareness of the problem, and some degree of denial. “When I mention my work to people in my community, they generally respond with, ‘Oh, I have an eating disorder, I eat too much!’ or ‘Is this an actual issue here?’ These kinds of things can prevent people from feeling comfortable to talk about their struggles, and from seeking out help.”

But Zucker is working to change that. She is a brand new graduate of Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work and she plans to focus her career on helping the eating disorders population. In addition to running the support group, which she hopes to expand into an online platform with information and support to those in recovery, she also serves as a counselor and mentor at a local treatment center

any an ancient traveller and merchant took the old Silk Road to China or to the Mediterranean. Ten generations ago, the Khaimov family settled in Central Asia, eventually in the mythical center of Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

By the 21st century, however, many of these Bukharian Jews found themselves embarking for another mythical place: New York City. In 2001, the Khaimovs joined that exodus, and their son, Manashe, 14 at the time, found himself in this vast metropolis and a city uncertain post 9/11.

And yet it was to New York that his family came, “for the future, to stay among the Jewish people,” recalls Khaimov. “All our relatives, all the Jewish people in Samarkand, had left or were leaving.”

Today, living in Brooklyn with his wife and newborn son, Khaimov is working for his people as director of Bukharian Youth Services, a division of the Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA). At the JCCA, Khaimov runs the Bukharian Teen Lounge in Forest Hills where he himself was once a Bukharian teen.

His family was always concerned with helping other Jews, volunteering for the synagogue and for the mikveh.

“I always was a proud Jew. But I saw young Jews who didn’t know about their identity, or weren’t so proud,” Khaimov said. In college he was presi-

The program assists teens with college and career advice as well as individual and group counseling. It also guides them to leadership and community service. Most of all, Khaimov said, “They learn how to integrate into the larger Jewish and American community, while maintaining their rich and beautiful Bukharian culture, helping these teens to love who they are.”

Coining a hobby: In his spare time, Khaimov collects currency from different countries.

Jonathan Mark

AVITAL CHIZHIK GOLDSCHMIDT, 23 RABBI BENJAMIN GOLDSCHMIDT, 27

Reaching Out To Russian Speakers

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vital Chizhik Goldschmidt does most of her outreach to the Russian-speaking Jewish community through the printed word, publishing articles about émigré life and Jewish feminist issues for media outlets including the New York Times, Haaretz, Tablet and the Forward. She also teaches Torah classes and helps her parents from the former Soviet Union conduct Passover seders for fellow immigrants in their Brighton Beach home.

Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt’s

CONTINUITY SHARON WEISSGREENBERG, 31

Fostering Orthodox Feminism

outreach is more public, delivering sermons from the pulpit of the Upper East Side’s Park East Synagogue, where he has served as assistant rabbi for three years; he also teaches adult education classes there, officiates at life cycle events, and established a “Sunday Shkola” program for the children of Russian-speaking families living in the neighborhood. Sunday Shkola offers art and dance, instruction about Jewish holidays and traditions and Russianlanguage lessons.

Married five months ago, the U.S-born daughter of late-1970s immigrants, and the Israeli-born son of Moscow’s chief rabbi (and the rabbi’s day school-founder wife) have disparate backgrounds but share a commitment to Jewish life.

“She spoke Russian in America. I spoke English in Russia,” Rabbi Goldschmidt said. Together, “passionately, unapologetically Orthodox,” they’re reaching out to the Upper East Side’s growing population of Russian-speaking Jews (“the kids of Brooklyn people,” Rabbi Goldschmidt said), often inviting locals to Shabbat meals.

Rabbi Goldschmidt said the rabbinate has always been his “first choice” as a career. “I have two passions: people, and Judaism,” he said. “This is a job that combines both.”

Leading by example: Rabbi Goldschmidt had a decade of experience leading communal seders, getting his feet wet at the age of 17, when he was given the job of leading a seder for students in their 20s at his father’s Moscow synagogue. His training: “watching my parents” deal with guests at Shabbat meals and seders at home.

Focus on fiction: Last month Chizhik Goldschmidt left her job as digital editor at the Jewish Agency in order to devote her time to writing. In addition to writing freelance articles, she’s working on a book of short stories, many devoted to émigré themes, called “In the Eighteenth Minute.” avitalrachel.com parkeastsynagogue.org Steve Lipman

JEWISH

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ccording to Sharon WeissG r e e n b e rg , a t t e n d i n g eight different Jewish day schools before the age of 16 has some unexpected perks.

“It helped me be more aware and patient with different elements of the Orthodox community,” she said. “In one community, I was the only one wearing sandals without knee socks.

In another community, I was eating an Entenmann’s doughnut in the corner at

a birthday party because there was no other kosher food.”

Today, as the youngest-ever executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA), Weiss-Greenberg has put that patience to good use. Though progress for Orthodox feminism is not immediate, gradual change is lasting, she said.

“Would decisions made about the role of women in medieval times be accepted today?” she said. “If the answer is ‘no,’ change within our tradition is necessary.”

Weiss-Greenberg first exercised her role as a leader at Camp Stone, an Orthodox summer camp in Pennsylvania, eventually becoming its director. The experience gave her a peek into what a world of true gender equity might look like. At NYU, she wrote her doctoral dissertation on the experience of female staff at Jewish summer camps.

“Camp creates an alternate set of social norms, where leadership is balanced,” she said. “Women feel equally capable and responsible. It’s a setting I hope to recreate.”

In her relatively new role (she began in 2014), Weiss-Greenberg hopes to expand the JOFA’s reach on the lo-

Congratulations to Lani Santo, Footsteps’ Executive Director.

Named one of 36 Jewish leaders under 36, you are an outstanding leader of any age.

Footsteps is the only organization in North America assisting people who have left – or are contemplating leaving – the ultra-Orthodox community. Now 1,000+ members strong, Footsteps provides a range of services, including social and emotional support, educational and vocational guidance, workshops and social activities, and access to resources. Thanks to Footsteps, former ultra-Orthodox Jews have a safe, supportive, and flourishing community to turn to as they work to define their own identities, build new connections, and lead productive lives on their own terms.

With appreciation and admiration, Footsteps Board, Staff, and Members

The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

dent of the Baruch College Hillel and became involved in helping Russianspeaking Jews in Brooklyn.

“As a Bukharian, though, we didn’t have much in common with Russians other than 70 years of living under Communism,” said Khaimov.

Khaimov got involved with JCCA five years ago when he was invited by Bella Zelkin, the organization’s director of émigré services, to help develop the Bukharian Teen Lounge, an after-school program that now serves more then 60 teens daily, 500 annually, including some at-risk.

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cal level. Out-of-town communities are increasingly making use of JOFA’s programming and resources. The monthly podcast, Joy of Text, already reaches thousands; frequent webinars and blogcasts allow hundreds to tune in.

Still, though Orthodox feminism is her job, Weiss-Greenberg believes that the work begins at home.

“My husband and I are very careful to divide up household chores and duties,” she said. “We’re equal partners.” Her two young sons know that mommy isn’t the only one who cleans and cooks. “We’re raising two feminists,” she said. “I want my sons to grow up in a different world.”

Discus-throwing champion: Weiss-Greenberg was asked to try out for the Junior Olympics when, in sixth grade, she broke the discus-throwing record at her school in Atlanta. Though she had a true talent, WeissGreenberg doesn’t regret giving it up to pursue a future in Jewish activism. jofa.org | @drSLWG Hannah Dreyfus

SION SETTON, 29 Traveling Teacher

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n July, Rabbi Sion Setton and his wife of two years, Mijal Bitton, plan to fly to Istanbul to offer four Torah classes to the city’s Jewish community. This will be Setton’s fifth visit since 2008 to Istanbul, where he offers the city’s 18,000 Jews classes about their Sephardic heritage.

Those trips are just one of Rabbi Setton’s efforts to teach Sephardic Jews about their customs, traditions and history. Shortly after his ordination in 2012

by Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Setton became the spiritual leader of Congregation Magen David, a Sephardic congregation in Manhattan.

In addition, since 2010 he has served as both director of educational technology and a middle school teacher at Barkai Yeshivah, a Sephardic K-8 school in Borough Park.

Rabbi Setton’s passion for his Sephardic heritage comes from the strong Sephardic-Syrian Jewish community in which his Egyptian-born parents raised him. His father’s parents are from Syria and his mother’s are from Iraq.

“I view my role as that of a bridge builder, helping proud Sephardi Jews integrate their heritage and tradition with

part of Jewish life.

Rabbi Sara Luria is trying to improve the mikvah’s reputation and increase its observance outside the Orthodox community.

Growing up in Brooklyn’s Windsor Terrace neighborhood, Rabbi Luria was active in in the NFTY Reform youth movement. A graduate of Trinity College, Rabbi Luria spent a year training in community organizing as a fellow at JOIN for Justice. She also trained as a birth doula. modern living, especially in downtown Manhattan,” he said.

While still a teenager in 2006, Rabbi Setton helped establish and direct daily Sephardic services for 60 students at Ramaz Middle School and coordinated extracurricular activities and clubs focusing on Sephardic traditions.

At the same time, Rabbi Setton established and maintained a weekly youth minyan for more than 60 attendees at Edmond J. Safra Synagogue, a Sephardic congregation in Manhattan, where he also served as youth director and a rabbinic intern.

In addition, Rabbi Setton founded in 2009 a website on which Sephardic rabbis post digital audio recordings of their lectures about Sephardic history, traditions and stories of Sephardic sages.

“I created it because I felt there was a lack of communication and connection to Sephardic rabbis, leaders and educators worldwide,” he said.

Nearly 700 lectures and articles are now on the site, which has more than 700 visitors each month.

Globe trotter: In addition to Turkey, Rabbi Setton has traveled on humanitarian missions to Thailand, Senegal, San Jose, England and Israel. He speaks both Hebrew and Arabic. magendavidny.org Stewart Ain

RABBI SARA LURIA, 32 Reclaiming The Mikvah

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n Orthodox circles, the mikvah is a ritual bath in which women immerse themselves at specific times — before marriage, after childbirth, following menstrual cycles. Going to mikvah is a mandated part of Orthodox life.

In non-Orthodox circles, going to mikvah has developed a bad rep as an irrelevant act done in an unclean, unkempt setting. It’s become, for most non-Orthodox Jews, an overlooked

After she was ordained at Hebrew Union College Religion in 2013, Rabbi Luria founded ImmerseNYC, modeled after Mayyim Hayyim in Boston, where she had interned. ImmerseNYC defines itself as a “pluralistic, Jewish, feminist” organization that encourages women — and interested men — to go to mikvah, not only for traditional reasons, but also as a healing and community-building exercise.

Women immerse themselves after such occasions as divorce, miscarriage, the death of a loved one or other times of spiritual “transformation,” Rabbi Luria said.

“I’m a Reform rabbi. I love ritual,” said the rabbi. “There’s something powerful about going under the water.”

Putting it all together: While a leader of Trinity College’s Hillel chapter, Rabbi Luria helped write a prayer book after a post-9-11 surge in attendance at Shabbat services caused a siddur shortage. Made with clip-art, a photocopier and a stapler, the siddur combined traditional liturgy and contemporary readings. “They still have it at Hillel,” she said.

Help for the homeless: Before she entered Hebrew Union College, Rabbi Luria volunteered at Rosie’s Place, a shelter for homeless women in Boston, coordinating public policy initiatives. @ImmerseNYC | ImmerseNYC.com Steve Lipman

EVA STERN, 33

Instituting A More Inclusive Judaism

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s a baby, Stern was given four baby naming ceremonies with traditions incorporated from the Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox movements.

“That set the tone for my passion for pluralistic Judaism,” Stern laughed.

Growing up in Union Square, she was active in the nearby Town and Village Synagogue, even though she was one of its younger attendees. After graduating Stuyvesant High School, she headed off to Brandeis, where she met students with a diverse range of Jewish experiences. But for the first time, she also encountered people who associated the Jewish community with something negative, having felt alienated or excluded from it in the past.

“I became increasingly aware of the need to create positive entry points to Jewish life for more people,” Stern said.

Though she had a master’s degree in Judaic studies, Stern looked for a job back in New York where she could make an on-the-ground difference in helping make Judaism more widely accessible. She found it at the Jewish Outreach Institute (now called Big Tent Judaism), which helps the Jewish community reach out to unaffiliated, intermarried, LGBTQ, multiracial and other Jews who often feel marginalized from organized Jewish life.

Stern quickly became one of the organization’s most sought-after trainers on outreach and inclusion. She regularly travels across the U.S. to synagogues, Hillels, Federations and other Jewish groups to help them understand why an increasing number of people don’t participate in Jewish life, and how to combat that trend by creating innovative and inclusive initiatives. For example, to pursue young unaffiliated Jews who associate Judaism with outdated traditions, Stern might help a JCC set up shop in a farmer’s market — where these young Jews are more likely to be found, physi-

Though the Board is relatively new, it’s already planned a handful of events, including dedicating one night of the ASF’s Annual New York Sephardi Film Festival to young professionals with dinner, drinks and speed dating after the film, and hosting an evening for young professionals at the new ASF exhibit, “Sephardic Journeys,” with talks by leading rabbis, live music and dessert.

More social and educational programs

Cutting edge cooking: Stern liked kale before it was popular.

BigTentJudaism.org @BigTentJudaism Tova Ross

LAUREN GIBLI, 24 Cultivating Sephardic Pride

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s a proud Yemenite Jew, Lauren Gibli sees herself as a bridge linking the rituals of her ancestors to future generations.

“I’ve always loved continuing the Jewish traditions that my parents and grandparents taught me,” said Gibli.

“By making a Yeminite dish or chanting a song, I act as a vector between past and present.”

It’s that mentality that inspired her passion for the American Sephardi Federation, an organization that documents the rich experiences of Jews from the Middle East and greater Sephardic diaspora.

An active member in the organization, Gibli saw that further work was needed to engage younger Sephardic Jews — so she founded the ASF Young Leadership Board this past January.

There, she works with a group of 15 young professionals to create programming aimed at making Sephardic culture more relevant to younger Jews.

In starting the Board she made use of her leadership experience as a former president of Wharton Women, which represents 75 percent of undergraduate women at the University of Pennsylvania’s business school. As president, Gibli led a 12-person board, created publications, organized conferences and oversaw mentorship programs — all aimed at helping young women explore business-related careers.

“I saw first hand that a team is more than just a sum of its parts. With that in mind, I sought to find a harmonious balance between the many different viewpoints and strengths of the board members,” said Gibli, who now is a senior analyst at American Express.

are forthcoming.

“The general response so far has been very positive,” said Gibli, “but many young Sephardis just don’t realize what type of resources or social opportunities are available. It’s part of the Board’s mission to make them aware of these opportunities.”

Crying out loud: Gibli often cries “happy tears” when she laughs. @LaurenGibli Tova Ross

CHAVA SHERVINGTON, 34

Challenging Judaism’s Self-Image

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s a black Orthodox Jew, Chava Shervington is constantly being noticed. And she finds it exhausting.

There was the time at a Reform synagogue when two women stared at her for the entire service. The time someone at a grocery store explained what gefilte fish was. The offers to help her read the prayer book and the stares from kids at kosher restaurants.

But most exhausting of all is when people ask about her “path to Judaism.”

“People are curious, I get it,” she said, but “Jews of color opt out of the Jewish community at far greater rates ... and part of that is because their identities and their authenticity as Jews are always being questioned.”

As president of the Jewish Multiracial Network (JMN) Shervington is working to change that.

DANIEL SILVERSTEIN, 35 An Old Subject, A New Beat

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hen Daniel Silverstein was growing up in London, he wrote poetry. He

“A big part of the work we’re doing is to educate people to the fact that Jews of color exist ... that there are a bunch of ways that people who are African American like me end up being Jewish and that’s valid, and it’s normal,” she said.

The Baton Rouge, La., native and former corporate lawyer now lives in Crown Heights with her husband and 1-year-old daughter and works in the nonprofit world.

Formerly Reform, Shervington became observant in law school, where she discovered JMN. She joined its board in 2011 and became its president a year later.

Under Shervington, JMN revamped its national conference, hired its first staff member, created a handbook on welcoming Jews of color, cultivated a network of bloggers for its overhauled website and recruited more JMN members to leadership roles.

“Chava has that quality that makes you want to work harder,” said Deborah Vishnevsky, a public health graduate student and longtime JMN volunteer. “She is compelling. ... The work is really personal for her.”

The work is personal, but she’s happy to discuss it, along with the highs and lows of life as a black Orthodox Jew. But please, don’t ask her how she became one.

“People say that by telling my narrative I’m letting people know that I exist,” she said. “I agree ... but I shouldn’t have to put myself on display in order to make people understand that the Jewish community is diverse.”

Stealth tourist: While honeymooning in China, Shervington and her husband snuck into two ancient mosques: the 10th-century Niuijie Mosque in Beijing and the eighth-century Great Mosque of Xian.

Jewishmultiracialnetwork.org @JewishDiversity Amy Sara Clark

also sang.

He eventually combined those skills into beatboxing, a form of vocal percussion that most people identify as rap or hip-hop poetry. “My rebbe,” he said,

“was Bob Dylan.”

A member of a “proudly Jewish” but not ritually observant family, he turned to a Modern Orthodox lifestyle as a teen, dropped out for five years, then returned.

After years of performing in a band that had a message of interfaith tolerance, and three years studying in Israeli yeshivot, he decided on a career that would combine his apparently disparate interests — he’ll be ordained this month

by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in Riverdale, Rabbi Avi Weiss’ Open Orthodox institution. Despite the workload, Silverstein has continued to perform, albeit less regularly, in recent years.

This summer he takes a post as Hillel rabbi at Stanford University, where he will be able to resume use of his “spoken word artist”-MC background.

Founder of London’s Moishe House and a veteran of work that promotes better relations between Jews and Muslims, both as public affairs officer at the Israeli Embassy in London, and as co-founder of the Lines of Faith “Muslim-Jewish hip hop and poetry collective,” he has a constant goal: shattering stereotypes.

His brand of improv poetry and the rabbinate complement each other, he said. His theological training colors his music, and his performance skills help him on the bima.

If, he said, “you sound like you are reading from a script, people can tell.”

Spent time at Cambridge …

Two years after earning a B.A. in social and political sciences

The Jewish Week ■ www.thejewishweek.com ■ June 5, 2015

cally and metaphysically, than in a synagogue — and partner with a local beekeeper to offer gourmet honey tastings before the High Holidays.

“After creating these ‘client-centric experiences’ to deepen their Judaism in ways meaningful to them, we can strengthen those relationships,” said Stern. “As an organized Jewish community,” she said, “we are responsible for giving every person, no matter what, a positive and meaningful experience of Jewish life.”

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at the University of Cambridge Silverman returned to campus as director of the Hillel Culanu Center for Jewish Life. … and in El Salvador: Three years ago he went to El Salvador with American Jewish World Service as part of a delegation of rabbinical students.

The group spent the mornings digging irrigation ditches on small farms and the afternoons studying the country’s culture. danielraphaelsilverstein.com @dannyraphael613 Steve Lipman

BUSINESS YUDA SCHLASS, 30 A Taste For The Hipster Life

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hen Yuda Schlass started Hassid + Hipster, his kosher pop-up sandwich shop, he never expected he’d be serving up his signature snacks to the kosher crowd Down Under.

sher certification agency KOF-K before starting a delivery service called The Fresh Diet in Miami in 2006.

Toward the end of 2013, he started Hassid + Hipster, a name that blends two aspects of his identity. “I was inspired to try to bring new flavors and techniques to the kosher world; combining new and old, traditional and modern,” he said.

His work drew the attention of Kitchensurfing, an Uber for foodies that dispatches chefs instead of taxis. He’s been working with the company to build up its kosher offerings.

Schlass expects to be back in New York this summer, where he expects to test out the latest trend to tantalize Tribal taste buds: cured meat.

“If I had to single out one trend I would say charcuterie has really been coming out,” he said. “Walking into many kosher markets and restaurants today, you will see an ever growing selection ... from duck prosciutto to carnecetta.”

A taste for martial arts: When not in the kitchen, Schlass can often be found watching mixed martial arts bouts, especially those with Cain Velazquez, because, he said, “boxing is too boring.” @HassidHipster | hassidhipster.com Adam Dickter

NOA MINTZ, 15

Babysitting Boss, Budding Philanthropist

S But several months ago on a visit to Australia, his wife Adina’s native home, green card regulations necessitated a prolonged stay for the couple.

He’s been spending the time at Sydney’s few kosher restaurants cooking up his Brooklyn-born creations, like goose confit sandwiches and maple-glazed lamb bacon. “People get blown away,” said Schlass on a call from Sydney. “No one here gets to experience new stuff, and fine dining for sure not.”

It’s the culmination of a long culinary journey for the Jerusalem native, born to American olim. His father ran a kosher New York macrobiotic restaurant in the 60s and his Chabad household in the Old City was always packed with Shabbat guests, so a food obsession was practically baked into him. Educated in Chabad schools, he worked for the ko-

ome high school students babysit for extra cash. Noa Mintz launched her own babysitting agency.

Today, Nannies by Noa, a full-service childcare agency serving families in New York City, Brooklyn and the Hamptons, boasts 25 full-time nannies, 50 babysitters and nearly 250 clients.

Mintz, a 15-year-old high school freshman, initially began the company to find the perfect sitter for her family.

“A good entrepreneur has firsthand experience of the issues,” said Mintz, who started matching her parents’ friends with caregivers she found on career websites aimed at college students and through word of mouth.

“I want to revolutionize the nanny world,” said Mintz, who personally background checks all of her employees. She places a high value on handson caregivers. “I want the nanny who will go down the slide with you, not just stand by and watch.”

Still Mintz, who attends Heschel High School on the Upper West Side, hasn’t allowed the company’s success to steal her focus. Last July, Mintz hired a

full-time CEO (formerly one of her nannies) so she could focus on schoolwork.

“I have to start thinking about college!” she said.

Nannies By Noa is not the first time Mintz has channeled her entrepreneurial spirit to kick-start an idea. She also uses it for philanthropic efforts. In 2012, Mintz worked with UJA-Federation of New York’s “Give a Mitzvah-Do a Mitzvah” program to create a therapeutic knitting group for young girls in Sderot coping with the trauma of Hamas rocket attacks.

In 2014, she joined the board of UJA’s Teen Philanthropic Leadership Council, this year raising money for organizations that aid survivors of domestic violence.

Mintz is also an advocate for inclusion — she is an active volunteer for Friendship Circle, an organization that provides social and recreational programs for Jewish children with special needs. This summer, she is launching Friendship Circle of the Hamptons.

Though she’s not yet sure where the future will lead, improving the lives of others remains her goal.

“There are so many small ways to make the world a better place for everyone,” she said. “If we all help in small ways, the world will change.

Brain boost: Mintz says she thinks of her best ideas while at spin class, where the fastpaced music and motivational instructors give her the boost she needs. nanniesbynoa.com Hannah Dreyfus

DAVID YARUS, 28

Making The Shidduch Swipe-able

D

avid Yarus calls himself a hopeless romantic. “All I’m looking for is peace and love,” he said. Yarus’ penchant for passion explains why he has built a business out of playing Cupid.

Yarus is the founder of JSwipe, the Jewish dating app launched last year in time for Passover. Now, just after its anniversary, JSwipe has over 300,000 users.

Yarus grew up in Miami Beach with parents who became increasingly observant throughout his childhood. When Yarus was 16, he embarked on his own spiritual journey. In 2002 he applied to St. Albans School, a rigorous Episcopalian boarding school in Washington, D.C., where he attended the last two years of high school.

Attracted to the challenge and novelty of immersing himself in an unfamiliar environment, Yarus rose to the top of his class, becoming the school’s first Jewish president. “I was the token Jewish kid. It wasn’t about level of affiliation. I represented Judaism as a whole,” said Yarus.

Now calling himself “post-denominational Jewish,” Yarus has developed an algorithm within his app that allows users to choose from a bevy of options, including “Orthodox,” “Kosher” and “Just Jewish.” There is also a large LGBTQ presence as well as an option for people who aren’t Jewish.

In 2014, Yarus launched mllnnl, a millennial marketing agency that helps organizations like Taglit-Birthright Israel and Hillel International engage millennials through social media. Yarus regularly speaks about the millennial mindset and teaches social media strategy and best practices at major Jewish conferences, including the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly, the Orthodox Union’s YouthCon, Taglit Fellows, the Israeli Consulate and UJA-Federation.

In addition to his many projects, Yarus does pro bono work for Jewish organizations to assist with social media.

As of April, JSwipe has had 500 million swipes, 25 million messages and 10 million matches. The app has also led to three marriages and 10 engagements, according to Yarus.

Swaying in the breeze: In off hours Yarus rides his bike to the water, where he tacks up a hammock for a meditative sway.

Tent time: Every year Yarus spends a month in a Bedouin village in the Negev. jswipeapp.com Maya Klausner