Director, PGIM Real Estate, New Jersey
Most of the year, Lisa Mamaysky works at PGIM Real Estate in New Jersey. But come summer, she pulls out her shorts and sneakers and heads to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, where she and her husband, Isaac, run Camp Zeke, a Jewish overnight camp focused on celebrating healthy, active living through fitness, sports, cooking, and gourmet food.
Director of Jewish Engagement & Adult Programs, St. Louis Jewish Community Center;
Co-Founder and Co-Director of Songleader Bootcamp
“I keep the J in the JCC,” says Rabbi Brad Horwitz, director of Jewish Engagement and Adult Programs at the St. Louis Jewish Community Center (the J). With over 12,000 members and one million touch points per year, Horwitz jokes that he has the largest “congregation” in the city.
Senior Rabbi, B’nai Torah Congregation, Boca Raton, Florida
For Rabbi David Steinhardt, social justice is one of the most powerful ways to inspire the next generation. “The future of Judaism demands that we translate the tradition’s values into a calling that resonates with young people” says Steinhardt, rabbi of B’nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Florida, which has over 1,400 families.
Music Director, Congregation Beth Sholom, Teaneck, NJ
“I was a public school kid who hated Hebrew school,” says Cantor Ronit Wolff Hanan, “but I later discovered that Jewish knowledge and spirit can be nurtured through the arts, not just in a traditional educational setting. Music provided me with the path to reconnect to my Judaism in a powerful way.”
Operations Manager—ELNET-Israel; Former Spokeswoman, Israel Defense Forces
“As soon as I decided to make Israel my home, I joined the army, because that is where I felt I could make a difference for the state.” In her previous work as a spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces, Lt. Tamara Epelbaum was responsible for the development and execution of the IDF’s media strategy for international audiences, including dozens of leading news outlets all over the world.
Head of Charles E. Smith Day School of Greater Washington DC
Rabbi Mitchel Malkus says that attending a Jewish day school strengthened not only his Jewish identity but that of his family. “My parents became involved in leadership at the school, and they started advancing their own Jewish education because of it,” recalls Malkus. “That’s why I do this work, because I believe it’s the most significant Jewish educational endeavor that exists in the United States.”
When the Building Is Almost Done—and the Real Work Begins and Continues
As I personally prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur this year, and consider the special meaning of the 2019 High Holiday season for the extended JTS family, I cannot help but reflect on the state of the new-and-renewed campus rising just outside my office window. What does it mean to have the completion of a major project in sight, but know you have a way to go before the goal is reached? How do we reckon with the realization that when the work is finally done, other work—the real work—begins and continues?
Executive Director, University of Pennsylvania Hillel
With over 300 events a month reaching a thousand students a year, the Hillel at the University of Pennsylvania was clearly a success, yet it never seemed to reach students on the fringes of Jewish life. Rabbi Mike Uram, executive director, wanted to change that
