Amira's Posts

Original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post

Bronstein’s daily Spanish-language videos – 443 in total to date – have quite a following, with 106,000 subscribers.

Meir Bronstein is not your typical hassid. He is also not your typical YouTuber. 

His sweet demeanor, his grasp of Judaism, literature and secular topics, his sense of humor, and his disarming smile have made him a rock star among Spanish-speaking YouTubers. He clearly, openly and proudly teaches his followers about every aspect of Judaism and Hassidism. His most successful YouTube video, Five Jewish Solutions That Will Change Your Life, has attracted 392,000 views.

Bronstein grew up a secular, somewhat rebellious son of prominent Masorti Rabbi Guillermo Bronstein in Lima, Peru. He lived there for 22 years before moving to Argentina to study literature. When the university fell on hard times and closed during an economic downturn in 2017, Bronstein admits, “I was very lost. I had no place to go.” He called his father for guidance, who advised him to reach out to Rabbi Isaac Sacca, the Sephardi chief rabbi of Buenos Aires, as well as founder and president of Menora, an organization catering to young people and ba’alei teshuva (those looking to become more observant).

“I went to Menora and started to learn Talmud and Jewish things and Halacha [Jewish law] and whatever. The intense studies attracted me, and I realized I wanted to be a frum Yid [religious Jew].” When Bronstein was considering becoming a hassid, he had a flashback to an experience he had more than a dozen years ago in Israel.

“In 2007, I was 10 years old and in Israel for the first time. We were in [the Jerusalem neighborhood of] Bayit Vagan for my sister’s wedding. It was 4 p.m. on Friday and we were on the balcony. I saw hats and long beards – and I listened.” 

WITH THE Spinka Rebbe. (credit: Courtesy Meir Bronstein)WITH THE Spinka Rebbe. (credit: Courtesy Meir Bronstein)

Bronstein smiles and breaks out into a niggun, a melody, which he hums and sings. “I looked up and saw a beautiful family of hassidim wearing spodeks [black fur hats]. I started listening and asked, ‘Who are these people?’ I saw myself in them. I felt my neshama [soul] – it was a very moving experience.” Without missing a beat, Bronstein makes a reference to Rudolph Otto, the German Lutheran theologian and writer who penned dozens of books including some of which have been cited by such Jewish theologians as rabbis Joseph Soloveitchik and Eliezer Berkovits. 

He checks his iPhone for the English name of one of the theologian’s books. “Rudolph explains that you can feel God in a place where people live a life of God. He got there because he entered a shul in Germany at Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur, felt the atmosphere and realized that God is there.” Bronstein connects Rudolph’s experience to his own. “So I felt the same. I felt so attached to them [the hassidim]. That feeling stayed with me my whole life.”

Bronstein recalls realizing just how different he was from others his age. “It was the first years of YouTube. My friends used to watch, I don’t know, the funniest falls, the funniest interviews. I used to watch the Satmar Rebbe dancing with his granddaughter, the Bobover Rebbe making Kiddush… I used to watch the videos of rebbes all day.”

“These hassidic ideas stayed with me my whole life and I said to myself, ‘When I am 70 or 80 years old, I want to be hassidish – not now, because I will need to stop using a smartphone on Shabbes, and many [other] things I don’t want [to give up]…” 

His time frame for becoming religious quickly moved up. “When I went to Argentina, these things started to happen, I started my teshuva process.” And Bronstein immediately began the process of becoming observant.

Coming to Israel and becoming a hassid

Bronstein came to Israel on scholarship in the winter of 2018 at age 23 to study in a yeshiva. He admits he didn’t really come to study. He ate breakfast with the other students, attended one shiur (class) and “escaped to Mea She’arim or Geula [in Jerusalem] to meet hassidim, learn what a rebbe is, etc.” 

Bronstein had a pivotal experience one day at the yeshiva. “One Friday, a guy in the yeshiva, Yoel Moshe, told me he had an uncle who was a Satmar [Hassid] and invited me to come eat with them for Shabbes.” Bronstein went to a Boyaner shul in Geula. “I will never forget the experience. I felt like I traveled back to a previous life in the shtetl – the people, the dress, the shtreimels [fur hats.]” 

The crowning achievement was his unexpected meeting with the Boyaner Rebbe at the conclusion of services. “I wanted to meet the rebbe, but he wasn’t there. We waited, and he came out. He is very humble and never looks up. He said ‘Gut Shabbes’ and shook our hand and continued walking. That was an amazing moment in my life. At that moment, I knew I wanted to be hassidish!”

Bronstein recounts that he didn’t aspire to be a hassid when he was younger. “As a kid, I wanted to be a writer and movie director.” He acknowledges that he published a book when he was 20 but was too embarrassed to elaborate. “Don’t ask what it is about. I am not so proud of it.”

After his experience with the Boyaner Rebbe in Israel and his growing interest in hassidim, Bronstein returned to Peru to consider his next move. He knew that hassidim lived all over the world. His father helped him realize, “When the mashiach [Messiah] comes, we will all need to go to Israel. And all rebbes go there sooner or later.” In Peru, he began the aliyah process. 

A female Jewish Agency representative, hearing that hassidism and rebbes were the motivating factors for his making aliyah, suggested that he not make aliyah straightaway – rather he spend one year in Israel on a MASA program, experience the country, and then decide if aliyah was right for him. 

Bronstein’s Israel plans changed – unbeknownst to him – while he was flying to Israel. When he showed up at the yeshiva where he was expecting to study for the year with all his luggage in tow, he was told by the yeshiva that they “didn’t want a hassid” and he was not actually accepted. What was he to do? He remembered he had a friend in Rehavia, who invited him to come over right away. (Bronstein smiles, saying he stayed there for three months!)

That frustrating first day in Israel quickly turned around, Bronstein says. “I was exhausted and slept from like 10 a.m. until 5:50 p.m. I woke up refreshed. I don’t know why, but I felt I needed to daven Mincha [pray the afternoon service] right away. I asked my friend for the closest shul, and he directed me to one around the corner. The first person I saw was the Boyaner Rebbe! He was at a conference nearby and stopped by to pray. I got to him like that! He said he remembered me, gave me the phone number of his gabbai [assistant)] and encouraged me to come to his shul, visit and reach out if I needed anything.”

Bronstein’s path to becoming a Boyaner Hassid continued. He had been caring for an elderly man through the yeshiva, then COVID hit, and he was no longer able to work. “I had nothing to do. It was a hard time. I got very depressed.” 

Getting into YouTube after reacting to the Netflix show Unorthodox

BRONSTEIN DISCOVERED the Netflix show Unorthodox, a miniseries about a 19-year-old Satmar Hassidic woman who is unhappy living a religious lifestyle in Williamsburg, Brooklyn – and flees. “At the same time, I started getting messages from friends in Peru and Argentina who heard I was becoming a hassid and asked if it was true or not. I decided to make a video – from a person IN hassidut – explaining what is true and what is not in Unorthodox.”

One video led to Bronstein creating many videos. “I didn’t know it would go from two to three to 500 to 1,000 to 2,000, whatever – people viewing the videos!” A Latin friend who was a successful YouTuber went to Bronstein’s house and encouraged him to keep making videos about how a Latin American guy became hassidic. 

There was one problem, however. “This thing clashed with Boyan – they are very regular haredi, ultra-Orthodox who don’t accept technology. People respected me for what I was doing, and the Boyaner Rebbe reluctantly permitted it. He said, ‘This is your parnassah [livelihood], but be aware – this isn’t a good thing and it could create problems. You should try to find other work.” 

Bronstein was in a bind. On one hand, he loved making videos. On the other hand, his rebbe wasn’t exactly supportive. “I didn’t know what to do.” The well-informed Bronstein brings examples of other well-rounded people – from modern times and from the past – who lived in both the religious and secular worlds, such as Rabban Gamliel in the Talmud, Maimonides and Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski. “I was inspired by Rabbi Twerski,” a hassid and psychiatrist specializing in substance abuse.” Bronstein really wants to show the world that it’s possible to be a haredi who uses YouTube and smartphones for good, and that one can learn secular and Jewish topics and not stop being Jewish, and particularly haredi. 

Bronstein was still not sure what to do. He was stuck at home during the quarantines and badly wanted to speak with the Boyaner Rebbe. His gabbai informed him that the rebbe was spending time with his family. “Call a rabbi,” his gabbai said. “I wanted to speak with a rebbe, not a rabbi!” 

Then Bronstein met a hassidic psychologist. “Maybe you can help me,” he said. “I am going crazy!” He was delighted by the psychologist’s suggestion to join a Zoom meeting with the Spinka Rebbe that night. “A Zoom with a rebbe?” Bronstein thought to himself, “I’ve never heard of this – I’ve heard of people recording a rebbe in secret but never this. It was true! A rebbe teaching Rashi, with his computer, on Zoom!” Bronstein approached the rebbe after the September 2020 class. “I got convinced.” 

“THAT WAS the haredi path I should follow, so I left Boyan.”

Bronstein has been happy with his decision, noting that everyone is accepted and that even people from his previous Boyaner hassidic community have been nice. 

And the Spinka Rebbe has been accepting and supportive of his love of YouTube. “When I realized you can show hassidus on YouTube, I asked the rebbe if I could maybe show more private things about hassidim. The Spinka Rebbe said, ‘Come to my house and record what you want!” Bronstein has recorded a halike, a first haircut ceremony held when a Jewish boy turns three, at the rebbe’s house and the Sheva Brachot of his granddaughter.

Bronstein is delighted that he has found a place where he can be accepted and where he can teach people about all aspects of Hassidism. At the same time, he acknowledges that many on YouTube think he is “doing a hilul Hashem [desecrating God’s name].” In any case, “They see that I am not the average hassid!”

His viewers include secular Jews and non-Jewish Bnei Noah – Noahides who see themselves as required to observe the Seven Laws of Noah to be assured of a place in the World to Come. 

Bronstein’s daily Spanish-language videos – 443 in total to date – have quite a following, with 106,000 subscribers. His most popular videos include Five Jewish Solutions That Will Change Your Life (392K); An Orthodox Jew Reacts to Argentine Humor (372K); The Ultra-Orthodox Neighborhood Nobody Has Dared To Enter (195K); and Interview with Ximena Orozco, the Actress Who Left Everything for Torah (and her conversion story). [https://www.youtube.com/@meirbronstein]

Bronstein and his wife of 10 months, Odel (“like the daughter of the Ba’al Shem Tov,” Bronstein adds), are happy living in Israel but admit “It is so expensive and difficult to live here.” He playfully yet seriously observes, “The banks take NIS 20 fees for nothing. There is a fee for this, a fee for that, a fee for breathing!” Bronstein advises olim, “Come with money, keep money in other countries, and come with Hebrew – even if it is from Duolingo!” He acknowledged that he learned Hebrew in ulpan but doesn’t speak fluently.

Bronstein and Odel hope to stay in Israel but are considering short-term teaching and keiruv (outreach) opportunities abroad “if the right opportunity comes.”

Meir Bronstein, 27 From Peru to Argentina to Jerusalem, 2019

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original Article Published On The JNS

Harriet Schleifer, newly 70, is the rare leader who has distinguished herself in multiple spheres.

Harriet Schleifer just wants Jews of all backgrounds to get along.

“I am a huge believer in Jewish peoplehood and Jewish continuity, and to the greatest extent possible, I want different Jewish groups not only to speak with each other but to get to know each other so that friendship develops,” the chair-elect of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations told JNS recently.

Schleifer, whose philanthropy lent her name to the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center in New Haven, Conn., talked to JNS on a trip to Israel the center just took that focused on access for those with disabilities. She brought her son, David, with her on his first visit to the Jewish state.

The retired attorney, who resides in Chappaqua, N.Y., has decades of nonprofit experience. She is a former president of the American Jewish Committee; a Cornell University trustee; and a board member of organizations that include the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Jewish Museum in New York and the Jewish Broadcasting Service. She has been a member of the executive council of the Conference of Presidents since 2019, and has held positions at UJA-Federation of New York and the Westchester Jewish Council. And she served as president of a synagogue in Mount Kisco, N.Y.

She will become chair of the Conference of Presidents on June 1.

In an interview with JNS, Schleifer stressed the importance of Jews working and “hanging” out together. “I feel like Jews can’t afford divisiveness. They really can’t,” she said. “I really want to keep us connected.”

Schleifer celebrated her 70th birthday recently with the Chapel Haven group at Newark Liberty International Airport before flying to Israel for the trip. She took time away from the group to represent the Conference of Presidents at the Knesset when House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) addressed the Israeli parliament.

William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents, told JNS that Schleifer’s “impressive achievements” at AJC “speak volumes about her leadership and dedication to the Jewish community.”

He added that “her personal connection to Jewish continuity and her profound understanding of our history make her a truly exceptional advocate.”

Harriet Schleifer as president of the American Jewish Committee. Credit: AJC.

‘Everyone can contribute something’

Schleifer is the rare leader who has distinguished herself in two spheres—advocating for those with disabilities and for Jews—and those who revere her in each often are unaware of the work she does in the other. 

Everything that she does draws upon her identity as a Jewish person, she told JNS.

“It’s what was breathed in my home. It was the oxygen growing up. My parents were Holocaust survivors, and they did talk” about their experiences, she said. 

As such, she noted: “I was a child with an old head.”

Schleifer sees her advocacy for Jews and those with disabilities as a way to amplify voices. “You have to be productive, in terms of making life better for people,” she said. “If you can’t contribute, then you should step aside. Everyone can contribute something in their own way.”

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Original Article Published On The JNS

“Disabilities should not hinder individuals and their families from … participating in cultural exchanges like any neurotypical individual would,” said Michael Storz of the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center in New Haven, Conn.

A group of 30 residents of Connecticut, including adults with disabilities, their parents and staff members who work with them, spent nine days in Israel learning about accessibility in the Jewish state.

The trip ran from April 26 to May 4, observed by JNS in its entirety. It was a joint program of the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center in New Haven, Conn., and the nonprofit Access Israel and Accessibility Accelerator—the U.S. partner of Access Israel, based in Kfar Saba, Israel.

“Disabilities should not hinder individuals and their families from traveling, navigating all terrains and participating in cultural exchanges like any neurotypical individual would,” Michael Storz, president of Chapel Haven, a more than 50-year-old nonprofit, told JNS.

The trip not only taught Chapel Haven’s staff and adult community members about how Israeli counterparts remove barriers to independence, but the group also “learned about multiple cultures” and “the beauty of Israel and its people,” according to Storz. And it focused on creating “ambassadors for accessible travel.”

Early on in the program, Jamie Lassner, executive director of Accessibility Accelerator, told the group: “Your experience and knowledge have made you an important advocate for inclusive and accessible travel.”

Harriet Schleifer, a Chapel Haven donor and board member (she does not live in Connecticut), first suggested the idea of a trip to Israel. She participated with her 36-year-old son, David Schleifer, who was visiting the Jewish state for the first time.

The itinerary included visits to the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, a boat ride on the Kinneret and a tour of Agamon Hula-JNF Nature and Ornithology Park in the Hula Valley in northern Israel. At the nature center, after touring the nature reserve’s many miles of paved pathways in golf carts, participants had an opportunity to ride on the back of a tandem bike driven by a professional bike rider, where they were encouraged to cover their eyes and experience the park like a blind person would. Others rode recumbent bikes.

One participant, Shania Jones, told JNS that closing her eyes was “pretty scary at first, but a good experience.”

Mother and son Peggy Baker and Matthew Baker. Credit: Courtesy of Accessibility Accelerator.

Accessibility at Masada, Dead Sea, Tower of David

In Tel Aviv, participants heard over dinner at the Herod Hotel from Shirly Pinto, the only deaf person to serve in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in the capital of Jerusalem. The former Knesset member told the group about addressing that legislative body with an interpreter. She recounted that it was unusual for the Knesset to remain so silent and attentive, she said.

The group also visited Palmachim Airbase, near Rishon Letzion and Yavne on the Mediterranean coast, where participants saw mechanics working on Black Hawk helicopters. Driving his wheelchair, Yuval Wagner, president and founder of Access Israel, led the group to a monument to a Cobra helicopter that crashed on a 1987 training mission when a rotor broke off. Wagner was paralyzed in that crash, which killed his commander.

At the base and over dinner at his home in Hod Hasharon outside Tel Aviv, Wagner told the group that he was inspired to create Access Israel after being unable to access a bathroom at a guest house while vacationing in the north of Israel.

Participant Rachel McEachern at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Credit: Courtesy of Accessibility Accelerator.

The itinerary also included a visit to Masada, which the group found to be accessible for those with wheelchairs or scooters, and a stop at the Dead Sea. The latter, where the group took wooden steps to reach a beach, was not accessible, although participants were told that other parts of the area were.

At the Tower of David Museum of Jerusalem, Reut Kozak, head of access and inclusion, explained that the museum has recently upgraded an elevator and its galleries to make them more accessible.

Other stops included the Jerusalem headquarters of the emergency services first-responder agency United Hatzalah; the Biblical Zoo, also in Jerusalem; and Ma’arag Mevo’ot HaChermon, a job-training program for people with disabilities, which includes a coffee shop and art workshop.

A group photo at the Palmachim Airbase in Israel; Yuval Wagner, president and founder of Access Israel, is in the front row, third from left, in the wheelchair. Credit: Courtesy of Accessibility Accelerator.

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Original Article Published On The JPOST

CEO Guy Salomon began thinking about his hobby of beer-making and wondered if this fairly simple and straightforward process might have potential as a job for program participants.

On a rainy Jerusalem morning, several small rooms in a nondescript building complex in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem are bustling with activity. A group of young men and women, all with cerebral palsy and other motor disabilities – many seated in wheelchairs – are loud and animated as they discuss the Israeli artist of the day, Shlomi Shabat, in their mifgash tarbut (cultural meeting) class. One young man playfully notes that the Turkish treats they will soon prepare in honor of Shabat’s Turkish heritage are different from the treats his own Turkish mother prepares.

Welcome to Tsad Kadima’s (A Step Forward) Adult Day Center in Jerusalem and its national headquarters. The award-winning nonprofit, founded in 1987 by parents of children with cerebral palsy, operates in five other cities – Beersheba, Eilat, Rishon Lezion, Ness Ziona and Or Akiva.

Tsad Kadima utilizes the Conductive Education, or Peto, approach, which was developed at the Peto Institute in Hungary in the 1940s. The approach involves participants specifically learning to perform actions that those without disabilities learn naturally through life experiences. Children with disabilities are encouraged to be problem solvers and develop a self-reliant personality that fosters participation, initiative, determination, motivation, independence and self-sufficiency.

While the mifgash tarbut group is learning about Shabat, a team of talented musicians is working in an adjoining room with Boaz Reinschreiber, a music teacher and designer of the Arcana. This unique instrument uses a joystick and produces sounds like a guitar so that people with motor disabilities can compose and play music. 

“I didn’t know what cerebral palsy was,” says Reinschreiber as he reflects on his first experience helping a girl with motor disabilities who was interested in finding a way to actively experience music. “I saw Gil’s ambition and desire to play. There were no solutions, but I wanted to find something. I saw how accurate she was with a joystick on her wheelchair.” 

PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS and staff label beer bottles. (credit: HOWARD BLAS)PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS and staff label beer bottles. (credit: HOWARD BLAS)

Reinschreiber and his colleagues created what would become Arcana, which is catching on in Israel and throughout Europe as a useful music education tool for disabled and non-disabled musicians. 

Sarah Morgan, 29, a participant who has difficulties producing clear, easy to understand speech but has incredible passion and enthusiasm, is sitting in her wheelchair at the back of the culture class, describing her experience as a student at David Yellin College of Education. Morgan studies side by side with non-disabled students in the special education college program. 

Hadassah Diner, director of the Jerusalem Adult Day Center, who is accustomed to Sarah’s speech and helped clarify certain words for this reporter, says, “It is fun to learn in a group. You feel part of the group…. Sarah loves learning! When she came to the center, she was scared about learning. Now she is happy and challenged intellectually and is enjoying classes and forming friendships.”

“The participants are learning to be more active in life – not only physically but mentally as well. The goal is to be integrated in society and take part in the community.”Guy Salomon

The activities and program are a success

CEO GUY SALOMON is pleased with the activities and programs taking place in the building, in the community and throughout the country. “The participants are learning to be more active in life – not only physically but mentally as well. The goal is to be integrated in society and take part in the community.” Tsad Kadima strives to develop independence and successful mainstreaming into society while offering necessary environmental supports. 

While Salomon is reluctant to take credit for what has now become an integral part of the program, one of his ideas has helped create jobs, raise self-esteem and create a buzz in the local community and throughout Israel. Salomon began thinking about his hobby of beer-making and wondered if this fairly simple and straightforward process might have potential as a job for program participants. 

“I do beer at home and thought it would be easy,” Salomon recounts. Thus Bira Kadima was born, joining the many microbreweries that have been springing up across the country since 2011. “At first, I thought it would be an easy job to learn, since it involves working in a certain order. We discovered that it was tasty, and the outcome was good!” 

Once participants were off and running with their beer-making, a local Jerusalem bar agreed to offer space for two hours on a Friday afternoon where participants could host parents and sample the beer their children had brewed. “It was amazing – it was the first time participants ever sat with their parents over a beer,” reports Salomon. 

While the response to Bira Kadima from participants, parents and the community has been positive, the staff has encountered a number of challenges with the beer-making operation. Ruti Cohen, an occupational therapist who has been part of the Tsad Kadima program since 2013, runs Bira Kadima. “It is still very challenging.” She notes that it has been difficult finding a role that is a good fit for each participant. In addition, once a person settles into a specific role, it is hard to offer that role to another participant. Cohen, who has used her expertise as an occupational therapist to create adaptive devices, wishes she had more adaptive machines and equipment for her participants. “We are always finding new ways,” she says. 

EVERY THURSDAY, known as “cooking days,” the fairly simple beer-making process, which goes back 12,000 years, begins. Essentially, water and grain are heated, the mixture is boiled with hops, then cooled, fermented and carbonated. On this day, the first day back after the long (hametz-free) Passover break, some participants start the process of making a Belgian beer by pouring malt and hops and other ingredients into a big pot in the center of the room. 

Others retrieve older cold beer from a small keg in the refrigerator and fill bottles. Additional team members paste labels on the bottles. They will produce 50 bottles a day and have thus far produced five varieties of beer.

Ayelet Hazout, 41, a resident of Katamon, has a specially designed bottle holder attached to her wheelchair. She uses her chair and adaptive device to transport bottles from the filling team to the labeling team. “I love to [make] beer because it is fun,” she says. 

Some participants also work on publicity and marketing by regularly posting about Bira Kadima on Instagram and Facebook. The staff is proud of how much of the beer-making process is done by the participants. “We work hard to make the process their beer and not us getting involved.” The staff assists throughout the entire process but does not offer more support than necessary. 

The staff has enjoyed watching the excitement and joy that comes from earning a salary. “The money goes to them!” says Cohen. Staff members were particularly proud as they watched group members discuss what to do with their first paycheck. “They wanted us to buy gift cards for them so they could buy coffee and cake for the team,” Cohen says.

Diner is pleased with how far the beer-making program has come and how well Bira Kadima fits in with the overall approach and philosophy of the program. She adds somewhat playfully and somewhat seriously, “We essentially made it up as we went along.” They asked participants if they would be interested in beer-making, and participants and the staff – new to beer-making – learned processes as they proceeded. 

Looking back, Diner is pleased with the industry they essentially arrived at by chance and looks forward to the continued expansion of Bira Kadima. “It allows participants to be active and as autonomous as possible while providing a service to people and being part of a social environment. And beer-making is so down to earth!”

According to Benjy Maor, director of resource development, Tsad Kadima operates in its current space and rents an apartment in Jerusalem to provide training for independent living in the community. The organization has received land from the Jerusalem Municipality in the Mekor Haim neighborhood to build its own home, in partnership with the Jerusalem Foundation, which will house all aspects of the program. Bira Kadima hopes to move to a larger facility and expand its successful beer-making operation.

To learn more about the therapeutic home-brewing workshop: tsadkadima.org.il/en/homepage/what-we-do/special-programs/homebrewing/

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