“The Jewish Disability Inclusion toolkit is a comprehensive resource which brings together not only RespectAbility’s near decade of work on this issue, but the work of key partners including Howard Blas, Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, and Matan,” said Matan Koch, Vice President for Workforce, Leadership and Faith Programs at RespectAbility.
Thanks to Prof. Shmuel Kornblit, the Spanish-speaking world has access to an incredible range of texts and Jewish educational resources in their mother tongue.
Thanks to the passion and hard work of an oleh from Argentina, the Spanish-speaking world has access to an incredible range of texts and Jewish educational resources in their mother tongue.
Prof. Shmuel Kornblit, director of Spanish language programs at Herzog College, made aliyah at age 17, twice served as a shaliach (emissary) in Argentina and continues to meet the needs of Spanish-speaking Jews through a variety of in-person and online programs and resources.
Kornblit’s deep connections to Israel and Judaism – and to the Spanish-speaking world – together with his deep curiosity, boundless energy and passion, fuel his desire to continuously expand the one-stop-shop Spanish-language website Masuah (www.masuah.org) he created five years ago. So far, over half a million people have visited the site.
Kornblit’s love for Jewish texts and culture, and his devotion to sharing it with others have been growing since his childhood in Argentina. While Kornblit, 50, was not particularly observant as a boy, he can partially trace his connection to Jewish learning to his grandparents. They had immigrated to Argentina from Eastern Europe and learned in cheder, but stopped at age 14 due to everyday practicalities. “They had to work for a living,” reports Kornblit.
Kornblit’s parents did not attend Jewish school though they did send Shmuel to a Jewish kindergarten “until it became too expensive.” They subsequently sent him to a public school, and he received only a modest Jewish and Hebrew education. He chuckles when he recalls, “I couldn’t read Hebrew. I learned the maftir for my bar mitzvah in transliteration [English characters]!”
BEING INTERVIEWED on i24. (credit: Shmuel Kornblit)
Kornblit’s bar mitzvah preparation sparked his interest in Jewish learning. He signed up for a course for 13- and 14-year-olds to learn to be a shaliach tzibur (prayer leader), and he joined Beitar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded by Ze’ev Jabotinsky. Soon after becoming involved in Beitar, Kornblit announced to his parents that he would be making aliyah when he turned 17.
His supportive parents somewhat surprisingly informed him, “We are also thinking of making aliyah!” In order to avoid leaving school in Argentina in the middle of a school year, they decided to move up Shmuel’s aliyah time frame.
Kornblit enrolled at the Yemin Orde Youth Village, located on 77 acres atop Mount Carmel in northern Israel near Haifa. He describes it as a “school for new olim” and received quite an education in the many faces of Israel during his year and a half at the school.
“In my class, there were Jews from Ethiopia and Iran, and Israelis from tough situations.” He adds playfully, “I was neutral!” Hearing the stories of these olim, including boys from Ethiopia coming to Israel on foot, helped Kornblit realize just how uneventful his own aliyah experience had been compared to theirs.
“I thought to myself – how easy I had it. I went to the Jewish Agency in Buenos Aires and got a plane ticket!”
Kornblit next explored options for army service. “I was looking for a context for the army and found a Garin Torani from Bnei Akiva – it was all Israelis except for me – 14 boys and 14 girls.” As part of garin nachal, he spent three years and eight months rotating between army service, yeshiva learning and work on Kibbutz Merav.
After serving in the army, Kornblit decided to return to Argentina for two years. “Instead of doing a post army trip, I decided to go on shlichut.” The 22-year-old returned to Argentina five and a half years after making aliyah. On shlichut, the still rather young Kornblit was involved with many denominations and organizations within the Jewish community. He worked with Bnei Akiva, taught in both a Conservative shul and Reform temple, served as a shaliach tzibur, and studied a bit in a Chabad yeshiva.
Kornblit’s shlichut from 1993 to 1995 meant being in close proximity to the July 18, 1994 AMIA suicide van bombing at the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (Argentine Israelite Mutual Association). The bombing is Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack to date; 85 people were killed and hundreds were injured. “A friend I davened with the morning of the bombing was killed,” he recalls.
Kornblit quickly became involved in affairs related to the bombing. “Rabbi Avi Weiss came to Buenos Aires from America and I was his right-hand man, taking him around to speak with the press, government officials, etc.”
Kornblit returned to Israel after his shlichut and began studying Bible, Jewish History, Talmud and Jewish Thought at Bar Ilan University. He also spent time learning in the yeshiva at Bar Ilan. His formal education includes an MA in Bible, a teacher’s certificate in Talmud, rabbinic ordination, and doctoral course work in contemporary Judaism.
IN 1996, Kornblit had a life-changing experience working with Latin American olim through the Masuah organization: “I spent one Shabbat with them and was made director.” This experience has impacted all of Kornblit’s work in Israel since.
He served as director of Masuah for 25 years, facilitating activities for young immigrants from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. “We organized one to two activities a month, and Shabbatons all around Israel to see different places and learn about different topics.”
Kornblit was always mindful of the many needs of these young olim for resources in Spanish. “I also began thinking about older people and their need to access material in their native language.”
He accumulated useful resources and started the Masuah website. “We created one of the biggest Spanish sites with information on Judaism, Zionism and Israel.”
The site is comprehensive, with materials on the Jewish year, life cycle, Jewish texts, and activities for children, links to courses and more.
In 2001, the vegan-from-his teen-years Kornblit met his Belgian wife over a Shabbat dinner. He impressed the Spanish-speaking Belgian with both his vegan challah and the Spanish language benchers he had at the Shabbat dinner.
That same year, Kornblit founded the Yeshivat Hakotel program for Spanish speakers. He has had similar roles at Machon Meir and at the Machon Or Bnei Akiva program for women, and he continues to serve as an advisor to many Spanish-language yeshiva and seminary programs.
In 2006, Kornblit returned to Buenos Aires for two more years of shlichut – this time with a wife – and with even more responsibilities than in his previous stints. He was responsible for Bnei Akiva in all of Latin America and taught several courses for Hillel. Kornblit also served as a shaliach for aliyah, traveling to Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico to discuss and facilitate aliyah from Latin and South America.
Back in Israel, Kornblit’s desire to bring Judaism and Jewish texts to the Spanish speaking world – both in person and online – continued. “It bothered me a lot that there was no Spanish-language Bible on the Internet. It was only in books, but not digital.”
In 2016, he approached Herzog College with his idea. Herzog College’s, director of Bible Initiatives, Rabbi Dr. Shuki Reiss, encouraged him to expand his vision beyond the 929 chapters of the Bible. Reiss suggested that the Bible project also include Spanish-language commentaries, explanations, maps – even podcasts.
The resource, www.hatanakh.com/es, was launched in November, 2020 and is currently used by Jewish teachers in 80 Jewish schools across Latin America.
While Kornblit’s many professional activities keep him busy, he manages to enjoy life in Jerusalem, the city he has called home for 19 years. He lives in Jerusalem’s Baka neighborhood with wife Irit, a linguistics researcher, and four daughters, ages nine, 12, 16 and 19.
In his “free time,” the gregarious, always industrious Kornblit enjoys being a member of his local synagogue and giving divrei Torah in Hebrew – a welcome departure from the Spanish language which is so much part of his daily life in Israel. ■
Executive director Naomi Eisenberger is no stranger to helping others.
During tough times, the world relies on people and organizations committed to doing good. In fact, that’s true even when the world is doing well. To that end, Naomi Eisenberger and the Good People Fund are dedicated to serving others in the United States, in Israel and throughout the world.
Executive director Naomi Eisenberger, 76, is no stranger to helping others. Indeed, the Good People Fund is inspired by ordinary people with an extraordinary drive to make deep, uplifting impacts in communities in the United States, Israel and elsewhere around the world, trying to find new and creative ways to address seemingly intractable social and economic challenges. It is her second major venture in this field after a career that includes being a high school history teacher, kosher caterer and part of a family retail business.
Eisenberger and the fund keep costs down so they can serve those in need. She reports that her office is the bedroom of her home in a New Jersey suburb, though she notes that “we do have a separate phone line.”
“We are a ‘little known fund, not a foundation,’ ” she says. “We are not your typical nonprofit organization.”
She is quick to add that “what goes in goes out.”
Eisenberger was turned on to the world of tzedakah and charitable giving very much by accident. “Around 1991, I was becoming shul president of Congregation B’nai Israel in Milburn, New Jersey. Just before a family vacation, I was meeting with our rabbi, Steve Bayar, and was looking at the books on his shelf. I told him I needed something else to read. He handed me Gym Shoes and Irises: Personalized Tzedakah [Book 1, published in 1981] and Book 2 [published in 1987].”
Naomi Eisenberger, executive director of the Good People Fund. Credit: Courtesy.
Eisenberger is referring to two of the many books written by Danny Siegel, founder of the Ziv Tzedakah Fund who travels the country and the world speaking about the value of giving.
Siegel founded his fund in 1981 after making several trips to Israel and serving as a shaliach mitzvah—one who brings money for distribution to those in need. On subsequent trips, he asked friends and relatives for a dollar or two to give as charity.
He went in search of “good people” he called “Mitzvah Heroes.” These heroes were actually regular Israelis quietly working to make the world a better place through their actions.
Prior to the meeting in Bayar’s study, Eisenberger hadn’t heard of Siegel. She read both books on her vacation and was hooked. “I am totally enthralled,” she told Bayar upon her return. And she had an idea. “I am being installed in June. Let’s bring Danny Siegel as a scholar and use him to found our shul’s chesed committee.”
‘Inspired by life experiences’
Eisenberger and Siegel immediately hit it off during his weekend at the synagogue. In addition to his talks in the synagogue, Siegel spoke at a small Saturday-evening gathering in her home. The idea for a “Hearts and Hands” committee was born.
“He challenged us,” recalls Eisenberger. “If you have extra Torahs in your shul, halachah [Jewish law] is that you can sell it for the purpose of tzedakah.”
Eisenberger was inspired and motivated. “I never back away from a challenge. I convinced the board. We sold TWO Torahs, and this became our endowment so we could allocate funds in Israel, in the United States and locally.”
Eisenbeger kept in touch with Siegel. Soon after, he asked her to do some volunteer work with the Ziv Fund. He and Ziv were badly in need of an administrator. Flattered and interested, she traveled to Rockville, Md., to meet with Siegel. Eisenberger returned to New Jersey with boxes of records, opened an account and served as a volunteer administrator for nearly three years.
Over time, Eisenberger needed paid employment. She eventually convinced Siegel to hire her. Eisenberger served as managing director of the Ziv Tzedakah Fund for more than 10 years.
The fund reportedly gave away more than $14 million in its 32 years of operation—mainly to small, innovative programs and projects in Israel and America that needed assistance—before Siegel and the board decided to close it down in 2008.
Nonetheless, Eisenberger was determined to continue doing mitzvah work: “I said, ‘I’m starting over; this is too important!”
“Having met and worked with Danny, I discovered a whole different philosophy and way to look at the world and life,” reports Eisenberger, who started the Good People Fund in that same year, 2008, to provide financial support and management guidance to small and mid-sized nonprofits committed to tikkun olam, “the repair of the world.”
The fund currently supports programs in 15 states, Israel and countries in Eastern Europe, Africa and India. While the majority of programs are not run by Jewish people, Eisenberger says they are all “based on Judaism” and Jewish principles. And the fund finds them on its own; it does not take proposals.
Another characteristic of all grantees, adds Eisenberger, is that “most have been inspired by their own life experiences.” She playfully notes an additional shared feature: “Very few have studied or know the first thing about nonprofit management; this is an additional reason our work with them is so important.”
It is this latter role that distinguishes Good People from other funders. “Our ability to offer mentorship is a significant and unique part of our work,” she said, “and it makes all the difference in the world!”
Eisenberger has a knack for identifying organizations in their very early stages when they need the greatest support. “I have a well-cultivated gut. After 25 years, I know it when I see it. I am looking for people with drive, passion, visionaries without any sense of ego—all selfless people.
And she has found people doing good and important work in such diverse areas as elder care, fighting hatred, healing broken communities, health and well-being, human needs and self-sufficiency, hunger and food rescue, inclusion and disabilities, kids, poverty and fundamental needs, refugees and women’s empowerment. Eisenberger says she cares deeply each grantee: “They drive me—they inspire me!”
A participant in Shai Asher, a nonprofit apprenticeship career-training program in Israel for people with disabilities, inspects tumeric. It receives support from the Good People’s Fund. Credit: Courtesy.
‘The inner strength of people’
The warm feelings and admiration are mutual.
Yoni Yefet Reich, the co-founder of Amutat Beit Zayin in Israel, met Eisenberger more than a decade ago in Israel. “From my first interaction, I immediately recognized that she was a different type of funder representing a different kind of collective. She clearly understood the issues at hand and was an ‘out-of-the-box’ strategist.”
He and his team wanted to develop Kaima Farms—a socially responsible education network that many others deemed untenable. Fast-forward and today, Be’erotayim is one of five Kaima farms where youth are responsible for planting, nurturing and harvesting crops and for running a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) venture. Other farm communities include Kaima Nahalal, focused on helping young girls, including many who have experienced sexual trauma and have not succeeded in more traditional educational settings.
Fraidy Reiss, founder and executive director of Unchained at Last. Credit: Courtesy.
Reich says “we count ourselves fortunate to receive not only funding, but friendship and professional guidance that have helped us develop from a single youth-run, CSA operating farm into a network of four in Israel and one in Tanzania. Our unfolding story would simply not be possible without the involvement of the fund, and, of course, Naomi.”
“If there are 36 hidden tzadikim,” as Jewish tradition implies, she insists that “Naomi is certainly one of them, hiding in plain sight.”
Fraidy Reiss, founder and executive director of Unchained at Last—an organization leading the effort to make child marriage illegal in the United States—is herself a survivor of an arranged marriage. As such, she works to help those who are victims of child or forced marriage by providing them with legal and social services.
She says she is appreciative of Eisenberger’s support and her style: “What is special is that she became an ally, a mentor and more.”
Reiss notes that “starting a nonprofit is a lonely and daunting journey; you need someone to be a sounding board.”
On her part, Eisenberger says she continues to learn and be moved by each person and entity: “One of the lessons I’ve learned is the strength of people—the inner strength of people is something to marvel.”
“Young Jews, no matter where they live, will turn to Birthright Israel Labs to hear stories about their history and their heroes and to connect and support their peers,” said Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark.
Taglit-Birthright Israel is well-known around the world for its free Israel trips for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 32. Since 1999 through Birthright Israel, 750,000 people from 68 countries, the 50 U.S states and nearly 1,000 colleges and universities in North America have had the opportunity to experience Israel and Judaism firsthand.
Yet the COVID-19 pandemic has proven challenging for Birthright Israel during the past two years. Travel to Israel has been significantly curtailed or at times, stopped entirely. Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped Birthright from continuing to innovate. If you can’t bring participants to Israel, then why not bring Israel and Jewish content to alumni and potential future trip participants—and in a language and format they can understand and relate to? Meet “Birthright Israel Labs.”
Comprised of two portions, Content Studio and Digital Initiatives, Birthright Israel Labs strives to create professionally produced programs and enable alumni networking. It will connect Diaspora Jews to Israel, their culture and to other Jews.
“Through trips to Israel, Birthright Israel has done an amazing job connecting people to Israel and to each other. This new extension—Birthright Israel Labs—allows us to connect young Jews and alumni through social medial and digital content,” says Andrew Davidsburg, who heads the Content Studio. Shay Assor, product manager at Birthright Israel, leads Digital Initiatives. Renat Wegrzyn oversees both teams as the head of Birthright Israel Labs.
On Dec. 23, the Content Studio premiered “Dinner With Jews: A Birthright Israel Holiday Special,” the first of its online videos, which explores why Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas through the perspective of three comics. The 30-minute show is filmed in the famous Wing Wan kosher Chinese restaurant in the Long Island region of New York. The special is hosted by standup comics Robyn Schall, Modi Rosenfled and Jared Goldstein, written and directed by Bex Schwartz and produced by Andy Singer. Dani Luv, who had a multi-decade residency at Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse in Manhattan, serves as the house band.
“It gives different perspectives on being Jewish on Christmas,” observes Davidsburg.
The Content Studio premiered “Dinner With Jews: A Birthright Israel Holiday Special,” the first of its online videos, which explores why Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas through the perspective of three comics, Dec. 23, 2021. Credit: Courtesy.
“Badass Jews” is the second project of the Content Studio. “We all grew up knowing about Nobel Prize winners, scientists, and geniuses,” says Davidsburg. “But we wanted to bring others — Jews from history who buck the trend.”
The animated series takes a look at elite Jewish athletes, spies, soldiers and all-around “tough guys.” From legendary Spymistress Vera Atkins Rosenberg to Jack Kirby, the World War II scout and comic-book genius, the stories will likely offer a more nuanced understanding of how people view Jewish identity and Jewish people. The series is animated by Israeli artist Ory Raz Pinchassi, a self-described “eclectic post-modern artist” who has worked with the IDF and Yad Vashem, illustrated books and book jackets and participated in more than 40 group and 16 solo exhibitions.
In its first week, “Dinner With Jews” had more than 200,000 viewers while “Badass Jews” had more than 180,000 viewers.
Birthright Israel Labs will soon launch “4Qs for Successful Jews,” a video series “digging into the who, how and the why behind the journey to success, through 4 simple questions.” Each episode plans to feature an interview with such successful Jewish celebrities as Mayim Bialik, Michael Solomonov, Kenny Albert, Marc Summers, Alexis Michelle and Nissim Black.
Digital Initiatives, the second arm of Birthright Israel Labs, investigates new and different ways to connect with Birthright Israel alumni in the digital space. Current initiatives include The Pool, a safe forum for discussion on Jewish topics; and “Impact By the Crowd,” a global, crowd-sourced platform for alumni to connect and “do good.” Davidsburg notes that “Impact by the Crowd is in its infancy—with good results.” He adds, “We are tapping the alumni community to bring their dream do-good project—and they bring it to fruition.” Thus far, Digital Initiatives has received 50 submissions with four innovative programs selected to date—from the United States, Israel and Uganda.
A still from “Badass Jews,” an animated series that takes a look at elite Jewish athletes, spies, soldiers and all-around “tough guys. Credit: Courtesy.
“Our goal is to build communities and connections post trips,” says Davidsburg.
The Birthright Israel Labs team has ambitious expansion plans. There are six more “Badass Jews” episodes in production, more “4Qs” to come and a new initiative, “Behind the Nosh: The Story of Israel Snack Foods,” not far behind. Birthright Israel Labs will also soon launch a worldwide travel initiative to connect alumni jet-setters from around the world. Through this portal, travelers will be able to share and experience local customs, food or just meet someone new from the community.
“In a rapidly changing and increasingly online world, our alumni and our future participants have made it clear that they want a place where they can connect with one another online,” said Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark. “Birthright Israel Labs is the future of Jewish connections. Young Jews, no matter where they live, will turn to Birthright Israel Labs to hear stories about their history and their heroes and to connect and support their peers.”
