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.”
“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.
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)
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/
Samuel Green, known as DJ Antithesis and “The Zionist Rapper” made aliyah to Tel Aviv and has released two EPs and multiple singles.
Samuel Green has done many crazy things to make it to Israel and continue to survive and even thrive in Israel these past 13 years.
His long, unconventional CV – which puts him in sharp contrast with the young bankers, engineers and start-up professionals who mainly populate his Tel Aviv Modern Orthodox synagogue – includes such jobs as spinning Israeli tunes on Kol Cambridge (the UK’s first and only radio show dedicated to Israeli and Jewish music) and at a club and in Tokyo, as well as rapping in front of 40,000 people in London. Green, also known as “The Zionist Rapper,” has released two EPs and multiple singles in his self-proclaimed “Zionist Hip Hop” style.
Green is also an accomplished writer, husband, father of two young children, and tour guide. His clients include senior business leaders, academics, religious leaders, politicians, journalists and celebrities, including Maroon 5 and their lead singer Adam Levine; Alanis Morissette; One Republic; The Kooks; and actress Amber Heard. In addition, Green was instrumental in helping to bring the famous Swiffer sweeping, mopping, and dusting cleaning system to the Holy Land.
The start of a love for Israel
Green’s love for Israel started in his days in Kingston, Southwest London. “Israel played a big piece growing up,” Green reports, noting a strong Zionist connection. Despite his involvement with FZY (Federation of Zionist Youth) while growing up, he, perhaps ironically, fell in love with all things Japanese after seeing a documentary about Japan and viewing the film Karate Kid. In high school, Green elected to study Japanese when it was offered, as he intended to study it at Cambridge University. Conveniently and perhaps curiously, the faculties of Japanese and Hebrew were both housed within the Oriental Studies Department.
Once at Cambridge, Green missed Israel and continued to look back fondly on his FZY days, thus switching his focus to Hebrew. “A lot of people were puzzled by that decision. That included my parents,” reports Green reflectively and philosophically in the thick English accent which remains after 13 years in Israel. “Some decisions go against the grain. Deep down, I knew what I wanted.”
GREEN’S STRONG connection to Israel includes a lifelong love of Israeli music. He has shared this love with audiences around the world through a series of online programs. He first started playing Israeli music by venturing into the world of rap music. Green was an early user of the online format. “My father worked for the phone company, and we had a DSL line before most others. I hosted a rap show for a year.”
Green hoped to continue the rap show at Cambridge University, but he was too late. “There was already a rap show. I knew a little about Israeli music, and there was no place to get it online.” While Green was excited about the possibility of sharing his love for Israeli music with a wider audience, he knew he might face some resistance to the idea. “It was the middle of the Second Intifada and the station was a bit nervous.” Nonetheless, in 2005 he was given the green light. “In the first week, we had more listeners than for any other show.” When the slot that followed the show opened up, Green asked and was given permission to expand it to two hours.
Green’s charm, passion, advocacy and creativity helped him land “a lot of Israeli big names” as guests on his show. He tracked down contact information and simply picked up the phone and called famous Israelis. “I would sometimes call and pose as my own assistant!” As a result of his creative strategy, Green landed such well-known Israelis as David Broza, Shiri Maimon, Subliminal, Mook E, Mosh Ben-Ari, and Shotei HaNevua
“We were the only Israeli program on iTunes at the time. We had thousands of fans from around the world – from the Amazon jungle to Singapore to Australia and the US!”DJ Antithesis
The program soon found its way to iTunes. “We were the only Israeli program on iTunes at the time. We had thousands of fans from around the world – from the Amazon jungle to Singapore to Australia and the US!” Despite the show’s popularity (the program was nominated in the Best Specialist Music Programming category of the BBC Student Radio Awards) and Green’s passion, it petered out upon his graduation from university as his work shifted to other Zionist pursuits.
Green began working in the mazkirut (directorship) of his Zionist youth movement and thinking more seriously about making aliyah. He realized that living in Israel would require a means of supporting himself, and he hatched a plan. “I would apply for a job with an international company – with offices in Israel – and try to get transferred.” Green applied and was accepted for an internship in the UK with Procter and Gamble (P&G), the American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. He made the difficult decision to turn it down, given his commitment to his mazkirut job.
Green’s chutzpah and drive surfaced when he asked soon after if he could reapply for the internship. This time, he was accepted and worked for the company in Geneva, Switzerland. “I figured it was easier to get to Israel from Geneva.” He moved there in 2008 and started to work. When his manager in Switzerland asked him about his career goals, he replied candidly, “To get to Israel ASAP.”
Green enjoyed his time in Geneva, where he integrated into the Jewish community and helped organize events for expats. “I was having a great time,” he says, although he still hoped to be transferred to Israel once his two-year assignment had ended. However, that was not in the cards. “My manager said it wouldn’t work out to go to Israel for my second assignment. I got on the bus and was miserable. It made me realize how much I wanted to be in Israel!”
A friend in the company offered him some sage yet unconventional advice – to write to the head of the Israel office. This is when “Plan Swiffer” was hatched. When Green heard that some bigwigs from the Israel office were coming to Geneva, he set up a meeting. “I was naive about hierarchy and set up a meeting.” Green informed them of his desire to bring Swiffer to Israel and asked for their help. He also followed his friend’s advice and emailed people at the Israel office. In Israel, he met with the Swiffer team. After what turned out to be an unexpected job interview, he learned that Swiffer would soon be launched in Israel – and he received a call inviting him to come to Israel in 2010 to join the team.
Making aliyah and bringing Swiffer to Israel
Green moved quickly to take care of all necessary paperwork for making aliyah. “I did all the paperwork super-fast at the end of June and made aliyah in August.” He considers himself very fortunate. “I came with a job, with a company I was familiar with. And my new colleagues were friendly and my age.”
After a few years with P&G, it was time for a new challenge. “I thought about other options like hi-tech or government work. A friend did the tour guide course.” Green admits he did have visions of becoming a tour guide but only after he retired as a way of making some additional money. Having thought about it some more, he said, “Why wait?” With that, he enrolled in the Hebrew course, which he completed in 2014. “I had a wonderful time on the course, and it was very good for my Hebrew,” he explains.
“I was fortunate – I jumped in and got slightly better work,” he notes, thanks in large part to the many connections he made through his years at P&G. He began leading tours for business school groups and business executives. “One thing led to another. And then I was guiding bands and people in the entertainment world, business and politics.” Green loves guiding all types of people and groups. “Everyone is interesting and has a story,” he asserts.
Green appears to be a master at juggling the many professional and personal opportunities that simultaneously come his way. He smiles as he reports, “I met my wife, Bat Chen, at a house party in Holon,” though they quickly realized that she had recently been at a Hanukkah party in his home! The two married in December 2012.
While on the tour guiding course, another interesting opportunity came his way. “In 2013, I got a call from people who were setting up a radio station in English. I don’t know how they heard about me, but they wanted to talk to me about doing an Israeli music show. I went in and made a demo. It was so much fun to be doing that. It went well. They said they wanted me to open the whole station, the whole broadcast. So we brought the station back live, then it moved to more of a podcast format,” he says.
GREEN RECOUNTS many exciting developments that took place between becoming a tour guide and (somewhat) settling down to family life:
DJ Antithesis Tokyo show advertisement (credit: SAMUEL GREEN)
“Along the way, I had a kid – a girl [Ella] in 2017. And 2020 was quite a seminal year – I think for a whole load of us. Things happened both in terms of the radio and the guiding [no guiding due to the pandemic]. In January 2020, we were celebrating 15 years of the Kol Cambridge show. I put a lot of work into it and came in to do the show. The station manager, who is a lovely guy, said, ‘I have bad news – we will have to stop doing the show.’ He explained that costs and licensing issues with Spotify contributed to the decision.” Green laments.
Green remained determined to find a way to keep the radio program alive. He suggested renting out the studio when not in use and finding a way to have listeners support the program. “We haven’t had much luck with crowdfunding,” the station manager replied. “How much would it cost? Let me ask around and give it a try.” Green was successful in his search for backers. The show was up and running in April 2020 after only a month-long hiatus. “It was even more special to run the show crowdfunded – it means a lot to the people. It is nice to know it matters to them. We are creating a community of listeners. I correspond with them.”
Green continues to support his family with a range of jobs. He has a blog (myisraeliguide.com), writes content for various tour companies, and since 2020 has managed a team of writers in his role as copywriting lead at the company Artist in the music space.
“I guide when I can – on evenings and weekends. I still love doing it,” he says. “I had a second kid [Yonaton], and [the fact that I have] a job where I am home most of the time is deeply appreciated by my wife!” His parents made aliyah during the pandemic and live nearby. Green still does a podcast once a week.
Despite his mostly settled lifestyle, Green occasionally gets an idea in his head that he just can’t let go. “I still have a love affair with Japan, and I try to get back there from time to time to keep the language going. I spent two months in Asia on our honeymoon, and I had planned a trip for 2020. It would have been my sixth trip. I had to postpone it due to COVID, which was upsetting.” But Green could not let the idea go. “Things started wearing in my brain – of going to Tokyo and playing for listeners there. The question was how to make it happen?” Green knows himself well. “When I get an idea in my head, I am like a dog with a bone. I just keep going!”
Green wrote to every contact he could think of in Tokyo, including friends, the Israeli Embassy and a rabbi in Tokyo who was friends with a rabbi friend in Tel Aviv. “Eventually, something panned out.” All of that legwork turned out to be unnecessary. “I received an invitation from my patron to perform in Tokyo!” Together, they explored venues, and Green had the opportunity to play at a small club in Tokyo on January 19, 2023. “I hadn’t DJ’d in a bar or club since I was in college. I had to get equipment, a little travel mixing deck, and download the software. A friend came from New York to teach me,” he adds. “Every night for two weeks, I’d DJ every night for myself so I wouldn’t make a fool of myself.” He didn’t. “We had a respectable turnout of 30 or 40. To the best of my knowledge, it is the biggest Israeli music event ever held in Japan, though I can’t confirm that.”
DJ Antithesis, who got his name while in FZY from a friend who said, “You are the antithesis of a rapper,” is doing his part to keep Israeli music alive and well in Tel Aviv, Tokyo, and around the world.
Samuel Green aka DJ Antithesis From London to Geneva to Tel Aviv, 2010
PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS and staff label beer bottles. (credit: HOWARD BLAS)
