36 Under 36 2011: The New Re-engineers

Remy Roizen 24

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:56:00 +0000

Helping to fund projects that foster innovation and Jewish identity.

Gabriela Geselowitz

Editorial Intern

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Like hundreds of thousands of other young Jewish men and women, Remy Roizen went to Israel for free with Birthright. But unlike many others, she decided she had to give back.

Beginning in the fall of 2008, Roizen helped found the Birthright Alumni Board, which serves both as a social networking organization for past Birthright participants and as a fundraising mechanism. The Board had its first major function in August 2009, and has, since then, grown and adapted.

Jourdan Urbach, 19

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:53:07 +0000

Concert violinist who raises funds for medical research.

Gabriela Geselowitz

Editorial Intern

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

When Jourdan Urbach was a little boy, he wanted to be a doctor. He has since settled on being a concert violinist.
Urbach is currently a sophomore at Yale and creator of Children Helping Children, an organization that organizes fundraising events through Concerts for a Cure to support medical research for neurological conditions.

Emily Gindi, 32

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:50:07 +0000

Empowering Jewish women to give.

Amy Spiro

Editorial Assistant

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

For Emily Gindi, Jewish giving is a family affair. Growing up on Long Island, she was constantly hearing about her parents’ dinners, trips and events with the UJA-Federation of New York (her mother is a current board member and her father is a past board member). When Gindi chose an agency to join as part of the UJA-Fed’s Observership Program, she selected the Samuel Field Y, where her aunt had served as an assistant executive director. She is also an active member of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York, along with her mother, aunt and two cousins.

Jennifer Joseph, 30

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:47:23 +0000

Spreading the message of grassroots work.

Amy Spiro

Editorial Assistant

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Jennifer Joseph spent years hearing about the service trips her aunt, Sara Litt, took with the American Jewish World Service. So when she was told that the organization was starting a young leadership initiative in 2009, she jumped at the chance to get involved.

Shefa Weinstein, 31

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:43:00 +0000

Website guru who launched Jewish parenting site.

Julie Wiener

Associate Editor

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Shefa Weinstein made aliyah almost 10 years ago, but the Upper West Side native still spends much of her time in New York. Or at least communicating with New York.

As the founder of Web Design Insight, which she runs together with her husband, Aharon, Weinstein designs customized websites for American Jewish organizations.

Chaviva Galatz, 27

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:38:54 +0000

Connecting with Jews, one tweet at a time.

Amy Spiro

Editorial Assistant

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Chaviva Galatz has a few different identities. After all, she was born Amanda Jo Edwards. But perhaps you know her better as the kvetching editor. Or maybe you’ve conversed with her through the Twitter feed of a Jewish organization she advises.

Galatz, a blogger, tweeter, and social media expert, is never too far from her Macbook, iPad or Android phone.

Eric Schorr, 22

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:35:40 +0000

Pro-Israel Campus Activist.

Adam Dickter

Assistant Managing Editor

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

When Eric Schorr arrived at Columbia University three years ago, he wasn’t looking to be a Jewish activist. After serving as president of United Synagogue Youth’s Hagesher region in the Greater Philadelphia area and a year in the Nativ College Leadership Program in Israel, he was feeling “burnt out” and wanted to concentrate on his studies. Then came a visit to Israel for winter break, which coincided with Israel’s Operation Cast Lead incursion into Gaza in early 2009.

Jonathan Perelman, 30

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:32:32 +0000

‘Building bridges’ on behalf of the Jewish community.

Adam Dickter

Assistant Managing Editor

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

On his first day working on Cory Booker’s campaign for mayor of the troubled city of Newark, N.J., in 2002, Jonathan Perelman’s car was stolen. But that didn’t weaken the University of Pennsylvania graduate (’04) and Connecticut native’s commitment to helping Booker challenge the political establishment in what would be an unsuccessful first attempt.

Mara Yacobi, 35

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:26:33 +0000

Sex education — with a Jewish twist.

Julie Wiener

Associate Editor

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Growing up in Connecticut in the 1980s, Mara Yacobi had a rich Jewish upbringing: the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she attended a Conservative day school and participated in Jewish summer camps and Jewish youth groups. But she never had a health class, let alone any sex education.

Rabbi Dan Smokler, 32

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:23:00 +0000

Engaging students through Jewish text study.

Julie Wiener

Associate Editor

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Rabbi Dan Smokler, a long-haired, dreadlock-wearing youth turned union organizer turned clean-cut yeshiva student, specializes in embracing and bringing together spheres of life that don’t usually converge.

Sara Greenberg, 23

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:19:35 +0000

A voice for the ‘Third Generation.’

Steve Lipman

Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Sara Greenberg grew up in a Conservative home in Philadelphia hearing the stories of how her mother’s parents survived the Holocaust. But the full impact of their experiences did not hit her until she joined many members of her family on a visit to her grandparents’ hometowns and death camps in 2005.

Elisabeth Cohen, 26

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:15:00 +0000

Teaching game theory to high schoolers.

Julie Wiener

Associate Editor

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Elisabeth Cohen’s dissertation is on ninth-century Arabic poet Abdullah Ibn Al-Mu’tazz, but her life is more Renaissance woman than medieval man, with active pursuits including playing violin, weaving, studying Talmud and writing (and reading) science fiction.

Matt Bar, 31

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:12:16 +0000

Torah rapper

Gabriela Geselowitz

Editorial Intern

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Matt Bar is a young rapper, but rather than sing about women or violence, he drops beats about Torah. “I am David/I come with the Lord/You come with the sword,” he raps, “I come with the Lord/And I’m righteous.” Bar has spent the last few years working to educate Jewish children and adolescents in a way that is expressive and relatable to a younger generation: with the art of rap.

Rabbi Joshua Strom, 30

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:08:00 +0000

A new model for Shabbat services.

Steve Lipman

Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

With a father and mother who have musical backgrounds, and a father and father-in-law who are rabbis, it is natural that Joshua Strom entered the rabbinate — with a musical beat.

David Dabscheck, 33, and Adam Sager, 33

Janet Hoffman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:05:00 +0000

Making the Jewish community more secure.

Steve Lipman

Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

An uneasy feeling in a New York synagogue kept the joy out of Purim for David Dabscheck and Adam Sager several years ago. Too little security; anyone could walk into the building.

From that was born Community Security Service (CSS), thecss.org, an independent security organization that protects attendees at Jewish events and provides intensive training for volunteer members of Jewish institutions.