MEMORIAL FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CULTURE North American Mini-Nahum Goldmann Fellowship Ottawa, Canada March 27-29, 2011

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1 MEMORIAL FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CULTURE North American Mini-Nahum Goldmann Fellowship Ottawa, Canada March 27-29, 2011 Profiles Of Fellows And Faculty MATTHEW ACKERMAN FELLOWS Matthew, from Englewood, New Jersey, is a Middle East analyst with the David Project, a non-profit organization that dedicated to educate and inspire support for Israel among students from middle school through college. Previously he served as a research analyst at the ADL, and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. He writes regularly for a variety of publications including the Forward, the NY Jewish Week and the Jerusalem Post. BECKY ADELBERG Becky, from Chicago, is currently the Executive Director of the American Zionist Movement in Chicago. She has worked for the Jewish community most of her professional life, including the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and Jewish Women International. She also teaches courses on world religion at Morton College in Illinois. VAL BENEVET Val, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, has recently moved to Winnipeg, Canada where she is now working as a special projects manager in media and advertising. She has worked in both communities for tikkun olam projects. She now serves on the Executive Board of the Young Adult Division of the Federation of Winnipeg. ZHANNA BEYL Zhanna, who immigrated to the United States from Russia at age 14, recently completed her Masters in Social Work at Hunter College. She currently serves as Coordinator of Bukharian Teen Services at the Jewish Child Care Association, a comprehensive children and family service agency in New York City. Zhanna also participates in the Russian leadership program of the American Jewish Committee and is a member of the UJA Young Russian Leadership group. She is an alumnus of the 2009 International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in Israel.

2 BRAM BREGMAN Executive Director, NCSY Ottawa After graduating with Honours Standing in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, Bram moved back home to Ottawa to work as a management and technology consultant at Accenture. After witnessing the lack of programming for local Jewish teenagers, Bram shifted careers and began working with NCSY Ottawa in September Bram has developed effective models for reaching out to and educating over 200 local Jewish teenagers every year. The two key programs in 8 public high schools and Torah High, an accredited weekly Jewish studies program which offers high school credits to its 101 enrolled students.. ERICA BREGMAN Erica has taught Jewish studies at the Bialik Jewish high school in Ottawa and she has dedicated herself to the strengthening Jewish community and Jewish identity through the development of social action projects, and now serves as a program coordinator for the Jewish Family Service of Ottawa. LIOR CYNGISER Lior is the Manager for Leadership Initiatives for Young Adults at the UJA-Federation of Greater Toronto where he helps develop strategies and programs for attracting young Jewish adults and graduating students to various leadership opportunities available in the Jewish community. He also oversees the Birthright Israel Leadership Training Program and collaborates with Hillel Canada in leadership development programs to encourage greater involvement of young adults in the Toronto Jewish community. LANCE DAVIS Lance is currently the executive director of the Shaarei Shomayim, a modern orthodox congregation and community center in Toronto. He served previously as Executive Director of the Calgary Jewish Community Council where he was responsible for the annual campaign, community planning, allocations and community relations and the Committee for National Jewish Campus Life, the campus service arm of the UIA/Federations-Canada, and is completing his doctoral dissertation in Modern Jewish Thought at the University of Toronto. He is an alumnus of the 2010 International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in Croatia.

3 MARTHA DRASSINOWER Martha is a practicing attorney with experience in litigation at all levels of the Court system in Canada. After working for several years in major law firms, she developed a strong interest in the public sector law and is now practicing administrative law in Toronto. She is now actively involved with Hadassah-WIZO, serving in several leadership positions. RACHEL DREYTSER Rachel, who earned her BA in Jewish Studies at DePaul University in a joint program with Spertus College of Jewish studies in Chicago, was the founding president of the DePaul University Hillel. Rachel is the of the Sidney M. Shure Kehilla program, a partnership of the Jewish Community Center of Chicago and five synagogues spanning all denominations, with the purpose of encouraging young adults to become more involved in the Jewish community and Jewish life. Rachel also helped to organize the first Limmud Conference to Chicago. IRINA EPELBEYM Irina, born in Uzbekistan in the former Soviet Union where she was actively involved in the Tashkent Jewish community, where she began learning about Judaism, Jewish history and the Hebrew language. She recently immigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia where she had devoted herself to furthering her Jewish identity and education. She currently is a program coordinator and community service associate at the Atlantic Jewish Council in Halifax. LISA FEINBERG Lisa is completing a joint graduate program this year for a JD and MA in law and international affairs at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. Most of her academic and professional work focused on refugee rights, providing legal representation to refugees. This year she is volunteering with the refugee rights clinic hosted by Tel Aviv University. JEROME FORTINSKY Jerome is a partner in a major New York law firm, focusing his practice on securities, antitrust and other complex commercial litigation He received his B.A., magna cum laude, in government from Harvard and his J.D. from the Yale Law School, and previously served as Assistant to New York Governor Mario Cuomo for Regional

4 Affairs. He is an alumnus of the 3 rd Nahum Goldmann Fellowship that took place in Russia in SHAI FRANKLIN Shai is Policy Director at the American Council for World Jewry and a Principal at Roundtable Strategies, a government affairs lobbying, and political consulting firm. He is also a senior fellow for UN Affairs at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. Previously he served as Director of International Organizations at World Jewish Congress, and Director of Governmental Relations at NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia. He is an alumnus of the 10 th International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship held in Glamsta, Sweden in HOWARD FREMETH Howard, who is completing his Ph.D. in Communications at Carleton University, chairs the outreach and identity committee of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, is developing programs to attract a diverse range of the Jewish young adult population in the community. As part of this effort, he created JNet, a volunteer group that plans social events for young Jewish adults. He also runs a media education program for a Jewish seniors residence. JENI SORYL FRIEDMAN Rabbi Jeni Friedman, who completed her rabbinical studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where she also obtained a Masters Degree in Midrash, has been deeply involved in the Conservative Movement in the United States, where she served as Director of Adult Education at the prestigious Congregation B nai Jeshurun in New York and Director of Jewish Studies Programs at Camp Ramah. Jeni is currently a doctoral candidate in Education and Jewish Studies at NYU where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar and a Jim Joseph Fellow. She participated in several International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship programs and chairs the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship Advisory Committee. YACOV FRUCHTER Yacov is the Spiritual Leader and Executive Driector of the Annex Shul, a grassroots Jewish community in downtown Toronto. Yacov has long been involved in Jewish campus life, currently also serving as Director of Emerging Campuses for the National Jewish Campus Life (NJCL) of the UIA of Canada, providing Jewish campus services at 12 campuses in Ontario and Atlantic Canada. Previously he was the director of Jewish

5 leadership development at NJCL, and director of Israel Advocacy and Programming at the Hillel Montreal Jewish Student Center. SARAH GRANATOWICZ Sarah is President of Canadian Hadassah-WIZO in Toronto. Her passion for volunteer work in the Jewish community and for WIZO in particular, began in Brazil where she lived before immigrating to Canada. Sarah is an alumna of the 6 th Nahum Goldmann Fellowship that took place in Sao Paolo, Brazil in AUDREY JACOBS Audrey is the Director of School Advancement for the Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School representing the full spectrum of Jewish observance in preschool through 8th grade. Audrey is also the president of Media Maven Management, a marketing and public relations consulting firm serving Jewish non-profit clients throughout the United States. She is co-founder of the San Diego Israel Coalition, a grassroots Hasbarah group; program chair of her community Limmud, and founder of Minyan Sapir, an independent, young family oriented community and volunteer led minyan. CALANIT KEDEM Calanit, an attorney, who works in Washington, DC at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs where she does appellate work and serves as a veterans law judge, had previously worked as a lawyer at the World Bank. She received her BA in history at the University of Maryland, and her JD at the American University in Washington. She has taught Jewish congregational schools in the Washington area, and served as a docent at the Jewish museum of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington and is currently active in the Washington JCC. Calanit is an alumna of the 8 th International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in 1999 in Sweden. VICTORIA KHITERER Victoria, who was born in Kiev, is Assistant Professor of History at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, teaching courses in Modern Jewish and European history and the Holocaust on the graduate and undergraduate levels. She has also taught Jewish history at Stanford University. This year she was appointed the Director of the Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide at Millersville University. She received her Ph.D. in Russian Jewish History from the Russian State University in Moscow and earned a second Ph.D. in Modern Jewish History from Brandeis University. Victoria is an alumna of the 4 th and 5 th Nahum Goldmann Fellowships in Russia in 1993 and 1995.

6 ASHLEY KOCHMAN Ashley is the Operations and Strategy Development Manager of Hillel Canada-United Israel Appeal, where she oversees fiscal budgets and operations of Canadian Hillel. Before leaving her previous work as a financial analyst in the private sector, she had been an active member of the Jewish community in a volunteer capacity, assuming leadership positions with Maccabi Canada and the Canadian Israel experience. SAM KONIG Samuel was born in Vienna and came to Canada via Denmark to begin his college studies. He began his involvement in Jewish communal life as teacher for USY, and as campus Jewish education and Israel advocacy coordinator at Carleton, and Concordia universities. Samuel is currently National Director for National Jewish Campus Life/Hillel in Canada. He is an alumnus of the 22nd International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in Croatia in ANYA MANNING Anya, who lives on the Upper West-Side of Manhattan, has worked for several Jewish non-profit organizations in New York, including Repair the World, a Jewish start-up; the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, for which she developed a multi-media curriculum to prepare college students for volunteer trips abroad; and Dor Chadash, helping organize social, educational, cultural and social action programs for young adults. She is an alumna of the 22 nd International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in Croatia in REBECCA MARGOLIS Rebecca, who grew up in Montreal, is a professor in the University of Ottawa s Vered Jewish Canadian Studies program where she teaches most of the Jewish Studies courses offered at the university. She received her BA in Jewish and Religious Studies at McGill University, and her MA/Ph.D. in Yiddish Studies at Columbia University. She often lectures in various local community venues in the areas of her expertise, including Yiddish, Jewish culture, Holocaust education, and Jewish Canadian studies. DAVID MICHAELS David is the Director of United Nations and Intercommunal Affairs at B nai B rith International in Washington, DC, where he previously served as Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President and led its Intercommunal Affairs office. David is an alumnus

7 of the 17 th International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in Cape Town, South Africa in HEIDI OPPEN Heidi lives in Dollard de Ormeaux, Quebec, in greater Montreal. She is the Director and Legal Counsel in Quebec for B nai Brith Canada. She received her BA in sociology and art history from McGill University and her BCL/LLB from its Faculty of Law. She attended the Ecole du Barreau du Quebec from which she earned entry to the Quebec bar. Previous to her work at B nai Brith, she was an attorney at a law firm in Montreal. At B nai Brith, she is works as an advocate for human rights and for the State of Israel and as a legal advisor on social, political and legal issues affecting the Canadian Jewish community. JEREMY PERTMAN Jeremy, who grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, and currently lives in New York City, began working for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals after completing his graduate training with a M.S in epidemiology at Harvard University. In Montreal, he performed with the Yiddish Theatre and became active in the Ghetto Shul, a student-run grassroots downtown synagogue. As a teenager, he served as director of the Northwest Canada Region of BBYO, the B nai Brith Youth Organization, and was a volunteer educator and chaperone for the March of the Living. Jeremy also participated in the UIA-Federation Young Leadership seminar for small communities. IRIT PRINTZ Rabbi Irit Printz is currently the congregational consultant at United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Canadian Region located in Toronto. She received her Rabbinical Ordination and Masters in Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary and served as a rabbi/educator in synagogues in the U.S. and Canada. Irit is an alumna of the 12 th International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in Glamsta, Sweden in JOSHUA RAIZMAN Joshua is completing a doctorate in biochemistry at the University of Ottawa where he serves as President of the Jewish Students Association. He co-founded and is a leader in a new urban grassroots Jewish initiative called j-net which plans professional social and cultural events for the purpose of engaging Ottawa s young Jewish adults. CYNTHIA RAMSAY Cynthia is Publisher of The Jewish Independent, British Columbia s only Jewish community newspaper. Under her leadership, The Jewish Independent has won multiple awards for excellence in Jewish and general journalism. She has a keen interest in

8 history, and volunteers with the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Vancouver, where she has recently edited the society s annual journal. ROCHELLE RICKOFF Rochelle, originally from South Carolina, recently moved to Chicago from Washington, DC, where she was a program officer at the Center for Psychology in Schools and Education for the American Psychological Association. She is now working at the Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago. She participated in the Young Jewish Leadership Diplomatic Seminar in Israel sponsored by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and has worked with Israeli and Palestinian teenagers in coexistence programs sponsored by Seeds for Peace. Rochelle is an alumna of the 22 nd International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in Croatia in ANDREA ROWAN Andrea is the Program Director at a traditional Conservative Synagogue in Toronto where she coordinates all the adult education, youth and family, sisterhood, young couples and young professional activities and programs. She was president of the Jewish Students Association at McMaster University and active in the Israel on Campus coalition. While completing her college studies in Hamilton, Ontario, she also was the assistant program director at the Jewish Community Center. EREZ RUBINSTEIN Erez, from Toronto, received his BA in Philosophy from York University, and an MBA in management from Bar Ilan University in Israel. He attended Jewish Day School and Yeshiva high schools in Toronto. He studied at the NCSY summer Kollel while in high school and attended Yeshivat Birkat Moshe, a Hesder Yeshiva in Ma aleh Admumim in Israel. He also received a one-year Fellowship to attend Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York. During his graduate school studies he interned for a real estate investment banking firm in New York and after he graduated, he worked for his family real estate business on projects in Israel and Eastern Europe. He began two new software and electronic billing businesses when he returned to Canada. MORRIS SAMUEL Morris, now living in Moncton, New Brunswick, was born in Israel. In 2007, he moved to Canada. Although he did not receive formal Jewish religious studies, he is actively involved in the only synagogue in the very small Jewish community in Moncton. He is interested in attending the Fellowship to learn how to incorporate Judaism and increase Jewish community involvement in his community.

9 LINDSAY SAWYER FAY After Lindsay went to Israel on the Birthright program, she returned home to Winnipeg and contacted her local Jewish Federation in order to seek meaningful connections to her community for herself and her family. She is now the vice chair of the Board of J-Peg, the young adults division of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg and she also serves as a Board member of the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. DOVIDE SECTER Dov is an architect from Winnipeg where he works as an associate at an architectural firm. He began his formal involvement with the Jewish community as co-chair of EcoShift, the Environmental Awareness Committee of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg. Dov is an Executive Board member of J-Peg, the young leadership division of the Winnipeg Federation, and is active with the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University and the Rady Jewish Community Center. BENJAMIN SHINEWALD Benjamin is the National Executive Director and General Counsel of the Canadian Jewish Congress. He received his law degree from the University of Toronto, following which he served as a Law Clerk to Chief Justice Aharon Barak at the Israeli Supreme Court. He has also worked for the Privy Council Office in the Prime Minister s department and in the Secretariat for the Canadian Cabinet. He is an alumnus of the 22nd International Nahum Goldmann Fellowship in Croatia in DOV ZIGLER Dov, now living in Montreal, is currently a teaching Fellow in the North American Studies program at McGill University and an associate at a Montreal based investment management firm. He has also served as a junior research fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem and a policy analyst at the Canadian Department of National Defense.

10 FACULTY Prof. Irving Abella is the Shiff Professor of Canadian Jewish Studies at York University in Toronto. Previously, he served as the Distinguished Senior Fellow in the Vered Jewish Canadian Studies Program at the University of Ottawa. He is also a past President of the Canadian Jewish Congress. Professor Rabbi Saul Berman was ordained at Yeshiva University, from which he also received his B.A. and his M.H.L. He completed a degree in law, a J.D., at New York University, and an M.A. in Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. He did advanced studies in Jewish Law at Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University Law Schools. Since 1971 Rabbi Berman serves as Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University, and since 1990 he has served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University School of Law, where he teaches a seminar in Jewish Law. This past year he has been a Fellow at the Tikvah Center for Law & Jewish Civilization at New York University School of Law. Prof. Jack Wertheimer is the Joseph and Martha Mendelson Professor of American Jewish History at The Jewish Theological Seminary. His area of specialization is modern Jewish history, with a particular focus on trends in the religious, educational, and organizational sectors of American Jewish life since World War II. From 1997 to 2007, Dr. Wertheimer served as provost, the chief academic officer of JTS. He also served as the founding director of the Joseph and Miriam Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism from 1987 to Dr. Wertheimer is the author or editor of more than a dozen volumes and several major studies on Jewish education and the contemporary American Jewish community.