How are young Jews today giving of their time and money?
This engaging panel asks whether young Jews are "Entitled or Enlightened." The event was held on December 1st, 2009 and featured a conversation with Rabbi Andy Bachman, Gali Cooks, Rabbi Ari Weiss and Tamar Snyder of The Jewish Week. Sponsored by BYFI, Presentense & ROI.
Rabbi Andy Bachman serves as Rabbi at Congregation Beth Elohim and
is a summer faculty member of the Bronfman Youth Fellowships. He was ordained at
HUC-JIR in 1996. After his ordination, he served as Rabbi Educator at
Congregation Beth Elohim until 1998, when he became Executive Director of the
Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life: Hillel at NYU. While at NYU,
Rabbi Bachman pioneered award-winning programming in the arts, culture, social
action, and Israel advocacy, gaining national recognition for developing new
ways of reaching young Jews. In 2003, Rabbi Bachman along with several friends
founded Brooklyn Jews, an
innovative outreach program engaging the unaffiliated Jews of Brooklyn "where
they're at." Rabbi Bachman writes a (almost) daily blog, www.andybachman.com.
Gali Cooks is Director at the Rita & Stanley Kaplan Family
Foundation. Previously, she was Founding Director of The PJ Library, which gives
Jewish children's books for free to Jewish families with young kids. Before
delving into philanthropy, Gali spent several years in Washington, DC as a
speechwriter for Israel's Ambassador to the United States, as a Legislative
Assistant at the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and as a
Research Analyst for the Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust. In
addition to her role at the Kaplan Family Foundation, Gali is involved with the
New York City Venture Philanthropy Fund. She has a BA in political science and
international relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is
currently pursuing an MBA at the NYU Stern School of Business.
Rabbi
Ari Weiss is Director of Uri L'Tzedek Uri L'Tzedek, the Orthodox
social justice movement. Prior to Uri L'Tzedek, he was co-director of the Meorot
University Fellowship and has served on the Judaic Studies Faculty of the
Heschel School. He has worked as a Jewish educator for the American Jewish World
Service, Bnei Akiva, and for the Lauder Foundation on missions to Nicaragua,
Ghana, Israel, and Hungary. Rabbi Weiss was ordained in June 2007 by Yeshivat
Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in New York.
Tamar S. Snyder is a staff writer at The Jewish Week, America's largest and most influential Jewish newspaper. In addition to being in charge of the "36 Under 36" section highlighting young Jewish innovators, she writes weekly articles and cover stories about philanthropy and Jewish nonprofits. Tamar also writes a monthly column called "Profit Motive" in which she profiles Jewish entrepreneurs. She holds a Master's degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School and an undergraduate degree from Touro College. Tamar's journalistic work has been featured in several media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, AOL and MSN and Edutopia Magazine. She is a recipient of the 2008 Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism.