2009 Fellows - PresenTense Fellowship

Meet our 2009 Fellows

Rabbi Matthew L. Berkowitz

Matthew L. Berkowitz is the Senior Rabbinic Fellow in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America's KOLLOT: Voices of Learning program. He completed his undergraduate work in International Relations and Middle East studies, summa cum laude, at Colgate University. While in Israel, he studied at Pardes and The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies. He was ordained by JTS in 1999. A Wexner fellow, Matt has had comprehensive schooling in many different areas of practical rabbinics and Jewish learning. He is an accomplished artist and sofer, and has been painting since childhood. Matt is presently residing in Jerusalem where he is teaching, writing, painting, and working on a unique project with Yair Medina, David Moss, and Elyssa Moss Rabinowitz—exploring the nexus between Jewish learning and the visual arts. Matt is married to Rabbi Miriam Berkowitz. They have three children: Adir, 9, Rachel, 4, and Shira, 1.5.

Matt's Project, with Elyssa:
Kol Ha-Ot’s goal is to breathe new life into the Jewish world by presenting texts, ideas and history through an inspiring new synthesis of creativity, aesthetics and the arts.

Arielle Doochin

Arielle Doochin is an innovative pioneer in the field of art and education. Having spent many years creating, teaching, and enjoying the benefits of art, she understands the importance that art can make in the lives of others. She has pursued various roles in the field of education, and has taught for the Ministry of Education in Madrid, Spain, written and designed on-line accredited curriculum for middle schools and high schools, and has created and implemented after school art enrichment programs for low income community centers. Arielle feels that art is a medium that affects all areas of life, including focus, well-being, and educational learning styles. She is passionate about helping others and feels that education and art exploration are one way to make a difference.

Project:
ARTurn is an innovative art education program that will offer hands-on creative opportunities for young students to create their own affordable masterpieces while learning about the fundamentals of art and the benefits of its influence on the world surrounding them.

Karra Greenberg

Karra Greenberg is a graduate student in sociology whose research into capitalism and cultural change inspires her activism in the Jewish community. From 2004-2005 Karra volunteered in the Jewish community of Montevideo, Uruguay, developing English publicity / fundraising efforts and serving as a "cultural and educational emissary" to the Hillel House and Yavne Community Center. Karra marks this experience as formative in her intellectual and Jewish communal growth: "It was the first time I saw a Jewish community that previously thrived and now works to survive due to a debilitating economic crisis (in 2001). I came to understand the immense impact that economic forces can have on the social fabric of a community--and my research and activism focus on that now. Thankfully, the Uruguayan Jewish community also showed me how passion, wisdom, and innovation are used to overcome challenge." Later, in New York City, Karra organized cross-cultural and service-learning experiential programs with communities and students through Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future. Presently, she aims to launch "Kehillah Consulting", bringing the insights of academics and experts to Jewish communities facing socio-economic challenges such as rising costs of Jewish education, high divorce rates, etc. In her lay service, Karra enjoys serving on the Board of Trustees for her synagogue, has published in Ravsak's HaYidion magazine on insights for promoting Jewish education, and was awarded and attended the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship for international Jewish communal strategizing.

Project:
Kehillah Consulting brings the research and insights of academics and experts to Jewish communities and institutions seeking to overcome socio-economic challenges through better understanding their complexities and creating innovative solutions to meet them.

Josh Keyak

Josh was born and raised in San Francisco. He now attends Yeshiva University in New York, where he is studying political science and art. He has a passion for photography and plans to pursue a career in environmental development and energy policy.

Project:
Green Me Up is a program that encourages people to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint through healthy competition and incentives.

Elad Kimelman

Elad Kimelman is a 29-year-old Israeli native ("Sabra"). He lives in Jerusalem, where he attends Hebrew University. Currently, he is working toward an MA in Public Policy. Prior to his Masters' work, Elad took a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, also at Hebrew U. He recently graduated from "ATIDIM," a public-sector training program. Elad has been involved in many extra-academic activities in different organizations, where he has sought a personal way to influence Israel and the Jewish world. These have included KOLDOR; the Institute for Zionist Strategies; the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute; and an internship at the Knesset. Before he began his studies, Elad served for 6.5 years in the Israel Defense Forces – 3 years of mandatory service and 3.5 years of standing service he signed for, from which he was released with the rank of captain. At the beginning of his mandatory service he served as a soldier on a battleship. After finishing his officer's training, he became a naval recruitment officer. Later on, and for most of his standing service, he was a mandatory manpower officer in an intelligence unit.

Project:
"Once Upon a Time… The Jewish People" is an educational animated series that explains the history of the Jewish people from Biblical times until today in a format designed for children.

Chaim Landau

Raised in the United States, Chaim Landau has since lived in Israel, London and Brussels. After making Aliyah to Israel, he studied at Yeshivat Sha'alvim, served in the IDF tank corps, and completed a degree in Political Science, Communications and Media Studies at Bar Ilan University. In London, he completed a post-graduate degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics & Political Science, where he wrote his thesis on the role of religion in International Relations. From there Chaim moved to Brussels, where he worked as a Legacy Heritage fellow at the European Union of Jewish Students, dealing with a range of political issues affecting young European Jews.
Upon returning to Israel, Chaim enrolled for a semester at the Pardes Institute, and then worked at the Jewish Agency. Currently, he is a freelance in researcher, writer, and web 2.0 manager, having founded "Second Life Israel." Chaim is now working on starting another project – "Perspectives" -- which aims to present Israel’s political situation in a balanced and non-judgmental fashion to post-college students and young professionals. An obsessive news enthusiast, Chaim reads a wide variety of publications. He enjoys reading classics and historical novels, and visiting medieval cathedrals and classic art museums. His secret wish, however, is to learn how to salsa.

Project:
Perspectives aims to educate about the complexity of the challenges facing Israel from a variety of sharply differing viewpoints within the Israeli-Zionist spectrum in a balanced and non-judgmental fashion.

Russel M. Neiss

Russel M. Neiss is currently the Elementary and Middle School Librarian for the Rodeph Sholom Day School in New York City. He has previously worked in the rare book room of the Jewish Theological Seminary, as well as a traveling Jewish educator in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana with the Institute of Southern Jewish Life. He received his Masters of Library Science with a specialization in digitization and information technologies from Queens College, and his Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies and Jewish Studies from CUNY's Macaulay Honors College at Queens College. Russel has also studied Yiddish with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York, and at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute in Lithuania. A recipient of the Association of Jewish Libraries Scholarship Award, Russel is especially interested in the intersection of technology and Jewish education, and is committed to helping individuals access Jewish resources and promoting Jewish literacy.

Project:
JPoints is conceived as an online resource for students, teachers, and parents, where they can watch concise and accurate flash-based, Jewish, educational videos designed to spark children's inherent curiosity and interest.

Michael Podberezin

Michael is an International Relations junior student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. After completing 3 years of military service in the IDF artillery corps, he spent two summers as a Shaliach for the Jewish Agency at Camp Ramah in California, where he worked as a counselor for campers aged 14-16. Michael grew up in Be'er-Sheva after making Aliyah with his family from the former Soviet Union in 1992. As an avid news-addict, he is very interested in Israeli politics and history and would like to develop greater involvement of the public in the political process. Michael's additional interests include hiking and traveling the world, and he dreams of one day completing the Israel national trail.

Project:
Michael is developing a website that enables Israelis to better connect innovative proposals, ideas and policy suggestions to each other and to their elected representatives..

Rebecca Polivy

Rebecca Polivy was born and raised in Connecticut has lived in many places in the United States and in southeast Africa. She currently resides in Jerusalem. After completing a Master's degree in Conflict Transformation from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT, she moved to the region to work on various projects which focus on improving relationships between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. While working for Search for Common Ground’s Jerusalem office, she coordinated the 2007 and 2008 annual Eliav-Sartawi awards for Middle Eastern Journalism. While the 2007 awards ceremony was held at Columbia University in New York, the 2008 event took place, for the first time, in Jerusalem, and included a live musical performance by top Israeli and Palestinian musicians David Broza and Wala’at. Rebecca has contributed to the design and implementation of a number of projects in the region that emphasize sports, social entrepreneurship, and print and television media as tools for conflict transformation. Rebecca is an avid traveler, skier, Ultimate Frisbee player, music listener, and seeker of experiential education.

Project:
FUN - A Follow-up Network -- intends to build an infrastructure to transform the impact of Jewish-Arab encounter programs from short-term to long-term sustainability and to cultivate a civic leadership for the next generation that is committed to social change, most ideally, Israeli/Palestinian reconciliation.

Elyssa Moss Rabinowitz

Elyssa Moss Rabinowitz constructs worlds of Jewish meaning and beauty. She draws on all media to create interactive, participatory events and programs of Jewish content. In her "Day Away" programs, Elyssa imagines, scripts and produces major events for institutions and families. She weaves together Jewish texts, music, food, art and drama to create all-encompassing experiences that are authentic, educational, inspirational and fun. She created and has run for ten years the "Zer Mitzvot," a year-long group study/experience for Bat Mitzvah-aged girls and their mothers. She is also the co-creator of the "Visions and Voices" and "Women and Wonder" websites. Elyssa has worked on creative content for television programming at Techelet Jewish Television, and has acted and produced in live theater.After serving in the IDF, Elyssa graduated Bar Ilan University, where she majored in Psychology and Jewish History and attended the Metivta Institute for Higher Torah Studies. She was also selected as a scholar in the Advanced Talmud Studies Program in the Matan Women’s Institute of Torah Studies. Elyssa lives in Jerusalem with her husband, Dovi, and their children Hallel, Yair, Yedidya and Shir.

Elyssa's Project, with Matthew:
Kol Ha-Ot’s goal is to breathe new life into the Jewish world by presenting texts, ideas and history through an inspiring new synthesis of creativity, aesthetics and the arts.

Charlie Schwartz

A native of Portland, Oregon, Charlie Schwartz is a third year rabbinic student at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. In addition to his studies, Charlie has worked as a gabbai with Kehilat Hadar and as a teacher for an exceedingly cute class of first graders at Congregation Or Zarua. Prior to JTS, Charlie served with distinction as a squad commander in the airborne battalion of the Nahal infantry brigade in the Israeli Defense Forces. Charlie earned a B.A. in Religion and Jewish Studies from Oberlin College, and currently lives in Jerusalem with his wife Andrea Wershof Schwartz.

Project:
Charlie is developing a media library of online Israeli culture with educational value while crafting thought-provoking lesson plans around the library's contents.

Romi Shamai

Romi Shamai was born in 1979 in Jerusalem, where he currently lives. Presently, Romi is completing an MSc. in Applied Physics at the Hebrew University in the field of optofluidics and electrowetting. He is interested in social web applications as tools for a better society. During his BSc. studies in Physics at Tel Aviv University, Romi founded a collaborative knowledge base for physics students that was embraced by the student union and spread to many departments at TAU. Romi served in the IDF for 5 years and 3 months, and was released as a lieutenant, after serving as the head of a 15-soldier IT team. He plays the clarinet at Harel Orchestra, loves magic tricks, and is the owner of Baabua Gigantic Bubbles.

Project:
Peula.com, meaning "action" in Hebrew, will be a web-tool empowering citizens to act in matters they care about in the public domain by collecting public support and networking in a simple, easy way.

Aharon Varady

Project: Aharon Varady always wanted a Siddur to call his own. Twenty years ago this involved photocopies, scissors, rubber glue, and a large binder overflowing with prayers, commentaries, and translations ancient, contemporary, and personal. After working at an open source technology firm in early 2001, Varady laid out an idea to build a database to store all the prayers and their textual variations, to create a tool for generating a custom Siddur from the content of the database, and to create a useful tool by which participants could share their custom siddur "recipes" and add additional content to the database. Varady hopes that the Open Source Siddur will preserve nusachim (regional traditions), encourage creativity and sharing in communal and personal prayer, and give those who pray or study prayer a Siddur to call their own. By day, Varady is a technology consultant, editor, and city planner in Philadelphia.

Rebecca Zeffert

Born and raised in Liverpool, England, Rebecca experienced her first encounter with Asia as a student of Chinese and Japanese Studies at university. Following several years studying and working in Japan and China, and with experience under her belt working in media and PR, Rebecca found herself diverted to Israel. Her first job there was establishing an international PR department for the Citizens' Accord Forum between Jews & Arabs in Israel, an organization founded by Rabbi Michael Melchior to promote relations between Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens. From there, she moved onto the spokesperson's office at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she represented the university and its research to the international media. Rebecca further developed her experience in the media while working as a foreign media analyst at Washington-based public affairs firm, APCO Worldwide, as well as providing PR consultancy for a range of Israeli NGOs and international organizations, including the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, EcoOcean, and Maala - Business for Social Responsibility, to name but a few. However, Rebecca soon began to look for a way in which she could combine her passion for and knowledge of Asia and her work with the media/PR to promote Israel's interests in a world in which Asia's key players are playing an increasingly significant role. Since October 2008, Rebecca has been working in Israel and China to establish the Israel-Asia Center, which currently operates as an online source of news, information, commentary and analysis on Israel-Asia affairs. In her spare time, Rebecca is a keen photographer.

Project:
The Israel-Asia Center is an online source of news, information, commentary and analysis on Israel-Asia affairs. In her spare time, Rebecca is a keen photographer.

Shelby Zitelman

Originally from the DC metro area, Shelby Faye joins us from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she is currently a resident of Moishe House Philly. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where she studied entrepreneurial management at the Wharton School. Previously an analyst at two early-stage venture capital funds, Shelby has been focusing her interest in start-up strategy and dedication to social entrepreneurship to find a niche in social venture capital. She is excited to have the opportunity to pursue this passion with her PresenTense project. An aficionado of local theater and live music, Shelby also loves Israel, sports, scuba diving, dancing, reading, yoga and traveling. She is a big sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters and a member of the Idea Coalition, The American Israel Chamber of Commerce and WIN. Upon completion of the summer institute, Shelby is planning to spend the year studying at Pardes while continuing to work on her venture.

Project:
Shelby will be working to create a non-profit philanthropy fund that is focused on recruiting, engaging, and developing the next generation of philanthropic leaders. This fund will seek donations from young, involved professionals who would like to make a substantial difference in the non-profit world with both their time and money.

Manuela Zoninsein

Manuela Zoninsein is a Brazilian-American writer currently based in Beijing, China. A former Princeton-in-Asia fellow at the China Foreign Affairs University, she reports for Newsweek magazine and the Engineering News-Record, and contributes to the blog Latamthought. She served as the dining editor of Time Out Beijing and the dining columnist for City Weekend Beijing. A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Manuela was educated in the great American Midwest and trained as a professional dancer in Chicago before moving east to attend Harvard University, where she received a degree in Social Studies and a Certificate in Latin American Studies. She interned at the Council on Foreign Relations in Latin America Studies before moving to Beijing two years ago.Manuela is interested in Chinese diplomacy and new diplomatic relationships. The intersection of food, agriculture and the environment, and information and technology exchange as a tool for development, are both booming new fields in China, with Israel playing an influential role. She continues to study intensively, and can't wait for her Mandarin to catch up to her Spanish and Portuguese fluency.

Project:
Manuela intends to establish a digital newsletter, online information-sharing platform and social network called “Agrigate” to educate about the transfer of agricultural technologies occurring between China and Brazil, Israel and the U.S.