Welcome to JICNY - Jewish International Connection of New York

Our Latest Who's Who

Jaime Kobin

New York, NY

Although I grew up on Long Island, I was one of just a few Jews in my public school. My synagogue was my family’s second home. My parents were on countless committees, and my sister and I participated in activities (Hebrew school, youth group and mitzvah projects) several days per week. I first ...

Dan Davidson

New York, NY

Dan Davidson is a strategy and operations consultant that partners with companies to find and execute the simplest path to their growth and improvement to realize over $1B in value over his career. He also advises the efforts of technology entrepreneurs in New York and Israel to strengthen the ties ...

Elysa Goldman

New York, NY

Elysa Goldman works as a real estate developer for Extell Development Company, where she oversees the planning, development, marketing and sales of several large scale residential projects in Manhattan. Prior to joining Extell, Elysa worked for international real estate developers in the United ...

Bernadette Sebzda

New York, NY

I am a New York native with an international flair- my mother is Polish and my father is French. I have French citizenship (courtesy of my father) and have done quite a bit of travel, however to me New York has and always will be home base. Although my wanderings have taken me out there and back, ...

David Bratslavsky

Georgia Soviet Republic

David Bratslavsky is Managing Partner at IMB Wealth Advisors, where he enables Asia-based clients invest in technology worldwide. Previously he was Executive Director of the US Israel Business Council and worked as an analyst at a venture capital fund. He is a graduate of The George Washington ...

Sarit Chalamish

Israel

I was born and raised in Israel, where I developed a strong Jewish identity. My parents are both first generation Sabra, whose parents had escaped the horrors of WWII.

I've always been fascinated by Jewish life, its fabric and maintenance abroad, where one is removed from the epicenter ...

Rebecca Akselrad

New Jersey, USA

I have an American passport and was born in West Caldwell, New Jersey. Together, my parents and grandparents instilled the importance of family, education, ‘chesed,’ and a good name. As the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, I grew up with a robust sense of history, Jewish identity, models of ...

Gedalia Mendlewicz

Antwerp, Belgium

I am originally from Antwerp, Belgium. I am multilingual - fluent in English, French, Hebrew, Dutch, German and Yiddish. I have been living in New York City for seven years. I am currently a realtor, and studying marketing at Touro College. I am a 3G (third generation holocaust descendant); my ...

Tom Weiss

New York

Tom Weiss was born into Congregation Bnai Jeshurun and raised on the Westside of Manhattan, in a progressive, politically active family. Tom wanted to see Israel from left to right politically and religiously, so he could make his own decisions, so he went to Bravender's HaMivtar Yeshiva in ...

LYDIA SARFATI- 2015 GALA HONOREE "TOWER OF LIGHT AWARD"

Legnica, Poland,

Lydia Sarfati is the Founder and CEO of Repêchage, the first company to bring seaweed-based skincare treatments and cosmetics to the U.S market. Ms. Sarfati is an international industry leader and the developer of the world-renowned Repêchage® Four- Layer Facial®, what Cosmopolitan UK has called ...

DANA AND SASI EYLA-2015 GALA HONOREE "YOUNG LEADERSHIP AWARD"

New York and Israel

Dana and Sasi Elya are one of JICNY's success stories. They met in 2013 at a Purim party in Jodi and Gavin's apartment and were married in January 2014.

Dana grew up in a traditional Jewish home on Long Island and always enjoyed celebrating the holidays. This connection to her Judaism, ...

JACOB KIMCHY- 2015 GALA HONOREE "DEDICATION TO JEWISH LIFE AWARD"

New York

Jacob Kimchy is a motivational speaker, life coach and author of A New Sunrise, a memoir which details his journey from witnessing the murder of his father in a suicide bombing in Israel, to surviving the unimaginable trauma of terrorism and finding a new path and a purpose in life.

...

SASHA KRASNY- 2015 GALA HONOREE "NEXT GENERATION LEADERSHIP AWARD"

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Sasha Krasny was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. One year before the fall of the U.S.S.R., Sasha and her family emigrated to the United States as political refugees. Sasha enrolled in Hofstra University not long after arriving in the New York area and completed her undergraduate degree in ...

Fabia Preminger

Rio de Janeiro

I am from a European Zionistic family. I was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and grew up in Rio de Janeiro. I am warm and genuine, cosmopolitan yet domestic! I went to a seminary in Jerusalem, than decided to stay in Israel where I earned a BA and a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from ...

David Wollenberg

New York City

The past number of years, I have split my time between New York, where I've worked in the financial industry, and in Chicago, where I'm earning a PhD in political philosophy. Although born and bred in America, I have lived abroad, and always love meeting Jews from around the world - despite ...

Fortune Harari

Brooklyn,NY

I am an artist and educator; born and raised in Brooklyn to traditional Sephardic family where many languages were spoken so it feels natural for me to have a strong connection among the JICNY international family. My family is from Beirut and Germany yet we are also in Israel, Brazil, Argentina, ...

Jacob Kimchy

RIshon Letzion, Israel

I am Half Ashkenaz. My mother's family are Polish and came to Palestine on the Exodus, from France. They were sent back to France by the British and found another way to new-born Israel. My father's family are Sephardic, and moved to Israel from Bulgaria. I was raised as a secular Jew, and only ...

Milena Kozhin

Queens,NY

I grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, attended Yeshiva Dov Revel, HAFTR then NYU for college. Received masters degree in Nutrition and Health Sciences. Judaism, family and education are focal points of our lives. I'm blessed to have trained and worked at companies ranging from Bloomberg, Miramax Film ...

Michael Katina

Belo Horizonte, Brazil

I was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. My father is a holocaust survivor from Hungary and was taken to Aushwitz in 1944. My Mothers parents escaped from Germany and arrived in Brazil in 1937. In my home town we have a few sinagogues and Jewish schools where I was sent to. I studied also in a Chabad ...

Jodi Samuels

Johannesburg, South Africa

Jodi has over 20 years of business management and startup experience. She has worked in the not-for-profit, finance, fashion and beauty sectors. Jodi successfully started two non-profit Jewish organizations including the Jewish International Connection NY (JICNY) that currently boasts 10,000 ...

Grant Silverstein

Scottsdale, Arizona

While being an American from Scottsdale, AZ, Grant is no stranger to the JICNY. He has been an active volunteer for many years, chairing the Annual Gala’s Fundraising Committee for the past three years. Grant grew up in a household where both Jewish values and community involvement were always the ...

L. Batya Schwartz Ehrens

New Jersey

I was born in New Jersey, and raised near Los Angeles. My parents were born in the U.S., but my grandparents came from immigrant families from Russia, Turkey and Hungary. I attended both Conservative Jewish schools ...

Daniel Kerin

Detroit,Michigan

As a first generation American, born and raised in the Bloomfield Hills suburb of Detroit, Michigan, by Romanian parents who emigrated from Israel to the United States, my upbringing was wholly unlike that of my American peers. My want to embrace Americanized living - TV, Nintendo, eating out and ...

Elizabeth Fishel

London,UK

I'm Liz from London. I have been in NYC for precisely 1 month. I grew up in a religious home. My parents are both baalei teshuva. They are originally from England however their journey began when they met in Israel. I have spent the past 10 years within the Jewish charity sector working in ...

Chanan Fixler

Jerusalem, Israel

I was born in the holy city of Jerusalem and raised in a Modern Orthodox family. Both of my parents are from Brooklyn and made Aliyah in 1978. A few years back, my mother who is very involved in genealogy, discovered that our family tree is descended from Rav Shmuel Salant, who served as the first ...

Stephanie Dahan

Nice, France

I was born in Nice, France. My parents were born in Algeria and relocated to France during the decolonization war in 1962, where they met. Although my maternal grandfather was originally from Poland, I was mostly raised within the Sephardic customs. My religious upbringing was traditional, meshed ...

Jeff Lewis

Montreal,Canada

I was born and raised in Montreal, Canada where I grew up attending Jewish day schools. I moved to NYC and I work in the finance industry as a trader of mortgage backed securities. Others often joke that Canada does not really count as a foreign country! Yet I can relate to many other young Jewish ...

Jamie Black

London,UK

Hello, my name is Jamie. I was born in North-West London and lived there for most of my life. I have two younger brothers and our family is traditional Jewishly. After working in the UK Parliament as a policy researcher, I moved to NYC for a fellowship with The Tikvah Fund. When I moved here, I ...

Michael Prell

New York, USA

hen I first arrived in New York City, Steve Eisenberg and JICNY became my lifeline and connection to the Jewish community here, and for that I will always be grateful. Since then, my connection to Steve, Jodi and the extended JICNY family has grown deeper and more involved, including a recent talk ...

Jonathan Brody

New York, USA

I grew up in Merrick, NY going to a reform synagogue. While living in NYC, I was looking for some Jewish connections. I came across Steve Eisenberg’s Monday night Parsha class. I attended the class for 3 years. I learned tools from Steve’s class that I still use everyday to help make the world ...

Leona Krasne

New York, USA

I was born in Port Jervis, New York. I was raised Ashkenazi, and, growing up, attended first Jewish Sunday school classes, then Jewish teen group classes. The older I got, the more I wished to become involved with Judaism. I was a student of several different Jewish semester-long learning groups as ...

Seth Weiser

New York, USA

I was born in Dix Hills, NY. I was raised with a half Sephardic and half Ashkenazi background, so I’d say I am traditional Sephardic; Iraqi to be exact. After graduating from George Washington University, I worked as a trader for several major New York stock and commodity exchanges. In 2006, I ...

Batya E.

Tehran,Iran

I was born in Iran and moved to NY as a child. It was tough adjusting to the new culture and environment, so for me Judaism was not a central part of my life. I considered myself traditional at best and didn't really have many Jewish friends. After finishing university I decided to move to Paris ...

Benjamin Mizrahi

Haifa,Israel

Benjamin was born in Haifa, Israel. His parents, Hannah and Haim Mizrahi raised him together with his brother, Yonatan, who is currently serving in the IDF. Following his graduation from Yavne Yeshiva high-school, Benjamin joined the IDF as an educational trainer at Israel’s highest ranking ...

Sam Bodenheimer

New York City

“Bodi” is a highly accomplished singer/songwriter, film/television composer, chazzan, and entertainment industry entrepreneur. Invited one fateful Friday evening last year as our guest singer and speaker, Bodi developed an instant connection with the JICNY family and has served as our chazzan/music ...

Stephanie Grayson-Zane

New York City

Corporate communications expert and social media maven Stephanie Grayson-Zane found the JICNY networking group after searching the web for “Jewish + networking + business” and has become one of the “core regulars” at JICNY business networking meetings every other Tuesday morning. She has always ...

David Ohana

Toronto

David was born in Toronto, Canada and is of Moroccan descent. After studying abroad in Israel he decided to obtain his university education in New York. Upon graduation, David who is trilingual, decided to pursue work in a hedge fund within a French bank. David loves how he lives in New York but ...

Jessica Wiesenberg

Miami, Florida

Jessica Wiesenberg was born in Barranquilla, Colombia and moved to Miami, Florida when she was 12 years old. Having a mother and a grandmother always involved in Jewish communities, she learned from their examples and has been involved helping Jewish organizations for many years. After graduation ...

Guy Halfteck

Haifa,Israel

I came to NY for graduate school, and I loved it. I then spent a few more years in school up in Boston, but eventually moved back to NYC. And while Israel is my home, the Upper West Side (just a few blocks from where Isaac Bashevis Singer used to live and write) is my home away from home. I love ...

Tatyana Zlotsky

Moscow,Russia

Tatyana Zlotsky is originally from Moscow but she and her husband, Stan Zlotsky, have been living in NYC for four years. Naturally drawn to foreign cultures and the local Jewish community, Tatyana reached out to the JICNY last year and became an active volunteer. She is a Director of Marketing for ...

Cathy Kadets

New York City

There is no group more welcoming for Jews in New York City than the JICNY. They are beacon when away from home that you can gravitate towards and be welcomed. Throughout the years, I have become a more observant Jewess. So while it's always nice to be home with family for the Jewish holidays, it's ...

Rabbi Shalom Morris

New York City

Shalom Morris is the Educational Director at Shearith Israel, the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue of NY. Born Ashkenazi, he has become a 'switch hitter' and now attempts to navigate both Sephardic and Ashkenazi, as well as American and International, communities. Often asked, 'You're a rabbi? How old ...

Alex (Sasha) Loseva

Brooklyn,NY

I was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and grew up in the Midwood area of Brooklyn. After finishing my studies at NYU and Teachers College, Columbia University I now spend my days working with young kids as a pediatric speech-language pathologist. I love my work because it allows me to help kids with ...

Daniel Vahab

New York City

Daniel Vahab is a freelance writer for various newspapers, with a particular niche in Jewish publications. His work has appeared in the Jewish Forward, the Jewish Post, the Jewish Journal, the Jewish State, as well as the Baltimore Sun and the New York Press, among others. Daniel is currently ...

Anna Oshchepkova

Yekaterinburg, Russia

I came to US 4 years ago from Yekaterinburg, Russia (the city is located in the Ural Mountains – and yes, it is COLD in the winterJ). Working for Jewish Agency for Israel back home made me miss the diverse Jewish community in US, and I could not find anything inspirational until I discovered the ...

Mark Dresdner

Australia

JICNY and Jodi and Gavin personally have provided me with highly valued support in a myriad of ways, since I arrived in New York a decade ago from Australia via Chicago. Their generosity has included hosting my shevah brachot in their home and Gavin learning Gemara with me one-on-one. In addition, ...

Regina Khaimova

Uzbekistan

JICNY is known for bringing Jews from various backgrounds together; it is a home away from home. Over the past few months, I have learned a lot about my background and religion. I come from a Sephardic family that immigrated to the United States from Uzbekistan in 1996. After immigrating my family ...

Adrian Berger

Sydney, Australia

I was born in Sydney, Australia and have been living out of Australia for more than 5 years now. I moved to New York after time living and working in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines). To live and work in New York was a dream of mine and when I transferred here in 2008 to open a Hong ...

Cayle White

Canada

“I was born into the immigrant Jewish community in Toronto, Canada in the seventies, and I consider myself to have had the “best of all worlds”. We were exposed to so many different languages, European, American and Asian culture, and of course, loads of crazy Jews! I consider my grandparents, who ...

Joseph Meerbaum

Jerusalem, Israel

I was born in Jerusalem, grew up in the United States, and am a citizen of the JICNY. Having grown up in a home where my parents spoke 4 languages, frequently in the same sentence, I feel right at home at the JICNY events. I especially look forward to attending the JICNY Shabbat Dinners where ...

Glenn Hurwitz

Yonkers,NY

My name is Glenn. It is nice to meet you! I am a native of Yonkers, NY, right near Riverdale. I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where I majored in Psychology. I started coming to Steve's class when they met at MJE, when other people told me there was this great Torah class on Monday ...

Tovah Benson

Tampa, Florida

I grew up in Tampa, Florida and graduated from the local schools, University of South Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University and University of Sarasota. I moved to Washington Heights 2 years ago. I am an online professor (information systems and technology education) and was able to take my job ...

Ben Rabizadeh

New York City

JICNY is the destination in New York City to meet and mingle with diverse Jewish young professionals from around the world. This distinct international flavor of JICNY is what makes the organization such an asset to the NYC Jewish community; made only possible by the warm and unending commitment of ...

Alana Shultz

Fair Lawn, New Jersey

Hello, I’m Alana. I grew up in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. On my father’s side, I’m a second generation Fair Lawn’er and a 3rd generation American – my Great Grandparents moved to US in the early 20th century from various places in the Old Russian Empire. My mother however, was born in Hamburg, Germany ...

Sivan Hadari

Brooklyn, NY

Being an Isramerican has always been an integral part of my life. I was born in Brooklyn to Israeli parents; my mother was born in Tunisia and my father comes from a Persian background. I attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn and had the privilege of making Aliyah when I was twelve. I ...

Jessica Eisenberg

New York City,NY

I'm a local NYC girl, born in Manhattan and raised on Long Island and have lived in various cities including London, Boston and Alicante, Spain. I have called NYC my home for the past ten years. About myself: I live a bit of a dual life. During the week I do actuarial work for the reinsurance ...

Stacey Katz-Slone

Atlanta,Georgia

I work “behind the scenes” at the JICNY preparing emails, marketing and database administration.

I was born in Atlanta, Georgia (USA). My parents are restaurant owners and both my sister and I “grew up” in the restaurant and catering business in the Atlanta. I graduated college from ...

Nissim Sade

Israel

Shalom, my name is Nissim, which means miracles. I have 4 brothers and 4 sisters and I’m the youngest. I was raised in an religious family in Netanya. All of our family has served in the Israeli army and for many years we had 4 siblings serving at the same time. I graduated from Tel Aviv University ...

Hadassah Paladin

Mexico

Edan Harari

Brooklyn,NY

I was born in Tel Aviv, Israel and I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. I'm passionate about growing spiritually as well as learning all there is to know about living a joyful, successful and most importantly fulfilled life. I'm close with my family and I love spending time with kids because I love how they' ...

Estee Bardanashvili

Georgia

I was born and raised in the Former Soviet Republic of Georgia, a beautiful country by the Black Sea where Jews lived for the past 26 centuries. In my teenage years I went to fine arts and music colleges and studied in Moscow, Russia, till my family immigrated to New York. After graduating from ...

Jacob Kimchy

Israel

I am the Co-Founder of One Heart Global, a non-profit organization based in New York City dedicated to helping victims of terror across the globe. I began One Heart in 2006 in memory of my father, Rami Kimchy, who was killed on May 7, 2002 in a terrorist attack in Rishon Letzion. My father was ...

Jacob Oslick

Monterrey, Mexico

I was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and lived in Mexico, Bolivia, and Zaire as a young child, before coming to the U.S. to stay. My parents were both Americans, but my dad was a diplomat so we moved around a lot. As a result, I've always felt not quite American, but not quite international. And, ...

Laura Weissberger

Los Angeles

I spent my childhood in a suburb of Los Angeles, then moved to northern California to attend the University of California Davis for undergraduate. I finished college a year early and took that year to volunteer for and Israeli NGO in Nepal doing economic development projects in a rural village. ...

Ronen Elrom

Israel

was born in Israel, and grew up there very connected to my friends and family. I spent 7 years in the Israeli Army, receiving computer programming training I truly value from Mamram and serving as an Officer in the Air Force. After the Army, I worked for some terrific technology firms, but always ...

Rachel Tenenbaum

New Jersey

I grew up in New Jersey, the first generation born to an Israeli mother and Italian-born father, and attended Solomon Schechter for most of my schooling. My father’s parents were Holocaust survivors from Poland and taken to a refugee camp at the Pope’s summer residence, where my father was born. My ...

Sam Kressler

Worcester, Massachusetts

I grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts in a community so Reform, I used to joke that I was raised "Junitarian". I arrived in New York soon after a year and a half stint living in Peru. I was looking to learn more about Judaism and network with Latin Americans. Steve and Rabbi Nissim's Monday classes ...

Sabrina Michael

Azerbaijan

I discovered JICNY by accident while surfing the internet one summer night and I was immediately intrigued by this community for Jewish "gypsies" like me who come from all over the world. My family moved from Azerbaijan to Israel to Munich, Germany just before I was born, and I attended American ...

Steve Feldman

Maryland,USA

I had the great pleasure of being introduced to the JICNY six years ago through my girlfriend, and now my wife Lauren, who met Steve Eisenberg on a trip to Israel in 2006. She raved about Steve's Monday Night classes so I joined her one night to see what it was all about. Still today, I remember ...

Jade Rabinowitz

South Africa

I grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. I am married to my wonderful husband Howard Rabinowitz and we have a gorgeous 11 month old child. Her name is Blake Lee. I am an accomplished international award winning photographer that was also the official photographer for the Mandela family in South ...

Jacob Ouaknine,

Casablanca, Morocco

We grew up in a Moroccan modern orthodox family. Memories of growing up in Casablanca will always be white. Coming from a family of 6, my brother and sisters learned to be very dependent upon one other. There is this unspoken respect that travels between us. We all feel responsible for one another ...

Oren L. Adler

FAir Lawn,NJ

Growing among the enclave of Israelis in Fair Lawn, NJ, I spoke and heard only Hebrew until I was five years old. Although I did not serve in the IDF, I always straddled the identity crisis of calling myself Israeli or American; culturally I have a stronger affiliation with Israel and Israelis. I ...

Maya Ben-Bassat

Tel Aviv,Israel

While I was born in Tel Aviv, spent all of my childhood to early-adulthood summers in Israel, and was raised speaking Hebrew in an Israeli (traditional) home, I grew up deep-in-the-heart-of-Texas (Houston). Despite the fact that I've lived longer in the US than in Israel, I still consider myself ...

Dana Lilienthal

New York, USA

I grew up in Rockville Centre, New York in a traditional Jewish home. In 2002, I decided to learn more about Judaism and moved to the Upper West Side to immerse myself in Jewish culture. During my time living in the city I tried different shuls, took classes, and attended Shabbat dinners. Although ...

Jason Roomer

South Africa

I grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa in a nicely observant environment where I attended Jewish day school, and was very much part of the community. I was educated at the University of the Witwatersrand (I know it’s a bit of a mouthful) in Johannesburg, and have been an attorney at a big New York ...

Chef Sholmo Schwartz

Beer Sheva, Israel

Although today I live in one of the busiest cities in the world, I was actually born in the quiet desert of Israel in the city of Beer Sheva. After my IDF service I dedicated my professional life to Zionist education and traveled around the world working with Jewish communities. A little over three ...

Milena Kozhin

Queens, New York

I grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, attended Yeshiva Dov Revel, HAFTR then NYU for college. Received masters degree in Nutrition and Health Sciences. Judaism, family and education are focal points of our lives. I’m blessed to have trained and worked at companies ranging from Bloomberg, Miramax ...

L. Batya Schwartz Ehrens

New Jersey, USA

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