After my official bio, let me share with you my journey on a more personal level:

The Beginnings

I grew up in a small town in New Jersey, where my father and uncle, who were identical twins, had a retail store for bridal gowns and women clothing. The two families and our grandparents lived just down the street from each other, and we were very close throughout my childhood. I attended the local conservative temple when I didn’t cut and play basketball at the playground.

After high-school, I attended the Boston University where I earned my BA and M.ED in counseling psychology and worked for a year at the Boston State Hospital as a therapist. Then I received a job offer that seemed like a dream. Thanks to my aunt’s relative who had an expanding psychotherapy clinic with 50 staff and 500 patients,  I was to be trained as a therapist and have my Ph.D. degree paid for. All this to eventually become his partner in the business. My parents were thrilled, and I was all ready to start and build my life-long career as a therapist and a businessman.

But before getting down to business, as they say, I wanted to take one last extended vacation before embarking on the journey of adult life. So I picked Greece as my destination. Why Greece? Because the Greek Islands reminded me of the Jersey shore, where I used to spend the summers growing up.  

So off I went to Greece with my backpack ready to conquer the ancient European history and all that it had to offer. One day while wandering on one of the islands, I met two young guys. One was from Uruguay, the other from The Netherlands. The guy from Uruguay was a Jewish architect, and he told me that I must go to Jerusalem before I return to the States. While I was Jewish, I had no real desire to go to Israel before. I was neither a Zionist nor a student that my Hebrew school would take any particular pride in. But I packed my stuff and went to Israel. I traveled around for two weeks and was coming to the end of my trip.

I headed to Jerusalem on a Friday and thought that I'd have a spiritual experience on Shabbos in the Holy City. But I found myself in a youth hostel with mostly non-Jews and a very meager Friday night meal.I was disappointed. My Friday night dinner at home was more “Jewish” than that meal at the youth hostel.  On Saturday morning, I met a couple of Jewish guys, and we went to the Jewish quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. A yeshiva student invited us for a meal in a nearby yeshiva. We accepted the invite hoping for a nice lunch. But when we got there, they started to daven (pray)  for Mincha (the afternoon service), and I told myself: “We came to eat not to pray. I’m out of here.” But just before I could leave, a few guys suggested that I return the next morning for a class given by a very distinguished rabbi who taught a class on Judaism and psychology. It was titled the 48 Ways of Wisdom.  Finally, it sounded interesting, and I thought it would be cool to attend.

48 Ways of Wisdom

I went to the class the next morning. The 48 Ways of Wisdom fused Jewish wisdom and psychology. I attended a few more classes and started to deal with some of the most basic questions for any serious person. What are we living for? Is there a G-d? How do we know? Is the Torah true or just a bunch of bible stories? What’s the purpose of the Jewish people? My grandmother used to tell me about how many of our family members were murdered in Europe. And I felt that I owed to myself and the Jewish heritage to at the very least think and grapple with these questions.  

I decided to stay in Jerusalem. I felt I needed to stay; for my own sake but also for something bigger than me - for the Jewish people. To the dismay of my dear parents, I delayed the job offer in New York. One thing led to another: a lot of soul searching, a lot of questions to think about and many answers that I found. One week turned into two and then three, and I decided to stay for a year and resume my professional path. I become very close with Rabbi Noah Weinberg. Rav Noach, as he was called, became a significant force in my life. He inspired me and imparted a wealth of wisdom about how to live a meaning life for myself and to others. Rav Noach’s wisdom and teaching enriched my life, and it becomes clear to me that making a difference for the Jewish people is a very special privilege and honor. To me, it was very meaningful and real.

Aish Canada

I was 26 at the time, and around my third year in Israel, I met my wife who was studying in Israel for a year. She was a beautiful and incredible woman from Detroit who shared my values and goals in life. Shortly after, we got married in her hometown and then returned to Israel for the final year of my studies. This was when we got the opportunity to move to Canada and start to build up Aish Toronto. We moved to Canada in 1981 with a baby, and I started to teach at the Aish branch. Soon, however, our fundraiser moved on and the leader of the branch undertook the fundraising. After all, he knows that he had to take the responsibility.  He was a phenomenal teacher, and I offered to do fundraising so that he could focus more on teaching. We all felt responsible and undertook what needed to be done.

I took on the major fundraising responsibilities while my wife and I continued to be involved with teaching, strategic planning, and involvement with our students. I’ve found great satisfaction in the fundraising activities even though I had no idea what to do at first. It was really a lesson that Rav Noach always spoke about: being a man means taking responsibility for what needs to be done. And if you look around and you see the need, you do it even if it’s not what you thought you were good at. And this is what I did...and I did grow!

I spoke with Rabbi Weinberg all the time. He instilled his wisdom in me while I learned the nitty-gritty details of successful fundraising. But to me, it was never about fundraising. It was about developing partners for our mission.  I discovered my skills and developed new ones that I never imagined I would acquire. I got over the initial shock and truly found passion in meeting people from all walks of life and various professions and businesses. My job was constantly to look for strategic breakthroughs, to enlist people into our cause. We were always seeking out new ways to effectively teach Torah wisdom. My life and the life of my family was truly meaningful and with a purpose. I felt very fortunate.

The New York City chapter

In 1999, Rabbi Weinberg asked me to move to New York and launch new programs there. I became his right-hand man in the United States, and this is how I continued my role as the Executive Director of Aish International, but now, in Manhattan. We continue to launch and fund many breakthrough programs around the world in Jewish outreach and introduce initiatives that are crucial for the Jewish people. While working for Aish took up most of my time, I also developed relationships with many other Jewish organizations and people that I was able to counsel. It’s been my pleasure to be able to contribute to their success. I also found myself in a position of knowing a lot of special people in my types of businesses and was able to introduce people to each other for personal and profession furtherment.

This is where I’m today, and my journey is one that gives me passion, satisfaction, and meaning.

After all, my work is to make a difference for the Jewish people and find ways to finance strategic and breakthrough programs to educate our people.  And I think I couldn’t have asked for more.

Growing up in a very close family in a small town taught me the sense of loyalty and the importance of community. Then throughout the years, I grew into a person who takes responsibility in augmenting change and by encouraging others to partner in that responsibility. As I firmly believe that with G-d’s help together we can change the Jewish world and the world in general and make a positive change for good.

I’ve launched my website to keep up with the changing life around us and to make sure I can offer my skills and expertise for the generations to come.