July 15, 2010 / 4 Av 5770 

Welcome to the first annual Masa Israel Leadership Summit, bringing together alumni of Masa Israel programs and helping you maintain a strong connection to Israel and your Jewish communities at home.

We hope that the Summit will provide you with the tools you need to turn your Israel experience into a positive foundation for success in your personal and professional lives and empower you to become an active and innovative leader in your local community.

RSVP Here

Schedule:

Welcome Breakfast
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.
Welcome by Arlene Kaufman, International Co-Chair, Masa Israel Journey

Arlene Kaufman has served in numerous capacities at the national level in the Jewish communal world, and has long worked in service to Jewish continuity and international issues. She currently serves as International Co-Chair of Masa Israel Journey. Additionally, she is a key funder of Birthright Israel post-trip programming and is a former national major gifts and missions chair for United Jewish Appeal. She currently sits on the board of the American Joint Distribution Committee and has served on The Jewish Agency Board of Governors, the board of the American Jewish Committee and is the past-President of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach. Read More.

Sharing Your Israel Experience with the People Who Matter

9:30 – 11:00 a.m.
Presented by Vicki Agron, Masa Israel Fundraising and Resource Development Consultant

With nearly four decades of experience as both a national leader and a senior Development professional, Vicki Agron opened her own consulting firm specializing in strategic fundraising. Less than one month later, her client list included local, national and international Jewish organizations.

A former executive with United Jewish Appeal and its successor organization, United Jewish Communities, Vicki has worked with Federations and other non-profit organizations throughout the world for more than 35 years. In her last post as Senior Vice President for Development, she had oversight and strategic planning responsibilities for the Annual and Special Campaigns, Planned Giving and Endowments and Supplemental Giving. Together, these efforts resulted in more than $3 billion being raised through Federations each year. Read More.

Workshop: The Israel I know and love (and, even wrestle with): How does my Masa Israel experience become a vehicle for dynamic Israel engagement programs and education?

11:00 – 12:00 p.m.
Presented by Rabbi Reuven Greenwald, MAKOM Director of Community Initiatives

Rabbi Reuven Greenvald was a day school educator for over twenty years, serving in teaching and administrative capacities. At the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (Rockville, MD), he was the Upper School Principal and at the Kehillah Jewish High School (Palo Alto, CA) he was Head of School. A graduate of the JTS rabbinical school and the University of Pennsylvania, he spent two years (2002-04) in Israel as a Jerusalem Fellow at the Mandel Leadership Institute. Since June of 2007 he has been working at Makōm as its Director of Community Initiatives.

LUNCH AND LEARN: Current Events in Israel

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
J.J. Goldberg, Senior Columnist, The Jewish Daily Forward

J.J. Goldberg, senior columnist, is one of the leading voices in contemporary Jewish journalism. His column, Good Fences, appears weekly on the editorial page and his blog is posted here. Goldberg served as the Forward’s editor in chief from 2000 to 2007. Under his editorial leadership the Forward grew to become the most honored and authoritative Jewish newspaper in America.

He has served in the past as U.S. bureau chief of the Israeli newsmagazine The Jerusalem Report, as managing editor of The New York Jewish Week, as a nationally syndicated columnist, as editor in chief of the monthly Jewish Frontier, as world/national news editor of the daily Home News of New Brunswick, N.J., and as a metro/police-beat reporter for Hamevaker, a Hebrew-language newsweekly published for the Israeli émigré community in Los Angeles.  Read More.

From Spark to Success: Translating your Masa Israel Experience into an Accomplished Career

1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Meet and learn from young entrepreneurs who have turned a good idea into today’s most innovative Jewish projects.

Panel:
Charlie Schwartz, MediaMidrash.org

Charlie Schwartz is a senior rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and a masters student in Education at the William Davidson School of Jewish Education at JTS.  Named to the New York Jewish Week’s “36 under 36″ as a “young innovator who is re-imagining Jewish life”, Charlie works in the field of Jewish education technology, co-founding MediaMidrash.org, an online platform allowing educators easy access to high quality, well organized Jewish educational multimedia content.  In addition to his work in Jewish edtech, Charlie is a passionate Israel educator who uses Israeli pop culture to transform the way Diaspora Jews think about, talk about and relate to the Jewish State (just ask about his lesson on “Masculinity and Marshmallows: Krembo in Modern Israeli Cinema).  Prior to JTS, Charlie served with distinction as a squad commander in the Israeli Defense Forces. Originally from Portland Oregon, Charlie earned a B.A. in Religion and Jewish Studies from Oberlin College, and currently serves as the Jewish Life Director for List College at JTS.

Eli Winkelman, Challah for Hunger

Who says a college student can’t change the world? When Eli Winkelman was an undergrad at Scripps College in California, she started a program called Challah for Hunger. The idea started out small: bake fresh, delicious challah every week and sell it to students and faculty to raise money for hunger and disaster relief.

The program was a hit (even former President Clinton took notice) and began to spread to other colleges. As of 2009, Challah for Hunger had chapters on 30 campuses across the country and had raised more than $130,000, with half of the proceeds going to American Jewish World Service’s Sudan Relief and Advocacy Fund, and half going to local, national, or international organizations chosen by campus organizers. Read More.

Gabrielle Carlin, JNFuture

Gabrielle L. Carlin is a Campaign Executive with Jewish National Fund (JNF), caretaker of the land of Israel and global environmental leader. Gabrielle is the founding professional of JNFuture, JNF’s young philanthropy program, committed to engaging and energizing the next generation in the mission of JNF. Today, there are chapters in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Denver, and Miami, as well as Melbourne, Sydney, Toronto and London. JNFuture has brought in over 2,000 unique donors and raised over $400,000 for JNF’s work in Israel. Read More.

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Jordana Jaffe, Embarkability

Jordana Jaffe created Embarkability to empower and teach women in their 20′s how to start their own successful businesses. Having launched her first business at 24 years old – without knowing the first thing about entrepreneurship - to being the founder of a succesful business featured on NBC, in Women’s Health, People StyleWatch and the New York Daily News, within only a few years, Jordana realized that success is YOURS for the taking, regardless of age or background. She believes in educating young women on the possibility of entrepreneurship and has since commited herself to helping young women create the businesses of their dreams before their 30th birthdays.

Jordana speaks on college panels, at university functions, sorority meetings, and leads her own workshops as well. To find out more or to book Jordana to come to your school or event, please email the Embarkability team at info@embarkability.com.

Panel moderated by Jacob Dallal, Director of Public Relations and Marketing at the Jewish Agency for Israel

Jacob Dallal is the Director of Public Relations & Marketing in North America at the Jewish Agency for Israel, Israel’s largest nonprofit.

Jacob comes to his position after serving as a career officer in the Israel Defense Forces’ Spokesperson’s Unit.  Jacob served as deputy head of the international press office, responsible for North American media, as spokesperson and liaison for the army to the press from 2001 to 2005. During the Lebanon War in 2006 he was acting head of the international press office, leading the army’s public relations effort with the international media during the war. He has appeared on television as a spokesperson for the army on CNN, Fox, and the BBC and in the print media. Read More.

Workshop: Designing the New Masa Israel Alumni Community

2:30 – 4:00 p.m.
Presented by Avi Rubel

Avi Rubel is the North American Director for Masa Israel Journey where he is responsible for marketing, recruitment, and program development for long term

Israel program in North America. Avi was formerly Assistant Director of Hillel’s International Division where he managed the 27 Jewish student centers in the former Soviet Union. Avi also served as a manager for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s former Soviet Union department developing Jewish community centers throughout the former Soviet Union.  Avi was also a United States Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan for two years where he taught English in a rural high school. Avi made Aliyah in 1999 and prior to that had participated in several long term Israel programs. Avi also served as Director of Communications and Marketing for Manhattan’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, one of New York City’s leading arts and cultural institutions. Read More.

Cocktail Reception and Networking
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.