Kyle
Brykman participated on Hasbara Fellowships in the summer of 2007. He is
a graduate of the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of
Western Ontario, where he served as the President of Israel
on Campus from ‘08-‘09. Kyle pioneered the
RISE Canadian Israel Advocacy Shabbaton in January ‘09 which brought
active Jewish students from across Canada to network and learn Israel
advocacy. Kyle is currently working as a Sales
Analyst for General Mills Canada, and is excited to bring his passion
and energy to Hasbara’s Young Leadership board.
Dafna Davidovitch
Dafna Pollack first became involved with Hasbara Fellowships while she was in law school. Dafna attended the Hasbara Fellowships winter training program in Israel first as a student and then as a student leader. She organized various pro-Israel programs on her law school campus and worked at the Hasbara office in New York. Dafna now lives on the Upper West Side on Manhattan with her husband and daughter and practices real estate law. She is very excited to work with other young professionals and to help expand Hasbara Fellowships' base.
Jay Feldman
With more than ten years of program development, volunteer leadership development and fundraising experience in the Jewish communal and non-profit sector, Jay S. Feldman is currently the Managing Director of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Foundation.
Previously, Jay was Director of Leadership Development at Jewish Federation & Family Services (JFFS) in Orange County, California, where he was responsible for major gift solicitation and managed a community grant-making program for leadership, Israel education, and advocacy training for university students. Prior to that, Jay was JFFS's Director of Development for Taglit-Birthright Israel Initiatives and was also the former Director of Jewish Student Life at the Hillel Foundation of Orange County.
Jay graduated from the University of Central Florida with a B.A. in Advertising & Public Relations. Jay resides in Orange County, California with his wife, Jennifer, a successful family law attorney.
Ilan Hoffman
Ilan Hoffman traveled to Israel with Hasbara Fellowships during its second year as a sophomore at Boston University. He graduated in 2006 majoring in both international business and international relations. While attending BU, Ilan was a leader of the Pro-Israel movement on campus. After graduating, he enlisted in the Nachal Brigade of the IDF and served in the West Bank and along the border of Lebanon. He currently works in Commercial Real Estate and lives on the Upper West Side in New York City.
Jonah Mozeson
Jonah Mozeson has been involved in taking leadership roles in the Jewish and general communities for many years. In high school, he served terms as both chapter and regional president in the B'nai Brith Young Organization. Jonah is a former president of the Hillel Jewish Students Organization at the University of Alberta and was on the executive board of the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students. Israel activism has always played a strong role in Jonah's involvement with these organizations. Jonah was on the first all-Canadian Hasbara program in August 2004. In university, he volunteered as a mentor for special needs students and served on the executive board of the Tourette's Syndrome Foundation of Canada's Edmonton, Ottawa and Winnipeg Chapters. He has also been very involved as a political activist at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels. Jonah graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree in Political Science and worked as a political staffer in the Government of Canada for 4 years. He is currently studying law at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Jason Schoenbrun
Jason participated in the second Hasbara Fellowships program in August 2002. He majored in Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, where he was president of Aish on Campus. He implemented Project S.I.C.K. on campus, raising awareness of the sick practice in many parts of the world of brainwashing and inciting children to hate and kill. Jason's activities on campus tended to focus on the great contributions Israel has made to mankind and how similar her values are to the U.S. He brought many speakers to campus, including Sheik Abdul Hadi Palazzi, screened such movies as Relentless, and made grassroots activism a principal part of his undergraduate years. In fact, he met his future wife recruiting for flyering one evening. He represented the student delegation at the Orthodox General Assembly in Israel for two years. Since graduating, he has completed an MS in Engineering Management at the George Washington University, and lives in Silver Spring, MD with his wife and two children.
Nataly Weiss
Nataly Weiss was born in Israel and grew up in East Windsor, New Jersey. After learning in Israel for a year after high school, she returned to the U.S. to attend the University of Hartford where she completed her B.A. in Psychology and met her husband. After graduating, Nataly worked as a Campus Coordinator for Hasbara Fellowships, training college students to fight anti-Israel propaganda on their campuses and to be effective activists for Israel. After getting married, Nataly moved to Riverdale to work as the Director of Recruitment and head of the Meorot Jewish Leaders Fellowships. Nataly has worked for Hadassah’s Young Judaea as their Senior Manager of short-term summer Israel programs. Currently, Nataly and her husband work together as the JLIC (Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus) rabbinic couple at Rutgers University.
Sam Zitin
Sam attended Hasbara Fellowships in the winter of 2004 where he was inspired by fellow trip participants to pursue a career in Jewish communal service. Sam went on to spend five years with Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity as an Educational Leadership Consultant and later as their Director of Information Management. Sam is currently the Director of the Indianapolis chapter of NCSY as well as running several Jewish Student Union clubs at local public high schools.
Ashley Faintuch
Ashley
Faintuch participated in Hasbara Fellowships in 2009, and came back to
campus dedicated to advocacy and activism for the remainder of her
studies. Ashley served as Hillel President from 2009-2010 and Hasbara
Fellowships Western Canada Campus Coordinator from 2010-2011. In these positions she organized a number of campus
programs and campaigns such as Just 15 Seconds - a Sderot Awareness
Campaign and Israel Peace Week: In the Name of Democracy, as well as led
activism training sessions. Ashley is very excited to be on the Young
Leadership Board, because it is her way of giving back to an
organization that helped her find her passion and direction. Ashley
recently moved to Ottawa, Ontario to work for a Canadian Member of
Parliament.
Ruven Ellberger
Ruven Ellberger is an attorney for Two Sigma Investments. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School (2008) and Columbia College (2005). He was the Vice-President of Columbia Students for Israel and President of Jewish Law Students Association at Columbia Law School. Ruven also assisted in organizing opposition to the visit of Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad to Columbia University in 2007. Ruven attended Hasbara Fellowships in the winter of 2003-2004. He lives with his wife Aliza in New Jersey.
Ruthie Hecht
Ruthie Esses participated in the first Hasbara Fellowships program in December 2001. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon in 2002, Ruthie worked for Hasbara Fellowships. She currently lives in New York and works in event planning and interior design.
Miriam Katz
Miriam Katz is Director of National Initiatives and State Government Relations at the Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C. Miriam participated in the Hasbara Fellowships program in the winter of 2005, an experience which led her to change fields from neuroscience to public diplomacy. She began her career with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2007at the Israel Consulate in San Francisco, where she headed the Media, Academic, and Government Affairs portfolios. Miriam graduated from UC San Diego in 2006, with a B.S. in Cognitive Neuroscience.
Oren Lazar
Oren Lazar went on the second Hasbara Fellowships program during his last year at UC Berkeley, where he was a leader in the pro-Israel movement. After that first trip Oren remained connected with the program and worked for Hasbara for several years following graduation while living in Israel and New York. In Israel Oren also did graduate work in Middle East History at Tel Aviv University. Oren is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and practiced law in Los Angeles with a focus on securities litigation. Currently Oren is the Valley Area Director for AIPAC in Los Angeles.
Elana Lichtenstein
Elana Lichtenstein currently serves as AIPAC's Director for Southern Connecticut, a position she has held since August of 2006. In this position, Elana is responsible for maintaining and growing the base of AIPAC's support in Fairfield County, CT, as well as community development and education on issues pertaining to Israel's security and the US-Israel relationship. Before joining AIPAC, Elana was the Northeast Campus Coordinator for Hasbara Fellowships after participatingi n the program- both as a student and as a madricha- during her time at Brandeis University. She graduated from Brandeis with a double major in Politics and Near Eastern & Judaic Studies.
Danielle Rugoff
Danielle attended the University of Texas at Austin where she studied Government, Middle Eastern Studies, and Jewish Studies. Danielle was extremely involved in campus life founding the Keep UT Hate Free Initiative, which established a university specific anti-Hate crime policy and general access to information regarding hate crimes for students. In 2006, Danielle was elected to serve as the University’s Student Body President. Immediately following her graduation, Danielle moved to Washington to serve as AIPAC’s Senior National Field Organizer working with campuses across 10 states, primarily focusing on big state schools in the South. In between Danielle’s time with AIPAC in Washington and her return to AIPAC in her capacity in the Dallas office, Danielle served as the Statewide Director for a United States Senate Exploratory Committee.
In her free time, Danielle serves on the local board of Israel Bonds, the Network of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, the University of Texas’ Past Presidents and Vice President’s Alumni Council and is an active member of the Friar Society.
Leslie Welwarth
Lesley Patterson Welwarth graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in International Relations and Judaic Students in 2006. After studying abroad at Tel Aviv University, she participated in Hasbara Fellowships in the summer of 2005. She was a leader on Emory’s campus, acting as the Grinspoon Israel Advocacy Fellow. In that capacity, she helped to reinstate Emory’s study abroad programs to Israel, and spearheaded the iFest programs. After graduating, Lesley worked as the NY & NJ Campus Coordinator for the David Project. Lesley is a recent graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and currently lives in Michigan with her husband, Jeremy, and two children.
Sharona Getz Whisler
Sharona Whisler has been working for ZOA since 2007. Sharona graduated from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Speech and Hearing Science. Sharona had a very accomplished career as a campus pro-Israel activist. She was a student participant in the ZOA Student Leadership Mission to Israel, Hasbara Fellowships, and was an Israel Project fellow and intern. As an undergrad, Sharona was a student madricha on two Hasbara Fellowship trips to Israel. Sharona spent her junior year abroad studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Upon graduation from college, she was presented with the ICC of Greater Washington award for Outstanding Leadership and an award of recognition from Hasbara Fellowships for her years of activism on campus. She has been working for ZOA as a campus coordinator since graduation and has worked in New York, Washington, and Miami. She has participated in three ZOA Student Leadership Missions to Israel, once as a student, and twice as a staff member. In November, 2011, Sharona became the National Director of ZOA’s Campus Department. She lives in Miami, with her husband Josh.