Aleksandra (Ola) Sajdak |
Ben Vos |
Dalia Fleming |
Danielle Chaimovitz |
Denis (Daniel Naftoli) Surovtsev |
Emanuel Pusztai |
Jonas Belaïche |
Jonathan Harmat
|
Jonathan Schoppig |
Josh Dubell |
Julia Koleva |
Julia Shterenberg |
Magda Kupferberg |
Marat Schlafstein |
Nisya işman Allovi |
Raisa Nazarova |
|
Aleksandra (Ola) Sajdak
Poland
Aleksandra Sajdak is a Senior Program Assistant at the Taube Centre in Warsaw and is the Center’s
primary researcher and is the co-managing editor of the Taube Center’s publications. Aleksandra is
also a part time staff member of the Jewish Genealogy & Family Heritage Centre at the Jewish
Historical Institute, serving as a family history researcher and genealogist. Aleksandra received her
Bachelor and Master’s degrees from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in cultural studies and
theology. Her MA thesis was about antisemitism in Poland in the late 1930s. Intrigued with all
aspects of Jewish history and heritage in Poland, Aleksandra is currently working on her doctoral
thesis at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Aleksandra has served
as the Polish coordinator and as an educator for Oranim College in 2016 and 2017, and joined the
Polish-based staff as an educator for the March of the Living UK in 2018.
Aleksandra is an alumna of PARADIGM Ideas Program at PAIDEIA – The European Institute for Jewish
Studies in Sweden. Ola is an alumna of Minyanim, the Jewish Leadership Program for Jews in
Central and Eastern Europe of transmission and engagement. Aleksandra is actively involved in
Warsaw’s Jewish community, a member of the JCC and the Ec Chaim kehillah.
Ben Vos is engaged in strategic work at the United Synagogue in London,
looking in particular at rabbinical careers, communal demographics and
supporting communal leaders. Though born in London, Ben was brought up in Sussex by the sea but
returned to the capital for university where he read History. His religious and active youth
movement background was in Liberal Judaism; as a member of a newly-formed, independent, very
‘Tzioni’ community in London, he continued his volunteering by organising varied social events
which played their part building a community from disparate parts. Ben’s work dovetails with his
interest in Jewish history.
Dalia is from London, England. As the first Executive Director of KeshetUK, the only charity working
to ensure Jewish LGBT+ (Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans) people and their families are included
throughout Jewish life in the UK, Dalia’s work reaches individuals and communities who have not
traditionally considered or engaged with LGBT+ inclusion. They work to build constructive,
supportive relationships with schools, youth and young adult organisations, synagogues and wider
community organisations across all denominations, understanding that each group comes from a
different starting point. Dalia previously worked in Local Government and is an experienced trainer,
programme manager and facilitator.
Danielle Chaimovitz-Basok was born and raised in Jerusalem, but she has been writing and leading
programs in Jewish communities in Israel and around the world for most of her career as part of the
Jewish Agency. Since moving to Wroclaw, Danielle has been serving the Jewish community as a
Rebbetzen and Educator, leading educational programs and teaching, mainly young adults and
families.
Danielle loves to cook and uses it as an educational tool for connecting people to their Jewish
identity through food. Danielle currently lives in Wroclaw, Poland, with her Husband David and their
two children- Noam and Gili.
Denis (Daniel Naftoli) Surovtsev
Germany
Daniel Naftoli (Denis) Surovtsev was born in Belarus in Minsk. He discovered his Jewish identity
when he was 11 years old. Two years later he had already finished learning his first tractate of
Talmud, as he was learning in Jewish school in Minsk. After his family moved to Germany Daniel
Naftoli enrolled in a yeshiva in Berlin Yeshiva, which later became a rabbinical seminary. After his
studies he worked as a rabbi in a few different communities in Germany. He is married and has 2
children. In his free time, he writes his blog on Facebook and makes videos for YouTube.
Emanuel is Hazzan for the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, acting mainly in the
biggest community, Bucharest. He lives now in Bucharest, but originates from the city of Arad. There
he studied Piano and has a Master’s degree from the Academy of Music in Cluj Napoca. He gives
classical music, Klezmer and cantorial concerts. Besides being a Cantor, Emanuel coordinates the
national educational programme – Talmud Tora for different ages and is also a madrich for Jewish
camps where he teaches Judaism to all ages.
Jonas is a 33-year-old French husband and father of two. He has always been involved in his
community, as a participant and activist, at camps, talmud torah etc., thanks to his parents’
commitment. Jonas has studied (in Paris & NYC) and worked in finance as a consultant and banker
for 6 years. He changed his career path two years ago and decided to become a professional for his
community. Today he is in charge in FSJU of the NOE call to project and incubator for young leaders.
He also works closely with youth movements on pedagogical issues (seminar NOE etc.).
Jonathan Harmat is the project manager of the Jewish Information Centre in Copenhagen,
Denmark. Jonathan runs an educational service with thousands of annual visits from Danish
students, he plans and hosts events, talks and debates about Jewish topics in Copenhagen, and he
and his colleagues compose and disseminate educational materials about Jewish life, culture,
history, religion, traditions and identity. Currently, he is concerned about creating educational
materials about antisemitism.
Jonathan Harmat has an Israeli father and has lived in Israel several times and studied for a
semester at the University of Tel Aviv.
Jonathan starts his day with a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, a chocolate bar and a morning
run. During the day he works for LIKRAT www.likrat.ch, a project that aims at fostering dialogue
between students and their Jewish peers. This is achieved through Jewish youths being invited to
school classes to speak about Judaism. Through dealing with another religion and being confronted
with different values and practices, understanding and tolerance for Judaism and other minorities is
achieved. The Jewish youths are intensively prepared for the encounters with the school classes.
Besides being trained in knowledge transfer and rhetoric an emphasis is put on simulating
encounters.
Josh Dubell is a 31-year-old Jewish professional from London. Josh currently works for the United
Jewish Israel Appeal as the Masa Business Development Manager having moved on from being the
UJIA Birthright Development Manager six months ago. He has previously lived and worked in
Toronto, where he was the Regional Director for NFTY and Education Director for URJ Camp George.
He has also worked as the Communications Director at Alyth (North Western Reform Synagogue)
and was a movement worker for LJY & RSY-Netzer. Josh has led numerous trips in Israel and has
directly been responsible for sending thousands of young people to Israel during his career.
Julia Koleva was born in Vidin, Bulgaria. Her Jewish journey started when she was 16 and attended
her first Jewish summer camp. She joined the Hadracha College and after the two-year leadership
course she became a madrich at the summer camps. In 2004 she moved to Sofia to study at the
Sofia University, she joined the JCC team in “Shalom” as program coordinator. She coordinated the
children and teenagers’ programs, and the Bar and Bat mitzvah program while she was at the
university. During the following years she was program director of the JCC, team leader, director of
the JCC, summer camp director, and coordinator of the Limmud Keshet seminar in Bulgaria. Julia
attended many international educational seminars such as March of the Living JDC delegation,
Limmud Festival UK, Buncher seminars, GNext, Gesher, JCC conferences of the EAJCC (Bucharest,
London and Marseille), etc.
Julia recently became Head of the Membership and Data base department at “Shalom”. The main
challenges for the new department are putting all the members in order, understanding everyone’s
needs and creating a working long-term membership engagement strategy for the organization.
Julia and her family are active members of the community. She is married and has one two-year old
son.
Julia Shterenberg is 38 years old and lives in Tallinn, Estonia. She has worked in the Jewish
Community of Estonia for more than 12 years and today she is a project manager of the Community.
She organizes big community events and coordinates different projects in the Community. For
example, this year she had 3 big projects: the annual community meeting for more than 500
community members “YAHAD “, an International conference “100 – 70-30“, and a “Crisis
management project “. She lived in Israel for one year and speaks a little bit of Hebrew. Julia has a 7-
year-old son named Natan and a master’s degree in psychology.
Magda Kupferberg is an Educational Adviser, currently working for JCC in Bucharest, the city where
she lives with her husband. Despite leaving the corporate world to fully focus on her community
work, she still feels very corporate at heart, while trying to develop her flexible and creative side.
Her main focus is coordinating programs for children and families, as well as training the madrichim
(counselors) with whom she builds and delivers programs locally and in summer camps. She is also
a books lover, carrying a book around at all times and an avid TED talks consumer.
Marat Schlafstein was born in April 1986 in Odessa and immigrated with his family to Berlin when he
was two years old. Since 2012 Marat works as the Youth and Community Affairs Officer of the Central
Council of Jews in Germany. His main goal is to strengthen programs for young Jews all over
Germany. Marat is also the main person responsible for Jewrovision, a mega event for young Jews
from all over Germany. Marat is married to Shelly and the father of Liam (5), Liel (5) and Liron (3).
Nisya is the director and the curator of The Jewish Museum of Turkey. She lives and works in
Istanbul. She has full responsibility for all aspects regarding the museum affairs, collections,
research, education, permanent presentation and temporary exhibitions, databases and
website. She has been the director of the Museum since 2002. She organized meetings such as an
AEJM meeting in Istanbul, presentations conducted about “Jews Of Turkey” in different countries.
She has attended the Jewish Museum Directors’ and Curators’ Seminars in various countries. She is
married to Lemi and the mother of Mila and Sera. She loves traveling and attending seminars to
improve herself.
Raisa Nazarova was born in Riga, she is 32 years old. She is married and has 2 children, a boy and a
girl. Raisa graduated Latvian University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics.
She works at the JCC Riga as a program and communications manager, that includes supervision of
the JCC program, monitoring and developing its Facebook page, assisting at big community events,
assisting with financial reports and administration. She was a camper in the Jewish camps,
volunteering as a councillor for the kids’ programs and in the Jewish camps, was a student club
coordinator and a participant in the hadracha training program.