Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz is the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He has been a congregational Rabbi for over 30 years, and previously served pulpits in Montreal, Quebec and Mount Vernon, New York. He has always been deeply engaged in community affairs, and currently serves on the board of directors of the UJA-Federation of New York and the American Jewish Committee-NY. When he lived in Montreal, Rabbi Steinmetz served as a Vice President of the Montreal Federation, and held executive positions in the Montreal Hillel and the  Canadian Jewish Congress. He has written for many publications including The Washington Post, The Daily News, The Globe and Mail, La Presse, The Jewish Journal, Haaretz, and The Jerusalem Post.

Rabbi Steinmetz received his ordination from Yeshiva University, where he was a fellow of the Gruss Kollel Elyon and has an M.A. in Jewish Philosophy from the Bernard Revel Graduate School, and an M.A. in Education from Adelphi University. He is married to Lisa Schwartz, and they have four children.

Rabbi Dr. Yossie Levine

Yossie Levine is the Rabbi of The Jewish Center in New York City. Before joining the Center, he served as the educational director of the Lauder Foundation’s Beit Midrash in Berlin, Germany and as the visiting scholar of Congregation Knesseth Israel in Birmingham, Alabama.

Rabbi Levine has taken a leadership role on the issue of day school affordability and has pioneered a communal model for sustaining excellent Jewish education. He is co-chair of the Manhattan Eruv and is active in numerous communal organizations including AIPAC, the Beth Din of America and UJA-Federation of New York, where he is a former Board Member.

His advocacy on behalf of Israel has made The Jewish Center a model for Israel activism both within and beyond the Religious Zionist community.

He earned a BA in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia College and received rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. He holds a PhD in Early Modern Jewish History from Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School and now sits on the Dean’s Council. His work has appeared in both scholarly and popular publications. His book, Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi and the Battlegrounds of the Early Modern Rabbinate (Littman Library, forthcoming) is the winner of the Association for Jewish Studies’ Jordan Schnitzer First Book Award.

Jonathan Conricus

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, now a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, brings 24 years of profound experience from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Serving as a combat commander in Lebanon and Gaza, he also excelled in military diplomacy, foreign relations, and international spokesperson duties. As the first Israeli officer seconded to the United Nations (UN), he provided strategic analysis for UN peacekeeping forces. Recently retired during the initial three months of the conflict against Hamas, Conricus played a pivotal role representing the IDF in international media interviews across premier networks. His adept explanations of complex ground situations and frequent updates on IDF social media reached millions worldwide.

Beyond professional achievements, Jonathan is a passionate Zionist, emphasizing the vital link between Israel and the Diaspora. He devoted a significant part of his career to globally representing and defending Israel’s reputation. Residing in Israel with his family, Jonathan’s adventurous spirit extends to exploring new sites and locations on his motorcycles.

Morton A. Klein

Morton A. Klein is National President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest pro-Israel group in the U.S., founded in 1897. Mr. Klein is widely regarded as one of the leading Jewish activists in the United States. Morton Klein is a child of Holocaust survivors, born in a displaced persons camp in Gunzberg, Germany.

The ational Jewish weekly, The Forward, named Morton Klein one of the top five Jewish leaders in the U.S. today, stating “It’s impossible to deny that Klein has been extraordinarily effective.” The U.S. Department of State has awarded Klein a “Certificate of Appreciation” “in recognition of outstanding contributions to national and international affairs,” after he delivered a major address there. He received the World Zionist Organization Award for Outstanding Leadership, the only leader recognized at the World Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland and presented by philanthropist Dr. Miri Adelson in August 2022. He is a member of the International Board of Governors of Ariel University in Israel.

Morton Klein worked in three administrations as an economist in Washington, D.C. He has served as a biostatistician at UCLA School of Public Health and the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif., having worked closely with two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling. He received the Jabotinsky Award from The Christians and Jews United for Israel group. Mr. Klein was also a lecturer in mathematics and statistics at Temple University.

The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent named Morton Klein one of the top dozen “Jewish activists of the century.” The NY Jewish Week (largest Federation paper) has named him one of the top ten Jewish leaders who have made a difference. The Jerusalem Post has called the ZOA, “one of the most important and influential groups in the U.S. today.” The Wall Street Journal called Morton Klein “heroic and the most credible advocate for Israel on the American Jewish scene today,” and we should “snap a salute to those who were right about Oslo and Arafat all along, including Morton Klein who was wise, brave, and unflinchingly honest. When the history of the American Jewish struggle in these years is written, Mr. Klein will emerge as an outsized figure.”

The New York Times, in a profile called “Public Lives,” called Morton Klein, “a man who ferrets out antisemitism wherever it is, a rare voice from the outset in the American Jewish community against the Oslo Accords, and an iconoclast who is a prolific speechmaker, writer, and Congressional lobbyist.”

Mort Klein’s successful campaigns against anti-Israel bias in leading textbooks, travel guides, universities, churches, and the media, as well as his work on Capitol Hill, were the subject of 40 feature stories both in the U.S. and Israel. His scientific research on nutrition and heart disease was cited by Discover Magazine as one of the Top 50 Scientific Studies of 1992. Mort Klein has been invited to testify before the U.S. Congress, Including the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Judiciary Committee, and the Israeli Knesset. Mr. Klein led the fight to reinterpret Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination. He was the sole Jewish leader initially supporting the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act.

Mr. Klein is married to Rita, has a married daughter Rachael, and four grandchildren.

Gad Elbaz

Gad Elbaz is an Israeli Superstar who is currently the most recognized name and face in Jewish music world wide. With millions of hits on his YouTube music videos, Gad is one of the top recording Artist, whose songs are played and covered around the globe. Through his soulful and contemporary sound, Gad has brought Jewish music to a new level, and continues to serve as a role model to his many fans. Gad is reaching audiences around the world as his music and message of unity are being embraced by Jewish communities worldwide. In 2009, he began a multi-city world tour to promote his music and message. His goal is to help people renew their faith through music and empower them to live their lives with an open heart, faith in themselves and faith in G-d.

Yohay Sponder

Yohay Sponder is a talented Israeli bilingual comedian. With over 20 years of experience, Sponder brings his unique outlook on life to the stage. Throughout his career he has starred in multiple TV and radio shows, produces and headlines in ‘Funny Monday – Israeli Comedy in English’ and has performed all over the world. Having gained a massive following on social media, Yohay most recently finished up a sold-out tour in the US with his new show “Self Loving Jew”. In his show, Yohay talks about self love, identity and faith. Yohay’s humor, smart wit and unapologetic attitude are the perfect antidote for even the toughest of times. He truly believes he can cure the world’s troubles one laugh at a time…but this time the joke’s on him!

Tal Vaknin

Tal Vaknin is an internationally acclaimed singer and composer of Jewish pop and soul music. Tal is known for his amazing vocal abilities and his success among all different streams of Jewish audiences both in Israel and abroad. Born in Jerusalem, and son of a musical cantorial parent, Tal was discovered at an early age as a musical prodigy child. Tal continued to wow audiences in concerts up until he joined the IDF. During his service in the IDF he performed in the Israeli Army band at bases all around the country.

Among his hits is the album “Prayers” with singer Yossi Azulay; his single “Aneni Basharim” written by singer Kobi Aflalo; his single “Neshama” which he wrote along with Barak Elisha; a music video duet with Israeli Superstar Gad Elbaz called “Emunah” which Tal composed together with the arranger Ran Aviv; “Clouds in the Clouds” which was written by Kobi Afallo;; the song “Soul” composed by Uriel Aharoni and arranged by Ran Aviv and Gad Elbaz; “Ala” which he composed and wrote together with Ma’ayan Tamir to the words of Rabbi Kook; “Morning” composed and written by Elhanan Elhadad along with a music video with Rudy Rochman, Gad Elbaz, Binyamin Elbaz and Aharon Holder; the Hebrew adaptation of the French singer Daniel Levy’s song “l’envie d’aimer”;  ‘Hallo‘ a duet with singer Yossi Azulay; “Moda Ani”, a performance sign in 4 languages and the hit song “My Day”.

At the beginning of the Iron Swords War, Tal enlisted to establish a special unit in his area of ​​residence and at the same time handled the donations of tactical equipment to two thousand soldiers in the various sectors every night since the beginning of the war. At the same time as his military service, Tal travels between Israel Defense Forces bases and performs for the soldiers.  Tal is loved by his many fans.

Yechiel Jacobs

Yechiel Jacobs, catapulted into the limelight through his uproarious presence on social media, following October 7th, defending the state of Israel. With a knack for crafting relatable, factual and laugh out loud pro Israel content, Yechiel’s videos have reached millions of views and he has gained a dedicated following within just a few months.
However, Yechiel’s comedic journey doesn’t stop online. Encouraged by his growing popularity and craving direct interaction with his fans, he took to the stage, performing his first ever stand-up comedy show at the Laugh Factory in LA followed by New York Comedy Club, Westside Comedy Club, Comedy Bar in Canada, Improve Comedy Club in Florida, NJ, Mexico and more, bringing his infectious humor and magnetic charm to live audiences.
Come Laugh and witness the beginning of a rising star.

Naomi Nachman

Naomi who was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, moved to New York 32 years ago. In 2004 Naomi started to her own kosher personal chef business, The Aussie Gourmet, to cater weekly and Shabbat/Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities.

Naomi as her own cooking show, Sunny Side Up, on the Kosher.com network and also hosts her own weekly show, “Table for Two with Naomi Nachman” on The Nachum Segal Network – in which discusses all food-related and travel topics.  In addition, Naomi writes a monthly column for the Mishpacha magazine covering food and travel called “Off the Eaten Track”.  She is also a contributing editor to The Jewish Home newspaper for the last 13 years.

In 2017, Naomi published her debut cookbook, Perfect For Pesach with Artscroll Publications; and in November, 2018 Naomi published her second cookbook, Perfect Flavors also with Artscroll Publications.

In 2018, Naomi was invited to attend the New Jewish Media summit where she met with President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. She has also been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has made a variety of guest appearances on CBS TV in both NY and Washington, NBC Morning News, Fox 5 New York, and the Hallmark Channel and has been quoted by the Forbes Magazine, Wall Street Journal on Jewish food trends.

Naomi is often sought after to do cooking demonstrations, book signings and to produce Kosher Chopped-style cooking competitions across the world, where she shares her immense enthusiasm and passion for food.

When Naomi is not traveling she can be found with her husband and family in Long Island, New York.

Naomi’s motto in life is “see the world, one bite at a time”.

Bradley Schachter

For the past 25 years, Bradley Schachter has been one of the top event band leaders in America. He was raised as a child actor appearing in over 100 national commercials, voiceovers for Peanuts and Disney, TV and film. His big claim to fame was appearing in Halloween 3 as Little Buddy. On his way to the Broadway and SNL scene in 1991, Bradley went to Israel for the summer and stayed for almost 7 years. During that time, he earned his Rabbinical Ordination and began his career in live music. In 1999, he created Nefesh Music and has performed extensively throughout North America and Israel until 2020. Bradley was also part of the team that revived the Name That Tune brand while performing in the live show on the Las Vegas strip. Recently, Bradley retired from big band events and has just released a new series of cover lullaby albums and videos with his new brand available at Bradleysongs.com. Bradley is married to Leah and have four children and one really cute grandson.

Sheina Yarmush

Sheina Yarmush, a Los Angeles based artist, has been providing paint parties for her community for almost a decade. She started as a caricature artist, 20 years ago in Brooklyn, and now has an Art studio in the Art district of Melrose, West Hollywood, CA . Her exquisite 3-dimensional art and Glow Art masterpieces were displayed twice at LA fashion week, including a Glow Jerusalem and a Glow Lubavitcher Rebbe. She proudly displays her Jewish identity and has gotten positive feedback for it.

In between leading paint parties, painting murals across the country and creating her own masterpieces, she is also an art teacher in three Jewish schools. When challenging one of her talented students to draw with simple crayons, Sheina took the challenge for herself and developed her own unique caricature style, drawing the faces from scribbles using crayons.

Sheina’s positive high energy uplifts everyone around her.