Thursday, March 28th | 18 Adar II 5784

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The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2017

In honor of The Algemeiner’s 4th annual gala, we are delighted to unveil our latest Algemeiner ‘J100’ list of the top one hundred individuals who have positively influenced Jewish life this past year. Before you work your way through this exciting list, we wanted to first share some of the thoughts that we discussed as we developed it. If we could group these ideas together, the first would be about creating lists, in general; then, what’s unique about lists and Judaism; some finer points differentiating our honorees from the organizations they lead; and important reflections on all those every day and anonymous-to-us heroes we also want to celebrate without ever knowing their names. And, of course, to thank everyone who helped create the list and worked hard to put together our J100 gala.

On Lists

There are lists, and there are lists. From the Forbes 400 to the Time 100, we are witness today to a proliferation of many lists in various magazines and newspapers. The New Yorker even made a list of The Hundred Best Lists of All Time! Lists have begun spreading in the Jewish media as well. It seems that in the feeding frenzy of our information overloaded society, categorizations and listings get our attention by presumably helping us make sense of the data flooding our psyches. Lists also carry an element of sensationalism — who made the list, who didn’t — feeding the hunger for competition — yet another staple of our superficial times. No wonder we don’t find such popularity contests waged in earlier centuries; living as desert nomads or inside of a shtetl, where everyone knew virtually no one else but their neighbors by name (for good or for bad), did not exactly lend itself to creating a top ten list of favorites. This is an exclusive product of the communications revolution and the global village it created.

Jewish Lists

Jewish sages, in particular, did not create such lists. Indeed, some actually dismissed the categorization of lists (even of the 13 Principles of Faith of Maimonides, let alone of a list of the “best” one thing or another). It begs the uneasy question of how one can even attempt to measure the value of a person? Isn’t everyone a hero in some way? On what grounds can we presume to judge who is more valuable then the next? With the J100 list we tried to create something more meaningful, a list aligned with our core mission: the 100 people who have had the most positive impact on Jewish life and Israel – men and women, Jew or non- Jew, who have lifted the quality of Jewish life in the past year. Think of it this way: Without these J100 – either the individuals or the organizations they represent – Jewish life would not be at the caliber it is today. Despite the artificial, superficial, and sensational nature of any list, we sought to transform the information deluge of our times by using the list to shine a spotlight on those gems in our midst, those people who are making a real difference in others’ lives.

We also seek to inspire and motivate our young and the next generation, our future emerging leaders, in rising to the occasion and perpetuating the highest standards of our proud tradition and legacy – in serving and championing the cause of Jews and Israel. Because, as we know, when the quality of Jewish life is raised, the quality of all lives is raised. However, the most exciting part of our work in choosing the J100, frankly, was sifting through hundreds of candidates and nominees to discover some surprising finalists. It was a joy to see the breadth of all those who merited a mention, to understand some of the great work being performed around the world on behalf of the Jewish people, and to celebrate their victories by bringing this great work to renewed public attention via this endeavor.

Individual vs. Organization

Inevitably, any list recognizing those who have positively influenced Jewish life will include the “usual suspects,” well-known leaders and officials of governments, organizations, and institutions. Like it or not, bureaucracy is part of the fabric of our society, feeding and supporting Jewish life around the globe, and it is that fabric that provides strength and cohesion to our disparate Jewish population.

Not all the names on the J100 were included for the same reason. Some are being honored for their personal contributions, others for their work at the organizations or nations they head. Some on the J100 are long established stars, others newcomers.

Like in any dynamic entity and living organism, we included both stalwart leaders with deep roots holding the foundation, while also introducing new branches that will lead us into the future.

This type of list — “The top 100 people positively influencing Jewish life” — has its inherent challenges. First, what defines “positive”? What some consider positive, others consider destructive. Jews notoriously disagree on what positive impact means. Fully cognizant of the controversy such a list could stir, we approached the creation of this list with a particular strategy, infused with a sense of humility and respect, to be as all-inclusive as possible while maintaining our integrity. This list should not be seen as an endorsement of anyone or any entity and way of thinking; rather, the people on this list are a reflection of the rich and broad spectrum of Jewish life – those who have positively contributed and helped shape the Jewish future.

We want this list to not be a definitive one, but a type of snapshot and perspective of the Jewish world today. The J100 is far from perfect — but which list of this type would not be? Rather, we want it to serve as a provocateur, challenging us all to think about what we value and consider precious; what we honor as being a positive influence on Jewish life and on Israel.

Anonymous Heroes

Jewish life, now and throughout history, is fraught with innumerable heroes – mostly unsung. A mother unceremoniously bringing up a beautiful family. A quiet nurse attending to the ill. An anonymous philanthropist sending food packages to the needy. The unobtrusive kindergarten teacher lovingly attending to and shaping young lives. Positive influences abound, yet few are called out.

Moreover, the Jewish community is decentralized. A leader in one city or town who has a major impact on their community may be completely irrelevant in another city. No list – not of 100, not of 1,000 – could capture and do justice to the countless daily acts of heroism and nobility impacting Jews and Israel.

There are innumerable rabbis, lay leaders, educators, and administrators who are beloved and are transforming their Jewish communities. As important as these individuals may be – and they certainly deserve their own list – the J100 does not include these heroes. Instead it focuses on individuals that have global and international impact, and that come from diverse groups – such as writers, teachers, government officials, and organizations. In some ways, the J100 should be looked at not as a bunch of disjointed individuals, but as a mosaic – a confluence of many different colors and hues that create a diverse painting.

Thank You

In the spirit of The Algemeiner, we want this list to lift the quality of our discourse and standards in seeking out the best within and among us. We hope you enjoy reviewing and studying this list, and we welcome all your feedback, critiques, and suggestions to be included next year, in what has become a tradition at our annual gala event. 

Disclosure: Algemeiner staff  and their immediate families were disqualified for inclusion on the list. Some of the J100 finalists are friends and associates of The Algemeiner and some are members of the GJCF Tribute Committee. As a media entity with many relationships, The Algemeiner inevitably has many friends and supporters; yet we didn’t feel it fair to disqualify highly qualified candidates simply due to their connection with us. Instead, fully cognizant of that reality, we placed special emphasis on impartiality and objectivity to choose only those who fit the criteria.

— The Algemeiner editors

1 .

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Kfir Damari

Founder, SpaceIL

Israel’s many accomplishments do not include a trip to the Moon - yet. Kfir Damari and his partners hope to change that through their project SpaceIL, Israel’s bid to win the Google Lunar Xprize. The prize of $20 million goes to whichever team can send a robotic probe to the Moon, land it, move it 500 meters, and broadcast information back to Earth.

SpaceIL has already distinguished itself among the contestants, as it was the last to enter but the first to receive funding for their proposal. But Damari sees the competition as more than simply a bid to land on another world.

“We want to land the craft, but the vision is much bigger,” he said. “It is important to us that this is the first Israeli spacecraft and not the last.”

Indeed, the goal of SpaceIL is to foster the future of Israel’s technology industry. Damari says the group’s goal is to get kids “excited about the science and technology behind our spacecraft and the scientific mission it will carry. … I tell kids that it’s their job to build a spacecraft that brings ours back to Israel.” (Photo: Twitter.)

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

2 .

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Joshua Foer

Co-founder, Sefaria

With its endless references, commentaries, and texts buried within texts, traditional Jewish literature is often compared to the Internet. Today, the massive corpus of Jewish texts is merging with the Internet itself through the website Sefaria, the brainchild of bestselling author Joshua Foer.

Author of “Moonwalking With Einstein” and “Atlas Obscura,” Foer co-founded Sefaria with Brett Lockspeiser, with the intention of making everything from the Talmud to the Guide to the Perplexed to Chasidic commentaries available in both the original and translation on a single website.

“We came to this process out of deep frustration that it hasn’t happened yet,” says Foer. “This should have happened 10 years ago.” (Photo credit: Joshua Foer)

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

3 .

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Moshe Friedman

Founder, KamaTech

The Charedi world, with its principles of cloistered study and pious poverty, seems an unlikely source of successful high-tech start-ups. But Moshe Friedman has upended these stereotypes through his organization KamaTech, which works to integrate the Charedi community, especially its nascent entrepreneurs, into Israel’s legendary start-up scene.

Freidman grew up in a Charedi family in Jerusalem. Of course, he studied in yeshiva, but then, “I realized I wanted to explore a little bit, to know new fields and meet new people and go on new adventures. I found out that Israel is the start-up nation, and I said, ‘Why shouldn’t I do that too?’”

The organization he eventually founded, KamaTech, provides funding, advice, connections, and other resources to specifically Charedi start-ups. In 2017, it formed the venture capital fund 12 Angels to sponsor Charedi companies and projects. “Thousands of people wanted to build companies but didn’t have the opportunity because they were outside of the ecosystem,” Friedman says.

And this will not only change the Charedi community, he believes, but Israel and the high-tech world as well. The Charedim, he said, “bring a fresh mind, a fresh perspective, different thinking. Innovation comes from diversity.” (Photo credit: Twitter.)

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

4 .

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Willem Griffioen

Co-founder and chairman, Israel Allies Foundation

William Griffioen is the co-founder and chairman of the Israel Allies Foundation, a somewhat unique organization in that it advocates for Israel by directly organizing pro-Israel caucuses in the legislatures of various countries.

The organization was founded by the late Israeli politician and rabbi Benny Elon, who helped establish a “Christian Allies Caucus” in the Knesset, leading to the idea of creating reciprocal organizations in parliaments around the world.

Griffioen, who is Christian, says that organizations like his “support Israel because they want to be part of something that God is doing. People are passionate about issues that are deep in their faith. Support for Israel is something that is deeply connected to our faith. This is an issue that Christians can really identify with.”

The group concentrates on advocating for Israel on such issues as recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, combatting boycott attempts, supporting the West Bank settlements, Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons, and others. (Photo credit: Israelallies.org.)

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

5 .

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Michael McCann

Founder, Israel-Britain Alliance

A former vice-chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, Michael McCann founded the Israel-Britain Alliance in 2016, a grassroots lobbying effort to advocate for Israel in the UK parliament, an often hostile forum for the Jewish state.

“We will offer clarity on the Israel/Palestinian conflict,” he said. “Complex issues cannot be solved unless all parties are heard in a spirit of mutual respect. My experience tells me that on issues concerning the State of Israel that is not always the case in Britain. The IBA will seek to redress that imbalance.”

Most recently, IBA circulated a petition during the last UK general election that gained the support of 216 candidates. It pledged to fight for Israel’s right to exist, foster economic ties with the Jewish state, and celebrate Israel’s democracy.

“IBA and its partner organizations managed to mobilize thousands of voters, Jewish and non-Jewish to contact their candidates about our Pledge for Israel,” said McCann. (Photo credit: Israelbritain.org.uk.)

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

6 .

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Hillel Neuer

Executive director, UN Watch

The man who “makes the UN tremble,” Hillel Neuer is at the forefront of the battle for democracy and human rights at an institution that often makes a mockery of both.

Neuer is the head of UN Watch, an NGO that through research, reports, and Neuer’s own scathing speeches seeks to counter the hegemony of the dictatorships and human rights abusers that tend to dominate the international body.

In particular, UN Watch is noted for its defense of Israel, which tends to be the object of viciously biased treatment by UN institutions. “When I address the antisemitism and the demonization of Israel, I bring the full passion of that injustice to my speech,” says Neuer.

Most recently, Neuer’s speech at the notoriously anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council went viral, as he confronted the member countries asking, “How many Jews live in your countries? How many Jews lived in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco?” To each nation he asked a simple question: “Where are your Jews?” (Photo credit: UN Watch.)

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

7 .

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Yosef Yarden

Cancer researcher

“Professor Yosef Yarden is among the most important cancer researchers in the world,” the Israel Prize Committee stated when it gave him the 2017 honor in Life Science Research.

Yarden, of the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, works at the highest level of his field, concentrating on immunotherapy approaches to fighting cancer. Specifically, he is studying how to create antibodies that will prevent cancerous growths from being able to reproduce within a patient’s body.

“We started a way to block the growth factors [that enable] collaboration between the tumor and the host,” Yarden stated.

When he received the EMET prize, it was noted that Yarden’s methods “paved the way for a new approach in the development of drugs that have been put into use and saved the lives of many cancer patients.”

Yarden, a symbol of Israel’s prowess in the medical world, is unabashed about the importance of his research. “The future is very much in immunotherapy,” he says. (Photo credit: Israel Cancer Association.)

INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

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