Photo by Bass le S hem tov
World
Community heroes: Rabbi Levy Shemtov of West Bloomfield, winner Ari
Teman of New York, Shmuly Yanklowitz of New York, Yonah Bookstein of
Los Angeles and Devora Benjamin of Brooklyn
Community Hero
JCorps founder wins; Friendship
Circle founder among finalists.
Jacob Berkman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
A
fter weeks of deliberation
and the tally of more than
600,000 online votes, the
Jewish Federations of North America
has named its first Jewish Community
Hero — Ari Teman of New York,
founder of JCorps.
A panel of judges from outside the
federation system chose Teman, 27,
for the $25,000 Jewish Community
Heroes prize after whittling down a
list of more than 400 nominees.
The Jewish Federations announced
the choice on Nov. 10 at the closing
plenary session of its General Assembly
(GA) conference in Washington. The
contest was part of the federation sys-
tem's new multimillion-dollar market-
ing and rebranding strategy to broaden
its base of support.
Among the five finalists was Rabbi
Levi Shemtov of West Bloomfield,
founder of Friendship Circle with
his wife, Bassie. Friendship Circle is
dedicated to helping children with
special needs and their families. The
volunteer organization now has 70
Friendship Circles around the world.
"I don't know who nominated
me, but it would be nice to win; that
$25,000 could make a good dent in
Friendship Circle Rabbi Shemtov
said before he and his wife left for
Washington. He and the other three
finalists each received $1,000 for their
community service work.
Another finalist with Detroit ties
was Yonah Bookstein, now of Los
Angeles, who founded the Jewlicious
Festival for Jewish college students. He
is the executive rabbi of JConnectLA.
Also with Detroit connections is
judge Eli Winkelman, founder of
Challah for Hunger, a humanitar-
ian aid organization that has spread
to 20 college campuses. She was an
inspiration for the Jewish Community
Heroes campaign. Winkelman, who
lives in Washington, D.C., was born
in Detroit and is the daughter of
former Detroiters Suzanne and Marc
Winkelman, now of Austin. She is
the granddaughter of Bernie Jonas of
West Bloomfield and Stuart and Sally
Winkelman of Franklin.
Teman's JCorps sets up young Jews
with volunteer opportunities in nine
cities over three continents — all
while working on virtually no budget.
Teman, a standup comedian by day,
runs JCorps as a volunteer on a budget
that is probably less than the award he
will take home. Yet the organization
has enlisted some 10,000 volunteers
for local community service projects
in the United States, Canada and
Israel.
"This will enable us to take in a lot
more volunteers rapidly without hav-
ing to worry, `Do we have to slow it
down because we can't afford to bring
more people in?'" Teman told JTA.
Teman said he started JCorps in
2007 on something of a late-night
whim about how he could meet more
Jewish people.
The money will help the program
expand and perhaps allow Teman to
hire his first professional staff member.
"The first year we started with $300','
he said. "We like to say that if we had
no money we could still keep running,
which is great, because it means the
money we put in is for growth:'
The other two finalists were Devora
Benjamin of Brooklyn, founder of
an organization to help needy Jewish
couples have meaningful weddings,
and Shmuly Yanklowitz of New York,
founder of Uri L'Tzedek, an organiza-
tion dedicated to social justice and
worker rights. i
Story Development Editor Keri Guten
Cohen contributed to this story.
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