Jay Ruderman | |
|---|---|
 Jay Ruderman, 2014 | |
| Born | Jay Seth Ruderman March 16, 1966 |
| Occupation(s) | Activist and philanthropist |
| Spouse | |
| Parent(s) | Morton Edward Ruderman, Marcia Jortner Ruderman |
| Website | Official website |
Jay Seth Ruderman (born March 16, 1966) is an American lawyer, disability rights activist and philanthropist. He is the president of the Ruderman Family Foundation.
Jay Seth Ruderman was born in Boston to Marcia and Morton Ruderman, the eldest of three children. [1] Ruderman's father was a founder of Meditech. [2] He was raised in a traditional Jewish home to Zionist parents. [3] He visited Israel for the first time at the age of 13, as a gift for his bar-mitzvah. [4] He attended public schools in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, and received his undergraduate degree in 1988 from Brandeis University, [5] where he served as president of the student body in 1986–1987. He earned his JD from Boston University School of Law in 1993. [6]
Ruderman is married to Israeli-American Shira Menashe Ruderman, who serves as executive director of the Ruderman Foundation. [7] They live in the Greater Boston area and have four children. [8]
Ruderman began his career as Assistant District Attorney in Salem, MA [9] and also worked as deputy director of AIPAC in New England. In 2005, he enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces and became the liaison between the IDF and Diaspora Jewry. [10] After his service, he returned to AIPAC as Leadership Director in Israel before assuming a position at the Ruderman Family Foundation. [11]
Ruderman is the president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which advocates for disability rights. [12] The foundation's first major project was inclusion of people with disabilities within the Jewish community, in Jewish day schools, summer camps and synagogues. [13] Ruderman also hosts the podcast, "All About Change" (previously "All Inclusive"), which focuses on social justice and inclusion. [14]
In 2014, the foundation expanded to the Hollywood entertainment industry, working for the inclusion of disabled characters in TV shows and movies, and advocating for those roles to be acted by people with disabilities. [15] [16] At the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, Ruderman called for greater accessibility and the inclusion of people with disabilities and diversity. [17] In March 2020, he sponsored an event to present Peter and Bobby Farrelly with an award for hiring actors with disabilities. [18] Ruderman has also proposed such changes to the Israeli film industry. [18] In December 2021, he convinced four major Israeli broadcasting corporations to improve civil rights within the entertainment industry for people with disabilities. [19]
In 2023, Ruderman has focused on combatting anti-Semitic tropes within film and television by engaging Hollywood celebrities. Ruderman believes that "entertainers have a bigger impact on our society than even elected officials". Ruderman promotes the accurate and diverse portrayal of the Jewish people, with the goal of challenging misconceptions about their uniform appearance. [20]
Ruderman served on the board of directors of the National Organization on Disability. [21] He sits on the board of governors of the University of Haifa, [22] the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, [23] IMPACT-se, [24] and is a member of the Brandeis University Board of Trustees, [25] and a member of the committee of the Jewish Agency for Israel. [26]
Ruderman has sought to strengthen the relationship between American Jewry and Israeli opinion leaders. [27] While serving in the IDF and becoming the military’s liaison with world Jewry, he came to hold the belief that there exists a substantial gap between Israelis and Americans, arguing "that whatever Americans think is not necessarily what Israelis think." [28] Ruderman has additionally expressed disappointment over Israel's stance on egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall [29] and 2020 comments by Israel's then Minister of Education Rafi Peretz about the high rate of intermarriage among American Jews. [30] Ruderman believes that the "doomsday talks" of an irreversible chasm between Israel and the American Jewish community are mistaken. [31]
The Jerusalem Post is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. In 1950, it changed its name to The Jerusalem Post. In 2004, the paper was bought by Mirkaei Tikshoret, a diversified Israeli media firm controlled by investor Eli Azur. The Jerusalem Post is published in English. Previously, it also had a French edition.
Taglit-Birthright Israel, also known as Birthright Israel or simply Birthright, is a free ten-day heritage trip to Israel, Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights for young adults of Jewish heritage between the ages of 18 and 26. The program is sponsored by the Birthright Israel Foundation, whose donors subsidize participation.
Yehuda Bauer is a Czech-born Israeli historian and scholar of the Holocaust. He is a professor of Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel is a network of integrated, bilingual schools for Jewish and Arab children in Israel. Hand in Hand was co-founded by Israeli Arab educator Amin Khalaf and Israeli American educator Lee Gordon in 1997 with 50 students at two campuses.
Seth Farber is an American-Israeli Modern Orthodox rabbi, historian, and founder and director of the Jewish life advocacy organization, ITIM.
Yair Qedar is an Israeli documentary filmmaker, social activist and former journalist. In his project "the Hebrews", he had been Chronicling the lives of Jewish and Israeli figures of the modern Hebrew literary canon, Qedar's 19 feature length documentaries have all premiered at film festivals and have won the director over 20 prizes. Also, Qedar is a leading LGBTQ activist. He created several Queer films and the first Israeli LGBTQ newspaper.
Shmuly Yanklowitz is an Orthodox rabbi. In March 2012 and March 2013, Newsweek listed Yanklowitz as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America.
Yosef Mizrachi is a Haredi rabbi and public speaker. Considered by many to be a leading Orthodox Jewish outreach rabbi, Mizrachi's outspokenness on certain issues has led to his widespread denunciation and characterization as misguided by leading Orthodox Jewish authorities.
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi is an American disability rights activist and an advocate for Israel. She was the founder of the disability advocacy non-profit RespectAbility. She is also the co-founder and director of the Mizrahi Family Charitable Fund.
Anat Hoffman is an Israeli activist and serves as Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center, also known as IRAC. She is the director and founding member of Nashot HaKotel, also known as Women of the Wall. Hoffman is a former member of the Jerusalem City Council. In 2013, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz named her "Person of the Year", noting the award reflected "the prominence that she has achieved across the Jewish world over the past 12 months". The Jerusalem Post listed her fifth, among its list of 50 Most Influential Jews, for forcefully and successfully bringing the issue of women's rights at the Kotel to the "forefront of the consciousness of world Jewry".
Sharon Nazarian is an Iranian-born American social activist, academic and philanthropist. She is currently the Senior Vice President, International Affairs, for the Anti-Defamation League.
The Ruderman Family Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation established in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, managed by the Ruderman family. The foundation operates in the US and in Israel in two main areas: inclusion of people with disabilities in society and strengthening the relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community with the help of strategic philanthropy.
The Shalva Band is an Israeli band consisting of five disabled musicians. The band was established in 2005 by Shai Ben-Shushan as part of his personal rehabilitation journey. In collaboration with the SHALVA organizations music program, which supports and empowers individuals with disabilities and their families in Israel, the band has been a global representative of inclusion and integration of people with disabilities in society.
Yehuda Kurtzer is President of the Shalom Hartman Institute. He has written and lectured widely on Jewish history, Jewish memory, leadership in American Jewish life, and the relationship between American Jews, Israel and Zionism. In 2012, he was named one of the "36 under 36 young educators, thinkers, social justice activists, philanthropists and artists reinventing Jewish life" by The Jewish Week.
Shababnikim is an Israeli television comedy series that aired on HOT in 2017 and 2018. The show includes 28 episodes, each around 30 minutes, focused on lives of four Haredi Jewish Yeshiva students. In January 2021, the first season began streaming internationally with English subtitles under the title The New Black. As of May 2023, the series airs on Streaming television service ChaiFlicks.
The history of the Jews in Cambodia is based on very small numbers of Jews working or settling in modern-day Cambodia, as well as many Jewish tourists who pass through.
Israel Elwyn (IE) (Hebrew: אלווין ישראל) is an Israeli nonprofit organization that provides services and programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It serves over 5,100 people from all age groups. The goal of the organization is to create a society in which people with disabilities have equal rights and can determine their own future and way of life. With the help of its programs, children and adults with disabilities gain the tools needed to lead more independent lives within the community.
Shira Menashe Ruderman is an Israeli-American activist and philanthropist. Ruderman is the executive director of the Ruderman Family Foundation.
Rabbi Avraham Hamra was a Syrian-Israeli rabbi. He served as chief rabbi of Syrian and Lebanese Jews and was the last chief rabbi of Syria.
On 15 April 2022, clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli Security Forces on the Al-Aqsa Compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. According to the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, the clashes began when Palestinians threw stones, firecrackers, and other heavy objects at Israeli police officers. The policemen used tear gas shells, stun grenades and police batons against the Palestinians. Some Palestinians afterwards barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque and proceeded to throw stones at the officers. In response, police raided the mosque, arresting those who had barricaded themselves inside. In addition, some damage was done to the mosque's structure.