With 10 days to go until the close of voting in the second-annual Jewish Community Heroes contest, dozens of Chabad-Lubavitch leaders, including three campus Chabad House directors, are in the running for a grant to boost their non-profit projects.
Thus far, hundreds of thousands of votes have been cast in the online competition. Sponsored by Jewish Federations of North America, it aims to honor those 13 years of age and older who dedicate themselves to bettering local Jewish communities in the United States and Canada.
When the voting closes on Oct. 15, the top 20 nominees will be judged by a panel of 18 Jewish philanthropists, volunteers, leaders and entrepreneurs, including Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the West Bloomfield, Mich., co-founder of the Friendship Circle who was among last year’s finalists. Five finalists will then compete for the top prize.
As of Tuesday night, Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, director of the Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life serving the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, had a total of 4,077 votes, placing him in 14th place. He was just ahead of Rabbi Dovid Goldstein, co-director of the CHAI Learning Center in West Houston and associate director of Chabad Outreach in Houston, Texas, who was in 18th place with 2,999 votes.
Affectionately known by locals as the “redheaded rabbi,” among his other duties Goldstein serves as Jewish prison chaplain, conducting weekly visits to more than 100 inmates.
“Rabbi Goldstein is never without a huge smile on his face and kind sweet words about everyone,” his anonymous nominator wrote in recommending the Texan for the honor. “He will stop what he is doing to speak to you or answer a question.”
Tiechtel, who was recently honored by students, alumni and the University of Illinois’ administration for his more than five years of work with Jewish students, helped establish a kosher kitchen on campus. But the student who nominated him stressed his personal touch.
“Through caring and friendship, Rabbi Dovid truly lives for making the world a better place, one mitzvah at a time,” the student wrote. “He’s taught me so much. He’s helped me with some of life’s biggest decisions. And he’s shown me what it means to be a mensch and a leader.”
Other campus-based nominees include Chana R. Novack, director of operations for Chabad on Campus serving Washington University in S. Louis, Mo., and Rabbi Yisroel Bernath of Montreal, who drew headlines when he opened a Chabad House in the trendy university neighborhood of Monkland.
A host of countless weekly Shabbat and holiday meals, Novack’s staffed eight Birthright Israel tours of the Holy Land. She’s a regular speaker at sorority chapter meetings, meets one on one with students, and served on the board of the Epstein Hebrew Academy and as president of its parent-teacher association.
She “fulfills a great variety of public and private roles on a daily basis as a counselor, wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend,” wrote Novack’s nominator. “She lives by example as a role model to many. Her relationships with students endure beyond graduation.”
As director of Chabad NDG, Bernath has gained the interest of a cadre of mostly unaffiliated young Jewish professionals in search of a stimulating, spiritual Judaism on the one hand, and a thriving social scene on the other.
“Rabbi Bernath has broken every stigma attached to rabbis that any young Jew can create and allows us to be active members of the community at large,” stated his nominator. “Rabbi Bernath has changed my life. Not only from a spiritual perspective. He has really helped me become the best I can be, and I and so many others owe him a huge debt of gratitude.”
In a video on the contest’s website, where members of the public can vote for their favorite hero, last year’s winner, JCorps founder Ari Teman, described the purpose of the campaign in terms of strengthening grassroots activism.
“One reason for an organization to sign up or nominate their leaders is so the people who have invested in the organization can enable the rest of the community to come and give them a pat on the back,” he said. “And so getting that in front of people is part of your goal and part of your mission; to enable the world to know this is possible.”
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