Beit T’Shuvah Names Board Chair; AFHU and MASA’s Hires

The board of directors at Jewish rehabilitation organization and synagogue Beit T’Shuvah (BTS) has appointed Keith Elkins as its next chair.

Elkins has been a dedicated advocate of Beit T’Shuvah for many years and brings a wealth of experience and deep commitment to the position, according to BTS Executive Director Sergio Rizzo-Fontanesi.

Elkins succeeds Paul Bergman, who served as chair since 2021 and who will continue to serve on the board. 

In a statement, Bergman emphasized his experienced leading the BTS board through challenging times, including rabbinical transitions, a temporarily unhoused thrift shop and COVID-19-prompted lockdowns, saying all the while the organization stayed on course.

“We remain committed to our mission of saving and transforming lives,” he said.

Elkins, a founding member of law firm Elkins Kalt, has served on the BTS board since 2018. His wife, Jackie, started the BTS challah-baking program and joined the board this year. 

“We are immensely grateful to Paul for his tireless work as chair and for his stable and calm leadership,” BTS’s leadership said in a statement. “Please join all of Beit T’Shuvah in congratulating Keith and expressing our heartfelt gratitude to Paul.” 

Elkins’ appointment as board chair became effective July 1. 

American Friends of the Hebrew University (AFHU) has named fundraising veteran Bradley Eisen its western region philanthropy officer.

“I am excited to be joining the AFHU team,” Eisen said. “I look forward to playing an integral role in supporting the growth and innovation taking place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.”

Eisen previously worked at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, where he served as a major gifts manager since 2016. His areas of expertise include major and planned giving, capital campaigns, donor engagement and stewardship. He has also worked in sports marketing and sales.

“Brad’s skills as a frontline, major gifts fundraiser, coupled with his background in the Los Angeles philanthropic community, make him a perfect fit for our philanthropy officer role,” AFHU CEO Joshua Rednik said. “We look forward to his contributions and building upon the momentum in our western region.”

The New York-headquartered AFHU is a national nonprofit that raises funds and awareness for Hebrew University of Jerusalem. AFHU fundraising activities support Hebrew University’s scholarly and scientific achievements, create scholarships, construct new facilities and assist efforts to attract and retain exceptional faculty. 

The university serves more than 23,000 students from 80 countries.

Masa Israel Journey has appointed Rozeeta Mavashev as its director of office and operations for North America, citing her experience working at Hillel and in diverse Jewish spaces as well as her personal mission to connect Jews around the world to each other and a shared Jewish future.

“Rozeeta is a trailblazer and a role model,” Masa Israel Journey CEO Ofer Gutman said. “She represents many ‘firsts’ — first to join in the initiative of DEI groups at Hillel, first to help in spearheading Employee Resource Groups at Hillel, first Bukharian, Mizrahi woman to receive the Wexner Davidson Fellowship. She understands that our choices and our connections as Jewish people are the energy forces that will power us forward.”

Her path to Masa was not so straightforward. While enrolled at City University of New York, Mavashev, in fact, felt disconnected from her Judaism. But after college and at the urging of her sister, she accepted an internship at Hillel. She then became a Masa Israel teaching fellow — experiences, she said, that altered the trajectory of her life.

“What Masa did was expose me to a range of ways to be Jewish – and they helped me integrate that with my relationships, professional goals and sense of self,” Mavashev said. “Long before the word ‘intersectionality’ became common lingo, that’s what Masa was doing.”

Masa Israel Journey describes itself as the largest immersive, long-term educational experience for young adults ages 16-35. Its programs include Masa Career, Masa Gap, Masa Israel Teaching Fellows and Masa Academic Fellows. Since its 2004 founding by The Jewish Agency and government of Israel, the organization has served nearly 200,000 young people from more than 60 countries.