About
About Tikvat Yisrael | Who’s Who
Tikvat Yisrael’s unique programs further Jewish unity by highlighting commitment to prayer as a fundamental point of Jewish community.
In a warm communal setting, our Friday night events offer Kabbalat Shabbat services across the religious spectrum – occurring independently, yet simultaneously. Afterward, we join together for a catered kosher Shabbat dinner, followed by thought-provoking presentations and discussions.
Tikvat Yisrael’s History:
Tikvat Yisrael was founded in 2003 by Uri Cohen and a group of friends who had graduated from colleges and universities with strong Hillel programs. Each member of the founding group had found the sense of Jewish community fostered by their Hillel a meaningful background for their own Jewish journeys.
Upon coming to New York, with its vast choices and “cafe latte” approach to Judaism, the founders soon found that this individual customization came at a price – there was no longer a reason or an opportunity for the Jewish community to come together. Only in crisis did these many smaller groups act in a way that recognized their part in a larger whole. For the most part, each group focused on its own “four walls” to the exclusion of the rest of the community.
Tikvat Yisrael was designed to recreate the Hillel experience outside of the cocoon of the college campus. We go back to basics – bringing prayer services that represent the variety of the Jewish religious spectrum under one roof to make the point that while each group meets the specific needs of its constituents, we are all engaged in the same fundamentally Jewish activity – prayer. The model also includes a communal kosher Shabbat dinner.
The founders hoped to get a minyan (quorum of 10) in each of its three services (liberal, traditional egalitarian, and orthodox) for that first event in March 2004. The event sold out in a few days with 140 registrations, and the organization has not looked back since.
In 2005**, Tikvat Yisrael received a grant from UJA-Federation of New York, through the Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal. This grant was matched shortly thereafter by the S. Daniel Abraham Foundation. These grants set a number of developments in motion that are still carrying the organization today.
Tikvat Yisrael has continued to lead the way in promoting intra-Jewish unity with 18+ Shabbat programs, a community leaders council, and other initiatives. It was recognized in 2009 by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York with the Weinstein Award for Jewish Accord for excellent work in promoting Jewish inter-denominational relations.
Matt Abelson
David Brotsky
Uri Cohen, Founder
Jodi Friedman
Matan Koch
Dana Kresel, Vice-President & Secretary
Jennifer Leventhal
Marc Melzer, Co-President
Shira Silton
Andrea Steiner
Avrum Tilman, Co-President
Our Supporters
UJA-Federation of New York
S. Daniel Abraham Foundation
