WORLD
BNEI AKIVA

Mrs. Koschitzky lives in Toronto Canada. Her past community service includes chairing Toronto’s United Jewish Appeal Community Campaign and the March of the Living. She currently serves as a member on the Toronto Federation Board and the Centre for Jewish Education. Mrs. Koschitzky is also involved in the work of Hillel and the Toronto Bnei Akiva Parent’s Council. She currently co-chairs the World Bnei Akiva Council. Mrs. Koschitzky holds a B.A. from De Paul University. She and her husband David have five children.

Mr. Grunewald was born in France and made Aliyah when he was 18. Mr. Grunewald served as Chair of the Va’ad Amuta of World Bnei Akiva. Prior to that, he headed The Jewish Agency's ‘Counselors Training Institute’ and served as its representative in Europe, as educational advisor for the European Rabbis' Committee, Secretary General of World Bnei Akiva and Chair of the Youth Movements World Council. In 2006, he was elected to the World Zionist Organization (WZO) Executive. Mr. Grunewald was elected as member of the Board of Governors in 2011. Between 2011 and 2015, Mr. Grunewald has been serving as KKL-JNF Deputy Chairman. During the last Congress, Mr. Grunewald was elected as Head of the Settlements Division of the WZO. Mr. Grunwald is the chairman of Tzurba Merabanan - Halacha Practice Learning Institute. Gael and his wife Shira live in Beit Shemesh and have seven children.

Roi Abecassis is the Mazkal (Secretary General) for World Bnei Akiva and took on this position in 2015. He is a graduate of Yeshivat Har Etzion and is a certified lawyer and holds a Master's Degree (MA) in Political Science from Bar Ilan University. Roi started his career with World Bnei Akiva in 1998, and was then the World Bnei Akiva and World Zionist Organization (WZO) Central Shaliach in Scandinavia, followed by a position as CEO of WZOs Hagshama Department. Prior to his current position, Abecassis was World Bnei Akivas Deputy Mazkal (Deputy CEO) between 2011-2015. Roi lives with his wife and four children in Modi’in.

Mr. Bratt grew up in London, England and was a member of Bnei Akiva’s Hendon snif. He studied in Yeshivat Hakotel as part of the Torani Hachshara program, and then returned to the UK to study International Relations at the University of Birmingham. After graduating, he worked for Bnei Akiva UK as the Israel Worker and, shortly after, made aliyah to Jerusalem. After a few months at Ulpan Etzion, Mr. Bratt served in the IDF's Foreign Relations unit, and now works in marketing for a documentary film production company in the Old City.

Mr. Bricker grew up as a chanich of Bnei Akiva, South Africa, and attended MTA in 2000. He returned to South Africa and took up various leadership roles in Bnei Akiva, South Africa which included 4 years on the National Hanhallah. Mr. Bricker served two terms on the Gauteng and National Executive Committee of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, and founded the Young Board, an initiative allowing younger members of the community to become active in the work of the Board. Mr. Bricker is a committee member of the Mizrahi Shul in Johannesburg and serves as the vice-chairman of the Bnei Akiva Foundation. He studied at University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), qualified as a chartered accountant and was admitted as a CA in 2007. Mr. Bricker has been involved in a number of business ventures, including the successful turnaround of Protective Clothing, a business that was sold to Bidvest LTD in 2010. He is now the COO of Wizard Collective, one of the largest wholesale suppliers of corporate clothing and gifting in South Africa, employing 300 people. Mr. Bricker is married to Nadine and has three children.

Mr. Esterman was a Madrich with Bnei Akiva Victoria, Australia. His past positions within the BA movement also include Rosh Machane in Melbourne Australia, as well as Federal Gizbar, Federal Merakez, Rosh Tarbut, and Rosh Shnat. He once developed and ran the Maccabi Sports Leadership Program, a gap year program in Israel. In addition, Mr. Esterman was the former Youth Director of Caulfield Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne, and the Former President of Beit Midrash Minyan, a young adult community in Melbourne. He holds a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and Bachelor of Materials Engineering from Monash University, that included a semester at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Mr. Esterman is currently working for the Federal Department of Health, based in Canberra, Australia.

Mrs. Rodrigues-Garcia was born and raised in the Dutch Jewish community of Amsterdam. More specifically, she and her family were members of Amsterdam’s Portuguese Jewish community. She taught yahadut for many years to young Jewish children in Amsterdam and in other communities. She also spent many years volunteering with the Chevra Kadisha of the Portuguese community, where her husband was also a board member. Mrs. Rodrigues-Gracia’s entire family was raised in the BA movement. Her husband was president of Hachshara Aliya, which is supported by BA. Mrs. Rodrigues-Garcia wrote the chowrot for the tsevet in Dutch, made shabbatot hadracha, supported the shlichim, and cooked many times in machanot. She also helped shlichim of other zionist youth movements in the kehillah of Amsterdam. She and her husband made aliyah last summer and they continue to help members of BA Holland who make aliyah. They have three children, two of which also live in Israel.

Mr. Goldman grew up in a small Jewish community in the North East of England. He joined Bnei Akiva at age 6 and took on a more active role after making Aliyah, upon graduating university. Mr. Goldman has been involved as a lay-leader with WBA for the last 15 years and, in addition to his involvement with Bnei Akiva, he is the International Chairman of Gesher, an organization dedicated to bridging gaps between different parts of Israeli society and promoting global Jewish unity. He is also a managing partner at a family office, serving the financial and investment needs of a number of international families. Daniel and his wife Debra-Lee live in Beit Shemesh and have five children (four of which attend their local snif).

Mr. Kurnedz was born in Manchester, UK. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UCL. He was a mazkir with Bnei Akiva, UK between 1987 and 1988. He made aliyah in 1988. Mr. Kurnedz was a shaliach for World Bnei Akiva in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) between 1993 and 1995. Since 1995, he has been the CEO of Midreshet Harova. Mr. Kurnedz served as the Treasurer of WBA between 2002 and 2011 and has been Treasurer of World Mizrachi from 2001. He and his wife Michal live in Alon Shvut. They have seven children.

Mr. Levy was a Boger with France’s Bnei Akiva. He made aliyah through Bnei Akiva in 1990, served in the army and returned for one year of shlichut in France/Switzerland. For several years Mr. Levy managed the Sayarim European summer camp in Geneva. Mr. Levy currently works in the IT department of CLAL, an insurance company. He is married and has six children. They live in Rosh Tzurim, Gush Etzion.

Rabbi Perez is the Head of the World Mizrachi Movement, based in Jerusalem. He studied for 9 years in some of Israel’s leading Yeshivot culminating in Rabbinic ordination and a B.Ed. degree, and served in the I.D.F. in the Hesder Army Program. He served the South African Jewish community over the last 15 years in multiple leadership roles; among them, the Rabbi of the Mizrachi Movement of South Africa, the Senior Rabbi of the Mizrachi shul in Johannesburg, and the Managing-Director of the Yeshiva College, the first and largest Torah school in Southern Africa. Rabbi Perez is a renowned orator and has been scholar-in-residence in many communities around the world. He is also the author of the book “Leading the Way”. Rabbi Perez is married to Shelley and has four children.

Mr. Schwartz made aliyah from South Africa. He is the founding Executive Director of Torah Mitzion. He is also the former Mazkal of World Bnei Akiva. As well, Mr. Schwartz founded Lev Yehudi, an outreach organization that deals with kiruv among Israeli backpackers. He is also chairman of Yeshivat Hesder Torah BeTzion. Mr. Schwartz holds a BA in Jewish History and an MA in Public Administration from Bar Ilan University. He is a graduate of MTA 1985. He studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion, served in the Givati Infantry Brigade and miluim in the Alexandroni Brigade of the IDF. He is married to Shulamit and lives in Shoham with their five children.

Mr. Tsadok lives in Jerusalem, Israel and has been working with various leading organizations such as JAFI and WBA impacting the Jewish community around the world including head of WBA’s Latin America Desk and head of the department for Long Term Planning. He was also Emissary in Rio de Janiero, a joint mission of the Jewish Agency and Bnei-Akiva. He also held various educational and managerial positions at Bnei Akiva in Israel. His previous duties include Deputy Manager of “Yashpe”, and head of the Latin America department at Tlalim Corp., organizing educational trips to Israel for tourists from Latin America. Mr. Tsadok holds a Bachelor Degree in Education and a Master degree in International Business Finance. He attended Hesder Yeshiva, Ha’golan in Hispin and has completed extensive Torah studies combined with military service. He also attended Yeshiva Netiv Meir. He is married and has four children.

Mr. Yaffee resides in Houston, Texas. He is a shareholder with Greenberg Traurig LLP and practices law primarily in the area of real estate finance. He has served on the Board of Bnei Akiva of the U.S. and Canada for over ten years. He is also involved with Camp Moshava Indian Orchard. Mr. Yaffee is a past president and was a longtime member of the Board of Trustees of United Orthodox Synagogues. in Houston, Texas. He also served for many years on the board of The Robert M. Beren Academy in Houston, Texas. Mr. Yaffee was also on the local governing council of AIPAC. Mr. Yaffee is married to Laura and has two daughters, one of whom is currently residing in Tekoa with her husband.