Announcing Jew in the City’s 5th Annual Orthodox Jewish All Stars!!

Ford Motor Company VP and Treasurer, Neil Schloss, Pulitzer Prize winning musician Julia Wolfe, and former Chief Executive of Reuters, Andrew Rashbass, are among 10 individuals who have been named the 5th Annual Orthodox Jewish All Stars by Jew in the City, the organization dedicated to re-branding Orthodox Judaism to the world through digital media.

This diverse and accomplished group also includes Frayda Ginsburg, director of Legal, Americas for Burberry Group, Inc.; David Adler, author of the international best-selling Cam Jansen children’s book series; Sam Rascoff, former head of the New York City Police Department’s intelligence analysis unit; Robin Neustein, a senior director of Goldman Sachs; Chaim Lebovits, CEO of BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, the first biotech company to produce a drug which has been clinically shown to treat the symptoms of ALS; the Honorable Ruchie Freier, the first Hasidic Female judge; and David Mazouz, teen star of the hit Fox drama Gotham;

Jew in the City, a non-profit founded and directed by Allison Josephs, harnesses the power of social media to break down stereotypes about religious Jews and offer a humorous, meaningful look into Orthodox Judaism. Through a website (JewintheCity.com), YouTube channel (where its videos have been viewed millions of times), and via Facebook and Twitter, Jew in the City explains important Jewish concepts like Shabbat, kosher, and mikvah, and tackles sensitive subjects like the Orthodox Jewish approach to homosexuality, feminism, and conversion. With a mix of light humor and rich content, Jew in the City explores these topics in a pleasant and easy-to-understand fashion, appealing to anyone who is curious to learn more about Orthodox Jews and observant Judaism, whether they are Jewish or not.

Past Orthodox Jewish All Stars have included former Senator Joe Lieberman, Nobel Laureate Robert Aumann, Emmy winning co-executive producer of the hit TV series Modern Family Ilana Wernick, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, CEO of advertising agency 360i, Sarah Hofstetter, Creative Director of BCBGeneration, Joyce Azria, and Chief Risk Officer at the NSA, Anne Neuberger. The fifth annual Orthodox Jewish All Stars red carpet awards party will take place in New York City on a date to be announced. As in previous years, many current and previous All Stars are expected to attend.

Neil Schloss, Treasurer and Vice President of Ford Motor Company – Business and Industry

Neil Schloss has been the vice president and treasurer of Ford Motor Company since 2007. In July, he was named CFO of Ford Smart Mobility LLC. Since joining the company in 1982, he has held a variety of finance positions in funding, risk management, international financing, banking and trading. In 1998, he was named assistant treasurer for Ford Credit and then director of financial strategy, treasurer’s office in 1999, before becoming the director of global risk management and assistant treasurer of Ford Motor Company.

A San Diego-native who moved to Michigan in 1990, he is credited with helping to keep the automaker with sufficient cash reserves during the 2008 crisis and positioned to thrive with record profits in the years since. He earned an undergraduate degree in Finance from San Diego State University and an MBA from Santa Clara University. He sits on the board of Kids Kicking Cancer, a non-profit that uses martial arts as therapy to lessen the pain of very sick children, founded by Orthodox Jewish All Star and CNN Hero Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg.

David Mazouz, Teen Star of Fox’s Hit Television Drama Gotham – Arts and Entertainment

David Mazouz is a 15-year old actor who is winning over millions with his portrayal of the young Bruce Wayne in Gotham, the fan-favorite Fox series. He has been praised for his portrayal of Bruce Wayne by the New York Times and was a nominee for a Best Young Artist award for his portrayal of a mute boy in the series Touch, in which he starred opposite Emmy Award-Winning actor Kiefer Sutherland. Mr. Mazouz’s work is receiving critical acclaim as well as popular recognition. He has already appeared in Mike & Molly, The Office, Criminal Minds, Private Practice and more.

Mr. Mazouz is a student at Shalhevet Yeshiva High School, and is a part of the teen minyan at Beth Jacob Congregation. While working on-set, he has a weekly Skype call with a rabbi from his school, learning Torah, Mishna, Gemara, halacha and other subjects.

The Honorable Ruchie Freier, The First Hasidic Female Judge – Law and Government

The Honorable Rachel E. “Ruchie” Freier is the incumbent Civil Court Judge in Brooklyn’s 5th District. An attorney in commercial and residential estate law, she has worked in the legal field for over 30 years, completing college and law school while raising her six children. She founded and directs an all-female volunteer EMT agency Ezras Nashim, and is a certified New York State paramedic. Judge Freier was raised as a heimishe in Boro Park, attended Bais Yaakov, and married a Bobover Chasid. At Touro, she majored in Political Science and directed the Women’s Pre-law Society before graduating from Brooklyn Law School. She founded B’Derech, a non-profit which advocates for Chasidic education.

Once an intern for then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Judge Freier is a proud mother and grandmother, devoted to her family and community. She is passionate about advocacy and outreach, always advising those in need.

Andrew Rashbass, Former Chief Executive, Reuters – Media and Publishing

Andrew Rashbass was the chief executive of Reuters, the news division of global business information group Thomson Reuters, from 2013-2015. He is currently the chief executive officer of Euromoney, an international publishing, events and electronic information group which is owned by DMGT since 2015. Before joining Reuters, he spent 15 years at The Economist Group, where for the last five years he was chief executive, and before that, he was the publisher of The Economist. Earlier in his career, he worked at Associated Newspapers, and Andersen Consulting.

Mr. Rashbass is a sought-after speaker at conferences and other events where he shares his expert views about the future of news, media and marketing and his experience of succeeding in a highly disrupted industry. Mr. Rashbass graduated from Cambridge University in the UK, where he studied Classics and Philosophy and he has a Masters degree in Artificial Intelligence from Sussex University.

Frayda Ginsburg, Director of Legal, Americas, Burberry Group, Inc. – Law and Government

Frayda Ginsburg is the Director of Legal- Americas, for Burberry Group pLC. Burberry,  headquartered in London, was founded in 1856 and  is a global luxury brand with a distinctive British heritage,  built around its core iconic outerwear with its trademark check.  Burberry designs and sources apparel, accessories and beauty, selling through its stores and wholesale partners such as Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, and Saks.  The  global luxury brand has dressed notable actors, world leaders, musicians, and athletes. Its fashion houses can be visited on Rodeo Drive, 57th Street, and Michigan Avenue in the US and locations around the globe such as Regent  Street in London; Pacific Place Flagship in Hong Kong; Seoul in South Korea and Mall of the Emirates in Dubai.

Ms. Ginsburg first joined the luxury brand in 2012 as Senior Counsel for North America, a position she held for three years  covering real estate and corporate matters before being promoted to oversee all general legal matters arising in  Canada, US, Mexico and Brazil, including flagship development, leases, commercial agreements, trade and regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and litigation matters.  Prior to this, she was a senior real estate associate for Shearman & Sterling LLP and a corporate associate at Cullen and Dykman LLP. Frayda attended a Bais Yaakov in Brooklyn.  She received a Bachelors of Science degree, majoring in Finance and graduating summa cum laude  at  Touro College and then her JD from  Fordham University School of Law, where she served as the Symposium Editor of the Fordham Journal of Corporate and Financial Law.

.

Samuel Rascoff, Former Director, NYPD Intelligence Analysis Unit – Law and Government

Samuel Rascoff is an expert in national security law, and serves as faculty director of the Center on Law and Security at NYU Law School. Named a Carnegie Scholar in 2009, Rascoff came to the Law School from the New York City Police Department, where, as director of intelligence analysis, he created and led a team responsible for assessing the terrorist threat to the city. Rascoff’s publications include “Presidential Intelligence” (Harvard Law Review); “Counterterrorism and New Deterrence” (NYU Law Review); “Establishing Official Islam? The Law and Strategy of Counter-Radicalization” (Stanford Law Review); “Domesticating Intelligence” (Southern California Law Review), and “The Law of Homegrown (Counter-) Terrorism” (Texas Law Review).

A graduate of Harvard summa cum laude, Oxford with first class honors, and Yale Law School, Rascoff previously served as a law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter and to Judge Pierre N. Leval of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was also a special assistant with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq under Paul Bremer, and an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

David A. Adler, Author of the Internationally Best-Selling Cam Jansen Book Series – Media and Publishing

David A. Adler is a popular, prolific author who has written more than 200 published books, including the beloved child detective series starring Cam Jansen. In 2016 he received the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award by the American Library Association for Don’t Throw It to Mo, the first in a new series of books published by Penguin Young Readers. Named for the world-renowned children’s author better known to some as Dr. Seuss, the award recognizes books that engage kids in reading with creativity and imagination, and are literary and artistic achievements.

His first book, A Little At A Time, was published by Random House in 1976. Soon after, he wrote the first of almost 50 Cam Jansen Mysteries, all published by Viking Press and Puffin Books. Mr. Adler is also the author of the Andy Russell series, and biographies of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Anne Frank, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, Lou Gehrig, Benjamin Franklin and Golda Meir, among others. He has written many books on the Holocaust including We Remember The Holocaust, The Number On My Grandfather’s Arm, Hiding From the Nazis, A Hero and the Holocaust, and One Yellow Daffodil (historical fiction). David has also written books on Jewish holidays, math, science, and economics. Mr. Adler graduated from Queens College with a B.A. in economics and education and has a Marketing M.B.A. from NYU.

Chaim Lebovits, CEO of BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics (first company to produce a drug which has been clinically shown to treat ALS) – Science and Medicine

Chaim Lebovits is the president and chief executive officer of Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing innovative, autologous stem cell therapies for highly debilitating neurodegenerative diseases. Since joining Brainstorm in 2007, Mr. Lebovits has been involved with its activities from early pre-clinical stage to the current Phase IIb clinical trials, and has taken a monumental part in its huge growth and development. Mr. Lebovits controls ACC BioTech and is involved in natural resources exploration projects around the world. Mr. Lebovits has also held senior positions for the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch organization, the largest Jewish organization in the world today and is a prominent figure in his community. Mr. Lebovits grew up Hasidic in Brooklyn and now lives in Israel.

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics works to fight such diseases as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and Huntington’s Disease. Their platform technology, NurOwn^®, induces stem cells to help promote the survival of neurons, which might be an effective tool for battling neurodegenerative diseases.

Julia Wolfe, Pulitzer Prize Winner – Arts and Entertainment

Julia Wolfe is a celebrated musician who was just named a 2016 MacArthur Fellow. Her 2015 Pulitzer-winning concert-length oratorio, Anthracite Fields, honors the miners of the historic Pennsylvania anthracite coal region. The New York Philharmonic recently announced her new evening-length commission on women in New York’s garment industry at the turn of the century, which will premiere in 2018. Her music has been performed at venues throughout the world, including the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall, and has been recorded on Cantaloupe Music, Teldec, Point/Universal, Sony Classical, and Argo/Decca.

In 2009, Ms. Wolfe joined the NYU Steinhardt School composition faculty. Ms. Wolfe is also the co-founder and co-artistic director of New York’s music collective Bang on a Can. She received her B.A from the University of Michigan, her Master’s degree in music composition from the Yale School of Music, and has held a doctoral fellowship at Princeton University. She guest starred as a wolf version of herself in an episode of the children’s television show Arthur.

Robin Neustein, Senior Director, Goldman Sachs – Business & Industry

Robin Neustein is a senior director of Goldman Sachs. She was chief of staff to the senior partners and then a general partner herself before her current role. A member of the firm’s Management, Operating and Partnership Committees, she was an investment banker, chaired the Asset Management Division Private Equity Group, served as the firm’s chief of staff, and became an executive officer when the firm went public. She is a founding partner of Circle Financial Group, a wealth management organization founded by and for women and an active investor across the capital markets and in selected private companies.

Ms. Neustein is founder and trustee of Lightfighter Trust, which supports scientific research on combat trauma. She is a trustee of Rockefeller University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Northwestern University and trustee emerita of Mount Holyoke College and Brown University. She is vice-chairman of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences at Mount Sinai. She is a member of the Weizmann Institute International Board and Executive Board, president emerita of American Ballet Theatre, and a philanthropic trustee of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. She attended Mount Holyoke, received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University, and earned a JD/MBA from Northwestern University.

If you found this content meaningful and want to help further our mission through our Keter, Makom, and Tikun branches, please consider becoming a Change Maker today.