Summer Program Staff
During the summer program we draw upon highly accomplished and dedicated leaders from the Jewish community. All work full-time as Jewish youth leaders and are all committed to social justice, Jewish values and education. We maintain a staff-to-participant ration of 1:5 which enables quality supervision as well as opportunities for participants to get to know staff personally. Staff are at least 19 years of age or entering sophomores in college.
Tom Samuels
Director of Teen Programs
Tom is originally from Toronto, Canada, where he worked as a community organizer on transportation justice issues. He is the founder of what is now the national Safe Routes to Schools - Walking School Bus Program, which organizes communities around creating pedestrian-oriented routes to and from schools. As part of this program, Tom developed and implemented programs for empowering students to become local pedestrian advocates.
He was recruited by the City of Chicago in 1997 to develop city-wide sustainable transportation programs such as Safe Routes to Schools/Walking School Bus, traffic calming and car-sharing. He has also a co-founder of two national pedestrian advocacy organizations: America Walks and the Partnership for a Walkable America.
Tom comes from a strong Jewish background, including Jewish day school education, summers at Camp Ramah and Camp Moshava, yeshiva in Israel and New York, and service in the Israeli Defense Forces. He taught grades 7 & 8 religious school for six years at Chicago Sinai Congregation, as well as tutored Bar/Bat Mitzvah students there.
Tom has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and the Talmud from Yeshiva University; a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Guelph (Canada); and recently started a Masters of Art in Jewish Professional Service at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies.
He was recruited by the City of Chicago in 1997 to develop city-wide sustainable transportation programs such as Safe Routes to Schools/Walking School Bus, traffic calming and car-sharing. He has also a co-founder of two national pedestrian advocacy organizations: America Walks and the Partnership for a Walkable America.
Tom comes from a strong Jewish background, including Jewish day school education, summers at Camp Ramah and Camp Moshava, yeshiva in Israel and New York, and service in the Israeli Defense Forces. He taught grades 7 & 8 religious school for six years at Chicago Sinai Congregation, as well as tutored Bar/Bat Mitzvah students there.
Tom has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and the Talmud from Yeshiva University; a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Guelph (Canada); and recently started a Masters of Art in Jewish Professional Service at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies.
Past Program Staff
Ari
Ari is a co-founder of Uri L'Tzedek and rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. A leader of several initiatives that bring together Orthodoxy, the Jewish community, and the world at large to make positive change, Ari launched Or Tzedek, the Teen Institute for Social Justice, served on multiple community boards and social justice organizations, and has taught at schools, synagogues, and summer camps around the country. He also served as a Nadiv Social Justice Fellow for the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and as Court Appointed Special Advocate for neglected and abused children in Cook County. Ari was recently selected by the Jewish Week as one of the 36 under 36, a list of "forward-thinking young people who are helping to remake the Jewish community," and his work bringing the Hispanic and Jewish communities of Northern Manhattan together was profiled by the Jerusalem Post. Ari learned at Yeshivat HaKotel, Machon Pardes, and graduated from Grinnell College in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in music theory and composition.
Asaf
Asaf is the past director of Or Tzedek. He was born and for the most part raised in Israel, spending three years in NYC as a child. His passion for social justice developed early on, when as a high-school student he volunteered to spend two months in a caravan site in Jerusalem, working with new immigrants.
After high-school he volunteered one year living in a boarding school and working with youth at risk, and then served four years in the IDF, which he finished as a lieutenant. After a long trip to South America with his wife, he completed a joint bachelor’s degree in philosophy and politics & government at Ben-Gurion University. After graduating he moved to NYC where he directed an educational program for an underserved community.
Asaf is currently director of JCUA’s Jewish Muslim Community Building Initiative program (JMCBI), as well studying towards a PhD in philosophy.
After high-school he volunteered one year living in a boarding school and working with youth at risk, and then served four years in the IDF, which he finished as a lieutenant. After a long trip to South America with his wife, he completed a joint bachelor’s degree in philosophy and politics & government at Ben-Gurion University. After graduating he moved to NYC where he directed an educational program for an underserved community.
Asaf is currently director of JCUA’s Jewish Muslim Community Building Initiative program (JMCBI), as well studying towards a PhD in philosophy.
Leah
A 2008 graduate of Macalester College, Leah studied Urban Social Geography and American Studies. Leah lived in Cambodia last year, leading educational and art workshops with youth and survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide. After returning to Chicago, Leah remains involved with the local Cambodian-American community, and is currently working to create a traveling exhibition of the artwork and prose created by youth and adults in Cambodia.
Leah has been a staff member of Or Tzedek since its inception, and is looking forward to spending many more summers exploring the urban and social fabric of Chicago with active, curious, and engaged teens!
Leah has been a staff member of Or Tzedek since its inception, and is looking forward to spending many more summers exploring the urban and social fabric of Chicago with active, curious, and engaged teens!
Ruth
A graduate of Barnard College, she now lives in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan and is spending her second year studying at Drisha, a Jewish learning institute for women. Always invested in social justice, Ruth believes that one of her roles as a religious Jew is to aid communities in need, regardless of their religious affiliation. Ultimately, Ruth hopes to pursue a career exploring the ways she can impact underserved communities. In March, 2008 Ruth traveled to New Orleans on a multicultural trip with 40 of her peers, where they spent a week gutting homes in the Lower Ninth Ward, the most devastated and least rehabilitated area of the city. During the summers of 2007 and 2008 Ruth worked as a counselor at the Or Tzedek summer program and would like to thank the participants of Or Tzedek for a really meaningful and fun experience.
Nick
Nick grew up in Evanston, IL and attended religious school at Beth Emet Synagogue. While pursuing a degree in music, Nick also studied religion at Grinnell College and was actively involved in Chalutzim, the Jewish student organization. He has taught music and prayer at Beth Emet's Sunday School and was a staff member for the Or Tzedek summer program since its inception in 2007.
Nick holds a master’s degree from Butler University. Nick is currently director of Hillels for the Universities of De Paul and Northeastern Illinois and for Oakton College.
Nick holds a master’s degree from Butler University. Nick is currently director of Hillels for the Universities of De Paul and Northeastern Illinois and for Oakton College.