The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Jack Gourdji Executive Director of AFYBA, Supporting the Largest Network of Religious Zionist Schools in Israel

Episode Date: November 12, 2023

Jack Gourdji Executive Director of AFYBA, Supporting the Largest Network of Religious Zionist Schools in Israel Afyba.org Show Notes About The Guest(s): Jack Gourdji is the Executive Director of the American Friends of Yeshiva Bnei Akiva (AFYBA). He has 12 years of experience as the Executive Director of Jewish institutions and has worked with schools for children with special needs and adult day programs. Jack holds a BA from Hofstra University and has served on the board of a synagogue in West Hempstead, New York. Summary: Jack Gourdji, the Executive Director of AFYBA, discusses the organization's mission to support Israeli schools and promote education in Israel. AFYBA is the American arm of Israeli institutions that have 70 schools in Israel, including boys schools, girls schools, and schools that combine army training with studies. The organization aims to raise awareness and funds to provide top-notch education and develop future leaders in Israel. Jack emphasizes the importance of support from the United States in achieving these goals. Key Takeaways: AFYBA supports 70 diverse schools in Israel, including music schools, art schools, and schools focused on technology and leadership development. The organization aims to develop leadership and character in students, preparing them to become future leaders in Israel. AFYBA provides various ways for people to contribute, including donations to specific schools or programs and support for the war effort in Israel. The Kaddish service offered by AFYBA allows individuals to have the Kaddish prayer said on behalf of their deceased loved ones. AFYBA's focus is on raising awareness and support for their schools in Israel, rather than opening schools in America. Quotes: "Our goal is to make individuals aware of what we do and what these kids turn out to be." - Jack Gourdji "We want to do more and more things to give students the best possible education." - Jack Gourdji

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Jack Gorgie, as you can hear, is on the show. He's the executive director of the AFYBA. He was previously joining the AFYBA. He spent 12 years as the executive director of Jewish institutions in most schools for children with special needs and in adult day programs with the YACHAD. Jack holds a BA from Hofstra University and spent 10 years on the board with a synagogue in West Hempstead, New York. Welcome to the show, Jack. How are you? Thank you so much. I'm doing well. Thank you for having me on. I love your intro. It's great. There you go. It's pretty cool. We do a lot on the intro, sometimes too much as it were.

So Jack, give us your dot coms. Where do you want people to find you on the interwebs? So the best way to find us is on our website, www.afyba.org. That's really the best way to find us. There you go. So give us a 30,000 overview of what you guys do there. So AFYBA stands for American Friends of Yeshivat B'nai Akiva. We are the American arm of Israeli institutions that have 70 schools in Israel. There are 70 schools, 31 boys schools,

24 girls schools, and 15 schools that are a combination of army training as well as studies that they go for. So we help fund them. We help bring them to light that people know that they exist. It's a relatively small organization. And we want to bring them to light so people know that we are around and help support. There you go and in what ways can they support i notice there's a donate today badge on your thing uh how how could people out there support and in different ways yeah if you go on our website there's a couple

of donation buttons one is a standard donation button uh that's really for general school purposes to help fund our schools. There's a listing of different schools. So some people might have a particular liking to one school versus another. And we also have a new donation page, which is new. Unfortunately, in the last month, because of all that's going on in Israel now, we have a donation page, which is specifically going towards the IDF, the military in Israel, as well as to families that have been displaced in Israel. Definitely.

There's been a lot of families impacted by the sad status that went on there on October 7th, I believe. October 7th, yes. By the date, right? These impacts, days like that, and September 11 11th and just days of horror just remind us how much we really need better humanity and be kinder to each other in the world and support each other. So it goes to some good things there. About 70 diverse schools I'm seeing on your programs here. Tell us about some of the things you guys teach in the schools.

So we have, again, we have 70 schools. Some of them are particular to certain areas. For example, we have two music schools that are geared towards music. We have a boys' school, a girls' school that teaches music. We have a school that's particular for ecology and things of that nature. We have art schools. So we have different schools that are geared towards certain types of education, but we also have a lot of school. Most of our schools are really geared towards, you know, having high school kids be able to have a better life, be up and running on IT and what's going on, the whole AI of what's going on now, technology-wise, being up and running, and really to promote the future

leaders of Israel. You know, we have a number of students who have graduated from our schools that have gone to the Knesset, you know, in Israel, you know, where politicians and got into that types of area. And we also have, you know, some really well-established scientists. We actually have one of the graduates is very important nowadays, is the co-founder of the Iron Dome. He's actually one of them, which is, if you don't know, it's the system that actually knocks the rocks down. It's astounding to watch. Yeah, it's astounding to watch.

It's amazing. I'm like, wow, it just knocks them right out of the sky um technology you gotta love it uh the one thing that's always been interesting about israel is you guys have a huge sort of silicon valley technology thing it looks like you guys teach robotics and space science there as well uh lots of great companies have come out of out of the tech space there in israel i know ways was a very large one very early on they got bought up by google they came out of is tech space there in Israel. I know Waze was a very large one early on. They got bought up by Google. They came out of Israel.

I've seen a lot of stuff come out of Israel with technology. It's a great exporter or importer of knowledge and all that good stuff. Yeah, technology is a very huge part of what we do. And while we're talking about that, you know, the way it works in Israel is that the government pays for a lot of what goes on in the schools. You know, the basic classrooms, you know, the textbooks and things of that nature. But when it comes to anything that's extra, for example, we want to do extra things with our students and go above and beyond to teach them of what's going on so that they can have, you know, they can grow up to be these, you know, great scientists or whatever it might be. We have to go the extra mile for that. And we have to use our own monies towards spending on getting that kind of thing in our school so that, you know, kids can have the top notch education that we want of them. There you go. And so what is your role as an executive director? school so that kids can have the top-notch education that we want of them. There you go. And so what is your role as an executive director? What do you do there?

Yeah. So my biggest role right now is awareness. We, again, we have 70 schools. It's great. It's wonderful. But as a small organization, we really have not made enough strides in getting people to know that we exist. And so one of my main roles right now is really for awareness. What I do is a lot of the time, and I'll talk pre, you know, the war right now, because things changed dramatically in the last month. But pre-war, what we would do is we would have people fly in from Israel, come in here to the States, and they'd speak about what goes on in Israel, what goes on at our schools, what we're doing, what we're doing to educate our students. And we would do this at religious institutions we would speak at. We would speak at different types of events. And I would set those events up, and I would fly in the individuals from Israel who would do these talks. And that was a big part of what we've been doing up till October 7th. That was my focus. That was my prime awareness for everybody

so that we can, you know, we can eventually raise money and funds towards our schools to do the things we need to do. Most definitely. And so, I mean, it seems obvious on the face of it, but in your words, why is it important for people in America to support the work that you guys are doing there in Israel and America? Yeah, I mean, if you really, if you have a love towards Israel and for Israel and want to see success in Israel and want to see people, you know, go to that next level, to have leaders, to have, like I said, leaders in the Knesset, leader in IT, you know, in establishment and all of this. We're the type of schools to be able to help because this is what we do. We do this day and night. We work with our students to become the next future leaders of Israel.

And really support from America is very important. You know, America really stands with us in what we do and we really couldn't do it without them. Yeah. America's or Israel's one of our allies over there in the Middle East. And so why did, what made you chose a nonprofit work in doing this? Oh, I kind of fell into it a little bit. I actually started out in the for-profit world. I sold computers, computer parts, watches. I did that for like 25 years. And then one day, I kind of as a side gig, I drove a boy who had developmental disability challenges. And I would take him back and forth to school.

And I would also work with him in the home, do his homework with him, play with him. And so that little thing or what sounds like a little thing, it really wasn't. It was a big deal, really got me into working with that type of a population, people that were struggling and that if I could help them out. And so from there, I got another gig taking two girls to school. And from there, I got another gig taking an adult with developmental disabilities to her program. And then that program actually ended up hiring me. you know, so it was kind of like this, this route that I took. It wasn't a direct route, but I got there eventually, but, and I'm loving it. I love working in this, in this, uh, with this, uh, population and what I do with nonprofit. There you go. What do you find inspires you in helping schools and children and, and, uh,

in going that extra thing? I mean, it sounds like you've been on this road for a while, where you worked at Hofstra University and other things with your synagogue. Yeah, I'll tell you. I'll tell you a story when I went to Israel, and this really was inspiring. It was actually at this job that I'm at now. I went to Israel, and I met with a bunch of the students there and I was in an assembly room and I was watching them as they were, you know, interacting with the headmaster of the school. I was amazed at how focused they were on him talking. There was maybe 150 boys in the room and not one was talking to the other. Not one was looking left and looking right and picking up his pen and dawdling on his piece of paper. They were focused on the headmaster that was speaking in

the room. And I was just so amazed at how the school operated and how, you know, they were so involved in what goes on. You know, and it's things like that, that really inspired me. It's the boy I drove to school who, you know, really started to excel in his academics, you know, after a little while. It's the boy that, you know, really, you know, wasn't, you know, interacting with his peers and now was able to interact with them. It's all these little things or seemingly little things that really give me that, you know, extra jump to want to do more and more. There you go. It's giving back is really important. And of course, inspiring the world. How do you guys help develop leadership as it were? Do you guys have specific courses on leadership in general? You know, it's not so much specific courses in leadership. It's really just,

it's an entire attitude of what we try to instill in our students. We don't, you know, all our students are really one. They might be on different learning levels, but they all have potential. And we look at all of them as potential. All of them can potentially be a leader of some kind. It doesn't have to be a leader in the Knesset in Israel. It could be a leader in another means. So our focus and our goals in our schools really is to develop leadership, but also to develop character, people that are really loving what they're doing, enjoying what they're doing, happy to go people. Even now with the war going on now, I have to tell you, the attitude is incredible in our schools. The attitude of the kids is just

amazing. It actually can bring you to tears watching them and how they're so focused on the mission of helping out these families that are now in big trouble. Yeah, it's definitely an important healing time for Israel, and it probably will be for a long time as this progresses and they try and find the hostages, etc., etc. What's next for the big vision for what you guys want to achieve? I mean, you guys have achieved a lot, it sounds like, so far. What's the big vision for you guys? So our goal is really, you know, I go back to awareness. Our goal is to make individuals aware of what we do and what we accomplish and to support us. You know, B'nai Akiva, just so you know, has a name

in the industry of the youth movement. It's used, you know, the youth movement of B'nai Akiva is a well-known entity, you know, in this world, in the Jewish world for sure. But not so much the schools. The schools are not as much known. And so our goal is really to make people aware of the schools and what we do at the schools and what these kids turn out to be, what they're doing right now, what they're doing now in this last month to help out the families, to help out the military, just to the character of the individuals and the students in our school, the staff of what they're all doing. So our goal really is to make awareness of people, especially in the United States,

of what we do in Israel and to help support us. Yeah. And the big vision. And then, of course, the more people you can inspire, the more leaders you can inspire and inspire and how they can affect each other in different things. What is anything that we may have missed in talking about your organization, what you guys do and where you guys are going? So our organization, again, of 70 schools, you know, I guess the focus I would say is that, you know, support is very important for us because there's always things we need to do. We want to do more and more things. Even with this war effort right now, I can't emphasize enough how much our students are doing, how much our parent body is doing, how much the staff is doing. In fact, right now, our focus isn't as much

on the schools as it is in helping the community, helping giving back to the families in need, giving back to Israel as a whole. And so really just to be with us side by side in whatever that mission is. Right now, it's a mission of really helping the country as a whole. And so really just to be with us side by side in whatever that mission is. Right now, it's a mission of really helping the country as a whole. But when time comes and things get better, it goes back to, again, being a school where we ask for support from the community, from people in this country to really be able to help us out, you know, and achieve some of the goals we have of really having, you know, students that will grow up to be leaders of Israel, and as well as, you know, really just being good human beings, which is

really one of the main things we're trying to accomplish. We need more good human beings in this world. That's for darn sure. There's enough hate and violence, and there's too much of it in the world. I think there always will be, but that's the sad thing about humans. We need to work on being better people and better leaders and being good to each other more. So what are some ways or some avenues people can contribute? I imagine it's tax-deductible.

Yes. Giving Tuesday different holiday gifts. There's something in my notes here about November 20th liftoff. So on November 28th is Giving Tuesday, different holiday gifts. There's something in my notes here about November 20th liftoff. So on November 28th is Giving Tuesday. So we actually have something going on then. We're going to be promoting what we do. And yeah, we're doing something on November 20th as well. But we also on our website, I think the best thing is if you go on our website, you can really pick and choose what you really want to give towards. You know, if you want to give towards the schools, if there's a particular school you know of, you know, someone that attends there, you heard good things about a

particular school, you could give towards that. And again, if you want to give towards the mission that we're doing now, which is really helping the soldiers, helping, you know, these families that are in need. You know, you can go on our website and see the different things you can give to on that. Again, it's www.afyba.org. You know, again, we're doing a lot of wonderful things. Just, you know, just also, I don't think I mentioned it, the military right now is utilizing some of our schools to actually have as bases. You know, there was about 360 reservists that were called up. I think actually, sorry, there was 300,000 called up and extra 60,000 actually reported. So that excess reservists now are a lot of them are coming to our schools. So we're hosting them there. And there's a lot we're doing within our schools to be able to support the country. And we just ask for some support back for us to be able to help,

continue to help these individuals on the military. There you go. And I see there's a drop-down list on the donation page. So you can choose different, I believe these are schools you can share in or the general fund. You can sponsor dance classes, annual school trips, tutoring for an Ethiopian student, helping them purchase computers, full scholarships, summer programs, and computer science labs or just about anything else. Do you guys ever foresee opening some schools here in America? It's not in the plans right now. You never know what the future brings, but our focus really right now is supporting these schools in Israel. You know, our mission really is, you know, the education in Israel right now. There's a lot that's good going on in this country with the school systems.

You know, maybe one day we can look into that. But right now our focus is on Israel and our mission of, you know, educating students in Israel. There you go. And then there's the, I'm not sure if I pronounced this right, the Kaddish service? Yeah, the Kaddish service. Kaddish. Yeah. So the Kaddish service is a service whereby if someone has a relative that passed away, a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, you know, in the Jewish religion, we say it's called Kaddish for 11 months or 12 months, depending on, you know, how you follow. So the Kaddish is something you go, you go basically to temple and to shul, to temple. And you say this, this, this thing, this passage that really is good for the soul of the individual. And some people can't do it. Some people can't read Hebrew. Some people just don't know where to go towards doing this. You know, they might not be, you know, religious and they might not know anything about it.

So we actually have a program where we could say it for them. We can say it for them. They just have to give us the name of the deceased and we'll say it for them for the entire year that they need it to be said. There you go. And then people can make donations for that on the annual observance. Correct. Yes, exactly. They make donations then.

And it could be continued as well because after the 12 months, on the anniversary, we say it as well. So this goes on for as long as they want it to go on. That is awesome. And you guys have quite the alumni that you guys have listed on your guys' website. Over 100,000 plus alumni have already made a tremendous impact from you guys' things. So you guys have been doing this for how long have you been doing this for, actually? Oh, my gosh. We've been doing it for many, many years. Yeah, we go back quite a while.

You know, it's it's but it's it's it keeps evolving, you know, even though we've done it. I'm relatively new. You know, I keeps evolving, you know, even though we've done it. I'm relatively new. You know, I started a year ago. And even since I started last year, I've seen so many different changes, so many additions, so many new things that have been done within the school systems. It's really just amazing. There you go. 24,000 students currently attend AFYBA schools, 70 schools, 100,000 plus alumni, 99% of students complete their exams and serve in the IDF.

I think everyone has to serve in the IDF in Israel, right? Well, for the most part. There's some exceptions, but for the most part. Yeah. They probably wouldn't want me. They're like, you're too fat and old. You probably shoot somebody with a gun. There's an age limit, though.

There's probably a stupid limit for me. I see on the front page, you can... I'm not that bright. My audience is like, yeah, he's not that bright. You can support the war effort if you really want to put your heart and your money towards that. Right on the front page, you can support the war effort. If you really want to put your heart and mind towards and your money towards that, uh, right

on the front page, you can support the war effort in Israel as well. So if you want, you can easily do that. Uh, final thoughts as we go out, Jack. Yeah, I guess my final thoughts are, first of all, thank you so much for having me on your show. It's really important. Um, I mean, again, my primary goal right now is awareness is to make people aware that our schools exist, what we do.

You could go on our website and you could read about what we do. A lot of what we've done, even in the last month with the war efforts, the school has done tremendous things in the last month. And I think if you go online, you could read in detail what we've done for the families, for the military. And we continue to strive to do more and more. You know, unfortunately, it looks like this is going to go on for a little bit, and so we continue to want to do everything we can. And then eventually, hopefully in the very near future, go back to focusing on building up our school and doing what we need to do for our school system, for our institution, in giving the kids the best possible education they can have.

And that's really the goal, is to give them the best possible education they have and to have them become adults that are really good people, as we said before, good human beings, and really helping the land of Israel to really strive. Yeah, and recover from the horrific thing that happened on October 7th. Thank you very much, Jack, for coming on the show. We really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me again, Chris. Really, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

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