New Faces in Powerful Places
By Emily Raij
The Central Florida Jewish community is fortunate to welcome in a trio of vibrant women who have recently moved here and taken on leadership roles at key institutions in our area. Let’s meet the go-getters who are settling into their roles at The Rosen JCC, the Jewish Academy of Orlando, and the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida.
The Lifelong Learner
Ofira Bondorowsky grew up surrounded by orange groves in a small village south of Tel Aviv, Israel, so the scenery was somewhat familiar when she moved with her family to southeast Orlando at six years old. As the CEO of The Rosen JCC since August, a big part of her job is connecting the community to programs that promote Jewish values, but it wasn’t until she moved to New Jersey after graduating from Florida State University that Ofira connected with her own Jewish identity. Being part of an immigrant family and often the only Jewish kid in her schools in Florida, Ofira enjoyed the newfound comfort a more Jewish area like Montclair, New Jersey, offered – particularly for her three children, who were all born there.
Ofira Bondorowsky
“The beautiful part of that was that it not only allowed me to connect with my Jewish identity because it was super accessible and easy to connect the kids,” Ofira explains, “but there were options, something for everybody, and you didn’t have to drive 40 minutes to get there. That environment makes it so comfortable and acceptable to be openly Jewish. I’ve grown up in environments where it wasn’t, so I’m really thrilled that my kids have had a very different experience.”
“I have this
opportunity to
create meaningful programs
that Jewish and non-Jewish
families and individuals
would seek out. Beyond
being a nonprofit leader, I’m
working to engage more Jews
across Central Florida – it’s
like the icing on the cake.”
All three of her children attended Jewish preschool and Hebrew school in New Jersey. Her boys, who are now 22 and 18, had their bar mitzvahs in Israel, and her 12-yearold daughter is preparing for her bat mitzvah at Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation (SOJC), a short drive from their Windermere home.
Although Judaism has been a big part of family life for Ofira, her job at The Rosen JCC is her first foray into the Jewish professional world. She started out in New Jersey as an intake counselor for community-based homes for adults with developmental disabilities. After earning her master’s degree in clinical social work at New York University, she finished coursework in a social policy doctoral program at Columbia University while pregnant with her first son. When he was four months old, she returned to work at The After-School Corporation (now ExpandED Schools), helping improve graduation and attendance rates for New York City students through comprehensive after-school programs. Pregnant with her second son and tired of the commute from New Jersey, Ofira became a child study team social worker for Newark Public Schools while also enrolled at Seton Hall University in a master’s degree program in leadership and administration for working professionals. She then continued on into the doctoral program.
“I love being a student. I’m a lifelong learner,” says Ofira, who jokes that she has twice earned her ABD, or All But Dissertation.
In the school system, Ofira became a New Jersey State Certified Principal and quickly moved up the ranks to become a director of special education. That role was particularly stressful, and as a mom with young children, she made the difficult decision to leave the workforce in order to devote more time to her kids. Ofira continued to serve on nonprofit boards and was PTA president more than once at her children’s schools. After 10 years and a divorce, she returned to the labor market at Integrity House, the largest community-based nonprofit provider of substance abuse rehabilitation services in New Jersey. Ofira served as the organization’s special-events planner.
“I was in charge of their 50th anniversary gala, which honored two former governors on either side of the political aisle for their commitment to substance abuse treatment,” says Ofira. “It was a meaningful and highly rewarding experience, but not challenging enough for me.”
So, when she saw that Charity Navigator had a job to evaluate programs and data, she jumped at the opportunity, quickly moving into a director role and then vice president of strategic partnerships. She spearheaded an evaluation system for analyzing nonprofit performance and led a cross-functional team to design and launch a Web-based data-collection application used by thousands of nonprofits on Charity Navigator’s site. The company, based in Saddlebrook, New Jersey, pivoted to remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic quarantine. That created an opportunity for Ofira to continue working remotely and to move back to Central Florida, where her parents and ex-husband were living. She worked remotely for Charity Navigator for nearly two years but felt isolated, so she started searching for that next opportunity to drive impact in her own community. When a friend mentioned The Rosen JCC CEO position, Ofira thought her skills, familiarity with Central Florida, and knowledge of Jewish communities would make her a good fit.
“Like concentric circles, I have various communities I can touch and that I can serve,” says Ofira. “One of them is the Jewish community. Others are seniors, folks with disabilities, and children and young adults looking for creative outlets and ways to connect and develop skills and talents. I have this opportunity to create meaningful programs that Jewish and nonJewish families and individuals would seek out. Beyond being a nonprofit leader, I’m working to engage more Jews across Central Florida – it’s like the icing on the cake.
All Are Welcome
That thinking defines Ofira’s approach to building programs that add value for the entire community. Sometimes, she explains, that may mean creating partnerships with other organizations and businesses that aren’t Jewish.
“I spent years studying what works so that
I can do it right, and I enjoy collaborating
with other leaders to better serve our community.”
“It requires changing some mindsets and appreciating the full spectrum of what it means to be an organization that promotes and upholds Jewish values,” says Ofira. “There are different ways to get at it... Whenever I think about establishing new programs, I always think about accessibility and including those folks in our community that are often overlooked. I often talk about combating loneliness – not only an issue for senior citizens, but for anyone that is marginalized to some extent in the community.”
For example, she explains that parents caring for their adult children with disabilities often need respite, so Ofira envisions the JCC having programming that engages both groups at the same time. Caregivers can get support or a much-needed break while their children simultaneously participate in a separate supervised program on campus.
In addition to reaching marginalized groups, Ofira is looking to “cast a wide net” to attract families who are Jewish, interfaith, or other faiths. The steady influx of people moving to Florida from out of state means communities and their needs are growing, and Ofira recognizes that the JCC needs to offer programs with everybody in mind.
That might mean creating ballet classes for kids with disabilities, adding pickleball and volleyball, and utilizing the bus the JCC contracts for after-school programs to bring seniors to events during the day, such as movement classes.
“I spent years studying what works so that I can do it right, and I enjoy collaborating with other leaders to better serve our community,” says Ofira.
With more than 200 kids in the preschool and a popular summer camp, it’s clear The Rosen JCC is doing something right with its already established programs. While Ofira explains that many of the preschool students and teachers are not Jewish, she sees the JCC as a place for teaching Jewish values and traditions in a way that doesn’t marginalize others. In fact, that positive exposure helps combat antisemitism.
“Our preschoolers will grow up with memories of positive experiences at our JCC – including Shabbat singalongs and the challah they love so much,” Ofira says. I believe exposing children of all faiths to Jewish values and traditions early in life will help reduce antisemitism over time.”
When she’s not busy connecting and creating, Ofira hikes, bikes, boats, bakes, and spends plenty of time outdoors in nature. She also likes to travel, often seeking out synagogues in unlikely places, such as the Dominican Republic. And she’s always looking to learn.
“I want to earn my pilot’s license,” says Ofira. “I’m afraid of heights, but I’ve got enough chutzpah to forge ahead.”
The Community Builder
Chana Ben-Abraham
As the new Head of School for Jewish Academy of Orlando, Chana Ben-Abraham is passionate about Jewish learning and community. JAO families experience that passion each morning as Chana greets students in the car line, blasting music from her portable strobe-light speaker. But Chana acknowledges she did not always intend to work in education.
“My real
passion is
not just to build
Jewish community,
but to also build
leaders in these
Jewish kids.”
“Both my parents were teachers, and I swore I wouldn’t be a teacher,” says Chana, who jokes, “If you asked me at five where I’d be, I thought I’d be a lawyer running a summer camp.”
After graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in history, Chana did end up working in the legal field in LA, where she was born and raised. However, the pull toward Jewish education was strong. Fluent in Hebrew learned from her Israeli mother, Chana spent a year in Jerusalem after high school.
“I was surrounded by the beauty of Jewish community,” says Chana. “When I came back to America, I realized what our communities could look like and made it my goal to bring that flavor to Jewish communities in America.”
She earned her teaching certificate for Jewish private school education in 2011 and worked on coordinating therapies and educational plans for children with learning differences and medical needs that prevented them from being in a traditional classroom setting.
“I was able to understand the full picture of what a child needs to be successful,” says Chana. “I understand what that support looks like.
Although she appreciated the support of her robust Jewish community in LA, Chana and her husband Eily were looking for a different setting in which to start their family. In 2016, when the Akiba Yavneh Academy in Dallas reached out to Chana to design and teach middle and high school general and Judaic studies, she says she viewed it as an opportunity to “be big movers and shakers” in a new community. In 2018, Chana also took on the role of Dallas City Director for NCSY (National Conference of Synagogue Youth), allowing her to work on programming, partnerships, and fundraising, which she grew by 300 percent.
“My heart gravitates toward building the best community for these kids who don’t have a Jewish community,” says Chana. “I saw I could marry my informal and formal education experience. I took something very small with a lot of potential. My real passion is not just to build Jewish community, but to also build leaders in these Jewish kids.”
Building Bridges
In 2020, the same year she earned her master’s degree in educational leadership and policy studies, along with her principal certification from The University of Texas at Arlington, Chana became the Dean of Jewish Innovation and Engagement at Ann & Nate Levine Academy, a pluralistic Jewish day school in Dallas, where she worked to bridge Judaic and general studies.
“I’m a bit of a unicorn,” says Chana. “People in Jewish studies don’t usually have a general studies background. Being a female leader in the Judaic world is also a little unconventional.”
The potential to lead, change, and build community are what attracted Chana to her current position at JAO, which she started in August. Her experience in programming, education, and administration, along with her knowledge of pluralistic Jewish day school needs and creating inclusive Jewish spaces, made her an easy fit.
“When I first got the call about this position, there was something very intriguing to me,” says Chana. “I feel like this community is really at the precipice of exploding and having tremendous growth…at the end of the day, a Jewish school is the heart of a Jewish community. The institution was really primed for me coming in. The staff was ready for change and innovation. There’s so much good going on in the school. I just needed to create a framework to showcase what we do.”
That framework includes a long-term plan, and after just two months on the job, Chana was already working on goals intended for month seven. She credits the support from JAO’s board of directors, the greater community, and her qualified staff with helping things run smoothly from the beginning. Increasing enrollment, expanding to middle school, and fostering partnerships with area synagogues and agencies are a few of Chana’s goals. To highlight local safety heroes in the community on the anniversary of September 11 this year in a developmentally appropriate way for students, Chana worked with Harrison Shames from Jewish National Fund (JNF) to honor Shalom Orlando’s Chief Security Officer Jake Silverman and beloved security guard “Mr. Mike” Weippert.
She also wants to continue building upon JAO’s focus on social-emotional learning and exposing the kids “to every flavor of Judaism.” Students are getting that “Israeli flavor,” says Chana, by learning Judaics from the two ambassadors working at the school as part of the Israeli ShinShinim service-year program for high-school graduates.
“The reason I was brought here was not just to lead but to build,” Chana explains. “When it comes to building, you first have to understand what is, what was. No change can be made before understanding the foundation I’m standing on. It is my absolute goal to engage the entire Jewish community in our school. This school needs to be an institute for Jewish education at large.”
In fact, Chana and Eily, along with their three young children (ages 6, 4, and 2), chose to settle in Oviedo upon moving to Florida in order to connect with even more of the Jewish community. Eily is part of Yehudi at the University of Central Florida, which works with Central Florida Hillel to bring meaningful Jewish experiences to college students and young adults.
“For me, community is my Shabbat table,” says Chana. “I knew when we chose somewhere, it had to be a place where we could bring people to our Shabbat table, so we chose a less traditional and not as established Jewish community. We’re more about what can be and what will be. We were very intentional. Reaching out to Jewish people who need that community, I know we’re fulfilling our mission here in Orlando.”
The Educator
Talli Dippold
All four of Talli Dippold’s grandparents were Holocaust survivors. She remembers obsessively reading every Holocaust book and watching every Holocaust movie she could as a child. As a native of Israel, Talli is the first generation in 1,000 years in her family who was not born in Poland. Becoming CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida (HMREC) in June of 2022 felt like a natural convergence of her personal background and previous work experiences – not to mention this recent empty nester was ready to take on a new challenge. But the Holocaust was not often discussed in Talli’s family when she was growing up, and she had been discouraged from studying it formally.
“It was a taboo topic in some ways,” says Talli. “My grandparents didn’t want to talk about their experiences. So part of my passion for the topic came from learning more about my family and investigating their journeys. I always wanted to study the Holocaust in college, but my family dissuaded me because why look back? But I wanted to teach in a different way, celebrating the resilience of a people moving forward.”
“I wanted to teach
in a different way,
celebrating the resilience of
a people moving forward.”
That kind of forward thinking guides Talli, as does the enduring vision of HMREC founder Tess Wise “to use the history and lessons of the Holocaust to build a just and caring community free of antisemitism and all forms of prejudice and bigotry,” as its mission statement makes clear. Talli explains that the approach to Holocaust education is different now than it was before.
“The trajectory has changed from wanting people to walk away always feeling bad for victims. Now we want to focus on resistance and resilience,” she says, acknowledging that while museums have to educate about some very dark times, they can also “provide light to the world” and leave visitors feeling hopeful. Talli views museums as some of the only safe places where people can have these difficult conversations about humanity.
An Empathetic Approach
It was Talli’s earlier education and work experience in a completely different field that gave her some insight into how to approach tough situations and think about people’s feelings. She came with her family to the United States at age two for her father to study in Chicago, although she returned to Israel for middle school and spent every childhood summer there. She majored in hospitality management at the University of New Hampshire. After graduating, Talli worked for the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, where she met her husband. They have three children, all of whom are currently in college.
“My background in hospitality has been the one thing that’s helped me the most in Holocaust education,” says Talli. “Having empathy for people, how we approach situations, the feelings we want to leave to other people – all of those things I carried forward in Holocaust education. They are lessons about humanity. Those are timeless. I’m very fortunate that I have the ability to lead an organization that has such a deep core and a deep-rooted belief in empathy and how we treat one another.”
Moving from hospitality into Holocaust education, Talli worked for seven years as the Executive Director of the Levine-Sklut Judaic Library & Resource Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, under the auspices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte. She then went on to found and lead the Stan Greenspon Holocaust and Social Justice Education Center for another seven years, during which time she also earned her master’s degree in Holocaust and related studies from Gratz College. Like the HMREC, the Greenspon Center has a larger focus on social justice, so when Talli heard about the CEO opportunity here through a colleague at the USC Shoah Foundation, she thought it would be a perfect fit.
“I like to say bashert (destiny),” says Talli, who lives in Winter Park with her husband. “It was a really great opportunity with my skill set.”
Perhaps the biggest project Talli is working on is the creation of the new HMREC in downtown Orlando, which will be called the Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity. At 44,000 square feet, it will be the largest Holocaust museum in the state of Florida when it opens in late 2026.
“It’s going to be really different because the focus is going to be on the self, how individuals can learn more about themselves,” explains Talli. “That’s really what brought me here, the vision of the new museum and what we are creating in Orlando. It’s really going to be this beacon of light in challenging times.” To get through those challenging times and the emotionally taxing work she does, Talli makes it a point to focus not only on caring for her mental health but on the health of her staff. That means starting team meetings with a check-in, setting work boundaries, keeping family first, taking time to travel, and leading by example.
“If you can
inspire people,
you really can create
meaningful change.”
“If our goal is to teach empathy and work towards caring, we have to show that to one another and our community,” says Talli. “The biggest challenge I’ve seen in my work world is that you have to create a culture of caring, where people do feel safe and want to do their best work. People have to be inspired by the work they do. If you can inspire people, you really can create meaningful change.”
One way the HMREC creates change is by offering professional development to educators. Florida’s public education statutes require Holocaust education, and the HMREC produces curriculum, training, and conferences. Talli also sits on the executive board of the Association of Holocaust Organizations, allowing her to collaborate with other leaders in the field and understand the changes in Holocaust education over the last 80 years.
“There’s still a perception that we’re a Jewish museum for Jewish people, but we want to educate all,” explains Talli. “We want to be a valuable commodity in the community, offer programs with impact in the community, and be a voice for anyone struggling with bigotry, racism, and hatred in the community. The key is education because I really do believe that when people understand more, they can empathize with others.”
Regarding the current war in Israel, Talli acknowledges that there are many lessons from the past from which we can still learn.
“My dad fought in the war 50 years ago, and my sister was born in a bomb shelter,” says Talli. “It affects everyone. Being from Israel and being part of the Jewish people means we internalize a lot. What’s going on in the Middle East is affecting us, but we still have our important work to do here. It’s showing up every day. People need to see resilience in their leaders. In moments of crisis, leadership becomes more important than ever. That’s what gets me out of bed every day. My family needs me, and my community needs me. We’re going to get through this. We’re going to be stronger…Am Yisrael Chai (The People of Israel Live) is strong. We’re going to get through it with empathy, love, and community.”
This story was originally published in print in Winter 2023.