The New York Jewish Week has honored remarkable New Yorkers for the past 16 years for their contributions in the arts, religion, culture, business, politics and philanthropy. Our goal is to identify the innovators who are remaking the Jewish community, or contributing to society in ways that draw upon their diverse Jewish identities and sensibilities.
This year’s class of “36ers” includes a 17-year-old author as well as an 87-year-old police chaplain. There are foodies and performers, rabbis and activists. They form a group of individuals, including some you may know and others you should, who together paint a portrait of a city, and its Jewish community, rebounding from a period of upheaval and eager to face the future.
Keep reading to celebrate their achievements!
CHANIE APFELBAUM
Kosher food writer
AARON BENDICH
Klezmer music impresario
LARISA BOAS
Providing services to new immigrants in Brooklyn
LILY BRASCH
Model and disability advocate
MICHELLE DARDASHTI
‘Radical pluralist’ rabbi
MICAELA DIAMOND
Star of Broadway’s ‘Parade’
DANIEL EDELMAN
Breakout Red Bulls midfielder
MIRIAM EZAGUI
Explaining Orthodoxy on TikTok
ERIC FINKELSTEIN
Reimagining the Jewish luncheonette
SANDY FOX
Chronicling American Jewish history
RACHAEL FRIED
Queer Jewish Youth leader
DAN GOLDMAN
Congressman
ORLY GOTTESMAN
Gluten-free pioneer
LILY HENLEY
Ladino singer/songwriter
MATTIE KAHN
Writer
ALVIN KASS
Chief Chaplain, NYPD
SUSAN KORN
Designer of cool Judaica
STEPHANIE LUXENBERG & AYELET PEARL
Creating Jewish community in Astoria
ANDREW MANDEL
Innovating the hybrid synagogue
BARRY MANILOW
Hitmaker with a show headed to Broadway
HEATHER MILLER
Bringing ‘race consciousness’ to Jewish communities
SAM MORRISON
Comedian and writer
SHOSHANA NAMBI
Sharing Uganda’s Jewish story
ZIBBY OWENS
Literary powerhouse
DANIEL POSNER
Sending U.S. athletes to Israel
MIRA RIVERA
Pathbreaking rabbi in Harlem
MODI ROSENFELD
Making Jewish jokes
JESSICA SEINFELD
Fighting antisemitism online
JULIAN SHAPIRO-BARNUM
‘Recess Therapy’ interviewer
SUZETTE SHEFT
Novelist and high school student
MIA SIMRING
Rikers Island chaplain
MAGDA TETER
Archiving Bronx Jewish history
JESSICA TISCH
Keeping New York City clean
MAYER WAXMAN
Queens Jewish Community Council leader
BEATRICE WEBER
Yaffed executive director
DANI ZOLDAN
Stand Up NY comedy club owner