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AACI Board

Barbara Carter

Barbara was born and grew up in Union City, a small town on the line between Indiana and Ohio. After graduating from Manchester College in Indiana, she taught in the Michigan City Public Schools and while studying for an MS in Elementary Education from Purdue University.

After moving to Baltimore, Maryland Barbara taught English to children from around the world who had immigrated to the USA.

In 1985 Barabra met a family from Metar who were in Baltimore. It was then that she decided to visit Israel for the first time. But not the last.

In 2005, after a stint with SarEl on an IDF base, Barabra realized that she belonged in Israel, and began to prepare for a pilot trip. One of the first things she did was to join AACI, and contact Miriam Green, counselor for the Southern Branch.

“The only place I wanted to live was Beer Sheva”, she says, “so I rented an apartment there and settled in with lots of help from the very friendly folks I met in the community.

In December 2006 Barbara officially made aliyah and since then has been active in the Southern Branch of AACI.

Barbara also has an apartment in Sderot and promotes the city wherever and whenever she can. She has taken many groups and individuals to visit the town and meet the wonderfully resilient people who live there.

Suzanne Cohen

When Suzanne Cohen and her husband, Asa, had the opportunity to take early retirement in 2005, they jumped at it. They decided to make a new phase in their lives and move near their son and daughter-in-law in Jerusalem.

Suzanne and Asa love to travel, and AACI gave them the opportunity to learn about this wonderful country through its tours and also learn about overseas heritage through its cruises. It was on such a cruise that David London asked Suzanne and Asa to become involved in AACI.

Being familiar with databases, Suzanne volunteered to help provide input into the AACI's new database. When the position of National Vice President for Klitah Services opened up, it seemed a good fit, with their own recent klitah with Nefesh B'Nefesh.

When not volunteering at AACI, or the Reform Congregation Kehilat Har-El, or babysitting their granddaughter, Suzanne can be found following lots of other interests: being part of an Anglo Book Club, learning new crafts and writing to family and many friends in Israel and in the US via the internet.

Asa Cohen

Asa made aliyah in the summer of 2005 together with his wife Suzanne. He is a retired executive from JP Morgan Chase where he held various management positions including product development, marketing and sales, wealth management, and branch administration. He was active in his local synagogue in Monroe NY both as a member of the Board of Trustees, and a teacher in its religious school.

AACI was his primary source for pre-aliyah information and as a result of that relationship he became an Overseas Friend of AACI prior to the move.

As a trustee for AACI, Asa has worked on many projects such as site location and renovation for the new Jerusalem HQ. He also was the liaison to the various businesses in the building before and during construction. Based on his financial expertise, Asa was made the chairman of the Jerusalem Scholarship Fund and the AACI Endowment Fund. As of April 2010, he became the National President.

Judy Ann Cohen

Judy moved to Jerusalem in 1975 after a four and a half year precedent-setting tenure at Kibbutz Kfar Etzion as the first single woman to be accepted as a member of the kibbutz. In Jerusalem, this fifth-generation American from Davenport, Iowa, has been employed in office management and administration by a variety of organizations, including AACI. Judy has been an active volunteer on various administrative projects; for fourteen years she chaired the Annual Memorial Ceremony with Rabbi Jay Karzen and has coordinated the Opera program for several years. After a stint as Klitah Committee Chairperson, was co-opted onto the Executive to fill the position of Secretary and was subsequently elected to that post for a further 2 terms. Judy was the Regional Treasurer for the past two terms of the AACI board and is now Vice President of Operations.

Don Edelstein

Don Edelstein, the current chair of the Jerusalem Region, made Aliyah in 1972 and has been active in AACI since then. Don specialized in cross-cultural education in the US and here in Israel worked at the School for Overseas Students at the Hebrew University and later developed the first membership data base for AACI. Don has served as National Vice-Chairman, Treasurer of both Jerusalem and National AACI, and has been involved in a number of other regional and national committees and projects including chairing the Jerusalem Region's fundraising campaign.

Barbara Gold

Barbara Gold grew up in Florida and Texas. She graduated from the University of Houston School of Pharmacy, and worked as a retail pharmacist and as a drug company representative in Houston, Texas. After deciding to pursue an advanced degree to become a Clinical Pharmacist, Barbara received her Doctorate in Pharmacy from the University of Florida. She was involved in a variety of community and synagogue activities in Houston. She created the Aerobic Dance program for the Houston Parks and Recreation Department. In 2002, Barbara and Danny Gold made aliya. Presently, Barbara serves on the International Women’s Club Board of Directors. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Tel Aviv University English lectures in Archeology. A lover of Israeli folk dancing, and a member of a dance-performing group in Houston, she continues to dance here in Israel with several performing groups from Netanya and Pardes Hannah. Once weekly, as an ESRA volunteer, Barbara also enjoys tutoring High School seniors preparing for their Bagrut Exam. Lastly with 5 children and 4 grandchildren living in several states in the U.S., travel figures prominently in the Golds’ activities. Having seen and benefited from the wonderful work that AACI does, Barbara decided to become a member and then to join the National Board of AACI to help with public relations.

Daniel Gold

Daniel Gold made aliyah from Houston Texas in 2002 with his wife Barbara. Born and raised in the Bronx in New York City, he went to the University of Michigan for his college and medical studies. He completed his ophthalmology training at New York University, a retinal fellowship at Montefiore Hospital/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and his Army service at Walter Reed Hospital in Washing D.C. After several years as Chief of the Retinal Service at Montefiore/Einstein, he moved to Texas where he combined a community-based practice with academic activities including teaching, writing, and editing. In Texas, he was involved with and played leadership roles in a number of medical organizations as well as his Houston synagogue. Happily retired in Israel, he continues his love of teaching young doctors in the Department of Ophthalmology of Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. Enjoying his retirement in Israel, he participates in Archeology lectures, Israeli folk dancing, bridge lessons, evening Talmud classes and traveling within and outside Israel whenever possible. Presently, he serves on the Vaad of Ohel Moshe Synagogue in Herzliya Pituach. His aliyah experience and the role that AACI played in helping him learn about this country led him first to join and then to volunteer to help this wonderful organization with its public relations activities.

Barry Greenstone

Barry (Dov) I was born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1941, the son of a Lithuanian Hebrew teacher (father) and a Canadian born mother. Dov went to the Yeshiva High School in Chicago when he was fourteen. He stayed there for eight years, earned a degree in Hebrew Literature and Semicha from the Yeshiva. DovI also earned a degree in mathematics from a local college and did some graduate work in math.

Dov married Elayne Andelman in 1965 and began working for IBM in computer software and was with IBM for close to thirty-five years. Dov and Elayne have five children and twenty-six grandchildren.

Dov and Elayne made aliya in 2003 after early retirement and enjoy being in Israel and fulfilling their dream. Dov's time is occupied by studying Talmud and volunteering for AACI.

Evelyn Grossberg

Evelyn was born and grew up in Sea Gate, Brooklyn, New York, and is a graduate of Lincoln High School and Brooklyn College. After earning a degree in Physics, she started working at Plenum Press, a sci/tech house in New York, and was the associate managing editor of the company when she left to make aliyah in 1978. Between two six-year periods at Plenum she spent five years as a senior instructor and the manager of the Claremont Riding Academy at Central Park. After coming to Israel she studied in Ulpan for six months and then spent 19 years with the Public Relations department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, first as the editor of Scopus Magazine and then as the director of the section responsible for publishing brochures, preparing grant proposals, and reporting to donors.

Donna Grushka

Donna Grushka made aliyah from Buffalo, N.Y. in 1978 with her husband Eli, a native Israeli. They have three daughters and two adored grandsons. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Donna attended Cornell University from which she has BS and MS degrees.

Donna worked for AACI from 1983 until 1997, first as a counselor and then as Assistant Director of the Jerusalem Region. In 1996-1997 she was Acting Director of AACI Jerusalem. She subsequently worked for Israel Birthright ("Taglit"), for Hadassah-Israel, as a placement consultant in a private personnel agency, and as a translator-editor. She has also been a partner in a small business in the field of services for seniors.

As an AACI volunteer, Donna has served as Vice Chairperson of AACI Jerusalem for both Programming and for Development, has been a member of the National Memorial Committee which she has co-chaired for a number of years, and has served on the National Board and the Jerusalem Council.

Julian (Julie) Landau

Julian (Julie) Landau made aliya in July 1969 from Washington DC where he worked for AIPAC. As part of his work in Israel as a writer, editor and print production supervisor, he helped write, design, page and print the AACI Voice for a number of years. Following his retirement in 1995, Julie became an active volunteer at AACI as a member of the Memorial Committee, the National Board and now as Co-Chairman of the Development Committee. He has four sons and one daughter who live in various parts of the country along with his seventeen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Dovid Lew---Kibbutz Gal On

Dovid Lew was born in Chicago in 1930. In his synagogue he joined a Zionist youth group, (Hashomer Hatzair) at age of 11. At the age of 24 Dovid made aliya with his "garin" to Kibbutz Gal On, in the northern Negev.

Dovid "made aliya", with his wife Nina, in 1954. He has remained on Kibbuttz Gal On, since then.

Dovid completed his studies at the University of Chicago gaining a B.A. and then studied at education and archaeology at Tel Aviv University.

At Kibbutz Gal On Dovid worked six years in dairy barn, twenty years as high school English teacher and spent summers on more than thirty archaeological sites. Dovid is currently active in several re-cycling projects.

David has been involved with the AACI for over thirty-give years and has been a Kibbutz Section and Southern Region representative for the last 10 years or so. As a pensioner, he has found it rewarding in beefing up A.A.C.I. klita activities and facilitating recycling efforts in his own kibbutz and the South. Each year he personally, adds some 38,000 bottles, cans etc. and over one a half tons of waste -paper, and a like amount of cartons to recycling containers. Like A.A.C.I. he likes to say, "We try to make a difference."

Sue Lowenthal ז"ל

It is with deep sadness to announce that Sue passed away on 13/03/2010.

May her memory be for a blessing

She arrived from Chicago in August 1969 with her husband, Gene ז"ל and three daughters. After spending time at Netanya's mercaz klita they moved to Jerusalem.

She had difficulties with absorption. She cried a lot but eventually started working for AACI (in the "reign" of Dov Chernik) and life began to look up. Work included four years at the Hebrew University Law School (at the Law Review).

In 1968, her husband Gene was accepted as a shaliach and they moved to Johannesburg for two years with two of their three daughters. The family returned to Jerusalem and she was employed in various hotel positions, the last of which was Assistant Food and Beverage Manager of the Plaza Hotel.

She dabbles in acrylics on canvas, reads, volunteers at the Israel Museum, and is on the Board of Hadassah Israel and the National AACI. She enjoys her nine grandchildren. Life has been a near forty year adventure!

Ahuva Mitbach

Debby Millgram

Debby Millgram is a native New Yorker, a proud graduate of Hunter College High School and CCNY. Later she did a degree in counseling at the University of Michigan. She made aliyah with her family in 1971 and served as a Guidance Counselor for the Ministry of Education for thirty years. Over the years she volunteered for AACI lecturing olim on the education system and helping new arrivals sort out the education system. She served in various capacities on the Jerusalem board. Today she is National President, proud of AACI and its accomplishments and looking forward to its future successes.

Arthur Opolion

Arthur formerly worked with the U.S. Department of Justice in New York and Washington, DC., spending the last five years of service as attache at the U.S. Embassy, Vienna, Austria. He made aliyah to Netanya in l983 and is a life member AACI.

For the past ten years Arthur has been the editor of the Netanya, AACI Newsletter.

In June 2008 he was elected to the position of Netanya Chairman of AACI.

Murray Safran

Murray is a former teacher and educational and vocational guidance counselor, was Chairperson of the Association of Americans and Canadians for Aliyah in 1975 and 1976. He, his wife, and two younger children made aliyah in 1977. Since then, he has been very active in AACI, serving as Vice Chairperson, Chairperson of the Tutoring Program for Olim, Klitah Chairperson, member of the Board of Directors, and is past Chairperson of AACI, Jerusalem.

Matt (Matthew) Schein

Matt made aliyah in 1998 with his wife Shirley. They have 2 married children and 10 grandchildren living in Israel. Matt retired from the IBM Corporation as a Senior Software Technology executive.

Shortly after arriving in Israel, Matt was asked to review and propose improvements to AACI’s computer systems. In doing so, he became aware of the many beneficial activities and programs provided by AACI. The work led to ideas for integrating AACI operations and the instillation of a single database to unify AACI’s various files into a single modern database system. Matt was asked to join the AACI board, and became VP of Operations.

In that role, Matt led the establishment of the AACI Small Business Loan Program, and became the chair of the Real Estate and Shiputz Committee, responsible for selling AACI’s existing premises, and leading the purchase and shiputz of AACI’s new home.

He is currently the Treasurer of AACI.

Sarah B. Weinstein

Sarah Weinstein made aliyah on June 21 2001. She is the owner of 4U GIFTS at 41 Hebron Road. Sarah has a B.S. degree from the University of Illinois Champaign Illinois.

Sarah is a past board member of NY United Jewish Appeal and Legacy committees, founding board member of the JCC on the upper west side and NY rep of the young leadership cabinet and a Wexner Fellow Graduate. Sarah has been involved in past national missions, chaired UJIA summer singles missions and was past mission chair of the NY Big Apple mission.