Avraham Infeld - Hillel

Former Hillel Bronfman Fellow Avi Mayer defines himself
as an “Infeldian Jew” who has been profoundly
influenced by Avraham’s teachings. He explains that
Avraham “possesses the uncanny ability to simplify the
most complex questions of Jewish life, to crystallize them
in such a way as to make them almost axiomatic. Students
and professionals alike find themselves drawn to his ideas
about Jewish identity and peoplehood, and his powerful
words — projected in a manner no less compelling — echo
in their minds hours, days, and even years later.” Mayer
enlisted in the Israeli Army after completing his one-year
fellowship and serve in the IDF Spokesperson’s office where
he works with the foreign media. He is considering a career
in Jewish education at the end of his service.
Avraham also had an important influence on another young
Hillel professional, Aviva Perlman. Perlman first met Avraham
as a college sophomore in 2003 and heard his lectures both
when she served as a Hillel intern and as a Hillel professional.
In 2008 she was staffing a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip when
her group attended a lecture by Avraham. She remembers
the profound impression his lecture made on students, and
on her: “Avraham taught us that Jewish identity is made up
of five components and that these components are like a
five-legged table, a minimum of three legs are needed to
create Jewish identity. I looked around the room at the
hundreds of students, not surprisingly, mesmerized by
Avraham's words, and I wondered how many of these students
had those minimum of three legs. I guessed that a majority
of them did not. At that moment I pledged that in my
career as a Jewish educator I would help Jewish children,
teens and adults to build the sturdiest table that they
could.” Perlman is now pursuing a graduate degree in Jewish
education at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Hillel Board of Governors member Diane Wohl has seen
Avraham’s spellbinding effect first hand. “I was impressed by
Avraham from the first time I heard him speak to a group of
students ,” she says. “He just makes Jewish history come
“ Every moment with [Avraham]
is unique and filled with his
special approach to life. It’s the
pause and the smile that says
“I KNOW you and I LOVE you”
It’s the way he lives the dream of
sustaining the significant
”
survival of the Jewish people.
ADAM R. BRoNFMAN, MEMBER,
HILLEL INTERNATIoNAL BoARD oF GovERNoRS
alive. Students hang on every word. He is an exceptional
teacher and a compassionate man.”
Fellow Board of Governors member Adam R. Bronfman
agrees: “Avraham articulates and personifies the value of
Jewish educational excellence with grace and humility.
Every moment with him is unique and filled with his special
approach to life. It’s the pause and the smile that says “I
KNoW you and I LovE you” It’s the way he lives the dream
of sustaining the significant survival of the Jewish people.”
For two decades, Lisa B. Eisen has watched Avraham
educate, inspire and electrify listeners. She has observed
Avraham illuminate the meaning of Zionism for members
of Congress on a Project Interchange seminar in Israel,
celebrate the bar mitzvah of Hillel in the Former Soviet
Union in Moscow, dance with students at Hillel’s Charles
Schusterman International Student Leaders Assembly, and
speak to college students about the meaning of Jewish
citizenship on July 4 in Washington, D.C. “I have seen
Avraham’s passion for Jewish peoplehood ignite sparks of
understanding, inspiration and hope,” says Eisen, the
national director of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman
Family Foundation in Washington, D.C.. “He has offered
thousands a compelling vision of global Jewish peoplehood
that will have reverberations for generations to come.”