Student Advisory Board
Joshua Cohen
Sammy Korol
Born in Northbrook Illinois, attended Rochelle Zell Jewish High School for 4 years before taking a gap year in Israel as part of the Young Judea Year Course program. Planning on studying computer science and being an Israel advocate at Duke University for the next four years.
Ayden Wells
Ayden Wells
Jacob Nemeth
Jacob came into Jeff Seidel’s office for the first time in 2017 while touring the Old City on Birthright. Once seeing an AEPi poster outside the office, Jacob met Jeff. The two of them stayed in touch ever since and Jeff even helped Jacob get on multiple Israel trips.
While an undergrad, Jacob took leadership roles in all Jewish groups on campus. He was the president of his Jewish Fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Interned for two years for Hillel, and recruited students to join Chabad’s Sinai Scholars class. All three groups felt his enthusiasm and passion to grow Jewish life on campus.
Jacob’s positive and electric personality can be felt every time he enters the room. By engaging with his peers, he hopes to connect them with their Jewish roots and to get them to smile. Jacob is incredibly passionate and super focused in Tikkun Olam.
Melanie Laschiver
I recently graduated from Loyola University Maryland in May, and have begun my Masters in Speech Language Pathology at Monmouth University. Although attending a Jesuit university, I was still able to be connected with my Jewish heritage. I joined the local Hillel on campus as well as RAJE, Russian American Jewish Experience.
Throughout all these opportunities I was able to travel to Israel for three consecutive summers! In Israel, I was exposed to new cultures and experiences that only brought me closer to my passion of learning. I participated in Birthright which began my learning journey and since then have done Jinternship and Jewel. I have decided to partake in Ohel Avraham to give students the same opportunity I have to further their learning and fall in love with Israel just as I have!Melanie Laschiver
Melanie Laschiver graduated from Loyola University Maryland in May, and has begun her Masters in Speech Language Pathology at Monmouth University. Although she attended a Jesuit university, she was still able to connect with her Jewish heritage. She joined the local Hillel on campus as well as RAJE, Russian American Jewish Experience.
Throughout all these opportunities she was able to travel to Israel for three consecutive summers! In Israel, she was exposed to new cultures and experiences that only brought her closer to her passion for learning. She participated in Birthright which began her learning journey and since then has done Jinternship and Jewel. She has decided to partake in Ohel Avraham to give students the same opportunity she has had to further their learning and fall in love with Israel!
George Deek is an Arab-Israeli diplomat. In 2018, Deek was appointed Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan. He is the first Israeli Arab Christian to become an ambassador. Deek grew up in an Eastern Orthodox Christian family in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, in a building where the other tenants included Muslims, Catholics, Jews and a Catholic priest of Jewish ancestry.[2][3] His father, who worked as a tax advisor,[3] was one of the leaders of the Christian community in Jaffa who served as chairman of the Orthodox Association, and was considered a well-known and popular figure in the city until in 2015 a square was inaugurated in his memory in Jaffa in the presence of Mayor Ron Huldai.[4] According to Deek, his grandparents fled to Lebanon for safety when the 1947–1949 Palestine war, having been told that the Jews would slaughter them if they remained in their homes, but expecting to return home once Arab armies defeated the Jews.[3] According to Deek, when the war ended, his grandparents felt that they had been “deceived”, and decided to return illegally to their home in Jaffa rather than remaining in Lebanon as refugees. Since reentering the country was illegal, Deek’s grandfather, an electrician, was arrested and jailed.
