Rabbi Zalman Weiss, Executive Director and Dean

 

Rabbi Zalman Weiss was born and raised in the U.S., to a secular family and searched for a deeper connection to Judaism and moved to Israel, joining the Modern Orthodox, Religious Zionist movement and enlisted in the Israeli Army Combat Unit. During this period, Rabbi Weiss became a Jewish activist and traveled to the Soviet Union to help Jews escape from behind the Iron Curtain. In his continued quest for Torah, Rabbi Weiss went to learn in a Kol Yaakov Yeshiva in Monsey and moved back to Israel and studied in Ohr Sameach. To date, Rabbi Weiss has studied in Kolel for 27 years and is now a Sofer Stam.

 

Rabbi Weiss has found a great need in the community and through years of sacrifice and investment, has become a pioneer in helping true converts receive the proper guidance and preparation in undergoing a halachic conversion. Rabbi Weiss has converted nearly 1,000 ‘Gutta Gerim,” or ‘good converts,’ as quoted by his mentor, the Holy Gaon, Rabbi Nissim Karelitz (ZTz"L). For 22 years, Rabbi Weiss has taught and brought righteous converts to the Beit Din of Rabbi Nissim Karelitz in Bnei Brak and has worked with the Eida Charedis Beis DIn of Jerusalem. The Dayanim have blessed Rabbi Weiss to further his efforts in Mexico, with a community in Puebla so beleaguered and isolated, Rabbi Weiss is the only path they have to their dreams and destinies. He assisted in establishing a community of hundreds of gerim and oversees the communal activities, yeshiva and midrasha. Rabbi Weiss lives in Jerusalem with his wife, 8 children and grandchildren.

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Rabbi Moshe Ruegsegger, Director of Operations

 

Rabbi Moshe Ruegsegger was born and raised in Mexico and joined Rabbi Weiss’s conversion program becoming one of his most esteemed students, converting in 2019. In 2022, Rabbi Ruegsegger was ordained a Rabbi, given smicha by Rabbi Israel Dov Halevi Visel shlit’a of the Beis Din in Bnei Brak and has been a leader of his community in Puebla ever since. He had the opportunity to be one of the founders of Yeshiva Onkelos haGer, the first Yeshiva open to converts in Latin America as well as Yeshiva Toldot Yehudah in Puebla. Rabbi Ruegsegger is the Rabbi of Puebla, directs the yeshiva and midrasha and helps run the conversion program operations and activites.

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Kalman Tokarsky, Chairman, Advisory Board

 

Kalman Tokarsky was born to a traditional, Orthodox family in New York and studied at Yeshiva Zichron Aryeh, under Rabbi Shaya Kohn and is supporting the activities of the Yeshiva until this very day. Growing up with a successful father, Rabbi Mordechai Tokarsky, Kalman witnessed the birth of one of the most effective Russian Kiruv organizations in the world, founded by Rabbi Tokarsky in his community of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Kalman remains active in the Jewish community and is a member and supporter of the Jewish Center of Brighton Beach.

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Kalman entered the manufactured housing space in 2017, under the leadership of David Dubrow and together formed Nelson Communities. After David’s unforeseen passing in 2019, Kalman assumed the leadership role and has continued with David’s vision to acquire and build a national portfolio in the manufactured housing space. Under Kalman’s leadership, Nelson Communities now owns and manages nearly 4,000 manufactured housing lots across the country. Kalman lives in New York with his wife and son.

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Batyah Rubashkin, Vice-Chair, Advisory Board

 

Batyah Rubashkin was born in the Soviet Union, raised in the U.S. and has been living in Israel for 20 years, serving as a Journalist and Associate Director of an independent media agency and think tank, ‘The Center for Near East Policy Research.’ Batyah has spent her entire career working towards promoting positive policy changes for Israel, lobbying governments and NGO’s worldwide, for just solutions to the many plights plaguing Israel and its neighbors.

 

Batyah has extensive experience working in the Jewish communal world and was Executive Director of EAST Academy, a Russian-Jewish kiruv school in Brooklyn and is committed to supporting Jewish educational efforts as the key to ensuring Jewish continuity. Batyah is a convert, whose life was impacted by the important work of the IHC and is committed to helping others who face similar challenges. Batyah lives in Jerusalem with her husband and four children and recently opened a charity shop, ‘gemach,’ to raise money for needy families in the Ramot community, in honor of her late father of blessed memory, David Dubrow.



Rabbinic Advisory Board

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Rabbi Israel Dov Vizel 
Dayan, Moreh Tzedek, Beit Din Bnei Brak - Bnei Brak, Israel

 

Rabbi Shmuel Baddouch
Posek, Moreh Tzedek, Aram Zoba Kolel - Mexico City, Mexico
 

Rabbi Shlomo Avraham Follman 
Dayan, Beit Din Kav HaYashar, Karlsburg Beit Din - Brooklyn, NY