Nathan’s May 2022 Newsletter


“Family isn’t an important thing. It’s everything.” - Michael J. Fox 


I’m incredibly blessed to have an amazing family. After the holiday of Passover, my parents were able to come for the first time since the pandemic began. In addition, it was the first time in as long as I can remember that we were also able to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mom. So here is a little glimpse into why I’m blessed. 

This will be the super abbreviated version, but I grew up in a Jewish Conservative home (not politics-related but a sect of Judaism). We went to our synagogue on the high holidays (Rosh Hashana and Yom Kipper), celebrated Passover and other holidays with big meals, and everyone had a Bar or Bat Mitzvah when they turned the appropriate age (girls at 12, boys at 13). Most of our immediate family (grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles) lived in Maryland, I went to public school and graduated college with a pretty normal secular lifestyle. I had a great upbringing, supportive parents who did everything for their children, and overall, was following the traditional Jewish way of going into a career based on one of the typical stereotypes (accounting/business). 

Then things started to change. I had the entrepreneurial itch and began to think about what I wanted to do in business. Then, my brother moved to Arizona, so I thought it would be a good idea to follow him and focus on work. While that was probably super difficult for my parents to have two children moving so far away, it probably did not help that I started to become more observant. Then to make things worse, my wife and I decided to make Aliyah to Israel.  

Now that I have kids of my own, I think about what that would mean or how hard that would be to have a child choose a path different from mine. As parents, all we want is the best for our children, and we all think whatever path we choose is best. I’ve heard of way too many family relationships destroyed by family differences. 

My parents are troopers. While I know it was tough for them, they always did their best to make my family feel comfortable. My parents purchased pots and pans for when we visited (kosher laws are not so simple), hosted Shabbat meals when we were in town, joined me in the synagogue (even when we had to walk miles), and purchased kosher food. Now they flew to Israel to become super uncomfortable in a world very unknown to them (living in Tzvat is like a different world).

Partners Mitzi Kaitz and Jayne Klein at the GCI construction site.

The JNF culinary mission group meeting at JNF’s Margalit startup hub.

So I want to say thank you to my parents and that I love you both (I know they are reading this because they are my biggest fans). As I’ve noted in previous months, I’m not the most emotional of people, but I guess now, with children, I have become a little more in touch with my emotional side (whatever that means). So, I do thank them in person, but I don’t believe I’ve expressed myself fully like I’m doing now. So, this is just one of the reasons I’m blessed and have so many more blessings to be thankful for. 

Speaking of family, our GCI family is growing. We just brought in two new team members and are mapping out our future. In some of our future newsletters, we will interview team members since they are just awesome people. The JNF USA team also came to visit, and it was so lovely to meet people in person that I’ve been speaking to on zoom for the last few years. Also, many JNF Mission’s are here in Israel, and I had the honor of thanking both Mitzi Kaitz and Jayne Klein for their significant contributions to the GCI in person which was so nice. 

We have conducted many more interviews and are getting a feel for our potential students. So far, we have had some great conversations, and we can’t wait to finalize our start date soon. Partnerships are blossoming, and our programming is coming together quite nicely.  

The last item to note, our podcast, “What’s Burning” has had some amazing guests. From Michelin-star winner Dominique Crenn to TV personality Andrew Zimmern, we won’t be slowing down on having tremendous personalities helping to guide the future culinarians to greatness.  Our latest episode just launched today with Erez Komarovksy, a key player in the Israeli food revolution.

Here is to success in all that we do!  

L’chaim (To life) 

Nathan

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Interview with Dan Lerner