New Shavei Israel emissaries to Poland and South America
Shavei Israel has appointed two new emissaries: one to Poland and another to serve in Colombia. Here’s a run down on the latest Shavei staff.
Rabbi Avi Baumol
Rabbi Avi Baumol will be serving the Jewish community in Krakow, Poland. Rabbi Baumol is originally from New York. He received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University where he also studied economics. Rabbi Baumol has an MA in Medieval Jewish History from Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. Following his studies, he became the rabbi of Congregation Schara Tzedeck in Vancouver, Canada. He also served on the rabbinical court for conversions in Vancouver from 1998-2003. Rabbi Baumol subsequently moved to Israel and taught in various yeshivot and seminaries while serving as a rabbi in the Jerusalem suburb of Efrat. He co-authored a book on the Psalms called “The Poetry of Prayer.”
Rabbi Marcelo Shimon Yehoshua
Shavei Israel’s new emissary to Colombia is Rabbi Marcelo Shimon Yehoshua. He received his rabbinic ordination in 2007 from the Beit Midrash Sephardi yeshiva in Jerusalem. He also studied education at Bar-Ilan University and is a trained mediator with the Israeli Ministry of Justice. Originally from Argentina, Rabbi Yehoshua most recently worked as the rabbi of the Jewish community in Pattaya, Thailand. Before that, he coordinated educational programs for Bnei Akiva in Latin America and was the director of a Talmud Torah institution in Buenos Aires. He has served as a cantor, teacher and kashrut supervisor at a variety of synagogues and institutions in Argentina and Israel. He speaks fluent Spanish, Hebrew and English. Rabbi Yehoshua and his wife will regularly visit all of the Bnei Anousim communities in Colombia. He spent his first month in Cartagena and is now spending time with the community in Bogota.