Meet the Oleh rabbi making a difference for families in Tel Aviv

Rabbi Joe Wolfson loves cities and has spent large chunks of time in London, New York, and Tel Aviv.

Fortunately for many people in Israel – especially in the days and weeks after Oct. 7 – the energetic, likable, and very resourceful 38-year-old, along with his wife, Corinne, and children, Mika, eight, Tal, six, and Barak, one, has chosen to make Tel Aviv their home since making aliyah.

The London-born Wolfson has a reputation for quickly becoming an active and important force in whichever city in the world he chooses to call home. He arrives, observes the scene, assesses communal needs, recruits partners, and works tirelessly to serve those in need. 

Wolfson’s “official” jobs in Israel include serving as director of the Amital Center for Jewish Study and Leadership at Har Etzion; and working as co-director (with Corinne) and rabbi of JLIC TLV, a community of young olim in their 20s and 30s.

JLIC, short for Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, is an affiliate of the Orthodox Union and primarily serves students on American college campuses. In recent years, JLIC has expanded its activities to serve university students on Israeli campuses, as well as young adults in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. 

Rabbi Joe and Corinne serve as a community rabbinic team, opening their home for Shabbat meals, study (in their home, and with upwards of 60 people at a local synagogue on Monday nights), and general support of recent olim. Rabbi Joe also records drashot (Torah teaching videos) while riding his bike. 

The Wolfsons’ unofficial roles extend well beyond serving the needs of young English-speaking olim. 

During Operation Swords of Iron, the vibrant JLIC TLV community has mobilized and become involved in many aspects of the emergency response effort.

Since Oct. 7, the Wolfsons have raised over $300,000 to provide accommodations, food, and childcare for 300+ families in Tel Aviv. They organized large events such as an ice cream truck for 800 evacuated children, launched a Family Match Program (to match displaced families with individuals from the JLIC community), and coordinated a Job Placement Program to help displaced people find temporary work. This is in addition to the meals, clothing, and medical supplies the team delivers for soldiers weekly throughout Israel. 

“I feel privileged to lead a young community. I see my role as a shadchan [connector] of people who want to help and those who need the help,” he says. 

In many ways, the Wolfsons’ previous stint – as an OU-JLIC rabbinic couple at New York University’s Bronfman Center for Jewish Life in New York (2015-2022) – helped them develop the tools and grit they would need in their work in Tel Aviv.

“We were fascinated and in love with Lower Manhattan – we fell for New York hook, line, and sinker,” reports Wolfson. “We loved everything – the energy, glamour, grime, hustle, swagger, and the history.”

They also quickly began to serve the community. “I really believe in neighborhoods and cities,” Wolfson says. “There is something ethically important about cities; being close to neighbors and having different sorts of neighbors are important.” 

Wolfson got to know his downtown Manhattan neighborhood, including its rich history. “I have an entire bookshelf dedicated to the Lower East Side,” he says. Wolfson began offering tours, such as Gangsters & Gedolim tours, and the Jewish Eats culinary-social experience.

He also got to know the needs of the community. “We did lots of hessed [acts of kindness]. We learned in New York how to mobilize young Jewish people to be involved and attentive to the needs of others.” 

They initially focused on the homeless. “At Purim time, we used matanot l’evyonim [giving gifts to the poor] as the central entry point.” He describes people giving money for materials which were used to buy things for people at the Bowery Mission, a program providing meals, shelter, and residential programs for people experiencing homelessness. 

The commitment of the JLIC community at NYU to the neighborhood extended to those impacted by COVID. On short notice, community members kashered for Passover the Jacob Javitz Center, which was being used as a field hospital. They distributed thousands of meals to those in need and facilitated the vaccination of over 800 people in the early days of the vaccine roll-out. 

The Wolfsons’ focus on helping others was part of their larger goal. “We aspired to create a community in and of downtown Manhattan – to endow people with a sense of place and significance. We were trying to be a bit counter-cultural and disruptive – to create a model to power the Jewish future.” 

They strongly believe in the Jewish concept of mitzvah goreret mitzvah – one good deed leads to another. Wolfson was recognized as one of the New York Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” in 2020 for his COVID relief work.

Making Aliyah

AFTER SEVEN years in New York – with the kids getting older – the Wolfsons realized it was “time for our next challenge.” They knew it was time to return to Israel, where Rabbi Joe and Corinne had strong connections and had spent significant time. 

Wolfson, who was active in Bnei Akiva while growing up in London before studying political philosophy at the University of Cambridge and receiving a master’s degree at University College London, studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion and Beit Morasha. He also received smicha from Israel’s Chief Rabbinate.

Corinne grew up in Leicester, studied art history at the University of Leeds and at the Courtauld Institute of Art, studied at Nishmat and Matan, and trained as a chef at Tadmor in Herzliya. She has worked in various restaurants in Israel. Her family’s ties to Israel run very deep: Her mother volunteered in Israel in 1967, made aliyah in 1968, and married a man whose family had been living in Tel Aviv since the 1920s. 

Prior to the current war, Wolfson was experiencing what so many Israelis were also experiencing. “It was a profoundly alienating year for olim – watching Israeli society tearing itself apart was hard.” Through his nonstop work with and for the community, he no longer feels alienated. “That has changed. This is our place!”

Despite Wolfson’s frenetic pace doing so much for so many, he is able to step back and reflect on his family’s aliyah experience. He acknowledges the difficulties: “People are stressed and can be quick to get angry on the streets – and the lack of Sundays can be hard.” He also notes that, as opposed to the Diaspora, “people make assumptions about your political views based on [your] wearing a kippah.”

Wolfson was pleased to find that the bureaucracy of making aliyah “was fine” and “has improved.” He is happy to report that his children have adjusted well to life in Israel, though he notes, “The war has been hard,” especially for older children who are able to read the writing on the hostage posters and can articulate fears of being kidnapped. 

Wolfson notes that making aliyah for 20- and 30-somethings can present particular challenges, given that people may have no family in Israel and may not have served in the army or have the support networks that other Israelis do.

He encourages olim to “find a good community – people who can support you and [with whom] you can grow together. A good community is essential.” 

The Wolfsons are there to help! ■

Rabbi Joe Wolfson, 38From Manhattan to Tel Aviv, 2022