Passionate Jew: How US entrepreneur Ari Ackerman champions Israel, Jews

Ari Ackerman is smiling on the outside, but on the inside he is troubled. Speaking with The Jerusalem Report from his summer home in the Hamptons, Ackerman – a successful Manhattan-based entrepreneur, strategic investor, philanthropist, and part owner of the Miami Marlins Major League Baseball team – is deeply concerned about the future of Israel and the Jewish people. “My passions in life are family and Jewish continuity, and they’re both seriously at risk right now,” he says.

A native New Yorker, Ackerman grew up with a strong Jewish background and attended the Modern Orthodox Ramaz School. He visited Israel numerous times and had a special bond with his grandfather Meshulam Riklis (1923-2019), a prominent Israeli-American financier and philanthropist. 

Ackerman has experienced significant financial success as the founder of Bunk 1, the technology company that enables parents to stay connected with their children at summer camp by viewing secure online photo galleries and videos and sending them emails. He sold the company in 2017.

For years, Ackerman has been active in the Jewish world. He sits on multiple boards of Jewish organizations and frequently speaks out on issues of Jewish concern. “I was always speaking against antisemitism,” he says. 

Ackerman protested and spoke at the CUNY offices in May 2023, when commencement speaker Fatima Mousa Mohammed criticized CUNY and called on her fellow graduates to dismantle capitalism and encouraged them to fight Zionism.

How October 7 changed Ari Ackerman's pro-Israel advocacy

For Ackerman, the events of October 7 raised his level of activity in the Jewish world. “I’m a very, very, proud Jew. I come from a family of philanthropists and massive Zionists. But on October 7, I felt like there was a calling. There was something that happened that was bigger than what I was doing. It was like we’re at a point where the Jews are fighting for our survival as a people.”

Before October 7, Ackerman appeared in dozens of media outlets, including major American networks and newspapers. Since October 7, Ackerman has dramatically increased his pro-Israel visibility on social media (his handle on Instagram, which is very popular, is AriAcker) and at various speaking engagements in synagogues and high schools. Soon after our interview, Ackerman was going to the national conference of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) in Miami, the world’s Jewish college fraternity, followed by another high-level Jewish conference in Los Angeles. “It’s constantly getting out there and doing what I can,” he says. “The more I see what’s going on in the world, the more scared I am.” 

Ackerman, who has two young children, worries about their future. “I’m scared for their future and for the future of the Jewish people.” 

Ackerman will soon be sharing his social media views and thoughts on the conflict as a “special guest Jerusalem Post ambassador,” which will enable him to share his posts and commentary to a wider audience around the world. 

He does not shy away from expressing positive opinions about Israel and says that while he receives many hateful responses, he also gets “a lot of love,” which he appreciates. He is most appreciative when people say that his words have inspired them. “That means that they’re going to do something to further the cause of the Jewish people, to inspire them to do something. For me, that’s what means the most because we have 15 or 16 million Jews in the world – we’re completely outnumbered. Everybody’s got to take responsibility right now for their Judaism and for their activism. Even if you have one follower or one person that you talk to, you’ve got to spread the message of the truth right now. So if I’m inspiring anybody to do something, that means the most to me.” 

As far as the negative comments, Ackerman shrugs his shoulders and says, “It comes with the territory at this point, and it doesn’t make me back down.”

While he was on Instagram prior to October 7, he says he was not using it effectively. “Now,” he says, “it’s more of an everyday thing where I am posting about something in the world that really upsets me. I want to make sure that people see the truth and see what happened and what’s going on.” 

For Ackerman, life is divided into pre-October 7 and post-October 7. He cites a few examples of issues he has recently called out. In July, Marvel Comics announced that the character named Sabra that was slated to appear in next year’s film Captain America: Brave New World would not be an Israeli agent – as portrayed in the original comic book – but of an undetermined nationality. Ackerman posted on Instagram protesting the decision, and he was elated when Marvel changed course and decided to retain the character’s Israeli nationality.

After the IDF rescue of four hostages from captivity that took place in early June, in which an Israeli soldier was killed in the battle, he recalls incredulously, “CNN, in its headline, wrote that the hostages were released.” Ackerman pointed out the misinformation; although CNN corrected the error, he says the damage had been done. 

Speaking of the generally negative tone toward Israel in the media, Ackerman says, “I keep thinking about the Israeli soldiers that are fighting on the front lines so bravely and so humanely. It drives me nuts when people talk about the Israeli army like they’re not the most humane army in the world, because they are. We have our battles too, and I try to take mine onto social media and do what I can for the Jewish people there.”

Since becoming a media defender of Israel, Ackerman has struck up close friendships with a number of pro-Israel social media activists in the US, such as Noa Tishby, Lizzy Savetsky, Debra Messing, Montana Tucker, and Zach Fox. “These people are just warrior heroes to me,” he says admiringly. 

Ackerman says that sports can play a powerful role in connecting to people, and he believes in using the platform of sports for good. After the tragic attacks of October 7, the Marlins were the first sports team to post an Instagram message in support of the State of Israel. “To get a message out there in support of the Jewish community and Israel for a team that I’m a part of is something that I’m enormously proud of. Doing that and providing that level of comfort to the Jewish community in Miami, I think, is using the sports platform for good.” 

Recently, Ackerman has embarked on two different initiatives on behalf of the Jewish community. He will soon be hosting a podcast titled Schmooze, in which he will be interviewing influential Jews about their Judaism. “These are Jews who don’t necessarily always talk about their pride in Judaism. It’s similar to my Instagram, in that I try to find things that haven’t been done and aren’t out there all the time.”

In an effort to increase Jewish continuity, Ackerman is unveiling Matched by Ari, a dating service that works on an individualized basis. “People ask me to set them up all the time,” he explains, “and I want to set them up. I want to bring people onto my Instagram, have them introduce themselves, and have people message me if they want to go out with that person. I will then pay for the first date for them to go on for whoever the person I interviewed chooses.”

Where does Ari Ackerman get the strength and energy to fight on behalf of the Jewish people and the State of Israel? “My role models were my grandfather and my mother,” he says. “My grandfather passed away five years ago, and my mother 11 years ago.” He quips that he and his sister used to think that their home was a Jewish catering hall because his mother hosted so many Jewish organizations, teaching Ari and his sister about tikkun olam, the obligation to repair the world, in the process. “I miss her every day but feel blessed to have had that one-in-a-billion loving mom.”

When he mentions the name of his grandfather Meshulam Riklis, one can see the love and devotion he had for him. 

“I loved him like a father, and he treated me like a son. I looked up to them in all ways (my mother and my grandfather). Especially since October 7, whenever I do something for Israel and the Jewish community, I look up for a moment and hope that I am making my mom and grandfather proud.” 

Of that, there is no doubt.

Visit Ari Ackerman's Instagram page.