Rabbi Ben Gonsher of Boca Raton was inducted as a member of the Ben Zakkai Honor Society (BZHS) at the NCSY National Scholarship Reception on Sunday, February 8 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. NCSY is the international youth movement of the Orthodox Union. Every day, countless Jewish teens connect to their heritage through NCSY’s innovative programs.
BZHS was founded in 1965 to provide a means of recognizing the achievements of NCSY alumni who have demonstrated personal Torah growth and the promise of future meaningful service to the Jewish people and the Orthodox community. The society raises critical funds to provide direct scholarships for NCSYers to continue their Jewish education after high school or to participate in various NCSY programs.
“Rabbi Gonsher’s selfless service to Southern NCSY makes him most appropriate new addition to the NCSY Alumni Hall of Fame,” declared OU National Vice President Dr. David Luchins, co-chair of the reception with his wife, Vivian, chair of the NCSY Summer Programs Committee.
Rabbi Gonsher grew up in an outreach-focused home in Omaha, Nebraska, where he regularly saw his parents serve as a driving force in the community. As lay leaders in NCSY and Yachad, the OU’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities, they regularly hosted unengaged Jewish teenagers on Shabbat and coordinated local events. Every summer he and his brothers attended NCSY Summer programs and spent many Fridays in a fifteen-passenger van en route to Midwest Shabbatons.
Rabbi Gonsher served as regional vice president for juniors in Memphis, Tennessee, where he attended Feinstone Yeshiva of the South, and after nine years in yeshiva in Israel and under Rabbi Yochanan Zweig of Miami Beach, he helped launch the Greater Kansas City Jewish Federation-supported Community Kollel, where he worked closely with unaffiliated teenagers and Jews of all ages.
As Southern NCSY’s chief relationship officer, Rabbi Gonsher works with the inspirational visionaries who serve on their Advisory Panel. Together with the Southern NCSY staff, they have launched initiatives such as The Nex-Jen Competition, a highly selective competition designed to engage Jewish students in private secular academies and the Interns Initiative, a project that trains Jewish teens to assume future leadership positions in local non-profits. Rabbi Gonsher also enjoys the mentoring sessions he leads for outreach mentors in the field of development.
Rabbi Gonsher’s passion for NCSY may indeed be genetic, but his wise choice of a life partner ensures that his children will have even stronger NCSY DNA. Aviva Krombach was not only president of southern region in 1997-98 and a 1999 Ben Zakkai inductee, she comes from a long line of NCSY royalty. Her grandfather John H. Krombach helped found NCSY (then National Union of Orthodox Jewish Youth) in St. Louis and her father, uncle, and aunt all served as advisers and city directors. They look forward to their children, Shira Rivka, Naftali Chaim, and Yehuda Meir being among the first fourth-generation NCSY officers.