Bircas Staff Bios
Gershon Burd
Executive Director
Gershon Burd was born in Odessa, Ukraine and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 4. He was raised in Chicago and received a B.A. in Marketing from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. After university he worked in sales and marketing for
an employee benefits agency for several years before coming to yeshiva in
Jerusalem in 1999.
After an intensive search for the right yeshiva, Gershon originally came to
Bircas HaTorah because he was drawn to its methodology of learning, but soon
realized that the Yeshiva had much more to offer. Being very pleasantly surprised that the yeshiva is uniquely dedicated to the development of students,
creating healthy, well-balanced, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual bnei
Torah, Gershon decided to stay on board and start his family in the Old
City, where he currently lives with his wife Batya and 2 children.
After spending 5 years in yeshiva, Rabbi Green asked Gershon to be in charge
of Admissions as a part-time job. An increase in the student body
necessitated the purchase of a building as a residence for housing and
dining for the bachurim and Gershon was asked to leave full-time learning to
involve himself with getting the new building off the ground in addition to
running admissions. After helping establish the residence, Gershon went on
to become the Executive Director of the yeshiva, overseeing most business
aspects of the yeshiva and he continues to learn half-day.
Rabbi Zvi Gewirtz
Overseas Director
Rabbi Zvi Gewirtz was born and raised in New York, New York. He attended Torah Academy of Bergen County then spent two years studying at Yeshivat Reishit Yerushalayim. Upon returning to the United States, he attended Yeshiva University in New York and earned a B.A. in Psychology. Rabbi Gewirtz worked for several years at Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services and spent his summers as a counselor in Camp HASC.
After getting married in 2006, he decided to spend time in Israel learning at Bircas HaTorah. He received Semicha from Harav Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg shlit”a a Chief Justice of the Beit Din HaGadol of Jerusalem. After spending two years learning at Bircas, he was asked to take charge of all recruitment responsibilities and now serves as the Yeshiva’s Overseas Director. Rabbi Gewirtz lives in Ramat Eshkol with his wife Riki and their son.
Rabbi Gewirtz can be reached by email at Students@bircas.org and by phone at 054-843-0656.
Yagil Razak
Student Development Manager
Yagil Razak grew up in Great Neck, New York. He graduated from the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County and attended Baruch College in Manhattan. Upon completion of his undergraduate degree in International Business, he was employed by GSI America Inc., a Japanese Trading Company. Five years ago, he came to Israel and began his studies at Bircas HaTorah. For the past year, Yagil has been using his business acumen for the Yeshiva as Director of Student Development.
Adam Yardeni
Residence Manager
Adam Yardeni was born in El Paso Texas, to an Israeli father and Brooklyn native mother. Adam studied Philosophy at the University of Texas where he began to search for meaning in his life. This led him to make aliyah in 2003. He served in the in the Israel Defense Forces as a tank repair specialist. Adam helped start Yeshiva B’nai Simcha, a special needs Yeshiva in the Jewish Quarter, After his completing his Israeli Army service, while working for the Heritage House, Adam was recruited to be the Manager of the Bircas HaTorah Guest House. Adam has continued his growth process firmly rooted in Torah as a full-time student at Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah.
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