Ever since he spent the summer before his senior year of high school living just outside of Tel Aviv, Phillip Brodsky wanted to start a dialog around the issues facing Israel.
“I’ve always believed in leadership and positive social change,” says Brodsky. “One of the things that was important to me growing up was community and bringing people together.”
Brodsky started off as the director of Jewish programming for Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. He’s now executive director of the David Project, a nonprofit focused on starting conversations around Israel between Jewish and non-Jewish students. The organization also brings a diverse group of student leaders to Israel to expose them to the “dynamic and complex society.”
Founders: Seth Klarman
Year founded: 2002
Employees: 13
Where we’re based: WeWork South Station
Moment of inspiration: Before visiting Yad Vashem, Jerusalem’s Holocaust museum, some Jewish students were worried that it wouldn’t resonate with their non-Jewish peers. “One of the non-Jewish students ended up sharing how impactful the entire experience had been, and felt that it was our mission now to go back and not let anybody judge anybody else without truly getting to know them,” says Brodsky. “That’s when I realized that the mission is much more than just Israel advocacy.”
Biggest hurdle: “Building relationships comes first, and it’s something that I don’t think everybody understands right away,” says Brodsky. “Relationships create culture, and culture is what allows for change. The biggest hurdle is that people don’t understand the true power of that.”
How we want to change the world: “What I really believe in is building up the social and civic fabric of the community,” says Brodsky. “We need to learn how to talk, and communicate, and build relationships across differences. If we could reframe the conversation, we could bring more people together.”