Tzili Schneider wanted to bridge the chasm between chareidim and the irreligious. Her innovative program Is tearing down barriers and opening hearts
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hen Kesher Yehudi founder Tzili Schneider looks at a Jew, she sees a child of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, each and every one beloved by Him. “His taste is exquisite,” she says.
Although Tzili, born in 1961, grew up in the heart of insular Meah Shearim — her family’s apartment was sandwiched between Rav Elyashiv’s and the Slonimer Rebbe’s — she was exposed to a wide variety of Jews.
“In the home I grew up in, there was no labeling,” says Tzili. “We’d never label people by their ancestry or their head covering or even their lack of head covering. The world was only divided into Jews and non-Jews. Even Jews who transgressed Shabbos weren’t looked down on. We just thought of them as people who would surely keep mitzvos scrupulously if only they knew better. ‘They’re tzaddikim,’ my mother would tell me. ‘They want to be good.’ ”
To understand who Tzili is, you have to know who her mother was.
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