“I was never exposed to Judaism as a kid. So, I wanted to help prevent this tragedy of not being part of the Jewish nation from happening to other kids,” Uri Poliavich, the co-founder of the Yael Foundation, which promotes Jewish education, told JNS on Tuesday.
“We end up losing these people. They marry outside of the community, they stop being Jewish and their kids don’t feel Jewish either,” he added.
Founded in 2020 by Cyprus-based Uri and Yael Poliavich, the foundation, whose motto is “No Jewish Child Left Behind,” is currently working in 35 countries and having an impact on 13,000 Jewish students.
The organization provides grants to 55 day schools, 18 Sunday schools, 10 kindergartens and 17 after-school educational programs.
Poliavich, 44, was born in Ukraine and only learned about Judaism around the age of 13 when his parents decided to make aliyah.
“I was first exposed to Hebrew and Jewish holidays on our arrival in Israel. It was totally new for me,” he said.
“I completed my army service in the Israel Border Police and worked for the Ministry of Defense for another three years.
In 2010, Poliavich left Israel to seek success abroad.
“I found myself in Central Asia working for a businessman from Holon [a city near Tel Aviv] and trying to find myself. The first Jewish school in the Diaspora that I saw was in Kyrgyzstan. It is still there and we are supporting it through the foundation,” he said.
“I was there during Passover and was very touched to see Jews celebrating the festival so far from Israel. The school had a mix of Jewish and non-Jewish kids. I saw Kyrgyz kids singing songs in Hebrew and eating matzah, I also noticed that they were dependent on one benefactor,” he added.
Poliavich met his wife, Yael, in Central Asia in 2010. She converted to Judaism and their foundation is named after her. They have two children, Matthew, 3, and Benjamin, 2.
Anatevka
In 2016, Poliavich moved to Ukraine where he met Rabbi Shmuel Azman. It was around that time that Poliavich started his online gaming business.
“In 2017, I was invited to visit the main education project in Kyiv that Azman managed. I saw enthusiasm, structure and donors with a community surrounding it. I was amazed,” he said.
Poliavich donated his first $2,000 to the village kindergarten in Anatevka, Ukraine. “But then we decided to expand to another Jewish school in Ukraine and even to surrounding countries like Belarus,” he said.
“We understood that there is a bigger demand in Europe and the Yael Foundation was born,” he added. As Poliavich’s business grew, the foundation grew with it.
“The Israeli government has a lot of things to deal with and the budget is limited. We created a framework for Jewish parents to allow their kids to learn about Judaism. We do it country by country, mainly in Europe,” he said.
While stuck in Barbados during the COVID pandemic, Poliavich witnessed the commitment of the local rabbi. “I saw the passion there. In many other communities as well, including in Malta where they started building the first synagogue ever with barely any support,” he said.
“You want to be part of it. I am trying to study Judaism myself. I can’t give lessons, the one thing I can do is support it as a donor, and that is why the Yael Foundation was created. We want to do something greater than just donate 10% of the profit of our business. We want to make an impact,” he continued.
“The vision is not to buy another small property or buy a Chabad House in Stockholm or Copenhagen, but to find land and build something big that can accommodate the future needs of the community,” he said.
In the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught on Israel, the Yael Foundation collaborated with the Jewish Agency and the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs to invest in physical security that allowed parents to feel comfortable sending kids to Jewish schools. The Yael Foundation is now involved in building a school in Limassol, Cyprus, that will accommodate 1,500 children.
In September, the Yael Foundation and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation launched a partnership to remodel the Jewish educational landscape across Europe.
The first fruits of the partnership will be allocated to the renovation and expansion of a prominent Jewish school in Rome, the 100-year-old Scuole Ebraiche di Roma. With a €25 million ($27.2 million) total investment goal, €14 million ($15.2 million) of which will be contributed by the Yael Foundation and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, the project aims to further Jewish education at a time of increased interest, in large part because of rising antisemitism.
Agreeing to unite
In a divided Jewish world, communities agreeing to unite is one of Poliavich’s conditions that come with funding.
“Generally, in Jewish communities, you’d have say five synagogues, two are active and three are trying not to die, when you could actually unite everyone,” he said.
“Uniting forces, not just in times of crisis but working together and understanding that for everyone else we are Jews and all the small frictions we have in the communities aren’t important,” he continued.
“We need to think as one community, not just on a city or country scale, but as a continent. We must ask ourselves how will the Jews of Europe survive the turbulent times we are facing now.
“We need to be united and structured and move together toward one objective. The vision is simple; we want our kids to be Jewish. We want them to know they are Jews and know what Judaism and Israel really are,” Poliavich said.