Jay Ruderman

Jay Seth Ruderman was born in Boston to Marcia and Morton Ruderman, the eldest of three children.[1] Ruderman's father was a founder of Meditech.[2] He was raised in a kosher, Zionist home.[3] He visited Israel for the first time at the age of 13, as a gift for his bar-mitzvah.[4] He attended public schools in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, and received his undergraduate degree in 1988 from Brandeis University,[5] where he served as president of the student body in 1986–1987. He earned his JD from Boston University School of Law in 1993.[6]

Ruderman is married to Israeli-American Shira Menashe Ruderman, who serves as executive director of the Ruderman Foundation.[7] The Rudermans met while Shira was teaching Arabic to members of the Israeli intelligence community at Ulpan Akiva in Netanya.[8] Ruderman lives in the Greater Boston area and has four children.[9]

Ruderman began his career as Assistant District Attorney in Salem, MA and also worked as deputy director of AIPAC. In 2005, he enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces and became the liaison between the IDF and Diaspora Jewry.[10] He then returned to AIPAC as Leadership Director in Israel before assuming a position at the Ruderman Family Foundation.[11]

In addition, Ruderman served on the board of directors of the National Organization on Disability.[12] He sits on the board of governors of the University of Haifa,[13] the Jewish Agency for Israel[14] and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee,[15] and is a member of Brandeis University Board of Trustees.[16]

Ruderman is the president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which lobbies for disability rights. According to Ruderman, the Foundation's first major project was to promote the inclusion of children with disabilities in Jewish day schools.[17] The foundation has also focused its attention on the Hollywood entertainment industry, working for the inclusion of disabled characters in shows and movies and advocating for those roles to be acted by people with disabilities.

Ruderman believes that unemployment for people with disabilities is a major civil rights issue that requires creative solutions like tailored job training programs and a change in attitudes among employers,[18] and at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, he called for greater accessibility and the inclusion of people with disabilities and diversity.[19]In March 2020, he sponsored an event to present Peter and Bobby Farrelly with an award for hiring actors with disabilities.[20]

Ruderman has also proposed such changes in the Israeli film industry. In December 2021, he convinced four of Israel’s five major television broadcasting and production companies to sign the Foundation’s pledge to audition actors with disabilities and commit to a more inclusive selection process for all jobs in the film industry, on and off screen.[21]

In his bi-weekly podcast "All About Change" (formerly "All Inclusive") Ruderman interviews individuals he sees as inspiring and changing the world. At first Ruderman hosted people mostly active in the disability world. Since then, he has broadened the guestlist to a combination of celebrities, experts in various fields and people with interesting life stories.[22] Guests have included Fran Drescher,[23] Deborah Lipstadt,[24] Cheryl Hines,[25] Abe Foxman,[26] and RJ Mitte.[22]

Ruderman has sought to strengthen the relationship between American Jewry and Israeli opinion leaders.[27]While serving in the IDF and becoming the military’s liaison with world Jewry, he discovered a substantial gap between Israelis and Americans and realized "that whatever Americans think is not necessarily what Israelis think." Since then, he has devoted himself to bridging that gap.[28] He has expressed disappointment over Israel's stance on egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall[29] and comments by Israel's Minister of Education about the high rate of intermarriage among American Jews.[30] Ruderman believes that the "doomsday talks" of an irreversible chasm between Israel and the American Jewish community are mistaken.[31]

Ruderman is critical of the portrayal of disability in certain films, among them Me Before You, where the paralyzed protagonist commits suicide because he feels his life is not worth living. Ruderman stated: "To the millions of people with significant disabilities currently leading fulfilling, rich lives, it posits that they are better off committing suicide."[32][33] Ruderman feels it is problematic for a non-disabled actor to play a character with a disability.[34] In 2022 he praised the three Academy Awards garnered by the film "CODA" as an example for the significant strides taken towards a greater inclusion of individuals with disabilities in Hollywood, through the casting of three disabled actors to roles depicting the same disabilities they experience in reality.[35][36]

Ruderman explains that “part of my philosophy in philanthropy is always looking for a void. I believe in the road ‘less traveled.’” [37]

In September 2022, Ruderman and his wife were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by The Jerusalem Post for their long-standing work in promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities and strengthening the relationship between Israel and American Jewry.[38][39]

In 2016, Ruderman was named by The Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most influential Jews of the year.[40] He won this award again in 2022.[41]

In 2021, Ruderman was named one of the top 100 Most Influential Bostonians by Boston Magazine.[42]

• Honorary doctorate from University of Haifa, Israel (2015)[43]
• Honorary doctorate from Brandeis University (2018)[44]
• Jacob Rader Marcus Award from the American Jewish Archives (2019)[45]
• Media Access Awards SAG-AFTRA Disability Awareness Award (2019) [46]
• Boston Common Magazine, "Power List" (2022) [47]

• "End the stigma of mental illness", CNN
• Why anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are inextricably linked