On a sweltering day at the Tower of David’s new sunlit Hamigdal café, Stuart Hershkowitz leans forward slightly, his eyes animated as he speaks about the various projects occupying what was supposed to be his “retired” life. Hershkowitz, 67, had promised himself he would step back at 65.
“Now I’m working more than I ever did in my life,” he admits with a wry smile. Inside the Tower of David Museum’s bustling café – the only Jerusalem eatery of the Harim Group, which owns Derech Hagefen, among others – we try to choose from among the flaky, buttery sweet and savory pastries, and the signature bagele. Finally, we all opt for iced coffee (and In Jerusalem Editor Erica Schachne devours a Camembert toast).
Hershkowitz talks to us about his work, which consists of sitting on a myriad of boards, spanning education, philanthropy, community-building, and economic development. This forms what he calls his “portfolio,” a carefully curated collection of roles that reflect his values and vision for Jerusalem and Israel.
The former banking executive now serves as president of Orthodox Union Israel, chairman of several organizations, and remains deeply involved with the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT), where he served as vice president and continues to serve as chairman of its executive committee. There, he was – and remains – dedicated to helping integrate haredi (ultra-Orthodox) students into higher education.
For his efforts, Hershkowitz will be honored with the Yakir Yerushalayim (Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) award, the highest honor bestowed by the Jerusalem Municipality. Hershkowitz and 11 other recipients will receive the prize on Jerusalem Day, May 25, during a special ceremony recognizing their significant and unique contributions to the city.
“It’s a mosaic,” he explains of his work in the Holy City. “I’m fortunate enough to be able to build a portfolio of all the things that speak to me.”
Building Jerusalem, brick by brick
Hershkowitz’s Jerusalem story began in 1974 when he first arrived in the capital. After completing law school and working in the US for eight years, he returned to Israel in 1990, settling in the Baka neighborhood. A career banker, he joined forces with a former boss to transform the Bank of Jerusalem from a small mortgage institution into a full commercial bank.
“We had pretty much a lock on the mortgage business for foreign residents who were starting to buy in Jerusalem in big numbers,” he recalls. “We were right on the ground floor. Bless God, it was the right time and the right place.”
Perhaps nothing illustrates Hershkowitz’s determination and community spirit better than the story of the Kehilat Nitzanim synagogue. Shortly after moving to Baka in 1990, he found himself praying with 30 other families in the hallway of Nitzanim, the only religious special-needs school in Jerusalem at the time.
“I wasn’t in Israel more than a couple of weeks, and I said, ‘This can’t go on,’” he recounts. Upon discovering that the unused land belonged to the secular Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatza’ir, Hershkowitz drove to Tel Aviv and boldly asked for the space.
To his astonishment, they agreed. “One of the great miracles of my life,” he calls it. It took 12 years to raise the funds, but the community built the synagogue brick by brick. Today, over 1,000 people attend Shabbat services at the vibrant National-Religious hub.
The Nitzanim success story reveals a quality Hershkowitz considers essential: perseverance. When he proposed the synagogue project, even the gabbai told him, “You’re never going to build the shul... If you build it, I’ll eat my hat.” Now Hershkowitz says with satisfaction, “Every Shabbat, he says to me, ‘Give me your hat.’”
Championing haredi integration in higher education
It is that sense of optimism mixed with a healthy dose of chutzpah that drives much of Hershkowitz’s work, and integrating haredim into the workforce is one of his main priorities. While serving as vice president of JCT, he helped create programs that respect ultra-Orthodox sensibilities while providing quality STEM education.
“We have incredible successes,” he says, describing haredi graduates who now work in tech companies despite having had little secular education beforehand. He shares one story of a student from the insular Toldos Aharon community who struggled with both Hebrew and English but persevered through multiple failures to eventually succeed.
And while the path to graduation and steady employment is a tough one, many JCT students have been able to navigate that treacherous terrain because the college is intimately aware of the challenges this community faces and what they need to be given to attain an equal playing field.
One innovative program places high-level computer science curricula in women’s seminaries, where haredi women traditionally learn vocational skills after high school. “It’s a mind revolution,” Hershkowitz says, noting that about 50% of these women continue on to obtain bachelor’s degrees, significantly increasing their lifetime earning potential.
The school is now breaking ground on the new Tal Campus for Women, a 2.3-acre site that will replace the limited rented facilities in an industrial area. The new campus will include the Helmsley Center of Life and Health Sciences; the Selma Jelinek School of Nursing, which will feature a cutting-edge simulation lab, enabling nursing students to train in a realistic hospital environment; the Beren Center for Engineering; and the Friedman Center for Business and Management Studies.
At JCT, the painstaking process of integration happens quietly behind the scenes, without the tensions often portrayed in the media. But for Hershkowitz, change isn’t happening fast enough. “It’s going way too slow for me. However, it’s starting to get a little bit of traction.”
Community, connection, and couplehood
At his core, Hershkowitz is all about building community. But what good is community without zugiyut – couplehood?
One of his most innovative projects is Shagririm Balev (“ambassadors of the heart”), a matchmaking service created by JCT students that combines traditional Jewish matchmaking with modern social networks. Thus far, the program has facilitated 366 marriages in three years.
Scrolling through pictures of couples on his phone, Hershkowitz beams with pride. The approach is distinctive: Friends sign up as “ambassadors” for their single friends, and then connect with other ambassadors through an AI-powered database.
Recently, the organization has begun addressing a painful reality of war – helping widows of fallen soldiers rebuild their lives. “There are probably over 200, maybe 250 Dati Leumi [National-Religious] women who are widows now,” he says somberly. “No one talks about rebuilding their lives.”
Since Hershkowitz is involved in so many projects, some of them interconnect. His work in community-building, education, and economic development sometimes creates unexpected synergies – what the business world calls “vertical integration.”
A striking example is his recent achievement of securing the Orthodox Union and the Directorate of Defense, Research, & Development (the IDF’s R&D arm, which employs many JCT alumni) as tenants for a new building at Jerusalem’s entrance. This $40 million, 1.2 million-square-meter project is something Hershkowitz can’t wait to sink his teeth into.
“The synergies are insane,” he says excitedly. “I have JCT in the building on one hand, and the OU on the other.”
For Hershkowitz, these synergies aren’t just organizational; they’re deeply personal. When asked why he chose to focus on Jerusalem instead of Tel Aviv, his answer is immediate and heartfelt:
“For me, if you offered me any prize in the world, from the Nobel Prize on down, the Yakir Yerushalayim would be the one that means the most to me. Jerusalem is my life. It really is my life.”
As Jerusalem continues to evolve, Stuart Hershkowitz’s mosaic of contributions – building synagogues, creating educational opportunities, connecting communities – remains an enduring part of the city’s landscape, a testament to what perseverance, vision, and love for Jerusalem can achieve.