Barak Swarttz, an emerging key person of influence and activist whose unique journey has carved out a niche at the intersection of sports and storytelling. Born in Newton, Massachusetts, Swarttz grew up in Jewish cultural life. He is the son of two rabbis, his mother being among the first women ordained as a Reform rabbi in the United States.
When he was younger, his family moved to Israel during the Second Intifada, so that his father could participate in the Jerusalem Fellows program - a program with 20 other rabbis from all over the world to study together in Jerusalem. Swarttz recalls this experience as one that deeply shaped his perspective and resilience. His mother was volunteering around Israel at the time by creating initiatives to promote coexistence amongst Arab and Jewish communities.
"I didn't know any Hebrew when I came here, so at the beginning, it was just a very foreign territory," Swarttz told the Jerusalem Post. "It was quite the transition because this was in the midst of the Second Intifada. As a six year old, coming from Newton, where the worst thing that could happen is probably like someone jaywalking and coming into Israel - you get exposed very quickly and you grow a thick skin fast."
He recalled a memory from during his first year in Israel when a car bomb exploded on his street when he was walking to school with his brother. "It was pretty intense," he said.
In 2002, his parents decided to return to the United States, in which Swarttz pursued basketball passionately, with dreams of becoming a professional basketball player. "I just wanted to be a professional basketball player," Swarttz said. "I went to Newton South High School and played on the basketball team there. Going into my senior year of high school that summer, I developed a pretty significant amount of recruiting from division two and division three schools in northeast America.
That summer, things took a sharp and painful turn for Swarttz. "To put it simply, I broke my back," he explained.
Due to the injury, he lost all of his recruitment so he decided to go to a prep school in Connecticut where he did a postgraduate year.
"I was still injured [but] got recruited by some schools and ended up going to Elmira College in New York State," he said. "I played there for two years and transferred to Curry College, which is closer to my family, outside of Boston."
Right before going into his junior year of college, he tore his ACL, "Basketball for me wasn't working."
Finding his way back to Israel
While he was still in college, he went on a Taglit Birthright trip to Israel, and had such an amazing experience that he started staffing the trips. "I wanted a way to go back to Israel," Swarttz said.
He graduated college with a degree in marketing and worked for well-known companies but said that he didn't feel fulfilled in what he was doing.
That pushed him to start networking his way around Israel, calling everyone he knew there, to help find a way to pursue his newest dream: training basketball players in Israel. Taking the two things he loves the most, and making it one big dream.
Eventually, someone was able to help get him an internship with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel's premier basketball team, under the mentorship of renowned coaches. An internship that was created just for him.
He immersed himself in strength and conditioning coaching for elite athletes, including NBA and WNBA players. And then, COVID-19 hit. He decided to book a flight back to the US to be with his family and 10 hours before his flight, he gets a call from Ironi Ness Ziona, a basketball club based in Israel’s top first division, when he was offered a job interview to be their new head strength coach.
Eight hours before his flight back to the US, he went to Tel Aviv for the job interview. At the end of it, he told them they needed to give him an answer right away, whether or not he should cancel his flight. "He offered me a job on the spot."
He canceled his flight and stayed in Israel for the next four years, training high level athletes and youth players and in the process, he was creating an online presence for his brand, Gain Resilience in Time (GRIT).
"It's a reflection of not only my 'unsuccessful' athletic journey as a basketball player, but what has taught me about being super resilient, determined, and passionate about going after what you want," he explained.
October 7
October 7, 2023 marked a turning point for Swarttz. The events of that day, including the loss of a friend at the Nova Music Festival and the ongoing conflict in Gaza, spurred him to shift his focus.
While visiting his family in America, he launched a YouTube channel at the end of November 2023 to share stories about Israel, aiming to bridge gaps in understanding and counter misinformation.
Having moved to Israel officially at 25, Swarttz was never called to draft to the IDF. "I've had a little bit of survivor's guilt every time there was a war or something," he explained. "I felt like I needed to contribute somehow."
One YouTube video turned into another and by the fourth video, his content started to go viral. He realized that he had something to give to the world with his content, "people were willing to listen."
15 months into the war, Swarttz became a known Israel activist, but without bringing in any politics.
At one point, Swarttz was sent to Washington DC in July 2024 with a few other Israel activists, during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress.
Some 15,000 pro-Palestinians stood outside of the United States Capitol during Netanyahu's address, among the crowd of people outside stood Swarttz in just a regular Nike t-shirt, nothing visibly Israeli or Jewish. His goal? He wanted to speak with some of these people to listen to what they have to say - start a conversation.
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One individual stood out to Swarttz. One of the people he had a conversation with covered his face with a keffiyeh, hiding his identity. "We fundamentally disagree with each other on this conflict, almost across the whole board, but at the end of the conversation, he told me something that I'll never forget," Swarttz said. "He looked at me and he said, 'You're the first and only Israeli that I have ever respected.'"
"We were able to find common ground," he continued. "Hopefully, when that kid goes back to his respective circles, he's at least able to talk about the fact that, ‘no, wait a minute, not every Israeli is like that,’ because he just met one."
What is his advocacy?
Swarttz never brought politics into conversations in his content, he only ever spoke about stories. "I talk about the boots on the ground - reality of Israel," he said. "I try to bridge the communities between Israel and the diaspora by showing people what mainstream media doesn't show them."
His approach has garnered a significant following, including a diverse community on Discord where individuals from various faiths and backgrounds engage in dialogue.
One of Swarttz's most notable initiates involves honoring the memory of hostages taken during the war. He built a connection with the family of Omer Neutra, a young Israeli basketball enthusiast, sharing Neutra's story through his basketball-themed content. "I decided to go to basketball courts, set up my tripod and my camera, and I was literally just making content of me playing basketball with overlays and pictures of Omer."
Even though Swarttz had never met Neutra, he felt close to him and his family. After finding out about Neutra having been killed on October 7, and his body still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza, Swarttz felt torn. "I was convinced he was going to come back," he said.
"I was going to watch videos of him hugging his parents, and I was going to go play basketball with him," Swarttz said. "I went to the shiva in Ra'anana and when I got to his parents, Ronen and Orna, and brother, Daniel, his father saw me, recognized who I was and the first thing he said to me was, 'I really wanted you to play basketball with my son.' For me, the loss of Omer was a big hit in my advocacy journey because I've always been saying this since the seventh. This entire year, this entire conflict, is a completely different war on every front."
"I didn't start my YouTube channel to leverage a crisis for a social media wave or having any public presence," he explained. "I did this because when I was sitting in Boston on October 11, and I was unable to sleep, I felt like it was my responsibility and duty to do something.
"I started this process of activism to contribute to Israel, but on a broader scale - to share truth."
One message that Swarttz has for everyone who wants to talk about Israel: "Before you choose to talk about somewhere in the world, you better go visit that place before you choose to talk about it."
Now, Swarttz is taking his message beyond Israel. With plans for a speaking tour across the United States in March, he aims to engage schools, colleges, and basketball teams in workshops that combine advocacy with sports training. “Basketball is what creates a safe space for me to talk about the complexities of the Middle East,” he explained.
For Barak Swarttz, basketball was always more than just a game. It was a pathway to resilience. Today, that same resilience is his tool for change, and his story is one that will continue to inspire those who seek a brighter, more understanding world. As he moves forward, it’s clear that his work - both on and off the court - has only just begun.
Follow Barak’s Instagram (@otherbarak) for more information on his upcoming speaking tour in the United States.