A 1972 trip to Israel changed Marla Gamoran’s life and career trajectory. Since then, she has wanted to give back to the country she knows and loves.
Gamoran noticed that language was a barrier for some Israelis in advancing professionally, so she founded and runs English B’Yachad. The nonprofit organization aims to empower young adults from Israel’s less-advantaged communities to realize their dreams through improved English.
She lives in Washington, D.C., where she belongs to Temple Micah and is active in the Edlavitch DC JCC’s Hebrew speakers’ group.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
My upbringing is really different than how I live my life now. I grew up in Chicago in a Jewish home, but [it was] completely secular. My parents were not synagogue goers; my mom was not a Hadassah lady. They were very Jewish culturally, but they were not connected communally to the Jewish world. We had a lot of family around us: my grandparents and my aunts and uncles.
I went to Israel at the age of 16 with my family and fell in love with Israel. I got off that plane and I thought, “This is home for me. I’m supposed to be here.” I learned Hebrew and thought I would make aliyah. I spent a couple years in Israel after college, but ended up meeting somebody on my way there, whom I ended up marrying. I’ve raised my kids here, but Israel’s really been central to who I am Jewishly and to where I feel at home.
What inspired you to launch a nonprofit organization?
I worked for many years in Madison, Wisconsin, in workforce development with a two-year college. We brought training to workers, both hourly workers and companies and dislocated workers. When [my daughter], Naomi, went to college at Wisconsin, I thought I would like to do something tied to Israel because that’s where my heart lies. I did a global social entrepreneurship fellowship through an organization called Present Tense in 2010, then I launched Skilled Volunteers for Israel in 2011.
From 2011 to 2020, we helped North American Jewish retirees find meaningful, authentic volunteer opportunities in Israel. The volunteering in Israel over that period of time, very different from today, was focused mostly on young adults, so I wanted to provide an avenue for older adults who cared deeply about Israel and had professional and life skills to give back to Israel.
When COVID came and we couldn’t send people to Israel, I decided that we should pilot an English language program. We started with a small pilot in April 2020, working with organizations that knew us, focused on the Ethiopian Israeli community. English is kind of a gatekeeper skill for Israelis to succeed professionally. If you don’t have proficient English, a lot of doors are closed in terms of upward professional mobility.
So with a small group of tutors who were all English as a Second Language experts, we piloted a program. We expanded the program to initially two organizations, one called Tech Career and the second called Empowering Ethiopian Women. We match mostly Jewish retirees with Israeli young adults who want to improve their English for their personal professional goals. We started out with this pilot of five or six, and since the spring of 2020, we’ve worked with just under 950 Israelis.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I spend my time interviewing volunteers, recruiting volunteers, communicating with volunteers as we’re launching new programs, managing a board of directors, trying to raise funds for our organization and developing relationships in order to meet the growing needs of this growing organization. We utilize our volunteers not only to be effective English tutors and mentors but also to foster the wonderful intergenerational connection between our tutors and the Israelis we work with. I also try to figure out what else we can do to support our tutors. I run a monthly drop-in session with 50 to 70 people. We’ve built an online volunteer community that I spend time nurturing.
In addition to working with the Ethiopian young adults, we work with the organization Restart Global, which works with wounded Israeli soldiers who are piloting our English B’Yachad model. Many of them want [to learn] English to tell their stories or to advance professionally.
Why do you do what you do?
I do what I do because I care so deeply about Israel, and it’s a way of having a meaningful impact on Israel from here, and it’s also a way of connecting communities, and that’s really important to me. I’m kind of a connector by nature. What we’re learning about Ethiopian Israeli culture is amazing; our Israeli students are providing a window into a world that we don’t have day-to-day connection with. We’re opening a window into the North American Jewish community, and North America in general, to our students, which we think is very important for them culturally.
What are your upcoming goals?
Professionally, my goal as the founder is to get this organization to a sustainable stage where I can be involved, but not running the whole show in the future. [I’m hoping] this organization [will grow to be] bigger than me, and we’ve definitely made great strides.
Personally, I get a lot of pleasure out of being involved with Israel-related work. So, not only do I run English B’Yachad and Skilled Volunteers for Israel, I also sit on the board for the Association of Reform Zionists of America and Arzenu, a global progressive Zionist organization. Then, I want time to be with my grandchildren. That’s why I’m here [in D.C.] and that’s why I’m enjoying being here.
