Rabbi Yonah Bookstein, Naomi Wilzig and the World Erotic Art Museum
Rabbi Yonah Bookstein is the executive director of JConnect, an organization devoted to building the Jewish future through innovative programming for Jewish adults between the ages of 18 and 39. He is also the director and founder of Jewlicious Festivals, one of the nation’s largest weekend gatherings of Jewish college students, which he founded in 2004. Much of his career – including his work as a station manager for KJEW, an Internet radio station targeted at young Jewish listeners – has been dedicated to making Judaism hip, exciting and approachable through any outlet, be it observance, culture or politics. He has also organized programs for Jewish students and young adults in 10 countries around the world.
A former Fulbright Fellow, he holds a master’s degree in Polish-Jewish Studies from Oxford University and did his rabbinical studies at Ohr Somayach Yeshiva in Monsey, NY. He achieved international recognition through his work as director of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation in Poland from 1998 to 2001, an organization which works to rebuild Jewish life and promote Jewish education in Eastern Europe.
He and his wife Rachel live in Long Beach, CA with their four children.
Naomi Wilzig is the President and Founder of the World Erotic Art Museum in Miami Beach. She is, among many other things, a philanthropist with a long history of supporting the work of Jewish federations nation wide, including the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. She is also the author of several books, including five about her personal collection of erotic art.
Though she spent much of her life in Clifton, New Jersey, Wilzig has long been synonymous with South Florida. She is a Life Member of the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg and a Member of the Board of Directors for the Miami Beach Holocaust Foundation. In 2006 she received the Key to the City of Miami Beach on the first anniversary of the World Erotic Art Museum, and in 2009, on the occasion of her 75th birthday, she donated a restored Torah scroll to Chabad of South Beach.
Additionally, she is a Life member and Founder of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, a Member of the President’s Club of Israel Bonds, and in honor of her daughter, Sherri Wilzig-Izak, provided an endowment to Camp Gan Israel, a summer camp in Morristown, N.J.
The World Erotic Art Museum is home to the largest collection of fine erotic art in America. Depicting the Art of Love and Love in Art, this priceless and private collection dates from antiquities to contemporary times. A variety of cultures, art mediums and lifestyles are shown in a tasteful historic timeline. The items are mostly one of a kind and include paintings, tapestries and sculptures.
