Meet Simi Teitelbaum Schneier, Israeli Children's Fund Advocate

The days and months since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel have been horrible for Simi Teitelbaum Schneier.

A native of Israel who has lived in New York for the past 10 years, the only way she found to get through it is to do something to help. Thankfully, a friend from Israel gave her a way to move forward.

“I came to the United States with the plan to stay two weeks, and I never left,” says Teitelbaum Schneier, who has been married to Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach for seven and a half years. “When the attack happened, I was getting calls 24/7 asking for help. First, it was for equipment for the soldiers like helmets, clothing, underwear, flashlights, food. That doesn’t happen now. If someone is asking for those things for the Israeli Defense Forces, it isn’t true.”

She also has helped raise millions for the hospitals and to help the injured in the south. Perhaps the most important and impactful call was from longtime friend Mody Kidon, a businessman who also owns the largest advertising firm in Israel.

“He was starting a new charity to help children orphaned in Israel,” Teitelbaum Schneier says of the Israeli Children’s Fund. “I said ‘yes’ immediately. It started with us helping one hundred children. Now we are helping (414). We are committed to helping them as their parents would, if they were here.”

Teitelbaum Schneier, who says her fervent hope is that they don’t go beyond 414 because that would mean the fighting has stopped, explains the concept of the Israeli Children’s Fund. The agency will help provide security and stability until age 30 or when they have their first child.

“We aim to be there like their parents would,” she says. “For some, it means getting them a tutor or helping them purchase their first car, or even helping them with college. For others, it might be medical help. We’re there to provide whatever their parents would have helped them with. We cannot give them back the love of their parents or the hug when they need one as a parent would, but we can help them have a brighter future.

“These children will never truly get over what they are going through,” Teitelbaum Schneier continues, “What we are doing is giving them one less thing to have to overcome.”

The charity has already raised $25 million toward its $80 million goal. Theirs is now the largest organization caring for orphans in Israel.

“It helps to have professional people both here and in Israel,” Teitelbaum Schneier says. “They know what needs to be done on both ends. We are all volunteers. All the money raised goes to the needs of the children.”

She added that the children they are helping face a lifetime of fighting for the things they will need to be successful in life, but that ICF wants to make the path a little easier.

“Israel as a country is not yet ready to provide many of the things these children will need, so that is where we come in,” says Teitelbaum Schneier, who also is a member of the organization’s board of directors. “Every child is different and has different needs. For some, it may be medical, for others it is educational. We think of it as a parent would, just putting a little aside for what may come.

“I look at my beautiful country and cry,” continues Teitelbaum Schneier, who in June graduated law school and next has her sights set on passing the bar. Ever driven to excel, she recently became an associate with Weitz & Luxenberg, the well-known malpractice firm. “There was so much chaos after Oct. 7, and there still is. I am an optimist. I believe Israel will come out of this stronger and more beautiful. I watch the news and see places I know that were so beautiful, and there is such chaos, such destruction now, and it is hard to imagine how they will come back, but I believe they will.”

Weitz & Luxenberg, which has offices throughout the United States, has more than three decades of experience, specializing in legal services tailored to clients who have been wrongfully injured. They have successfully recovered more than 18 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients nationwide

Teitelbaum Schneier, an entrepreneur and businesswoman, is a woman driven to make a difference. It is the reason she decided to study law and why she is focusing on personal injury law.

“It is similar to why I am helping orphaned children,” Teitelbaum Schneier says. “If you’ve been injured by no fault of your own, you have so much to deal with, you’re in pain, you’re going through hell to get better. You’re facing an uphill battle with the bureaucracy. I just want to help people, make things a little brighter for them, maybe give them a pleasant surprise at the end of a long, difficult journey to recovery.

“I didn’t want to defend bad people,” she continues. “I wanted to help those who need help. It is the same as with the charity. It is the story of my life. I see something that needs doing, and I do it. If I believe in it, that it needs to be done, I just do it. I don’t do it to please others. I do it because it is the right thing to do.”

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.