By Dina Röll, Debora Hasselbach and Simon Schauer
Last year, Dina Röll (full-time) and Stefan Mannl (volunteer) took over the leadership of the junior generation at CSI. Two new faces are now joining this JCSI leadership team, both of whom have already gained valuable insights into their new roles through their volunteer work at CSI over the past few years. We are pleased to introduce Debora Hasselbach and Simon Schauer.
Together with Stephan Mannl, they support Dina Röll in her work on a voluntary basis and also form the management team of JCSI with her.
The new woman on JCSI: Debora Hasselbach
My name is Debora Hasselbach, and I have worked in various departments at Deutsche Bank since 2015; first in Bonn and for the last three years in Frankfurt am Main. In my free time, I love to travel and enjoy skiing and kitesurfing. But Israel is also close to my heart: because it is God's chosen people, and I consider it a privilege to have recognized this and to be able to work for Israel. In 2018, I visited Israel for the first time, and after returning from my ten-day trip with CSI, I learned that the windows of a Jewish restaurant in Germany had been smashed with stones. Having been raised Christian, I knew: "Never again" is more relevant than ever! With this motivation, I began working with the former leadership team of ReformaZION six months later. Following the merger of Israel Connect and ReformaZION to form JCSI, I have been part of the leadership team of this ministry of Christians working alongside Israel.
Since networking is very important to me, I'm particularly involved with JCSI-Live. These are online meetings that we hold every second Monday of the month. We invite speakers who give short presentations on various social, political, and theological topics. Afterward, we usually give an organization the opportunity to briefly introduce itself and explain how one can get involved in Israel or Germany. Building a close network among the various Israel-related organizations is very important to us.
The new man at JCSI: Simon Schauer
Shali Shalom, my name is Simon Schauer and I work as a construction project manager for electrical engineering. I first visited Israel in 2012 and "lost" a part of my heart there. The country, its people, and its culture captivated me. Furthermore, I was able to experience my own faith in a completely new way and understand the existential connection it has to the Jewish people and to Israel.
Since then, I've been there eight times. Often just for a vacation, sometimes completely alone for myself to recharge. But I've also traveled with JCSI tour groups, formerly Israel Connect. I'm happy to contribute this experience to the leadership of JCSI. I'm committed to young adults at CSI, and it's an honor for me to further develop this area as part of our four-person leadership team and to support Dina in her full-time work.
The enrichment I experienced in and with Israel for my personal faith is something I want other (young) Christians to be able to experience as well. Therefore, it is close to my heart that young Christians experience Jesus as their Jewish Messiah.
This article first appeared in our newspaper "Israelaktuell," issue 136. You can order the newspaper here . We would also be happy to send you several copies for distribution.
