Our Team

Max Manasevit

Co-founder
Director of Field Operations

Max has spent over a decade building and scaling disaster response programs with an emphasis on community engagement and client dignity. As the inaugural director of Rebuilding Together Bayou, Programmatic Director at Resilience Force, and Director of Operations at NECHAMA - Jewish Response to Disaster, he has managed projects across Louisiana, North Carolina, California, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Iowa.

A proud Jewish day school alumnus who is frequently the only Jewish presence on site, Max has dedicated his career to bringing diverse Jewish delegations into disaster spaces, including Hillels, OU Relief, NCSY, AEPi, JDC, and day schools across the denominational spectrum. Beyond his operational expertise in construction, disaster logistics, and NGO collaboration, Max serves on the New Orleans Jewish Community Relations Council and is an inaugural member of the ReKindle fellowship improving Black-Jewish relations.

Max holds a Master’s in Disaster Response and Recovery from Tulane University and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Rami Schwartzer

Co-founder
Director of Learning & Practice

Rami is a rabbi, facilitator, and experiential educator with nearly 20 years of experience designing immersive learning environments that integrate Jewish wisdom with lived experience. His career spans leadership roles across the Ramah Camping Movement, Honeymoon Israel, NECHAMA - Jewish Response to Disaster, Jewish Federation, and local synagogues and universities. He was the founding director of the Den Collective, Ramah Day Camp Greater DC, and the Tehom Fellowship.

Specializing in moments of disruption and transition, Rami brings a background as a hospice chaplain and crisis coordinator to contexts shaped by collective trauma. He has been part of disaster relief operations across the US and Israel, including guiding over a thousand recovery volunteers in western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene.

Rami holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University and degrees in Talmud, Midrash, and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.