Gustavo Bruckner & Bena Medjuck-Bruckner
Guests of Honor
What happens when an Argentinian meets a Canadian at a Shabbat afternoon picnic in Riverside Park? They get married and raise four children in NYC, of course!
Nearly 18 years ago, the singalong Mishpacha/Family service and open gym on Shabbat brought Bena and Gustavo to Ansche Chesed with baby Noam, but it’s the fabulous clergy and warm community that kept them here. Over the years they have celebrated many milestones at AC: they’ve had three Simchat Bat ceremonies and an Upsherin in Hirsch Hall, and thus far one Bar Mitzvah and two Bat Mitzvahs in the Sanctuary. Bena serves on the AC Board of Trustees, Gustavo was a solicitor for the Rav Chesed campaign, and both have been involved with the AC family life committee and are Shabbat morning regulars in the Sanctuary.
They are firm believers in being active in whatever communities you find yourself. To that end, Gustavo is a Board member of the Beit Rabban Day School, the class parent coordinator for the Heschel High School Parents’ Association, and a 10th grade parent liaison for the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. He referees on Sundays for the West Side Soccer League, is a volunteer arbitrator at NYC small claims court, has volunteered with the ABA to aid hurricane victims obtain FEMA assistance, and also coaches the annual NYU Stern School of Business, Berkley New Venture Competition. When not doing the above, Gustavo is a corporate governance litigator who protects shareholder rights.
In the Beit Rabban community, Bena is a longtime parent-at-large and advocate, known for guest-teaching about tefillin using the parchments from her late father’s tefillin. At Heschel, Bena has managed the Parents’ Association’s annual Mishloach Manot project for the past six years. Previously, she was the founding New York director of Moving Traditions’ Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing!, an innovative curriculum for Jewish teens. At Ansche Chesed, Bena loves greeting in the lobby as a representative of the Board. She always wears a “Welcome! Ask Me About AC” badge, she organizes the distribution of candy to throw at B’nai Mitzvahs in the Sanctuary, and she serves on the High Holiday planning committee.
Bena and Gustavo live on the UWS with their four children, Noam, Ayelet, Yaffa, and Sivan.