last word
Chani and Zev Baram
FORGE CONNECTIONS THROUGH PHILLY FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
Courtesy of Chani and Zev Baram
T he Philly Friendship Circle, a
nonprofit connecting kids and
young adults both with and
without disabilities to foster connec-
tion in the Jewish community and
beyond, has grown from one friend to
about 300 since 2004.

At the organization’s 2022 Philly
Friendship Walk on Nov. 13 to raise
funds for the Friendship Circle, about
500 participants are expected to attend,
a feat despite the organization “build-
ing back up” from before the pan-
demic, when more than 700 people
participated. The nonprofit’s true impact isn’t in
the numbers. Philly Friendship Circle
offers Sunday Circle, a weekly oppor-
tunity for kids under 17 to essentially
partake in summer camp activities
for the day. The Mitzvah Volunteer
Program gives sixth and seventh
graders a chance to become part of
the Friendship Circle for their b’nai
mitzvah project. Virtual happy hours
allow young adults to continue to con-
nect, even after aging out from other
programs. All of the organization’s
programming, from its birthright
trip to its Teen Leadership Board, is
open to individuals with and without
disabilities. “We all may be different. We all
look different; we all act different; we
all have different interests, but each
and every one of us has that same
Godly soul inside of us,” said Rabbi Zev
Baram, Philly Friendship Circle’s CEO.

“When we can just look at it in that
light ... it allows us to break those bar-
riers and make other people feel like,
‘Oh, you and I are one in the same.’”
Zev Baram, 43, and his wife Chani
Baram, 42, founded Philly Friendship
Circle with these values, congruent
with Chabad’s philosophy of finding
the commonality of humanity among
cherished differences.

The organization is one of 66 chap-
ters of the Chabad Lubavitch-affiliated
Friendship Circle International, though
Philly Friendship Circle operates finan-
cially independently of its parent orga-
nization, with programming designed
to benefit local community needs.

When Zev Baram wanted to begin
Philly Friendship Circle after moving
to the city in 2003 and before founding
the organization a year later, he made
sure Philadelphia had the demand for
the nonprofit.

“My main goal, really, was not want-
ing to come in and step on anyone’s
toes or reinvent the wheel,” he said.

“If we’re gonna focus as a community
organization, we want to start off on
the right foot, making sure that we are
part of that community, either sup-
porting the community or supporting
other organizations in the community
or starting Friendship Circle as a sup-
port for the community.”
Zev Baram has worked with indi-
viduals with disabilities for years. A
Sheffield, England, native with Israeli
parents, he ran educational workshops
at yeshiva and at a friend’s Chabad in
Livingston, New Jersey. He moved to
Iowa for a year before starting his rab-
binical training and worked with a child
with a disability, at first meeting with
him for an hour a day in the classroom
and then shadowing him during lunch.

Their relationship “clicked,” and Zev
Baram began working full time with
the boy and his family from Passover
through the summer. He continued to
lead educational workshops and pro-
vide bar mitzvah training to young
teens with disabilities as part of a
Friendship Circle in Livingston.

“It was something I was really com-
fortable doing and really liked doing,”
he said.

During his rabbinical training pro-
cess, Zev Baram met Chani, whose
background closely intertwined with
individuals with disabilities.

Chani Baram is the daughter of
Rabbi Menachem Schmidt of Vilna
Congregation and the Center City
Mikvah Mei Shalva. She grew up
steeped in Chabad values and was the
oldest of four brothers, three of whom
had disabilities.

“The way that my parents kind of
responded to having three kids with
disabilities was just a very natural
response of inclusion, which wasn’t the
buzzword in those days,” Chani Baram
said. “It was something that I think was
just really tied in with who they are as
people and tied into their philosophy
of how they look at the world, that it
was just natural for them to include my
brothers in whatever was going on.”
Through COVID and the growth of
Philly Friendship Circle, Chani and
Zev Baram are still asking the same
question from 19 years ago of how to
best serve their community. As the
friends from the circle age up but still
want to be involved in the organi-
zation, Philly Friendship Circle has
had to adapt. The Barams have set up
opportunities for young adults to meet
with one another and take on lead-
ership roles, all while continuing to
expand their reach to young children.

“COVID allowed us to do a reset,
and really look at all the offerings
for our younger families and families
of kids with young adults as totally
distinct offerings,” Chani Baram said.

“And that’s a new thing for us.” JE
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