Our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer and professional leaders are building a unique organization for the Hungarian Jewish community living in the diaspora.

Gabor Levai – Chairman of the Board

Gabor was born in Budapest but did not know of his Jewish heritage as a child because his grandparents wanted to protect the grandchildren from threats and horrors. The secret was revealed to him only in his teenage years during a family lunch. At the end of his high school years, after the fall of communism, he had the opportunity to travel to Israel with one of the first Hungarian groups for a six-week program. This experience changed his life, as he made many new friends and reconnected with his Jewish roots; however, he was drawn more to the respect for traditions than to religious observance.

When he returned home, he started attending Jewish clubs, which were then still semi-illegal, and he participated in founding one of the organizations, later becoming its president. This organization was the Hungarian branch of the Union of Jewish Students. After a few years in leadership, he passed on his role to younger people, continuing to actively engage in social organizations but without taking on leadership roles—offering support to those he could help.

Since 1999, he has been an entrepreneur, with a focus on communication, media, and business consulting. He has worked in politics, responsible for government communication, as an advisor to the Minister of Environment, and as a municipal representative in the 8th district.

He has lived in Canada since 2015 and has one child.

Istvan Szonyi – Founder

Born in 1955 in Budapest. His parents were affected by the horrors of the Holocaust. His father was a religious man, which led him to live an active community life.

He graduated from the Anne Frank High School in Budapest in 1973 and has maintained contact with his classmates to this day.

Since 1981, he has been a self-employed entrepreneur in Hungary. In 1990, he moved with his family to Canada’s capital, Ottawa. His two sons had their bar mitzvahs at Ottawa’s Machzikei Hadas Synagogue.

In 1993, he founded one of Ottawa’s most successful flooring companies. He still works in the industry as a senior consultant.

George Kulcsar Gyorgy Kulcsar – Founder

Born in 1930 in Hungary, he survived the horrors of the Holocaust in Budapest and emigrated to Canada with his wife in 1956. He lived in Montreal for three decades before moving to Toronto, like many of his friends. He worked in real estate and, in his retirement years, volunteered as the leader of the New Horizon Day Centre For Seniors club, which served those with Hungarian-Jewish roots (the club has since closed). György gladly took on the role of founder for the Memories Without Borders Hungarian-Jewish Diaspora Organization.

Csaba Kurti – Project Manager
Csaba was born in 1976 in Pecs, Hungary. Like many other young Jewish people, he became actively involved in Jewish community life following the political transition in 1990.

Starting in 1994, he brought together Jewish youth in his hometown and organized community programs for them. In 2002, he co-founded with his brother Hungary’s largest Jewish community portal and dating site, Jewish Meeting Point.

Csaba studied at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Pecs and at Dennis Gabor College, holding degrees in finance and marketing as well as in IT engineering. He continued his Jewish studies in Sweden through the Paideia Jewish Studies program.

He has worked as an IT project manager and business analyst and served as the strategic director of the Autonomous Orthodox Jewish Community of Hungary. In his youth, he also worked as a cameraman and creative professional at one of Hungary’s top animation studios.

Over the past 30 years, Csaba has been a founder, leader, and volunteer in several Jewish organizations. He is married and the father of three daughters.