Daniella Seltzer

Daniella Seltzer is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Jerusalem Food Rescuers, an organization working to build a more just, sustainable, and less wasteful urban food system in one of the world’s most complex cities. Through food rescue, education, civic engagement, and urban food policy, the organization aims to reshape how cities approach food, community, and sustainability—developing replicable models that are informing efforts in other municipalities across Israel.

Since 2019, Daniella has led cross-sector collaborations with municipalities, the wholesale market and food businesses, and grassroots networks to redistribute surplus food through decentralized community markets. Her work challenges traditional models of charity and positions food as a tool for social change, shared leadership, and structural transformation.

Rooted in the Jewish principle of Bal Tashchit (the prohibition against needless waste), she sees food as a powerful entry point into broader systems change. Daniella has been recognized for her leadership in social innovation by both Globes magazine’s “40 Under 40” and the Hebrew University Alumni Association. She holds a B.A. in Equity Studies and Community Engagement with a focus on Food Security from the University of Toronto, and an M.A. in Cultural Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.