Yoshi Silverstein (he/him) is a Chinese-Ashkenazi-American Jew and an educator, designer, speaker, husband, and father. Creator of the Mitsui Method system of Jewish embodiment and a multidisciplinary practitioner of embodied creative and spiritual expression, he is a recipient of the 2022 Pomegranate Prize for emerging leaders in Jewish education from the Covenant Foundation, and was selected as a 2021 “Grist 50 Fixer” building a more just and equitable future. Yoshi earned his Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture at University of Maryland with a thesis exploring Jewish landscape journey and experience, and holds certificates in spiritual entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, permaculture design, and environmental education. Yoshi sits on the Board of Directors for Repair the World, is an adjunct faculty instructor at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and a Senior Schusterman Fellow.

Prior to founding Mitsui Collective, Yoshi utilized his two+ decades of experience in both Jewish and secular outdoor, food, farming, and environmental education as Director of the JOFEE Fellowship at Hazon from its launch through its first four cohorts, through which he catalyzed the growth and leadership of over 60 emerging professionals working across the US and Canada in the realm of Jewish relationship to land, food, culture, climate, and community. Yoshi has been a cast member of Kaleidoscope Project’s “What Does Jewish Look Like to You” monologue series, an ELI Talks speaker, and a Dorot Fellow.

Yoshi holds a 2nd degree blackbelt in Lotus Kajukenbo and currently studies Chinese martial arts – including Tai Chi, Baguazhang, and Shuai Chiao (Chinese wrestling). In October 2024, Yoshi was a member of Team USA competing at the World Shuai Chiao Games in Baoding, China, followed by ten days of intensive martial arts study in the Wudang Mountains, birthplace of Tai Chi and Baguazhang.

Yoshi lives in the Cleveland area in Shaker Heights, OH on Erie, Mississauga, and Haudenosaunee land with his wife and daughter.

Select Trainings and Study:

• Embodied Transformation 4-day Intensive for BIPOC Leaders — Strozzi Institute

• Foundations of Wudang Kung Fu and Baguazhang (10 days) — Wudang Mountain Tai Chi & Kung Fu Academy

• Movement Intensive and Community Retreat (4-day) — Marcello Palozzo and Shai Faran with ApeCo Movement School

• Somatic Abolitionism 5-day Intensive — Omega Institute with Resmaa Menakem

• Radical Dharma Camp — Omega Institute with Rev angel Kyodo williams Roshi

• Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism + 9-Month Communal Consultation (online) — Education for Racial Equity with Resmaa Menakem

• Schusterman Fellowship (18 months), Cohort 6 — Schusterman Family Philanthropies

• Jewish Pedagogies Fellowship (10 months) — M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education

• Certificate in Spiritual Entrepreneurship (9 months) — Glean Network with Columbia Business School

• Selah Leadership Program, Cohort 14: JOC Leaders (9 months) — Bend the Arc

• “Motion” Intensive Workshop (3-days) — Ido Portal with ApeCo Movement School

• Movement Brooklyn — ongoing movement studies 2018-2019

• Dorot Fellowship in Israel (10 months)

• Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies (Fall semester)

• Certificate in Permaculture and Ecovillage Design (3 months) — Center for Creative Ecology at Kibbutz Lotan

• Informal Jewish Education — Hebrew College

• CrossFit L1 Certification

• Alpine Level 1 Ski Instructor

• Graduate Certificate in Environmental Education — University of Idaho