By Deb Silverthorn

Dallas native Jordana Weinberg has turned her love of fitness into her professional passion. In person or virtual, at the gym, on the beach or on her patio, Weinberg has put her all into her growing international clientele. 

Weinberg, who made aliyah in 2018, joined a flag football game with a group of young women in her home of Tel Aviv. Not long after, she received a call form Elissa Sagoskin, the head coach of Israel’s national women’s team. Now she’s playing both safety and corner. And on Dec. 6, Weinberg and the women’s team, now ranked 11th in the world, will hit the field when Jerusalem convenes the Flag Football World Championships.

The daughter of Wende, of blessed memory, and Rabbi Stefan Weinberg, and sister of Adina (Mitchell Stein) and Danielle (Gilad) Zubery, is a graduate of Solomon Schechter Academy (Ann and Nate Levine Academy) and Yavneh Academy (Akiba Yavneh Academy). 

“I believe I’m making my mom proud and I have the most supportive and phenomenal dad,” she says. As she has posted on social media: “Every day we are given two choices. Stay sleeping within our dreams or wake up and go chase them.”

A University of Maryland graduate, Weinberg taught physical education at Jewish day schools in Memphis and Denver, then trained and received her personal training certificate in Israel. All those experiences, she said, gave her the courage to make aliyah in 2018. 

“I’m so very proud of Jordana. She’s done a remarkable job of establishing herself and her warmth and outgoing personality are her trademarks,” said Congregation Anshai Torah’s Rabbi Weinberg, in this case “Abba,” his fatherly pride easily bridging the miles. “Jordana is so qualified, she’s a natural teacher, and she loves people. She’s thriving in an environment while helping others and she’s doing it in Hebrew! Little more could make a parent so proud.”

The elder Weinberg described his daughter’s positive outlook as “a virtue that guides her every day and the following she has developed appreciates her outlook on various situations. I want to believe that Jordana’s constant willingness to promote the positive, to expose the good, and to accentuate the best has given her the strength to negotiate life’s challenges.” 

Weinberg started her personal training career working 70-plus-hour weeks at two gyms in Israel, then decided to branch out on her own. When the pandemic hit, she turned to online programming and was able to host fitness classes for groups, individuals and business clients in Israel, England and the United States.

“I just kept working nonstop and the hustle paid off,” she said. “It was sink or swim. I swam hard.”

She coaches her clients on mobility, flexibility, range of motion, strength training and other skills, all with a healthy dose of encouragement. 

“Right away I knew she knew her stuff. She’d worked on her own self, and she knew how to reach others. I knew she could help me change a lifetime of wrong patterns,” said client Rachel Lissak, who connected with Weinberg through a mutual friend. “I’ve never been so in tune with myself, and I’ve realized that the physical, and personal, improvement journey go hand in hand. Jordana is someone worth making time for.”

Jordana’s social media posts include almost daily “attitude fitness,” as important as physical fitness. The confidence she exudes pushes her followers, her clients and herself to keep moving forward.

“Our vulnerabilities are what we’re all trying to tackle. We want to feel in control, to appear as if we have everything together. All. The. Damn. Time. The truth is we’re all here just doing our best. Showing up. Putting our best foot forward. And making the most of each day,” she said. 

“It’s why I’m here. It’s how I got into this profession. It’s what I continue to work on each and every day,” she says. “Some days I do it a whole lot better than others. But you’ll never see me not show up.”

To reach Jordana Weinberg visit instagram.com/getaltfit or email altitudefitness2018@gmail.com.