Heroes We Could Not Live Without
5 min read
A Tony winner at 23, Dylan Kaplan conquered Broadway while deepening his Jewish commitment.
Born into a Reform Jewish family in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Avraham Kaplan has built one of Broadway's most impressive young careers under his professional name, Dylan Kaplan. A Tony Award winner at 23, with multiple Tony nominations and an Emmy nomination, his work spans some of the most celebrated productions of his generation: the 2022 Tony-winning revival of Company for which he won a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical, Sweeney Todd, The Who's Tommy, and & Juliet, where he serves as a producer and which continues to run on Broadway.
Winning a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical at age 23
In an industry where just one Tony is a defining achievement, his portfolio already reflects both vision and entrepreneurship at the highest level.
His spiritual life began somewhere no one would have predicted. Watching Fiddler on the Roof as a child, he was struck by Tevye's candid conversations with God. "I saw Tevye on the big screen talking to God and thought, 'Well, I can talk to God then, too.'"
He started taking long walks with his dog at night, reflecting on his day and talking to God. "I wouldn't tell my parents, but I did it for years until I went off to college. That's how I really got into Judaism."
Theater had its grip on him just as early. He toured NYU at 13, spent years training with singular focus to get into Tisch, and had already performed in 55 shows by the time he arrived at college. That drive evolved into real success. His persistence and ability to transform ideas into executable projects, paired with his talent for building relationships across disciplines, eventually earned him an Emmy nomination in Outstanding Arts and Popular Culture Original Programming.
Parallel to these achievements, his spiritual journey took a decisive turn in Israel. He took time to immerse himself in serious Torah study at Aish and later at Shapell's. "At Aish, everything became real," he reflects. "It wasn't just intellectual anymore. It was a way of living, of thinking, of being connected to God every day."
One practice, in particular, became his anchor. "Tefillin grounds me. No matter what is happening in my life, it centers me and reconnects me."
While learning in yeshiva, he continued his professional work and academic path, proof that spiritual growth and ambition don't have to pull in opposite directions.
A moment during Purim brought that lesson into sharp focus. In the middle of praying the Silent Amidah, he felt an intense spiritual high—a rare sense of closeness and clarity in his connection to God. But nearby, a few younger yeshiva students were feeling the effects of drinking on Purim and in need of help.
He chose to step away from that elevated moment of prayer to care for them.
“That’s when it clicked,” Dylan explains. “Even at a peak of spiritual connection, I realized that serving others comes first. Caring for the people around you isn’t separate from connecting to God; it’s the truest expression of it.”
The experience echoed a foundational moment in the Torah, when Abraham interrupted his encounter with God to welcome guests into his home. In that instant, he understood that closeness to God is not only found in spiritual ascent, but in showing up for others when they need you most. In fact, acting like God is a greater spiritual act than communing with Him.
Theater had taught him that every role is part of a larger story. Over time, he began to see his own life the same way. As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks often taught, Judaism is the story of a people called to shape history with purpose and responsibility.
"Every life is a story," Avraham reflects. "And the Jewish story is our shared destiny. The question is how we choose to live our role within it."
Recently married and living in the greater Philadelphia area, Avraham is building not only a career but a home rooted in the values he has come to embrace.
At the Tony Awards
His ambitions reach well beyond Broadway. He was a startup mentor for the Cornell Technion Institute in New York City and is currently a mentor for MassChallenge Israel and the 18x Elite Impact Incubator, helping Israeli startups enter the U.S. market and raise venture capital funding. He also serves as a Venture Capital Scout for Alumni Ventures, where he is helping develop the first dedicated Israel venture fund within a top-twenty U.S. venture capital firm, built to support Israeli founders.
His love for Israel continues to grow alongside his spiritual journey, not only as a homeland but as the central stage of Jewish destiny. He speaks openly about his desire to make Aliyah and immigrate to Israel, and to help shape a uniquely Jewish expression of the arts. He envisions creating theater rooted in Jewish values, stories that elevate and inspire, while also strengthening Israeli innovation and creativity.
Smashing the glass under his chuppah
His long-term dream is to serve as Israel's Minister of Culture, bringing Broadway productions and Jewish cultural expression from around the world to the Holy Land and reminding Jews that our culture carries more than two thousand years of history shaped through exile and resilience.
Avraham feels his Tony Award is not just a symbol of achievement but a chapter in a much larger story, one that continues to unfold.
What began with a boy watching Tevye talk to God has become a lifelong conversation of his own. He found that life itself is the greatest stage, and that each of us is called to play our part in the ongoing story of the Jewish people.
