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Rabba Dotan Arieli
Dotan serves at HaMidrasha as the director of the Elga Stulman Institute for Judaism and Gender (Nigun Nashim) and as head of Lishmah, an educational program that promotes gender equality among young Israelis attending pre-army leadership academies and beyond. She serves as a group facilitator in Jewish and gender identity workshops and teaches in programs sponsored by Israel’s Joint Council of Pre-Military Academies, the school system, and women’s organizations, and officiates at egalitarian Jewish lifecycle ceremonies. Dotan holds an MA in Jewish thought and midrash, and lives in Kibbutz Sha’ar Ha’amakim. Dotan received her ordination from the Beit Midrash for Israeli Rabbis.
Elisabeth Goldwyn
Dr. Elisabeth Goldwyn is active in the world of Jewish renewal as a teacher, writer, researcher, and lifecycle ceremony leader. She facilitates the Elga Stulman Department’s Yozrot Nigun Nashim, women’s advanced Talmud study group, teaches Jewish philosophy at HaMidrasha and elsewhere, and leads pluralistic beit midrash study at the Rabin Pre-Army Leadership Academy. Her first book, a study of Levinas’s use of the Talmud, was translated to English and published in 2015 by Duquesne University Press as Reading between the Lines: Form and Content in Levinas’s Talmudic Readings. Dr. Goldwyn is the editor of Dorshot Tov 2: Collective and Feminist Interpretation of the Ben Sorer U’Moreh Talmudic Chapter.
Lior Davidi
Lior is the VP Resource Development Manager at HaMidrasha – Hechalutz. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and had gained vast experience in administration, logistics, management of educational programs and resource development, while working more than five years at an International and Educational Environment: at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa, Among NGO’s in Israel and abroad.
Lior was born and raised in the USA until a young age and lives in Haifa nowadays.
Lior is a proud graduate of Mechinat Rabin - pre-army academy, and during her military service at the Education and youth force, she served as a commander for international lonesome soldiers.
Furthermore, Lior loves dancing, music, traveling around the world, and is a certified tour leader from the University of Haifa Israeli school of tourism.
Raya Ofner
Raya Ofner combines her love of Israel and her rich experience as an art and theater educator in leading women’s workshops at HaMidrasha, creating an enriching and empowering experience. A seasoned hiker and nature lover, Ofner has a deep connection with the nature and topography of Israel that she has shared with Jews overseas as a Bnei Akiva shlicha (emissary). Raya directs the annual “Israel Trail Encounters” (Nifgashim B’Shvil), which she initiated with her husband as a living memorial to her son Avi, z”l, who was killed in the tragic 1997 helicopter crash.
Rabba Hadas Ron Zariz
Hadas is a founding member of HaMidrasha, where she is co-director and instructor, of Amitei Kehilah, a community spiritual leader training program. Hadas lectures at Oranim Academic College, where she supervises and mentors’ students who are studying and working with teenagers at risk. Hadas earned her MA in couples and family therapy from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She received her rabbinic ordination from the Beit Midrash for Israeli Rabbis. Hadas. is a spiritual leader of Yifat b’Ruach, a Jewish Israeli community in the Yezreel Valley,
Yoram Verete
Facilitator
Dani Zamir, Esq.
Dani is a founder of the Yitzhak Rabin Pre-Army Leadership Academy (Mechinat Rabin) at HaMidrasha, a major (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces, and a practicing attorney, as well as the CEO of the National Council of Pre-Military Leadership Academies (Mechinot), the umbrella organization that represents mechinot in Israel. Dani has inspired countless young Israelis to take an active role in their communities and serve in the IDF with meaning. He has helped produce a new generation of committed, thoughtful, and compassionate leaders, and instilled in them social responsibility and a commitment to the betterment of Israeli society.
Ruti Zamir-Davis, M.A.
Ruti Zamir-Davis is a clinical psychologist with a BA in Jewish studies from Tel Aviv University and a professional certificate in management from the Open University (UK). With more than twenty years of experience in individual supervision and psychotherapy, team work, and organizational counseling, she is an invaluable part of individual and team professional development at HaMidrasha. For her soul, Ruti is a co-manager of the Beit Midrash for Nigunim (Jewish ritual melodies), where she focuses on Hasidic music and the songs of Israel’s pioneers. She has produced one album and has another on the way.
Shay Zarchi
Rav Shay Zarchi has forged the way for thousands of Israelis to connect with Judaism through his role in helping found HaMidrasha and by establishing the first center in Israel for training Israeli Community Spiritual Leaders at HaMidrasha, spearheading the Nigun HaLev spiritual community, teaching, renewing and designing Jewish lifecycle ceremonies, sharing new melodies through the creation of Mercaz Nigunim, and providing an abundance of opportunities for people to find their Jewish spark.
He is a Founder and Educational Director of the Beit Midrash for Israeli Rabbis.
Shay Zarchi is a recipient of the Liebhaber Prize for the Promotion of Religious Tolerance.
Moti Zeira
Dr. Moti Zeira is a founder and president of HaMidrasha, the Educational Center for Jewish Life in Israel. A foremost leader of the Israeli Judaism movement, Moti works tirelessly to make Jewish heritage, Jewish culture, spirituality, and community accessible to all Jews and to bring pluralistic Judaism to the mainstream. He has been leading marriages and other Jewish lifecycle ceremonies for the past 30 years and is the chairman of Panim, the Israeli Judaism Network.
Moti has authored eleven books and numerous articles on topics ranging from the early Zionist pioneers to Jewish and Israeli identity and community. His most recent publication is a biography of Naomi Shemer. He was born in Haifa and lives with his wife on Kibbutz Givat Chaim Ichud, as do their children and grandchildren.
