אילת לין
Ilana Abu Golan
Ilana is HaMidrasha’s director of Jewish Israeli identity and culture programs. She has spent her career developing and leading pluralistic Jewish education programs, including for the Israeli Community Centers Network, Melitz, and Meytarim. Ilana previously led the Department of Culture, Tradition, and Renewal at the Leo Baeck Community Center in Haifa, where she remains an active community member, and is a founding member of Limmud Haifa.
Avishai Ben Aharon
Avishai is a 3rd generation Israeli, who continues in the footsteps of his family who were Israeli pioneers, who founded kibbutzim, who were politicians, who served in the first years of Israel’s Knesset and were cultural leaders and philosophers, whose ideas and actions still influence Israeli society today. Avishai expects no less from himself and from his generation than what his forefathers and mothers accomplished. That is to create a pluralistic Israeli society that is based on Jewish values, equality, democracy, innovation, economic and personal security.
Avishai is a founder and leader of HeChalutz, HaMidrasha’s array of pioneering programs for highly motivated high school graduates and young adults who volunteer, work, and often settle in socially and geographically disadvantaged communities in Israel. He leads pluralistic Jewish study and identity programs for young Israelis recently discharged from the IDF, including Seeds of Summer, Made in Israel, Young Communities, and Student Communities. Avishai is a resident of Carmel, a young activist community in the Hadar neighborhood of Haifa. He reached the rank of captain as a company commander in the IDF Armored Corps and continues to perform reserve duty. Avishai is a proud graduate of Mechinat Rabin. Avishai is a national role model and father of two young children.
Miki Ben-ari
Zionist youth organizations are the heart and soul of Miki’s professional life. Having grown up in the Israel Scouts (Tzofim), he returned to the movement after his army service to serve as its director for northern Israel. He subsequently served as director of the Or Movement, where he drew on his commitment to informal education and connecting young adults to Eretz Yisrael in building young communities in the Galilee. Miki may seem to be working 24/7, but he still has time for cycling and quality time with his family.
Ayala Ben-Horin
Ayala began her career as an advertising agency account executive, supervising marketing budgets for colleges, hospitals and retail chains. While working with business entities was interesting and kept her busy, in her words “it lacked soul”. She then went on to work for the community centers network, where she was introduced to the nonprofit and informal education sectors. In that capacity, Ayala worked to ensure that the center’s programs were made available to every local resident.
In her current position at HaMidrasha, Ayala applies her expertise to promote outreach efforts to diverse segments of the Israeli population who are interested in exploring their Israeli Judaism.
Anat Butzin
Moria Dafni
Tamar Elad-Appelbaum
Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum is the founder of ZION: An Eretz Israeli Congregation in Jerusalem; and Vice President of the Masorti Rabbinical Assembly. Her work spans and links tradition and innovation, working toward Jewish spiritual and ethical renaissance. She devotes much of her energy to the renewal of community life in Israel and the struggle for human rights. Rabbi Elad-Appelbaum served as rabbi of Congregation Magen Avraham in the Negev; as a congregational rabbi in the New York suburbs alongside Rabbi Gordon Tucker; and as Assistant Dean of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem. In 2010 she was named by the Forward as one of the five most influential female religious leaders in Israel for her work promoting pluralism and Jewish religious freedom.
She is a Founder and Educational Director for the Ordination Program for Israeli Rabbis.
Saar Fux
Email: saarfux@gmail.com
Ronit Gilat Azar
In her position as Director of the Educational Facilitation Training Center, Ronit leads groups and conducts educational sessions for participants in HaMidrasha’s programs. She discovered her love for Jewish Thought while leading a Beit Midrash for high school graduates in a community service program and thus decided to pursue an MA in Israeli Thought from Haifa University. Ronit believes that studying ancient texts through modern eyes is a powerful means for introspection and reflection.
Dudu Guri
