Diti Bechor USA Galia Adiv ISRAEL Marisa Albert
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Galia Adiv ISRAEL Teacher and Jewish History and Culture Guide Or School, Kfar Oranim [email protected] Galia Adiv is an innovative Jewish educator who works at the Or School at Kefar H’oranim. She wrote a new program on the subject of the homeland, created a new workbook with an accompanying card game to update students on the Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel from the time of the departure from the walls to the establishment of the state of Israel, and helped the students prepare presentations on what they had learned. All lesson plans created by Adiv were tailored to different ages to learn about Judaism and Zionism. As part of the issues discussed in the culture of Israel and legacy at the 7th & 8th grade, she wrote a learning unit called "Sanhedrin travels in Israel," to engage students in the Sanhedrin and in prayer in relation to Zionist and Jewish values. Marisa Albert USA Intern World Zionist Organization [email protected] Marisa Albert is an intern at the World Zionist Organization through the Onward Israel program. She is from Massachusetts and is a rising junior at Brandeis University studying Psychology and Business. She is a Brandeis Bridges Fellow, which is a student-led initiative that strives to connect the Black and Jewish communities on campus through conducting dialogue, events, and traveling to Israel and to the South USA to follow the Freedom Rider’s path during the Civil Rights movement. Marisa was actively involved in the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) in high school and first discovered her love of Israel by traveling here with BBYO several summers ago. Diti Bechor USA North American Coordinator for Morim Shlichim World Zionist Organization [email protected] Diti Bechor is the North American coordinator for Morim Shlichim (Teaching Emissaries) program in North America and the local representative for The World Zionist Organization. She previously served as a Shlicha and The Midwest Program Director for Young Judea and the Hebrew Programs coordinator at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. A graduate of Tel Aviv University in Management and Economics, she has served as CEO of several organizations in Israel. She was formerly a counselor in the Israel Scouts (Tzofim) and head of Israel Scouts in Yafo. She was also the Head of the PTA in her children’s school for 20 years. Naomi Benedek ISRAEL English Teacher Har Nof Elementary School [email protected] Naomi Benedek is an English Teacher in Har-Nof Elementary School in Tiberias. She was born in Tiberias and then moved to Kibbutz Misgav-Am in the northern border of Israel. After six years in the kibbutz, her family came back to Tiberias. In the last ten years she has been involved in the jewish Agency’s Partnership 2-gether Projects at ‘Sovev Kinneret’ Region. Experience and responsabilities for joinet youth programs between ‘Sovev Kinneret’ Region and schools from Tulsa and St. Paul. Naomi holds a BA Degree in Education Studies from Bar- Ilan University and an MA Degree in Bible Studies from Haifa University. Naomi is married and has 4 children and 5 grandchildren, with 2 more grandchildren on the way. Sharon Binnes ISRAEL English Teacher Reut School [email protected] Sharon Binnes was born and brought up in the northwest of England and came to spend a year in Israel on the WUJS program in Arad in her 20’s. Twenty-seven years later, she is still here! She studied for a Masters in Comparative Literature at Hebrew University and became a certified English teacher. Sharon has been teaching High school English for the last 16 years at the Reut School in Jerusalem, a pluralistic religious community. Sharon is married with 4 children, 2 of whom are doing their military service in the Israeli army. Sharon belongs to Yedidya, a liberal Orthodox schul in Baka. Kyle Borenstein CANADA Director, Student Activities TanenbaumCHAT [email protected] Kyle Borenstein, a Toronto, Canada native, spent 2 years studying at Yeshivat Hakotel in Jerusalem before attending Yeshiva University where he received his Bachelors in Business and Management. Upon graduating, Kyle participated in Yeshiva University’s Legacy Heritage Fellowship, which had him teaching students from 6th-12th grade for two years at Robert M. Beren Academy in Houston, TX. Simultaneously he completed his Master's Degree from the Azrieli School of Jewish Education. Kyle has spent multiple summers attending the Pardes Summer Curriculum Workshop and will be participating in Yeshiva University’s Experiential Jewish Education Certificate Program beginning June 2015. Kyle currently teaches Rabbinics and Tanach at TanenbaumCHAT, a Community Jewish high school in Toronto. There he is also the Co-ordinator of the Grade 9 Shabbaton Program, leading multiple Shabbaton retreats throughout the academic year. Kyle will be assuming the role of Director of Student Activities in the upcoming academic year. In his free time Kyle plays ice hockey as well as coaches high school ice hockey. Kyle is excited for the opportunity to grow as an educator and to inspire a new generation of Jews, with a love of Torah, Israel and a sense of commitment to the Jewish people. Sandy Borowsky USA Education Director Orangetown Jewish Center [email protected] Sandra Borowsky has been Orangetown Jewish Center’s Educational Director since 2002. Previously, she was the Principal of Pelham Manor Jewish Center in Westchester County for three years. A year before college, she lived on Kibbutz Hatzerim, near Beersheva. After receiving her B.S. from the University of Maryland, College Park, and her M.S. Education from Long Island University, Sandra completed her studies in the first cohort of Leadership Institute for Congregational Principals, a two-year innovative joint program of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion. She was chosen as a Legacy Heritage Summer Fellow and studied at the Conservative Yeshiva of United Synagogue, Fuchsberg Center in Jerusalem. Sandra was selected to participate in an exclusive program at the Center Of Israel Education and Emory Institute for Study of Modern Israel that was funded by the Avi Chai Foundation. She received a mini MBA from the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education in managerial skills. Sandra was honored to be chosen and was funded to be one of 20 American educators to study at the Yad Vashem International School for Holocaust Studies summer workshop. Sandra has received numerous grants for her innovative educational curriculum and programming from various organization including United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the Foundation of Jewish Camps and the local Jewish Federation. Dr. David Breakstone ISRAEL Vice Chairman World Zionist Organization [email protected] Dr. David Breakstone is Vice Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and Founding Director of Herzl Museum and Educational Center, as well as a member of the Jewish Agency executive. An educator by training, he has also served as Director of the Hebrew University’s Pedagogic Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora, as Associate Dean and Director of Education at the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies, and as Director of Ramah Programs in Israel. Dr. Breakstone, who made Aliyah from the United States in 1974 and earned his doctorate from Hebrew University in the field of Israel education, has published numerous articles, books, and pedagogic materials on the teaching of Israel, Israel-Diaspora relations, and Zionism – all topics on which he lectures extensively. His regular column in the Jerusalem Post, deals primarily with contemporary issues in Israeli society, particularly as they relate to the life of the Jewish community worldwide. He blogs at http://keepdreaminginzion.wordpress.com/. Ian Brojges CANADA Hillel Director Jewish Federation of Winnipeg [email protected] Ian was born and raised in Winnipeg by his parents, two brothers and one sister. He was a very involved community member there and attended the Jewish elementary school and Jewish high school in Winnipeg. He studied Jewish Education at York University in Toronto and at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He lived in Calgary for seven years and Toronto for four years. Ian was a teacher at the Calgary Jewish Academy and the Family Program Director at the Beth Tzedec Synagogue in Calgary and is currently the Hillel Director in Winnipeg. Ian is a friendly and passionate professional who is dedicated to the future of Jewish Education in North America. Rabbi Lee Buckman CANADA Head of School TanenbaumCHAT [email protected] Lee Buckman has had two professional careers: one as a congregational rabbi in the 1990’s and the other as a head of school. As head of school, he founded a Jewish day high school in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan in 1999. In 2009, he moved to Atlanta GA to revitalize a failing elementary day school. In 2013, he was appointed head of school of the largest Jewish day high school in North America, an 1100 student school in Toronto called TanenbaumCHAT. In all three cities he has taken great pride in attracting students from a wide range of denominational backgrounds. His leadership has always advanced a strongly Zionist and pluralistic vision. It is a vision that reflects his belief that to the extent one creates multiple entry points into Judaism, more young Jews will connect with their Jewish heritage. In 1990, Lee graduated rabbinical school from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. In 2009, he earned Orthodox semicha in Israel from two different dayanim. He is a fluent Hebrew speaker and writer. He and his wife Rachel, a veteran teacher of limudei kodesh, raised their four sons bilingually. One has made aliyah and serves in the IDF. Rachel Buckman CANADA Teacher, Judaic Studies Jewish Academy, Atlanta [email protected] Rachel Buckman is a veteran Judaic Studies teacher who has taught in Jewish day schools in New York, Milwaukee, Detroit, Atlanta and Toronto.