Zohar Avigdori
LGBTQ+ Community and the Israeli Drag Scene
High-school teacher by day, Drag queen by night. Growing up in a youth movement has led Zohar to choose education and social change as a lifestyle. Zohar currently works as a teacher at the “Social High-School”, an innovative vocational school, and is also one of the leading drag queens in Israel as Zohara (his drag character) and a prominent LGBTQ+ activist. In addition, Zohar works with English-speaking Jewish communities around the world and with English-speaking immigrants in Israel.
Sophia Blumenthal
The History of Hebrew: a Language for a People Re-Born
Learning Hebrew since she was five years old, Sophia has always had an interest in languages. After studying theater and Yiddish at the University of Michigan, she made Aliyah and started working for Dror Israel where she worked with olim (immigrants) from different countries and helped them find their way in Israel. Being a non-native Hebrew speaker, she found a unique perspective on how language relates to history and identity. Sophia is currently part of Dror Israel’s international outreach team.
Yuval Hod
Peace and Civil Resilience on the Gaza Border
A great believer in Peace, Yuval has been living for the past decade in the city of Sderot, on the Gaza border, where he leads tours of the city and organizes local leadership communities. He is active in the IDF reserves and has participated in several military operations over the past years. Through his personal experience, both as a soldier and as a local educator, he has created a deep understanding of the importance of building civil resilience as a crucial component in working towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Amir Brown
How I Started a Hi-Tech Workers Union: Labor and Social Justice in the 21st Century
Amir is the author of the book “Building of Hearts” which tells the true and dramatic story of one of the first high-tech workers unions in Israel. Amir grew up in a youth labor union and later mentored working teenagers himself. As a union organizer in the “Histadrut”, he helps to create multiple new workers unions in new and challenging industries: first in the fast-food industry and then in high-tech, one of the most competitive and challenging industries in Israel.
Mirit Sulema
Dror Israel - An Educational and Community Revolution
Born in Herziliya, Mirit moved to Akko with her friends with the goal of building a community of educators and making a real change in Israeli society. For the past eight years, she has been the Coordinator for the Dror Israel urban educators’ kibbutz in Akko and led a worldwide fundraising campaign for the community's new building. She founded the “Akko Shared Society Center” in 2015, which runs joint activities for some 200 Jewish and Arab youth every year. Mirit also teaches entrepreneurship and business skills at the Dror Social High School in Haifa for at-risk youth.
Tamir Haber
Arab and Jewish Relations in Mixed Cities
Akko, one of the most mixed cities in Israel, has many challenges. The highly diverse community requires great imagination and flexibility in order to build the social bridges needed to live together in peace. For the past decade, Tamir has been living in the Galil and Akko, working with at-risk youth and immigrants. Together with his friends in Akko, he founded the “Advot Center” which promotes democracy and shared existence.
Expert Speakers
Chagit Shvarzman
On the Ground Executive Director
Chagit is the founder of “On the Ground” activities and has over two decades of extensive experience in leading experiential and informal educational programming. She served in several management roles in Israel’s largest youth movement. An expert in Russian-speaking communities, Chagit has developed several programs for young immigrants in Israel. Chagit is Dror Israel’s present liaison to Jewish Peoplehood Organizations in Israel and around the world.
Yotam Marck
Finance and Operations
Yotam manages all financial and administrative aspects of “On the Ground” and other Dror Israel educational activities for schools, municipal institutions, security forces, and more. He is a trained teacher and experienced informal educator, including eight years as the manager of a youth center in Haifa for at-risk youth in a mixed city of Jewish and Arab residents. He is an expert in building intentional communities.
Eitan Goldstein
Head Counselor (South)
Based in Be'er Sheva, Eitan is an educator and a talented actor. He has spent the past 10 years in the field of education and youth leadership as a senior member of the Habonim Dror youth movement in the USA, including the position of Executive Director. Originally from San Francisco, Eitan made aliyah to Israel two years ago, where he currently resides and spent the last two year focusing on Arab-Jewish educational activities.
Hannah Faber
Head Counselor (North)
Hannah made aliyah in 2018 from Canada and since then has been living in the educators kibbutz in Haifa. As a trained and experienced educator, she decided to continue her work in Israel by leading the recruiting process for the gap year program in Bnei HaMoshavim movement and running a youth center in Kibbutz Gvat. Hannah also fills an acting role in an educational musical called “Simple Math”- a musical that deals with questions about Israeli democracy.
George Stevens
Head Counselor (Center)
George Stevens grew up in Philadelphia and made aliyah in 2011. Today George is proud to live on an educators' kibbutz in Sderot. He has led and directed several Israel programs over the years, including summer programs as well as gap-year programs from North America and the UK. Holding degrees from Stanford University and Beit Berl College, George has run workshops on everything from the power dynamics of antisemitism, the utopian roots of Zionism, and how to create Israel programs as safer spaces.
Carmi Tint
Education Specialist
Carmi grew up in Vancouver, Canada and made aliyah in 2011. Carmi has implemented educational programming about Jewish leadership for gap year participants in Israel and created alternative spaces for Zionist dialogue on politically polarized campuses across North America for gap year alumni. Carmi is a member of the educators kibbutz in Sderot where she works as a grassroots community organizer with the city’s under-served populations. Carmi recently returned home after a two year shlichut (educational placement) in Brooklyn, New York.
