Discovering Israel through Stories and Art with Israel Story and Hanoch Piven

Hanoch Piven is an award-winning Israeli artist, children’s book author, and educator, known best for his colorful portraits of public figures. His artistic method has been implemented in kindergartens and schools in Israel and throughout the world as a means to teach creativity and visual expression. Piven conducts creative workshops using play to prompty children and adults alike to create works of art with the purpose of expanding their ways of exploration and communication. He has worked extensively with the Israeli Ministry of Education and a diverse array of educational organizations such as The iCenter, PJ Library, and The Paradigm Project. Piven’s latest book, Dream Big, Laugh Often and More Great Advice from the Bible, authored with Shira Hecht-Koller, is “an unusual, fascinating blueprint for living a good, happy life” (Kirkus Reviews).
 

Loen Amer has been an experiential Jewish educator working with teens since she was one herself! She has served at Temple Israel of Great Neck as the Director of Teen and Community Engagement, and at Bet Torah in Mt Kisco–first as their Director of Youth Engagement, and then as their Director of Experiential Learning for Children and Teens. Loen has also worked for Ramah Israel, the Hillel at Hofstra University, Woodbury Jewish Center, and Temple Beth Sholom in Roslyn Heights. 

Loen has a voracious love for lifelong Jewish learning, and most recently studied Torah le’shmah, Torah for its own sake, at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. She lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side and enjoys baking and reading.

Mikhael Reuven Kesher is a curator of educational experiences and resources, whose professional passion is supporting Jewish educators and learners in building informed, constructive, and committed relationships with am yisrael (the Jewish people) and medinat yisrael (the Jewish state). As a British-born Israeli-by-choice and new American, he cares deeply about strengthening each Jew’s connection to global Jewry. Before joining The Jewish Education Project as Director, Israel Education, Mikhael worked at Harvard Hillel, MIT Hillel, and Hebrew College. He holds Master’s degrees in Philosophy (University of Cambridge), Near Eastern & Judaic Studies (Brandeis University), and Jewish professional leadership (Brandeis University). At home, Mikhael is an avid reader, ḥevruta enthusiast, and devoted abba to two young children.