Resources for Teaching the Upcoming Israeli Election

Hona is Senior Educator at Unpacked for Educators (UED), where he leads the organization's international network of educators and delivers professional development to Jewish communities worldwide. He teaches a range of gap year programs in Israel, travels internationally to teach communities, and drives the development of The Weekly, UED's current events newsletter for the classroom. Before making Aliyah, Hona spent a decade teaching in Melbourne, Australia, where he served as Head of Jewish Life at Leibler Yavneh College. He holds degrees in Law, Commerce, and Education. He lives in Jerusalem.

Abi Dauber Sterne is co-director and co-author of For the Sake of Argument, an initiative that harnesses the energy and passion contained in healthy arguments to create deep educational engagement. Abi has worked in the United States and in Israel as an educator and organizational leader for more than 20 years. Through her roles in senior management at two international organizations -- Hillel International and The Jewish Agency for Israel's Makom – she has invested her time in developing pluralistic education experiences. Abi has rabbinic ordination from the Beit Midrash for Israeli Rabbis of the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Midrasha in Oranim. She is a Senior Schusterman Fellow and holds an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Jerusalem, with her spouse and four children. Her family dinner table is always a raucous mixture of laughter and disagreement.

Ilana Gleicher-Bloom is the Program Director for Resources at M²: Institute for Experiential Jewish Education. In her work she focuses on developing pluralist yet inclusive learning environments and is interested in every person being able to access Torah. Ilana is a graduate of Brandeis University and was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Melamdim Teacher Education Program at the Hartman Institute and Tel Aviv University. In 2015, Ilana had the opportunity to research and develop a new model for congregational schools, which she launched as Mensch Academy, the religious school of Mishkan Chicago, and in 2018, she received the Pomegranate Prize from the Covenant Foundation. Ilana currently lives in Jerusalem with her husband and three children.

Mikhael 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.