Teaching Israel through Disagreement: A Reimagining Israel Education Professional Development Intensive

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.

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.