The Path Forward: Your Post-October 7th Toolkit

Ayal Beer is a Program Director at M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education. Based out of the Israel office, he directs M²’s flagship program in Israel, “Mabat” as well as other work with Israeli educators. Prior to this Ayal directed a pre-Army “mechina” program focused on Jewish Israeli identity and social change. He has also trained educational staff for a variety of Jewish organizations in the U.S and Canada, including in Poland. Ayal earned a B.A in Social Work at Bar Ilan University and a Master’s degree in Talmud and Religious Law from the Schechter Institute. A licensed tour guide, Ayal lives with his wife and four children in Kibbutz Hannaton in the Lower Galilee. 

Flora Cassen is Senior Faculty at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Flora was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium. She attended college in Brussels, where she studied history and law. She moved to the US to continue her studies, earning an MA in comparative history from Brandeis University and a Ph.D. in Jewish History from New York University. She has taught European and Jewish history at the University of Vermont, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Washington University in Saint Louis, where she also served as chair of the Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies. An accomplished author, her articles have appeared in publications such as Haaretz, Slate, The Conversation, Psyche/Aeon, Smithsonian Magazine, and The Forward. She lives in St. Louis with her husband and two sons.

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.

Rabba Yaffa Epstein is the Senior Scholar and Educator in Residence at the Jewish Education Project. Formerly, she served as the Director of the Wexner Heritage Program at the Wexner Foundation. Epstein has also served as the Director of Education, North America for the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and was a member of the faculty. She has served on the faculties of Yeshivat Maharat and the Drisha Institute. Epstein has served as an Educator and Scholar in Residence for the Dorot Fellowship, Moishe House, Jewish Federation of North America, the Covenant Foundation, the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship, Repair the World, the Meorot Fellowship, and the KADIMA Fellowship. She has lectured at numerous Limmud events around the globe, has written curriculum for the Global Day of Jewish Learning and has created innovative educational programming for Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. She received Rabbinic Ordination from Yeshivat Maharat, earned an additional private Ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes, holds a Law Degree from Bar-Ilan University, and studied at the Talmud Department at Hebrew University.

Rabba Epstein is passionate about making Jewish learning accessible and exciting, and creating learning environments that are welcoming, diverse, and inclusive to all who wish to participate. She has taught educators, rabbis and lay leaders from across the spectrum of Jewish denominations. Rabba Epstein is the winner of the prestigious Covenant Award.

Sarah Gordon is the Senior Director of Israel Education for Unpacked for Educators, a division of OpenDor Media. Previously, Sarah served as the Director of Israel Guidance and Experiential Education at Ma’ayanot High School, where she taught Talmud, and chaired a course on Contemporary Israel. Sarah holds dual masters degrees in Jewish Education and Modern Jewish History from Yeshiva University, where she is currently pursuing her Ed.D as a Wexner Fellow and Davidson Scholar.

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.

Akiva Mattenson is Faculty at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Akiva has taught Jews of all ages and experiences in settings including the Hadar Institute, Hillels across the country, Limmud North America, and The Orot Center for New Jewish Learning. He received semikhah (rabbinic ordination) at Hadar and holds a BA in philosophy from DePaul University, where he focused on twentieth-century Continental thought. He has written and taught extensively on Jewish theology, prayer, rabbinic hermeneutics, and halakhic jurisprudence.

Mina Rush is the National Director of Middle School Education for StandWithUs. With a master's degree in education with a master's certification in Israel education, Mina has presented and has been a panelist at Jewish educators’ and leadership conferences. Grounded in an experiential, and relational educational philosophy, Mina created IsraelLINK, a learner-centered approach focused on Israel exploration through the prism of identity and values. IsraelLINK has been implemented in over 450 educational institutions across North America and has inspired over 19,000 students to integrate Israel into their Jewish identity-building process.
 

Ivy Schreiber is the Managing Director, Professional Learning and Growth at The Jewish Education Project. Her current work focuses on supporting Jewish educators towards adopting new models that lead to thriving and are responsive to today’s learners and families. Prior to The Jewish Education Project, Ivy worked at B’nai Jeshurun (BJ) in NYC for a decade, where she served as the Education Director, and also has experience in Jewish camping and as a consultant to synagogues. Ivy holds an MA in Jewish Education from the Davidson School at JTS, is an alum of the Leadership Institute, and is a Wexner Field Fellow. Ivy lives in Westchester with her husband and three children.

Dr. Betsy Stone received her Doctorate in Psychology from Yale University. She is a psychologist and for the last seventeen years has served as an adjunct lecturer at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. Her classes include Human Development for Educators, Adolescent Development and Teens In and Out of Crisis. She also teaches a family education class in her synagogue, Temple Sinai of Stamford, for 6th and 7th graders and their parents, and likes to travel and teach about teenagers and their families. Her most recent book is Refuah Shlema.

Dr. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath, Ed.D., is the Senior Director of Knowledge, Ideas and Learning at The Jewish Education Project. A lifelong Jewish educator and learner, Samantha has lived and worked in Jewish communities in Israel, Washington DC, Cleveland, and New York. Samantha is a recognized expert on Israel education, Jewish teens, antisemitism education, and Jewish peoplehood. She is the author of #antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in the category of Education and Jewish Identity. She is an alumna of the University of Pittsburgh, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Gratz College. Samantha lives in Westchester with her husband, baby, and two beloved rescue dogs.

My name is Maya Yehezkel and I started guiding in 2008. I’m completely in love with what I do. I started my way in Jewish education working with many different summer camps from the state here in Israel. In 2011, I studied for two years to become a qualified tour guide. Since then I have guided Birthrights, different Federations, family trips to Israel, pilgrimage visits for all religions and private tours. I then continued to an MA Program in Jewish Peoplehood Studies and graduated with honors at the University of Haifa. Besides being a tour guide, I also studied for 4 years at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and graduated with a B.Des.Visual Communication. My final project was Graffiti, as I am very connected to street art since my childhood. In the last few years I started creating sand art, and in 2020 I had the honor of publishing a book of my sand art called sand woman TLV. In 2021, the English version was published, and in 2023 the second edition was printed. I believe that art has the power to heal us, especially in these hard times.