MEET HUC-J IR’S STUDENTS
2009
ISSUE 72 | 53
Conservative, Secular, and Modern-Orthodox
congregations in Israel, under the auspices of
the Israel Religious Action Center.
Born in New York and raised in Tel
Aviv,
Galit Cohen Kedem
serves as program
director at Kehilat Tzur Hadassah, is a grad-
uate of Tehuda-Beit Midrash for Jewish
Leadership in Israel (Hamidrasha and
Kolot), and a former community organizer
at Beit Tefilah Israeli in Tel Aviv. She received
her B.A. in Hebrew Language and Literature
from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She
studied in several pluralistic
batei midrash
(
including Beit Shmuel/HUC-JIR and the
Hartman Institute) and worked for Gesher
to promote dialogue between secular and re-
ligious high school students. Galit served as
a Hebrew teacher at the school for overseas
students at Hebrew University. She is mov-
ing to Holon, where she will be part of a
city-wide effort for Jewish renaissance.
Since 2005,
Uri Lam
has been a rabbini-
cal assistant at
Congregacao Israelita Paulista
(
CIP),
in Sao Paola, Brazil, where he was re-
sponsible for
Shabbat Neshama
,
the
egalitarian
minyan
,
and taught
b’nei mitzvah
classes and introductory Judaism courses to
candidates for conversion. As a translator, he
worked on the first translation of the
Tanakh
into Portuguese, was responsible for assem-
bling, translating, and transliterating the new
siddur
,
Shavua Tov,
and is currently working
on the new
siddur
,
Chag Sameach.
He also
translated Reform responsa and the Ameri-
can Jewish Conversion website into Por-
tuguese. He received a degree in psychology
from the Institute of Psychology, University
of Sao Paolo in 1995 and the master in phi-
losophy at Pontificia Universidade Catolica
in Sao Paolo in 2003.
An instructor and lecturer in Jewish
Thought and Jewish Education at Oranim
College,
Telalit Shavit
is one of the founders
of “Nigun Shel Nashim” College (a pluralis-
tic women’s
beit midrash)
,
which she directed
for many years. Telalit taught at several plu-
ralistic
batei midrash
and learning
communities in the northern part of Israel.
Currently, she is working as a curricular ad-
visor and director of Educators’ Seminars
under the Partnership 2000 Tel Aviv and Los
Angeles program. She is moving to Modiin
and will join Kehillat Yozma as they trans-
form the fastest growing city in Israel.
Orr Zohar
is a student and teacher of
Kabbalah
,
a writer and performer of music,
and an instructor of musical texts related to
the Jewish tradition. He is a doctoral student
of
Kabbalah
research at the School of Jewish
Studies at Tel Aviv University. He teaches
Kabbalah
and the
Zohar
for the Conserva-
tive Movement in Tel Aviv, at the Mousayoff
Center at Bar Ilan University, and elsewhere.
He presents programs such as “
Kabalat
Shabbat
”
and “The Holy Trinity – an Inter-
faith Dialog” on the radio. Orr writes on Ju-
daism,
Kabbalah
,
and other spiritual topics,
for the on-line
Ma’ariv
newspaper.
Meirav Kalush
returned home from
England after three years as an emissary of
the Jewish Agency for Israel. In England she
worked with the community and with the
Netzer Youth Movemen. Prior to this posi-
tion, Meirav worked as an education
supervisor and director of the “
Amitim
”
pro-
gram of the Jewish Agency. Meirav is a
graduate of Hebrew University’s Jewish Stud-
ies program. She grew up in Kibbutz Masuot
Yitzhak, and believes that a thought can cre-
ate a reality, and that we all have a part in
mending our world.
Eli Yoel Levin
was born in Tel Aviv in
1960.
His Polish father, the only survivor of
his family after the Holocaust, immigrated to
Israel in 1949. Eli’s mother was born in Ar-
gentina and came to Israel in 1953. Eli
graduated fromTel Aviv University with a de-
gree in dentistry in 1989. Since then, he has
been working as a dentist dividing his time
among two
kibbutzim
and his own clinic in
Netanya. Eight years ago, he started to study
the history of the Jews at Tel Aviv University.
He is a member of the Reform Congregation
“
Netan-ya” and at times serves as rabbi in
conducting services and ceremonies.
Israel Rabbinical Program students (from right) Na’ama Dafni-Kellen, J ’12, Gila Caine, J ’11,
Benje Gruber, J ’09, Ariella Graetz-Bartuv, J ’10, and Haim Shalom, J ’10.
