Jackie Levi-Atias
Jackie Levi-Atias, Director of the Certificate Program
Jackie Levi-Atias, Deputy Director of International School, directs the Certificate Program for Jewish Day School Teachers. In addition, she directs School to School initiatives and promotes new partnerships. She has been at Oranim since 2005. Prior to that, Jackie coordinated the educational curriculum for the Mandel Leadership Institute’s Jerusalem Fellows program. She also served as the Ma’aleh Program Coordinator at Hebrew University’s Magid Institute for Continuing Education. Jackie has a B.A. and an M.P.A. from the University of Haifa.
Lori Abramson, MAJE
Lori Abramson, MAJE, Assistant Director of Certificate Program, Pedagogical Mentor and Lecturer
Lori Abramson, MAJE, Associate Director of Jewish Peoplehood, has worked at the Shdemot Department of Jewish Peoplehood since 2007, and is also a lecturer in Oranim’s English Department. She has published articles and presented at conferences on the subjects of Israel education and Jewish Peoplehood, and published Jewish educational curricula. Lori has a B.A. from the University of California at Davis and an M.A. in Jewish Education from Hebrew Union College. Before making aliyah, Lori was the Head of Yavneh Day School in California.
Dr. Micha Roi
Academic Committee
Dr. Micha Roi is the Head of the Bible Department at Oranim College of Education. He holds a PhD from Tel Aviv University. He teaches at David Yellin College in Jerusalem as well. His research, published in various journals, addresses the use of literary tools as aids to the analysis of Biblical texts of different kinds. The literary tools are used both for the analysis of texts from the field of the story as received and for the analysis of texts from the fields of law, prophecy, and Biblical theology.
Dr. Moshe Shner
Academic Committee and Lecturer
Dr. Moshe Shner is a senior lecturer at Oranim College. Shner received his Ph.D. in Jewish philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in NYC, where he studied the impact of the Holocaust on Jewish identity. Currently, he is a Lecturer of Jewish philosophy.
Currently Shner heads the History and Philosophy department of Oranim College. His academic teaching includes topics in Jewish philosophy, Jewish education, Holocaust Education, and the challenge of modern Jewish identity, interfaith dialogues, and multicultural education in a post-Holocaust world. A special place in his writings and teaching is dedicated to the legacy of the Polish-Jewish educators Janusz Korczak and Yitzhak Katzenelson.
Besides Judaic studies, Shner deals with cross-cultural Global Education programs, online pedagogy, and the challenge of the Internet World to traditional teaching-learning paradigms; among other topics, he explores the potential of Internet networking for worldwide Holocaust education.
In addition to numerous articles and chapters in academic and popular platforms, Shner published In the Beginning there was the Holocaust: a Spiritual Journey into the Abysses of History. Jerusalem: Magness Press (2013), Born Virtual: Free Human Spirit in a Borderless World. Tel Aviv: Mofet Institute (2012), and Korczak and Katzenelson – two Educators in the Abysses of History. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University School of Education (2011).
Shner is a board member of the Ghetto Fighters’ House Holocaust Museum.
Dr. David Netzer
Academic Committee and Pedagogical Mentor
Born in the previous millennium, in 1954, I grew up in a Kibbutz. Both my parents were teachers. I believe these two biographical facts have contributed considerably to my personality and professional choices.
I graduated from Oranim College of Education as a high-school history teacher, taught and educated teenagers for about 20 years. Alongside school-teaching I wrote and instructed Jewish-Arab educational workshops in the Center for Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters Holocaust Museum. The work and impact of that unique enterprise was the subject of my Ph.D. (2008).
For the past 25 years I have been teaching educational professionalism at Oranim, encompassing general pedagogy and teaching skills.
Since 2017 I have served as the director of the high-school teacher-certification program for the Faculty of Education in Oranim.
Dr. Muli Peleg
Academic Committee
Dr. Samuel (Muli) Peleg is the Director of the International School at Oranim College and a Member of the Board of Directors of Hillel Israel, for the advancement of Jewish Peoplehood among Israeli students. He is a political sociologist trained in the fields of comparative politics and international relations. His areas of expertise are peace building & reconciliation, social sustainability, justice & human rights, and conflict resolution. His research focuses on intercultural and interfaith dialogue in deeply divided communities. Dr. Peleg participated in various ongoing workshops and training sessions at the UN as well developing relations with leading universities in Japan, Germany, France, and Israel/Palestine, where he regularly sent his students for internships and research.
Dr. Peleg taught at the Peace and Justice Studies Program of Fordham University and at the Rutgers University Business School. Between 2010-2013 he was a visiting faculty member at the negotiation and conflict resolution program (NECR) at Columbia University. He is the author of several books and articles, among them are Spreading the Wrath of God: From Gush Emunim to Rabin Square (1997, Hebrew), Zealotry and Vengeance- quest of Religious Identity Group (2002, Lexington Books); If Words Could Kill: the Failure of Public Discourse in Israel (2003, Hebrew University Press), Fighting Terrorism in the Liberal State (2006, IOS Press) and Intercultural and Interfaith Dialogue for Peace (IGI Press 2019).
Dr. Nikki Aharonian
Dr. Nikki Aharonian, Pedagogical Mentor
Dr. Nikki Aharonian is a lecturer and a pedagogical advisor in the Faculty of Education and the Department of English at the Oranim College of Education. Nikki has 31 years of experience as a classroom teacher and served as vice-principal and head of pedagogy for over a decade. In addition, Nikki facilitates in-service professional development for the Ministry of Education. An Australian born educator, Nikki received her PhD in Education from Monash University. Her research interests include dialogic education, writing pedagogy, narrative, and teacher learning.
Dr. Elisabeth Goldwyn
Dr. Elisabeth Goldwyn, Lecturer
Dr. Elisabeth Goldwyn teaches Jewish philosophy at Haifa University, and facilitates Batei-midrash at Hamidrasha at Oranim College. Passionate about Jewish renewal in Israel, she is also a master of ceremonies for the Havaya Organization. She has led more than 150 wedding ceremonies as well as birth ceremonies, Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremonies and funerals. Her PhD is on Emmanuel Levinas’ Jewish writings, and she writes feminist interpretations of portions of the Talmud. Elisabeth maintains that “For me Judaism is mainly my culture and heritage. I am not observant of the religious mitzvot, but I have a pluralistic approach and I mean to be inclusive to all kinds of Jews.” For more information, please visit her website:
http://www.elisabeth.co.il/default.htm?lang=en&page=about_en.htm
Rabbi Dr. Avi Kadish
Rabbi Dr. Avi Kadish, Lecturer
Rabbi Dr. Avi Kadish earned his PhD at the University of Haifa (2006) in medieval Jewish philosophy. He previously studied at Yeshiva University, NY, where he earned two masters’ degrees in Bible and in Jewish Education, as well as his rabbinical ordination. His areas of research are the medieval reactions to Maimonides and the ethical literature of Judaism. Dr. Kadish has taught Jewish studies in American Jewish day schools, in the Israeli public school system, and in the education corps of the IDF. He currently teaches medieval Jewish history, philosophy and Bible at Oranim Teacher’s College in Kiryat Tivon, as well as adult Israeli Jewish education through the Schechter Institute.
Rabbi Dr. Iris Yaniv
Rabbi Dr. Iris Yaniv, Lecturer
I am a secular humanistic rabbi in Israel. I was ordained as a rabbi by Tmura: The Institute for Training Secular Humanistic Rabbis in Israel. I am the founder and the leader of Yahel – Liberal Humanistic Jewish Community in Haifa, in northern Israel. I hold a PhD from the University of Haifa and wrote my dissertation about teaching Bible in non-religious schools in Israel. I teach and mentor students at Oranim College and have taught at many institutions and conferences around the world.