Our Speakers
Dr. Ori Leshman
Ori Leshman is a conductor, composer, musicologist and senior lecturer in the fields of music, education and communication in leading academic institutions in Israel, including Tel Aviv University and Reichman University.
He is the Director of “The Venture for Promoting Dialogue through Music” at the School of Education, Tel Aviv University and co-founder of "Music for Dialogue" social venture.
He sees his mission as that of using the power of music to contribute and to improve social, educational and cultural processes in Israel and worldwide.
Leshman has a rich international experience in music composition and performance. He has conducted many orchestras and opera houses in Israel and abroad, was the artistic director of musical festivals and his compositions are played in Israel and abroad. He has set many poems to music and has won various awards such as the Minister of Culture Award and the Rabinovich Foundation Award.
Elie Shamir
Shamir Elie (b. 1953, Israel) was born and works in Kfar Yehoshua. Shamir studied at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem. Exhibited an extensive solo exhibition titled “Emek: The Road to Kfar Yehoshua” at Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2009. Participated in the 2010 and 2011 BP Portrait Award exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Known for his large-scale landscape paintings and his compelling portraits.
Since graduating from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Shamir has participated in many solo exhibitions in Israel and abroad, including an extensive solo show titled “Emek: The Road to Kfar Yehoshua” at Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, 2009. After years spent in Jerusalem and Boston, Shamir returned to Kfar Yehoshua village in 1999 and resettled there, as the third generation of the place’s founders. The issue of place is present with great force and complexity in Shamir’s work; aspects of this issue pertain, among others, to that tangled knot which is tied and unraveled throughout the generations between the Jew and the land, between the immigrant and the native-born, between the local Arab and the Hebrew pioneer and his vision, between the farmer and his field.
The clumps of earth in Shamir’s paintings are placed on geological strata charged with biblical past, with primeval culture, with Zionist history, with socio-economic ideology, with artistic tradition, but also with his own personal family story. Kfar Yehoshua is both a personal, specific case of an agricultural village in the valley of Jezre’el, and the story of a local ethos and starting point for fundamental questions about place.
Shamir taught In The Art Institution in Oranim Academic College of Education and in Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem.
Michal Moldawsky
45 years old, married and a mother of 4 children. Researcher) Doctoral student) at Tel Aviv University, who studies empathy and teacher-student relationships.
A lecturer in educational training frameworks. Runs a clinic for parent's instructing and coaching and case management with the education systems. Michal holds a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology and an MA in Educational Consulting, both from Tel Aviv University.
She began her professional career as an educational consultant.
Later she founded and ran the parents department at the National Center of Nitzan Society which deals with learning disabilities, including lectures, group counseling and coaching for parents and teachers.
Michal founded and ran the Department for Special Education in the Education Department of the Ganei Tikva Local Council, including the establishment and supervision of special education frameworks in the locality, chairman of special educationcommittees and leading educational intervention processes. A professional book she wrote about adapting schools to the current era is currently in the process of being published.
Henrique Cymerman
Henrique Cymerman is an award-winning journalist who has covered affairs in the Middle East for 30 years, working in 5 languages. Born in Portugal, he moved to Israel alone when he was 16. He has established relationships of trust with regional leaders across the Middle East.
He is a lecturer at the Reichman University of government, diplomacy and strategy, as well as in international forums. He wrote 5 books translated to 7 languages about social and political processes in the Middle East.
He received from Pope Francis the "Angel of Peace" recognition for enabling his Holiness' Pilgrimage to Middle East, and assisting in the Prayer for Peace event in the Vatican.
Cymerman is one of the founders and the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Israel-Gulf Countries.
Noam Gershony
Former Apache helicopter pilot, paralympic gold medalist, wheelchair tennis player, lecturer
Noam was serving as an Apache helicopter pilot in the Israeli air force. In July 2006 he was severely injured in a helicopter crash. During his rehabilitation process Noam started playing wheelchair tennis and began competing in the world tennis tour. 6 years after his injury Noam won the gold medal in the 2012 London Paralympics in singles and the bronze medal in doubles.
Noam is a speaker, sharing his story in events worldwide, a consultant for companies involved in rehabilitation products and tennis startups, trains the Israeli Junior wheelchair Tennis team and volunteers with children with special needs.
Daniel Wolfson
Daniel Wolfson is an ordinary woman - a mother, a lawyer, a careerist , an explorer and mountain climber. Daniel is the first. The only Israeli woman stood on the summit of Everest.
Daniel wasn't an athlete when she was growing up. In fact she didn't know anything about mountains. Daniel discovered her love of mountereening only after the devastating fall during the ski vacation and has since then developed a fervor for climbing the highest and most challenging peaks on Earth.
Daniel has a bachelor's degree in business administration and a LLB Bachelor and Master LLM degree of laws. Daniel combines her profession as a lawyer in the commercial and corporate field with the urge to discover new challenging places in the alpine climbing field. As a lawyer Daniel works with large companies and she finds for her clients brave and creative solutions.
Daniel's story begins with a difficult childhood in Soviet times behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, the accident that happened a decade ago, the demanding profession and single mother, after all Daniel believes that anything is possible and if you dream you can make dreams come true and everyone can conquer their own Everest.
Barak Cohen
Barak is an international tour guide, leading groups of travelers for over 18 years, exploring versatile terrains and the intricate interactions between nature and local inhabitants.
Barak holds A Master’s degree in molecular biology of plants. He has worked in the agritec industry, exploring water plants from the molecular level to the agricultural and industrial level, combining it with research in the Weizmann Institute, where he is currently working. This has enabled him to become familiar with a wide range of aspects effecting plants growth and gain insights to their impact on our daily lives.
This exciting synergy of real life travels and plant research has awakened him to the realization of the strong connection between humanity and nature which he is anxious to share.