Ehud Banai

Israel 2026: Dr. Dalia Fadila and Dr. Micah Goodman Discuss the Future of Israel

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• published: 12 Jul 2016
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The modern State of Israel was founded on a basic design principle – that it would be both Jewish and democratic in its character and behavior. When design theory encounters facts on the ground, it gets complicated. How can Israel remain both Jewish and democratic over time? At the 2016 ROI Summit, ROIer Netaly Ophir-Flint moderated two thought leaders who shared their perspectives about what they believe is – and isn’t – possible in Israel’s future. About Dr. Dalia Fadila: Dr. Dalia Fadila is president of Al Qasemi Engineering and Science College and has served, for the past eight years, as provost of Al-Qasemi Teacher Training College (an Arab college in Israel) and was acting president of the college in 2006. She is a Fellow and member of the EU Leadership Program and the USA International Leadership Program. An expert on organizational development and educational entrepreneurship, Dr. Falida is also a scholar of American literature, women’s literature, and ethnic studies. She has led and managed national and international seminars and projects on issues of gender, culture, identity, and education. Dr. Falida is deeply concerned with promoting quality education for underprivileged students in general, and Arab students in Israel in particular, and has worked to establish an alternative school system, as well as working to empower women as educators, entrepreneurs, and leaders. She has established Q Schools – English Language and HR Development, private schools that provide a unique approach to teaching English as a space for intellectual and personal empowerment. The approach is particularly suited to underprivileged students and stems from the need of these students to develop personally and professionally. Dr. Fadila is also currently a faculty member of the International School for Leadership and Diplomacy at IDC Hertzlia, a member of the Israeli government Civil Service Higher Committee, a Fellow of the Taub Center for Social Policy Research in Israel, a member of the President Reuven Rivlin Committee for Education for a Shared Life, and a member of the board of governors of Haifa University. About Dr. Micah Goodman: Dr. Goodman is the author of three Israeli bestsellers on canonical Jewish texts: Moses’s Final Speech, The Dream of the Kuzari, and The Secrets of the Guide for the Perplexed, all published in Hebrew by Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir. His book Maimonides and the Book that Changed Judaism, published by JPS and the University of Nebraska Press in April 2015, was endorsed by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and former Israeli President Shimon Peres. Dr. Goodman is one of two recipients of the Marc and Henia Liebhaber Prize for Religious Tolerance in 2014, along with leading Israeli musician Ehud Banai. He is director of Ein Prat – The Midrasha, Israel’s leading pluralistic beit midrash for young adults. With over 1,900 alumni and some 300 new students each year, Ein Prat strengthens the pluralistic Jewish character of Israel’s young creative cohort and fosters a new Israeli mainstream of engaged, connected, and open-minded young adults. A charismatic speaker and teacher, Dr. Goodman lectures regularly overseas and at Israel’s leading universities, think tanks, and cultural organizations. Among other venues, in the past year Dr. Goodman has lectured and taught at the Knesset, the official residence of the Israeli Prime Minister and the official residence of the President of Israel. Dr. Goodman has a Ph.D. in Jewish thought from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he also teaches. He is a member of the recently formed Global Forum of the National Library of Israel and is a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Learn more about Q Schools here: http://www.qschools.org.il/ Learn more about Ein Prat – The Midrasha here: http://midrasha.einprat.org/en This session took place at the 2016 ROI Summit. Learn more about ROI Community here: https://www.schusterman.org/roicommunity