Hasbara Year Book |
Ruven Ellberger
Where you living now and what are you up to? Are you married and/or have any children? I am an attorney for Two Sigma Investments. I live with my wife Aliza and daughter Maya in New Jersey. What is your favorite memory from your HF trip to Israel? Listening to a representative from Peace Now. What was the greatest lesson you learned from your Hasbara Fellowships training? Or greatest pro-Israel activism success story? The most important lesson I learned is not to become sidetracked defending issues on your opponent's terms, but rather at all times set the agenda and be in control of the issue. Abstract from your opponent's argument and apply the abstracted principle in support of Israel. What does Jewish leadership mean to you? It means having an open, exploratory and even skeptical approach to popular Jewish causes and positions, but ultimately not being afraid to be vocal for these causes and positions merely out of fear of appearing predictable, close-minded or tribal. True leadership requires both independent and community-minded thinking. If you could share any wisdom with current campus activists what would it be? Don't be afraid to be a little cocky. As long as you stay informed and prepared with your ears and eyes open, and never naive or dogmatic, you should do your Hasbara with full confidence that you are in he right. Patrick AmarWhere you living now and what are you up to? Are you married and/or have any children? Living in the Old City of Jerusalem, working with Aish as a tour guide. Married to Hasbara alum Julie (Shulman) Amar (we met on Hasbara summer '04) 3 great kids: Yosef, Sarah and Rivka What is your favorite memory from your HF trip to Israel? Too many to count, did Hasbara over 10 times! What was the greatest lesson you learned from your Hasbara Fellowships training? Or greatest pro-Israel activism success story? As a student leader in Concordia University in Montreal, I quickly understood that we the students needed a grassroots network. Hasbara gave me the ability to meet and work with 100s of like minded and motivated activists. What does Jewish leadership mean to you? That I am another link in this awesome chain that we call the Jewish people and each one of us has a responsibility to make things better for our community. If you could share any wisdom with current campus activists what would it be? Don't feel alone or burnt out, come back to Israel and turn your activism into living! |
Elana LichtensteinWhere you living now and what are you up to? Are you married and/or have any children? Went on a few Hasbara Fellowships trips - first one was winter 2002. Im living in NYC and working for AIPAC What is your favorite memory from your HF trip to Israel? My favorite memory was meeting Ishmael Khaldi for the first time, at his family's home What was the greatest lesson you learned from your Hasbara Fellowships training? Or greatest pro-Israel activism success story? The greatest lesson I learned was that all anti-Israel arguments/claims stem from one of three arenas - occupation, excessive force, racism/apartheid, and the training I received from Hasbara Fellowships as to how to respond to such claims with pro-Israel messages has been invaluable What does Jewish leadership mean to you? Jewish leadership means, to me, a willingness to stand up for the Jewish people even when it is unpopular to do so If you could share any wisdom with current campus activists what would it be? It would be to focus on the undecided/ignorant/on-the-fence; haters and detractors minds' wont change and are not worth our time |