Imagine Israel Podcast Discussion Guides

Delve even deeper into these social issues with Federation’s Imagine Israel Podcast Discussion Guide.
Use the guide as a reference to spark conversation and explore social issues in Israel and at home through interactive discussion and activities.

Episode #10: From One Man’s Vision Into a National Mission

After making aliyah (moving to Israel) from the US in 2000, Gitler began his food rescue efforts from his car by rescuing meals from catering halls and delivering them to local nonprofits that serve the needy. Eventually, Gitler founded Leket in 2003, working with 200 partners to collect and redistribute more than 28 million pounds of fresh, perishable, quality food that would otherwise be considered waste from farms, hotels, military bases and catering halls.

Discussion Guide

Episode #6: Israel’s New Way to “Do Jewish”

For more than a decade, under the radar from the official Jewish religious establishment in Israel, a grassroots movement of Israeli Judaism is emerging, gaining supporters and slowly changing the way Israelis connect to their Jewish identity. Hear how Rabbi Esteban Gottfried’s approach to prayer, song and celebration has introduced an alternative outlet for spiritual expression that has become an international phenomenon.

Discussion Guide

Episode #5: Celebrating 50 Years of Diversity in Jerusalem

This episode of Federation’s Imagine Israel Podcast marks 50 years of a reunified Jerusalem. In keeping with the theme of uniting diverse faiths to live together in peace, we speak with a few guests who represent the unity and division of Israel’s capital city, bringing change through medicine at Jerusalem’s emergency clinics. Hear from three doctors at the forefront of the emerging field of emergency medicine in Israel.

Discussion Guide

Episode #4: The International Language of Doing Good

Kaynan Rabino is the brain behind Good Deeds Day, an annual day of service that has flourished into an international phenomenon, currently reaching over 90 countries—including the Greater Washington’s own Sara & Samuel J. Lessans Good Deeds Day. Rabino explains why the simple objective to change the world and positively impact the lives of others has garnered such a following, one good deed at a time.

Discussion Guide

Episode #3: Incorporating Israel’s invisible population

Avner Stepak, former CEO of the second largest investment house in Israel, is revolutionizing Israel’s corporate world to include the previously overlooked disabled population in Israel’s workforce.

Discussion Guide

Episode #2: In Israel, religious pluralism is like a pizza

Visionary activist Chaya Gilboa, an expert on the issue of Israeli religious reform, shares her desire for social change in Israel. In a country where politics are religious and religion is political, Chaya strives to transform Israel’s religious judicial system by challenging the Rabbinate’s legal monopoly on religious life to create a pluralistic, egalitarian alternative.

The compelling conversation addresses the conflicts and complexities that come with the current Rabbinate (Jewish governance) jurisdiction over issues of marriage, divorce and kashrut (Jewish dietary law); and Chaya’s approach to changing the system from outside of the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament).

Discussion Guide