Ben Erely
School principal, Ein-Gedi High School
Ben was born at Kibbutz Ein Gedi and grew up in a secular environment. After high school he was member of the first group of the Rabin pre-military education and leadership program of the Midrashah in Oranim. He served as an officer in a classified intelligence unit. After the army, he studied in the Revivim program for outstanding Jewish educators, during which he started teaching in high school, a vocation that he is committed to still to this day. Together with friends, Ben also co-founded the Halom community in Kiryat HaYovel, an underprivileged neighborhood in south Jerusalem. The group consists of young adults devoted to education and social enterprise. Social activities include founding an education center for youth at risk, the nonprofit Tene Yerushalmi, the pre-military program HaYerushalmit and a major urban renewal project in the neighborhood. In addition, the community is passionate about the renewal of Jewish life in combination with modern humanistic values. Ben has also worked in many organizations that promote Jewish renewal, social change, and urban communities. These include the nonprofit New Spirit, where he founded and managed the community development program; the National Student Council where he established a fellowship fund; and the Yuvalim community center, where as a center manager he directed the "adopt a neighborhood" program, overseeing an annual budget of 15 million NIS. Throughout these years he continued to teach history and Bible at a local Jerusalem high school, empowered by the opportunity to inspire young minds.