Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
At the end of winter, 150 Jews carefully selected from around the world gathered in Haifa to begin work on a new initiative from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, aimed at stemming the tide of antisemitism and other issues faced by Jews across the globe.
Fifty people were selected from North America, 50 from Israel and another 50 from the rest of the world for the “Voice of the People” program. They met at the conference in Israel earlier this year. The program attempted to include perspectives of Jews from across the globe to meet the needs of the present moment in terms of Jewish safety and sustenance, as well as preparing a new group of Jews to take leadership roles in their communities.
With only 50 Jews from the entirety of North America in attendance, the application process was detailed. There were initial forms, another stage with a group interview and finally the selection.
Kennett Square resident and Mamash Chabad member Hannah Geller heard about the initiative and conference and decided to enter her name. She was chosen and has been all-in on Voice of the People since.
“Yes, this was a conference and it was absolutely incredible and planned to presidential levels,” Geller said of the event. “But really, this is a greater global initiative made up of 150 Jews, and together, for the next two years, we are part of a cohort [that is] essentially like a fellowship and think tank, and we’re looking at the greatest challenges that the Jewish people are facing today based on data. We are this small, selected cohort, we are coming up with solutions and we’re actually going to be implementing them.”
Geller said that the program is President Herzog’s “baby,” and that he is personally involved. Herzog said in a news release that it is the responsibility of all Jews to come together for discussions on the “vital” issues facing the global Jewish community. The program is described on its site as “The President’s initiative for a shared Jewish future.”
The exact parameters of the program’s work are still being defined, Geller said, but the framework of the organization consists of different small groups that will focus on broad topics. There will be 10 smaller groups of 15 cohort members each, with each group meeting monthly. A given issue or topic will have two groups working on it at any given time.
Most of what they do will be informed by a survey that more than 10,000 Jews responded to, which asked what the biggest problem facing Jews is today. Geller is a part of a team focused on Israel and global Jewish relations.
“They’re very much leaving it in our hands to define and create the solutions. You can interpret it as you want, and it’s very cool to see how we can approach it differently,” she said. “Theoretically, we’re going to see some very different approaches and ideas for each of these big challenges.”
The ideas were already flying at the conference, with perspectives from places that Geller had never considered. She said that the Jewish diaspora was represented beautifully. There were Jews from Sweden, the chief rabbi of Azerbaijan, a Chabad rabbi from Istanbul and Jews from all over Latin America.
“There was even a participant from the French Caribbean who was only 20 years old. I think he was the youngest participant,” she said.
In addition to alleviating issues like antisemitism and Israeli international relations, the program intends to build a network of global Jewish professionals that will support each other and future generations of Jewish thought leaders.
One of the members of Voice of the People is an Israeli man named Amit Kochavi who is working to rebuild parts of Israel near the Gaza envelope that were destroyed during the war. He also works with Sapir College, located near Sderot, where he is focused on expanding the university’s academic offerings.
“He has these big plans, and he mentioned that he wanted to create a film school,” Geller said. “I thought, ‘Maybe they will want to start a formal partnership with the film school I went to at Penn State University. I know there’s at least one Israeli professor. That’s the kind of thing where I went up to him and he said, ‘Great, let’s make it happen.’”
Geller said that the most exciting part is something that had to be felt in person in Haifa — the spark of energy among the 150 members of the program. Globally, Jews now have dozens of their smartest peers working together across lines to aid the tribe as a whole. That’s a strong counter move to rising antisemitism, Geller said.
“Everyone is interested in helping each other, and we really see that when we come together and lend our passions and our skills and our backgrounds and our voices,” she said. “As it’s called, the Voices of the People, we really have the opportunity to do something special that hasn’t been done before.”