Sponsored by the David, Ursula, & Adina Michaeli Memorial Education Fund
On the Shabbat preceding Israeli Independence Day, join us for a joyful evening of tefillah, beginning with mincha at 7:00 p.m. Following services, we'll enjoy a catered meal and learn from our featured guest speaker, Matan Yaffe, co-founder and CEO of the Israeli nonprofit Desert Stars.
Desert Stars is dedicated to developing a cross-tribal network to advance the Bedouin community of the Negev. Desert Stars brings together teenagers and young adults—boys and girls, men and women—from different Bedouin families and tribes who evolve into a united leadership, able to spur change. This new generation of leadership from tribes across the region is striving towards a shared goal: a better future in which Bedouin are active participants in a thriving Israeli society. Desert Stars was founded in 2013 out of the insight that change must come from within a community. Since then, Desert Stars has developed a sequence of leadership programs to identify and train young Bedouin committed to their community and equipped to overcome the challenges facing it.
Matan Yaffe is a major in the IDF reserves and an entrepreneur with a background in leading social and educational projects. While in active duty, he served many roles, which included leading an officer training course and commanding a combat unit for at-risk youth. In just five years, Desert Stars has grown under Matan's leadership from a visionary start-up to a large-scale operation that employs over 60 talented and dedicated workers and operates on a budget of over $5 million.