Leah Shakdiel - Chair of Israel's "Tent Protest" Vision Committee (Manhattan)

09/14/2011 - 6:30pm

Meretz USA (Partners for Progressive Israel) 

Invites you to a very special opportunity to hear

Leah Shakdiel

Recently named Chair of Israel's "Tent Protest" Vision Committee

Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - 6:30pm
Location: Upper West Side of Manhattan
(exact address to be provided upon RSVP).

 Limited Seating
Please RSVP to mail@meretzusa.org or (212) 242-4500

 Please join us for this unique opportunity to speak with a leader of
Israel's social justice protest movement!

 

On Wednesday, September 14, at 6:30 pm, Meretz USA (Partners for Progressive Israel) will be privileged to host Ms. Leah Shakdiel, a longtime peace and social activist who was recently named chair of the expert committee advising Israel's ‘Tent Protest' movement for social justice.  The committee of experts has been tasked with proposing a new social contract for Israel.

Leah will discuss the many layers of the "Tent Protest" movement in Israel from an insider's perspective, how the movement intersects with the issue of peace between Israel and Palestine, what the future of this movement might be, and the role of American Jews in this epic phenomenon.

Background: On July 14, Israel witnessed the birth of what is arguably the most important grassroots protest movement in the country's history.  Catalyzed by widespread despair over the skyrocketing cost-of-living for all but the wealthiest Israelis, the "Tent Protest" movement is offering an ambitious vision for Israel, based on the principle of social justice and, presenting a direct challenge to Prime Minister Netanyahu's paradigm of privatization and trickle-down economics.  The protest, also known as the "J14" movement, has mobilized hundreds of thousands of Israelis in weekly events, culminating in the Saturday, September 3 march that brought half a million Israelis (7% of all citizens) out onto the streets. 

More about Leah Shakdiel

Leah Shakdiel, a modern orthodox woman at the forefront of the peace and feminist movement in Israel was born in Jerusalem in 1951 to a family of Modern Orthodox Pioneers. In 1978 Leah moved to a small development town in the Negev Desert with a group committed to Halacha, social responsibility, peace, and ecology. She received her degree from Bar Ilan University and went on to teach Hebrew and Jewish studies; creating teaching materials and coordinating and directing projects and institutions in the areas of education and community.

Throughout all of her political and social activism she has worked on behalf of peace, empowering the disadvantaged, civil and human rights, and feminism, and published academic and popular articles in all these areas.

In 1988 she became Israel's first female member of a local Religious Council, following a successful struggle that ended with a landmark Supreme Court decision.

Currently she teaches in Sapir College near Sderot, in the Overseas Students Program in Ben Gurion University, and in various post-high school pre-military programs. She is also a dedicated member and activist for Israel Human Rights NGOs such as Machsom Watch, Mirkam Azori, Darom4Peace, and Rabbis for Human Rights. 

Most recently, Leah has been an adviser to the "Tent Protest" movement for social justice in Israel, serving as volunteer chair of the ten-person "Vision Committee" of experts helping the movement frame its agenda and consolidate its platform.  The committee, made up of Jews and Arabs, men and women, religious and secular, has been tasked to produce a paper over the next several months spelling out the outline of a new social contract for Israel.