Israel Programs Meet Our Staff

Kate Nachman

Kate Nachman, Director of Year Course, grew up in New England region Young Judaea. After programming for her club in Nashua, NH, she was regional Ofie/Tsofie programmer for the New England region. She worked at Camp Sprout Lake and attended Camp Tel Yehudah before going on Year Course in 1990-91. Kate spent her junior year abroad from Cornell University studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and interning for Young Judaea. After graduation, she worked as Year Course madricha (counselor) in 1995-96 before making Aliyah and founding Center Stage Theatre at Merkaz Hamagshimim Hadassah in Jerusalem, which she ran for 9 years. Kate was working as the Director of Admissions for Hebrew College until returning to Israel and to the Young Judaea professional family. Kate has 3 daughters who are 5th generation Hadassah life members. Kate and her family live in Jerusalem.

Dr. Avi Rose

Dr. Avi Rose, Director of Education, was born in New York and raised in Winnipeg, Canada. A second generation Jewish educator, Avi’s parents and brothers are Rabbis and teachers. Avi holds a Bachelor’s degree in History, a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Toronto. Over the past twenty years he has served as a Jewish educator in Canada and Israel, teaching all age groups in formal and informal settings. In 2002 Avi participated in the Mandel School’s Jerusalem Fellows program, where he developed the concept of an arts-based Zionist Education. Since making aliyah in 2003, Avi has been a member of the Year Course staff and faculty. An author, lecturer and visual artist, Avi has participated in several group exhibitions, including at the Hadassah Art Gallery in November of 2009. He specializes in arts-based education and has been responsible for creating courses related to Jewish Art and Zionist/Hebrew culture. Avi is married to Binyamin, a psychotherapist, and lives in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Adam Drucker

Rabbi Adam Drucker is the Director of Experiential Education for Young Judaea Israel. Rabbi Adam was born in the UK and taught for multiple educational institutions, acquiring a wealth of experience in formal and informal educational programming. He earned is BA with honours in Educational Philosophy and spent the following years studying to achieve his Rabbinical ordination. After becoming a Rabbi, Adam made Aliyah in 2015 and began teaching for gap year students, as well as creating VR materials for schools around the world. Since joining Young Judaea, Rabbi Adam has developed a vast range of programs that provide meaningful experiences around Israel, as well as opportunities for students explore their Jewish identity, allowing them to maximise their time in Israel. His classes, programs and trips have become incredibly popular among Year Course participants and his energetic and approachable demeanour has help establish him as a core component of our faculty. Rabbi Adam lives in Kiryat Gat with his wife and four children.

Joel Srebernick

May Finkelstein Yotvat

Orit Segal

Orit Segal, Director of Ulpan (The Hebrew Language Department) was born in Jerusalem. She earned a Master’s degree in Hebrew literature. Orit has been a part of the Young Judaea staff since 1999, teaching Hebrew. In 2005 she was appointed a member of the full time faculty, adding to her teaching repertoire a course on Israeli Cinema. In addition to teaching, Orit is also involved in curriculum development for advanced Hebrew language studies. Orit is married, the mother of three and lives in Jerusalem.

Sarah Graub

Sarah is from outside of Philadelphia where she cultivated her love for Israel during summer camp and while attending Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy. Following her first trip to Israel for a semester as a junior in high school, she knew she wanted to be part of creating Israel experiences for Jewish Americans. After graduating the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Psychology she joined the Year Course family as a madricha. She has been having an amazing time with our yearcoursers and plans on making Ayliah following the program to continue creating Zionist experiences for diaspora Jews.

Yoav Kroll

Yoav is originally from the Hula Valley in the north of Israel, where he studied in Kibbutz Kfar Bloom. After graduating high school, he went to a pre-army gap year program for leadership and activism in Jerusalem for 10 months. He then drafted to the army and served in an intelligence unit for 3 years. Right after the army he decided that he wanted to go to summer camp and went as a “Shalich” of the Jewish Agency to a Young Judaea summer camp known as “Tel Yehudah” and then he just couldn’t get enough of YJ so he came to be a Year Course Madrich!

Suzanne Margolis

Suzanne is originally from Long Island, NY where she attended the Schechter School. She graduated from Binghamton University in 2018 with degrees in Business Administration and English literature. After graduation, she wanted to spend an extended time in Israel and decided to teach English for 10 months as a Masa Israel Teaching Fellow. When she finished the program she did not want to leave and decided to stay in Israel as a Year Course madricha. She has been loving working for Year Course and even officially made Aliyah this past November!

Shai Schneider