Golden Hanassi Fellows Return to North American Congregations This Fall

At a time when the vital relationship between Israel and American Jewry can feel strained and under attack, the Golden Hanassi Fellows program offers a practical answer: put people in the same room. The Fellowship places Hebrew Union College Israel Rabbinical Program students and new rabbis in North American Reform congregations, where they learn from leading rabbis, lead services, teach across generations, take part in pastoral care, and serve as ambassadors of Israeli life and culture. Each fellow makes two separate visits, giving relationships time to deepen.

"The Hanassi fellows now have a dual role," notes John Golden. "One, it's for themselves to be educated. But the second is to retain and enforce the fact that there is a need for a strong continuing bond amongst Israelis and Americans and progressive communities in both Israel and the United States."

Rabbi Dan Levin '96, of Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, FL, who has hosted Hanassi fellows in the past, says that "One of the real blessings of the Hanassi Fellows, especially in this moment, is the opportunity to bring Israel here."

This fall, two fellows head back to the congregations that first hosted them.

Rabbi Maayan Morag '26, Ph.D., will be hosted by Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback '98, M.A.J.E. '96 and Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles from November 27 to December 2, 2026, following her first visit in October 2025. Raised in a secular Mizrahi family in Rosh HaAyin, she once told her grandmother she was becoming a Reform rabbi and got an unfriendly answer, a moment that became a turning point for her. Today she holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies from Tel Aviv University, where she researched contemporary folklore and gender. She works with municipalities through the Council for Hebrew Education to bring liberal Jewish learning into Israeli public schools. She has also directed the Telem Pre-Army Leadership Program and led batei midrash for all ages.

Rabbi Dganit Timor Jenshil '25 will be hosted by Rabbi Peter Berg '98 and The Temple in Atlanta from November 8 to 22, 2026. Her first visit ran from April 19 to May 5, 2026. She is Chief Operating Officer and Director of Outreach at Hebrew Union College's Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem, and she brings more than thirty years in informal Jewish education, including seven years as Israel Director of Otzma and a stint leading North America programs for Israel Experience. During her first visit she taught Torah study and adult education, read to babies, delivered a sermon that was shared on the temple's website, and sat in on board meetings. She also met with the rabbis and staff of a large, multifaceted congregation. She came away from her first visit to Atlanta with a new appreciation for Atlanta's interfaith and Black-Jewish relationships, and says the visit broadened her sense of what Jewish life and worship can look like.

More fellows on the way. Three other fellows will make their return visits soon, with dates still to be announced:

• Yossi Elmechais spent May 20 to June 7, 2026, at Congregation B'nai Israel in Little Rock, Arkansas with Rabbi Barry Block '91. Elmechais will be ordained in November in Jerusalem.
• Rabbi Miriam Klimova '23 will return to Temple Israel in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she was hosted in November 2025.
• Rabbi Mori Lidar '19 will return to Hevreh of the Southern Berkshires in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he was hosted in the summer of 2025.