Married and mother of nine, she has been living in Yavne since 2005. She was born in Ethiopia in 1981 in Zagra-Wenz, a village in Gondar, the eighth of nine children. After the failure of their first three attempts, starting in 1984, to walk through Sudan, they came to Israel through Addis Ababa in 1991. She did her national service duty at the Talpiot boarding school, in gratitude to the institution that laid the foundations for her development. Through her pregnancies and births, she studied for a BA at the Women’s College in Bayit VeGan, Jerusalem and she received her MA in Educational Counselling from Bar Ilan University. She has worked as an educational consultant for 16 years, including the coordination of educational and cultural resources for Ethiopian Jews in The Settlement Education Administration. She has volunteered in the several Ethiopian communities where she offers lectures and workshops and coordinates and plans educational and social programs. In October 2020, she began her studies for the Orit Guardians MA, helping her to fulfil a personal dream and her late father’s last wish: to study and explore the Orit (Bible).

“These days I started studying for a MA degree at Tel Aviv University in The clinical route for The Treatment of Stress and Trauma. Out of the daily contact with the population I care for, a desire and need arose to expand my knowledge through MSW studies. Due to my extensive experience in caring for complex families and after a process of maturing and forming my personal and professional identity, I see myself as an emissary in providing care to needy families and immigrants, feel that this work gives me satisfaction and meaning and that it contributes and promotes me.”

Rivkah holds a BA and an MA in Education from the University of Haifa. She is married and has three children. In 1984, made Aliya through Sudan to Israel from a village near Ambober, in Ethiopia. Currently, she lives in Haifa. Along with researching and exploring her identity in general and her Jewish identity in particular, she is interested in delving deeper into the study of the scriptures of Ethiopian Jewry and joined the Orit Guardian program, which studies in-depth the Orit (Bible) and the holy books.

Gadi was born in Aba-Ant'onis, a village near Gondar. He made Aliya without his parents, with a group of children, in December 1987. He is married with four children and lives in Aluma, an Yishuv near Kiryat Gat. He holds a BA degree in Communication, Creativity and Criticism, and is a certified group facilitator. He has worked in different Youth Organizations, in non-formal education facilitating groups of parents, activists, and youth on subjects such as education and parental involvement in education. As part of the Meskot project, which he initiated and led, he photographed Ethiopian Jewish social events and conferences, and documented the stories of the older generation among Ethiopian Jewry. He joined the Orit Guardian program in the Department of Biblical Studies at Tel Aviv University to fulfil his academic aspirations and utilize the years of experience he has gained.

34 years old, married and a father of two, he lives in Netivot. He holds a BA in Special Education and Oral Torah and a Teaching Certificate from Hemdat HaDarom College in the Negev. In 1992, aged 5, he made Aliya to Israel from the village of Dado in the Amhara District of Ethiopia with his entire family – twelve people. He was educated in a state religious elementary school, and at Ofakim’s high school yeshiva. As part of his yeshiva studies, Addisu devoted his time to Jewish Studies, but he always felt that he had nothing to bring from his own tradition. One of the fundamental goals of the yeshiva was to encourage students to take responsibility for society, with an emphasis on the social periphery. He was encouraged to learn about his community. After yeshiva, he took on leadership roles in Netivot’s Ethiopian Jewish Heritage Center, working to change the community’s narrative in many significant areas. The Orit Guardians MA is enhancing his knowledge and understanding of the scriptures of Ethiopian Jews.

Married and mother of six living in Herzliya, she made Aliyah in 1984, aged 9, with her parents and two brothers. Unfortunately, her two other brothers died in Sudan (one was 14 at the time of his death and the other was 9 months old). She holds a BA in Criminology and Education from Ariel University, which operated then (1998-2001) under Bar Ilan University. Since 2000, she has worked part-time for the Herzliya Municipality acting as a mediator between Ethiopian-Jews and the municipality in issues of education and welfare. In 2005, she moved to the Human Resources Department to work in welfare and then was promoted in 2014, to be a full-time secretary in Municipal/Regional Support Center (MATYA) Herzliya-Sharonim. Today, she works as a secretary in the Engineering Department at the Municipality. She wanted to study for an MA for many years, but she couldn’t because of her sick mother. Today, she has an opportunity to study for an MA degree in a field of study that is very important – the Orit – in the Orit Guardian program at Tel Aviv University. She hopes to be a role model for her children and have a role to play in preserving knowledge of the Orit, the holy Torah revered by her ancestors.

48-years old, married and father of three, he made Aliya in 1987. He was born in Ethiopia in Abantonis village, a 25-minute walk from Gondar, the city where most Ethiopian Jews originated. He made Aliya with his family through Addis Ababa at 11, and joined the older brother, who was already in Lod, Israel.   He holds a BA degree in Sociology and Political Science from Bar Ilan University. In 2000, he travelled to the United States on behalf of the Jewish Agency and the Yemin Orad to mentor at a summer camp for three months. That was an unforgettable experience. Upon his return, he co-established an after-school program that provides a solution for youth in Lod. He then worked for the North American Organization of Ethiopian Jews (NACOJ) in charge of foreign relations. In 2007, he became the director of an absorption centre for Ethiopians in Lod, a joint project of the municipality and the Ministry of Absorption that provides a solution for Ethiopians in the fields of education, welfare and employment.

Sefi Mangashe grew up in Or Yehuda and did her undergraduate studies in organizational behavior at the Ariel University. Since graduating she has worked in a number of human resource management positions, most recently as an advisor and placement coordinator at the Petah Tikva Employment Service. She is also a qualified Life Coach. Sefi began her studies on the Schwartz Program: MA in Non-Profit and Community Organization Management in 2021.

Ayala Sfinesh is in her second year of studies on the Hebrew University’s Schwartz Program: MA in Non-Profit and Community Organization Management. Her undergraduate studies were in Economics and Business from Bar Ilan University. For the last three years, Ayala has also been working for the Beit Shemesh Municipality as a project manager in community and social services where she is serving the local Ethiopian community. Recently she has also been promoted and is managing a project to advance local youth from all sectors of society in employment and academia. Ayala is married with three children.

Gali Zemena made Aliya in 1992 at the age of nine. The third of eight children, her family settled in the southern city of Kiryat Malachi where she graduated high school. After her army service, Gali studied social work at Sapir Academic College and then worked in a boarding school for youth at risk. For the last seven years she has been working for the Ashkelon branch of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs where she works with juvenile offenders. She has just entered the second year of studies for her master’s degree in Social Work. Gali has four teenage children and recently moved from Ashkelon to Kibbutz Givram near the Gaza border.

Arieh Legaca is married with three children and lives not far from Jerusalem, in Tekoa. He made Aliya with his family at the age of five and lived most of his childhood in the northern city of Afula, where his parents still live. With a strong desire to make change in society and to utilize his care-giving skills, Arieh studied social work at Bar Ilan University and has since worked in a number of fields including mental health, learning disabilities, and currently with juvenile offenders. Arieh began his MA studies in Social Work at the Hebrew University in 2021.

Ronit Mekonen was born and grew up in Beer Sheva where she did her undergraduate degree in Social Work at Ben Gurion University. Her family made aliya in 1990. Since graduating, Ronit's work as a social worker has been focused on youth. Currently she works on a project to help soldiers from at-risk backgrounds to have a meaningful service and to integrate socially. Now living in Jerusalem, she is in her second year of MA studies in Social Work. Her thesis is on the subject of mental health of Ethiopian youth, a subject that she hopes to continue to develop awareness of in her future work.

Merav Asres did her undergraduate studies at Herzliya's Interdisciplinary Center in Sustainability and Government, specializing in the energy and water sectors. She is currently in her second year of studies on the Hebrew University's unique international program for International Development studies, Glocal. As part of this program, she is doing an unpaid internship in a Rwandan not-for-profit company called OffGridBox whose mission is to provide affordable clean water and renewable energy in remote areas. In Jerusalem, she works as a project coordinator at the Hebrew University's entrepreneurship center, Asper- HUJI Innovate. Merav's parents made Aliya in the late 1980s. She is the oldest in her family and she lives at home in Kfar Saba where she is very socially involved, having set up a Mentors in the Community program for Ethiopian youth. The project won the 2015 Roni Feinstein Foundation Prize for Urban Entrepreneurship.

Merav Asres did her undergraduate studies at Herzliya's Interdisciplinary Center in Sustainability and Government, specializing in the energy and water sectors. She is currently in her second year of studies on the Hebrew University's unique international program for International Development studies, Glocal. As part of this program, she is doing an unpaid internship in a Rwandan not-for-profit company called OffGridBox whose mission is to provide affordable clean water and renewable energy in remote areas. In Jerusalem, she works as a project coordinator at the Hebrew University's entrepreneurship center, Asper- HUJI Innovate. Merav's parents made Aliya in the late 1980s. She is the oldest in her family and she lives at home in Kfar Saba where she is very socially involved, having set up a Mentors in the Community program for Ethiopian youth. The project won the 2015 Roni Feinstein Foundation Prize for Urban Entrepreneurship.

Einalem Mangisto, the youngest of eleven children, made Aliya at the age of three. She did her undergraduate studies in Communication and International Relations at the Hebrew University. Since graduating, Einalem has gained varied work experience, mostly in journalism and media. She worked on the internet desk of the Israel Channel 12 news company and has also worked on the production of a number of documentary films. While studying Film Studies at Tel Aviv University, Einalem worked as an archivist at the University library where she worked on the archive of Dr. Yaakov Feitelovitch, a scholar of the Ethiopian Jewish culture. Inspired by this, she changed academic direction and began her MA degree in Cultural Studies at the Hebrew University in 2021.

Zalo Adiso made Aliya at the age of eight from a small village in Ethiopia where she worked as a shepherd alongside her younger brother. The first time she held a pencil in her hand was at age eight and has excelled at her studies ever since. After a year of National Service in which she worked helping new immigrants in an elementary school, Zalo studied Law at Bar Ilan University with the aim of helping weak populations realize their rights. Today she works in Discipline and Investigations Division of the Civil Service Commission where she is responsible for sexual abuse files within the civil service. Zalo is in the second year of her studies for an MA in Public Policy.

Mesfin Almihu began the Leadership MA Program in Public Policy in 2021. He graduated from his bachelor's degree in law from the Ono Academic College in 2007 and did his legal internship in the legal office of the Jewish Agency. Mesfin has worked for the Jerusalem Municipality for the last seventeen years, the last six of those has been as the Head of the Department for Community Development and Empowerment. He has also managed a Ministry of Absorption Center for Ethiopian Immigrants to Jerusalem. Mesfin is married with three children.

Tova Abeve did her undergraduate degree in General Social Science Studies at Bar Ilan University. She is the first in her family of six children, to gain a higher education. Tova has work experience in the business and non-profit sectors as well as still serving as a reserve lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces' International Relations Unit. Tova has decided that she wishes to contribute to Israeli society through public service and therefore began her MA studies in Public Policy in 2021.