Shosh Mitzman is the JNF-MAKOM liaison and Chief Development Officer of MAKOM, a network of communities supported by Jewish National Fund-USA that focus on empowering and revitalizing towns and villages throughout Israel through social action and community building activities. These 240 MAKOM communities along with thousands of members, initiate, engage, and are involved in developing the Negev and Galilee, serving as a vehicle of change for strengthening Israel’s social fabric. Shosh is a mother of four children, resides in the Golan Heights, holds a Masters in Nonprofit Management, and in her career, has worked in various capacities throughout the nonprofit sector in Israel.

Yuvi Tashome-Katz is a social entrepreneur and activist, with 20 years of experience in group leading and community work. A wife and mother of four children, she arrived to Israel in 1984 at the age of seven during Operation Moses together with 8,000 members of Beta Israel, Ethiopia’s Jewish Community. 

Yuvi served in the military, received her Bachelors in Education and Israel Studies from Bar Ilan, and in 2005, Yuvi founded an Ethiopian MAKOM community in Gedera. There are now eight communities made of groups of families and young adults that share a common vision and educational goals of taking responsibility in the community. These communities are based on the values and traditions from Ethiopia, while improving education, social needs for others, and assisting with employment. On Israel's 63rd Independence Day, Yuvi was honored as one of the torch lighters in the national Yom Ha'azmaut ceremony at Mount Herzl and later that year, she received the Prime Minister's prize for social entrepreneurship. She also became a Local Council Member in Gedera's municipality eight years ago.

James Grant-Rosenhead made aliyah from England in 1999 at the age of 24, with three friends that were all graduates of Habonim Dror, the Jewish Socialist Zionist youth movement. Historically, Habonim Dror brought many young, idealistic, pioneering groups from around the world to build and strengthen kibbutzim between the 1930’s to 1980’s. Newer models of kibbutzim began to form across Israel in urban settings, and the modern-day created communities focused on educational and social entrepreneurs in Israel’s geographic and socio-economic frontiers.

James is a founding member of the MAKOM Urban Kibbutz called Mishol, an Educators Kibbutz of 150 people, the largest yet in Israel, located in Nof Hagalil (formerly Nazareth Illit). James works in the Kibbutz management and finance teams, on the computer network admin and support team, volunteers on the Habonim Dror alumni movement in Israel, participates in Hakhel, a Jewish Intentional Communities incubator from around the world, and most of all enjoys hosting visitors and guiding groups while sharing the beauty of Mishol, and his passion for community building. James is 46 years old, married to Emma, who is a social worker in Haifa. Together they have three dynamic daughters - Kinneret (14), Shaked (12) and Ella (9), as well as Ivy the kitten.

Avraham Lifshitz is on a mission to strengthen the resiliency of the Jewish people and to foster Jewish identity by creating programs driven by P2P connections and to Torah.

Avraham is active in realizing religious Zionist ideals, having made aliya, doing shlichut in Australia, and then moving to the periphery, and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Bnei Akiva mission-driven community in Migdal HaEmek.

Through his unique life experiences, he possesses an intimate knowledge of the needs of Jewish life in the Diaspora as well as the realities of native Israeli communities. Growing up in Scarsdale (NY) and an alum of WDS and MTA, upon coming to Israel, Avraham studied at Yeshivat Hakotel and served in the IDF in Combat Engineering. After the IDF, Avraham joined the educational staff of Hakotel and served as Director of Education (Rosh Kollel) at the Torah MiTzion Beit Midrash of Western Australia.

Avraham utilizes his professional knowledge gained from a B.Ed from Lifshitz Teacher’s College, an MBA from Haifa University and rabbinic ordination to develop and sustainably manage educational and social welfare programs in the periphery that can be upscaled. He is married to Sara Yeres, an English teacher and Toronto native, and proudly lives in Migdal HaEmek with his five children, Ezra (12), Yisrael Aryeh (10), Ora (7), Tzofia (4), and Yedidya Yitzchak (1).

Aviran Mishiev is 45 years old, born in Baku, Azerbaijan and made Aliyah in 1995 along with the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union. Aviran is a Mountain Jew, or Kavkazi in Hebrew, as he came from a community in the Caucasus mountains, Jews that lived in the mountains to distance themselves from the large cities and in this way preserve Jewish traditions.

Aviran is one of the founders of Midor Ledor 11 years ago, the network of Mountain Jews MAKOM communities across Israel. With 140,000 Mountain Jews living in Israel, mainly in 14 cities, the mission to preserve the unique traditions and values of Mountain Jews, to ensure that these are not lost forever while pursuing efforts to integrate into mainstream Israeli society, through active community leadership and social involvement programs. The communities aim to positively impact upon their members and surroundings; operating holistic programs for children, youth, young adults, young families and the elderly, through community gatherings and activities enriching their Jewish heritage and strengthening their Jewish identity.

Aviran served in the IDF as an officer of budgets in the Medic unit and later completed his Bachelor’s degree in Statistics and Political Science. Today he works at Zim, one of the leading carriers in the global container shipping industry, examines financial systems and quality assurance. He is married to Suzanna, and a father of three children.