Eli Bass grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, and graduated from Clark University with a BA in Political Science with a concentration in Judaic Studies. After graduation, he taught at the Teva Learning Center where he grew spiritually and began his journey as an experiential educator. In summer 2010, he ran the inaugural camping program at the Eden Village Jewish Environmental Summer Camp, and helped maintain the camp as winter caretaker. This summer he worked for the C5 Youth Foundation (now the Association of C5 Youth Programs), where he helped high-achieving urban teens develop leadership skills while backpacking in Wyoming. Some of his hobbies include being outdoors, running, hiking, climbing, and playing chess.

Danny Drachsler is a native of Alexandria, Virginia, and has lived in Washington DC, San Francisco, and briefly in both Jerusalem and Toronto. He received a BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia and has studied at the University of California at Berkeley and Yeshiva Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem. While in San Francisco, Danny cofounded the Challahback Bakeshop that produced organic, whole wheat, vegan challah and delivered it around the city on bicycles. He also enjoys jazz, contemporary fiction, the great outdoors, eco-Judaism, Jewish and Yiddish stories and songs, and Kabbalah.

Jody Gansel grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was deeply involved in all aspects of synagogue life and attended URJ Camp Coleman for 10 summers. Jody’s love of “living Judaism” led her to travel on NFTY-EIE semester in Israel during her junior year of high school. Jody attended Indiana University and earned a degree in Jewish Studies; she studied abroad on Semester at Sea and in Jerusalem. Jody has worked as a Youth Educator at a synagogue outside of Boston and as an assistant drector of Education at a synagogue in northern Westchester, New York. She loves playing board games and running in Central Park.

Nessa Geffen was raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and attended the Abraham Joshua Heschel School. She then participated in the first year of KIVUNIM: New Directions, a gap year program in Israel that includes travel around the world. She graduated from Hunter College with a BA in both Music and Jewish Social Studies. She just finished her sixth summer on staff and 13th summer overall at Camp Ramah in Canada. Nessa is extremely passionate about informal learning, in particular with regard to Israel.

Navah Kogen, originally from New Jersey, currently serves as alumni project associate at the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel, where she oversees the Alumni Venture Fund grant-making process and coordinates alumni events. Previously, Navah was program director at Hillel of the University of Florida, and she also spent seven years working with students at Camp Ramah Darom as a counselor, educator, and division head. Navah graduated from Barnard College with a BA in History, with a concentration on the Middle East, and from JTS with a BA in Talmud and Rabbinics. She is in the current class of Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation Kivun Fellows, as well as the inaugural cohort of JESNA Enriching LIFE Fellows. Navah loves college basketball (go Heels!), pretending to be crafty, and accidental naps.

Dana Levinson hails from Fanwood, New Jersey, and graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, with a BEd in Secondary History and Ethics/Religious Cultures. She recently worked at American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro, North Carolina, America’s only Jewish Pluralistic College Prep Boarding School, teaching history and Jewish studies; she was also the house parent to 12 amazing senior girls. She has worked several summers at Camp Ramah Nyack. Dana is particularly interested in Israel education and looks forward to being a part of this incredible educational change.

Eden Pearlstein is a dynamic Jewish-American poet, musician, and educator. A graduate of the Evergreen State College, Eden has pursued a lifelong study of spirituality, comparative religion, and world cultures. That pursuit has led him around the world in search of kindred souls, students, and teachers, while creating contemporary, moving, and thought-provoking music and poetry. Since moving to New York in early 2009, Eden, also known as Eprhyme and part of the group Darshan, has performed and presented at many of the most well-known and respected venues, conferences, and institutions in New York and abroad, with an emphasis on bringing unique, inspiring, and relevant perspectives to contemporary Jewish audiences.

David Rosen of Teaneck, New Jersey, attended the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County and the Rebecca and Israel Ivry Prozdor High School of The Jewish Theological Seminary, in addition to spending seven summers as a camper at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. He attended Rutgers University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Music. David has worked as a counselor at two different Ramah camps, as a youth director and religious school teacher at a local New Jersey synagogue, and as a marketing associate at UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey; he is currently working as an Israel activist and educator for the World Zionist Organization at Young Judaea. In addition to his professional work, David has been a resident of Moishe House Hoboken for three and a half years, catering to the young Jewish community of Hoboken, New Jersey, and the surrounding area.

Alexander Schostak of Detroit, Michigan, attended Hillel Day School and Frankel Jewish Academy and graduated from the University of Michigan in 2009 with a major in Screen Arts & Cultures and a double minor in Judaic Studies and Text-to-Performance. Alexander has created a short video documenting the history and accomplishments of a local social group for Holocaust survivors and has worked as the weekly Torah Reader for the Downtown Synagogue in Detroit. His goal is to combine his love of film and video with his passion for Jewish education. He also loves the theater and acting.

Sarah Sechan graduated from the Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies' Joint Program with Columbia University. She is dedicated to Israel, Judaism, and music education. Currently, Sarah works as the marketing and communications intern at Ma'yan: The Jewish Women's Project and as a Hebrew tutor at Temple Israel of the City of New York. Sarah also plays the French horn and was vice president of the Columbia University Wind Ensemble, where she organized a daylong charity music festival that raised money for an elementary band program in a nearby Harlem public school.

Aharon Varady of Cincinnati, Ohio, holds a BA in History from SUNY Binghamton (1996) and a master's in Community Planning from the University of Cincinnati (2004). He has researched city park systems for the Trust for Public Land and authored a book of planning history, Bond Hill: Origin & Transformation of a 19th Century Cincinnati Railroad Suburb. He has worked two seasons with the Teva Learning Center and is inspired to help grow and cultivate a more eco-conscious Judaism, emphasizing compassion, awareness, and creativity. In 2009, he founded an open source initiative, the Open Siddur Project, for children or adults intent on crafting their own siddur to access historic and contemporary liturgical resources and share their own authored work and remixed edits with each other.