René Cassin 2015 Fellows 1
René Cassin
Fellowship Program 2015
Cohort 3 Biographies
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 2
United Kingdom Participants
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 3
Emily Hilton is currently studying for an
MPhil in Historical Studies at Cambridge
University. Previously she completed her
undergraduate degree at University
College London, where she was involved
in various extra-curricular activities related
to human rights advocacy. She currently
sits on the Yachad UK Board as their
Youth and Student Representative. In July
2015, she will take up her place on the
Frontline Social Work Graduate Scheme
in the South-East of the UK.
Galia Shilo is an Israeli ex Journalist, currently
living in the UK. She works at Tzedek, a Jewish
International Development charity, where
she’s responsible for the overseas projects
work and Tzedek’s communications. Galia
has been active as a volunteer for the rights
of women who have been sexually abused
in Israel. She is now trying to promote funding
of income generating projects for women to
help them avoid forced marriage, empower
them and strengthen their positions in their
own communities.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 4
Hannah Schraer holds an undergraduate and a
Masters degree in English Literature, from the
Universities of London and Oxford. She currently works
in PR in the public sector. In 2014, Hannah spent five
months interning at a human rights NGO for LGBT
refugees in Tel Aviv. This experience sparked her
interest in refugee rights and human rights more
broadly. Hannah hopes one day to work in PR and
communications for a human rights organisation. She’s
very excited to be a part of the Rene Cassin Fellowship
Programme.
James Masters is a sports writer for The
Times and CNN covering Premier League
and European football. He has reported
on human rights issues within sport from
the struggle of migrant workers in Qatar to
the homophobia laws in Russia which
caused outrage at the Sochi Winter
Olympics in 2014. James’s reporting
played an integral role in the release of
French football player Zahir Belounis, whose struggle against the ‘Kafala’ law
gained the attention of the sporting world. Keen to tell the stories of people
who need their voices heard, James has written for a number of national
newspapers and made appearances on television.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 5
BOX
Micah Smith is a trainee lawyer at Hogan Lovells
and a Teach First ambassador, having spent
three years as an English and history teacher
before switching to the law. Before that he
studied PPE at Oxford, during which time he was
active in Jsoc and as an RSY madrich. He blogs
at theedgeofwhere.blogspot.com
Orly Goldschmidt is Swiss-Israeli. She has
an MA in Contemporary Jewry and is a
Licensed Tour Guide in Israel. During the
last few years she has planned and led
educational trips to Israel and Europe. She
came to London with her husband and
son, to work for the Jewish Agency for
Israel. She has a strong interest in the
connection between Jewish values and
human rights, and is looking forward to
deepen her knowledge around human
rights and social activism.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 6
Rachel Schon is currently working at The
Young Foundation as a researcher into
social innovation and social enterprise.
She did her undergraduate degree at
Cambridge in Religious Studies, and spent
three years on a graduate fellowship at
Yale which introduced her to law and the
social sciences. She is really excited
about deepening her knowledge of both
Judaism and human rights, and is looking
forward to volunteering with a charity which works to improve educational
opportunities in East Africa.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 7
United States Participants
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 8
Bernice Keshet moved to New York one
year ago from Tel Aviv and is working
towards a master’s degree in social work
at Columbia University (as well as towards
mastering the NYC subway system).
Focusing on International Social Welfare
within her program study, Bernice is
interested in issues of human rights,
women and girl's education and
community organizing around
progressive issues both in the US and in
her native Israel. Bernice is currently a
Social Work Intern at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York
and a Fellows Management Lead at Organizing for Action NY. She holds a
bachelor's degree from Tel Aviv University in psychology and from the
Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in cello performance.
Ilana Rothkopf currently works as a
compliance analyst, where she focuses on
anti-money laundering and know your
customer compliance in the legal industry.
Previously, she worked as a due diligence
researcher and consultant, and interned with
various think tanks and social justice-oriented
non-profits, including Gold Mercury
International (London), Political Research
Associates, and the International Institute for
Justice and Development. She also sits on the
Associate Board for Equal Justice USA, a
criminal justice NGO. Ilana holds an MSc in
International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political
Science and a BA in Political Science and Middle East Studies from McGill
University.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 9
K’lila Nooning received her MSPH in
Biostatistics from the Tulane School of
Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
She is currently the Data Linkage and
Analytics Specialist at the New York
City Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene Bureau of Informatics.
A lifelong passion for the rights of all
humans led her to study public health
and pursue a career in the public
sector. K’lila has a devotion to
volunteering, having spent numerous
hours volunteering with her Jewish community and with organizations such as
New York Cares on a large variety of projects. She believes her Jewish
learning never ends and is rarely without a subject in Judaism to study, most
recently studying for her adult bat mitzvah. In addition to learning in her spare
time she also enjoys seeking out the best parts of the south that can be
offered in New York City.
Martha Flumenbaum earned her B.A. at Brandeis
University where she interned for Random House
and Congressman Jerrold Nadler. She earned her
J.D. at Brooklyn Law School where she interned
for Liz Claiborne, the Children’s Law Center, Fried
Frank, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern
District of New York, and the United States Courts
in the Southern District of New York. Martha is
earning her M.S.W. at the Silberman School of
Social Work at Hunter College. She is doing her
internship at UJA-Federation of New York in the
Government Relations department where she
meets with elected officials, writes position papers, and prepares testimony
for the New York City Council. Martha loves reading, movies, theater, music,
tennis, yoga, travelling, going to the beach, and rooting for the Yankees.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 10
Mike Schwartz is a sustainability
professional who has been living in
Brooklyn for the past couple years. For
three months ending in January 2015 he
was training for a new role as Corporate
Social Responsibility Analyst at EcoVadis’
headquarters in Paris. EcoVadis evaluates
supply chains on risks related to the
environment, labor, human rights, and
fair business practices. Mike struggles with
his Zionism (bolstered by his experience
as a participant and counselor on Young Judaea Year Course in Israel) and
progressive values (challenged while learning with the Olive Tree Initiative’s
educational program and trip to Israel, Palestine, and the West Bank). Mike
holds BAs in economics and modern Jewish studies from Columbia University
and the Jewish Theological Seminary and he holds a master’s degree from
the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa
Barbara. In his spare time, Mike enjoys exploring new places, riding his bike,
and playing with dogs.
Naomi Barth is the Archives Project
Specialist at the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee (JDC), the world's
leading Jewish humanitarian assistance
organization. In this role she seeks to
make documents and photographs from
a century of Jewish history accessible to
the public. She holds a B.A. in History with
a concentration in Near Eastern and
Judaic Studies from Brandeis University.
Her human rights interests include access
to reproductive health, the right to
education and the protection of free press.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 11
Paul Schulman works for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality
after spending three years as a financial analyst in the
tech industry. Prior to that, he studied finance,
accounting and math at Northeastern University. Paul
recently became more in touch with his Judaism in a
practice that emphasizes holy energy as the connection
between all living things. When he’s not practicing his
Judaism or working, he enjoys cycling, wandering,
adventuring, yoga, meditation, reading, eating, and
anything that’s new and interesting. He is engaged with
organizations such as Muslims against Hunger, the NYC
Muslim Jewish Solidarity Committee, New Israel Fund,
Repair the World, and Hazon. Over the next year, he
hopes to get a better sense of human rights through the lens of Judaism.
Shimrit Adika was born and raised in
Jerusalem. After finishing her army
service, she moved to Tel Aviv where she
completed her BA in communication and
management. In November 2013, she
moved to New York where she is now
living and working. In the summer of 2011,
she joined a group of young Israelis who
started to demand justice. It was than
that she realized that justice can’t exist
without human rights being extended to
all members of society. She is deeply
committed to women's rights issues specifically in Africa and the Middle East.
Shimrit enjoys writing as a hobby and has her own blog.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 12
Sam Permutt is currently a development
executive at UJA-Federation of New York.
Prior to joining UJA, Sam was a federal
law clerk at the United States Court of
International Trade. He received his JD
from Cardozo Law School with a
concentration in International Law and
Human Rights. During law school Sam
worked for an NGO in Gujarat, India that
focused on improving the welfare of the
local Dalit community and for various
other human rights organizations,
including Amnesty International. Sam holds an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies
from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in History from Johns Hopkins
University.
Shoshana Smolen received her JD from the Benjamin
N. Cardozo School of Law with a concentration in
International Law in 2014 and her BA in Political
Science and Sociology from Rutgers University. She is
currently the Interim Manager of the Asylum Program
at Physicians for Human Rights. During law school,
Shoshana was able to pursue her passion for
international human rights through internships, clinical
work, and academics. Shoshana spent her summers
interning at the Global Justice Center and the Center
for Reproductive Rights where she wrote shadow
letters to UN treaty monitoring bodies, contributed to
briefing and fact-finding reports, drafted research
and strategy memos and compiled reference documents for public
education. As a student in the Human Rights and Genocide Clinic, she
represented an asylum seeker and collaborated with the UN Office of the
Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide to write a risk analysis report
sectarian violence in Afghanistan. After law school, Shoshana worked as a
legal fellow at the New York Civil Liberties Union working on reproductive
rights legislative advocacy, and at HIAS, the international refugee agency of
the American Jewish community. Shoshana enjoys travelling, baking, and
going to concerts.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 13
Israel Participants
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 14
Chen Deri holds an LLB degree in Law and
Interdisciplinary studies from Hebrew University
Jerusalem. In the last 4 years Chen was studying
and working in the public sector. She worked at
the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance as
a student-intern. At the same time she volunteered
at the Law Student Union for two years and led the
program Mevoot Mishpat (introduction to law) a
program in which law students teach law and
democracy in different middle schools in Jerusalem
(including the bilingual school "Yad B'yad" for Arab
and Jewish pupils). In her third year of school Chen
was deputy editor of the Israel Law Review, focusing mainly on issues of
human rights. Chen defines herself as a Mizrahi feminist activist.
Noa Eshet was born and raised in
Jerusalem. After high-school she spent a
year in the pre-army Mechina leadership
program at "Mayan Baruch"- in the Upper
Galilee. She started her army service at
Galey Tzahal the army radio station as a
producer where she produced programs
concerning military matters as well as her
own program on the "myth of the Israeli
soldier". Her second half of the service
was as an officer in Mechva Alon an
army base that helps soldiers who
dropped out of high-school complete their studies and also teaches Hebrew
to Ethiopians, Bedouin and Druze soldiers . Noa completed her BA in
psychology and brain science at Ben-Gurion University. Her time spent in the
Negev was very meaningful and let her to the understanding of the
importance and potential of developing the periphery of Israel. Noa served
as a tour guide in different programs for youth travelling in Israel and she
plans to live in the Negev and hopefully work for an NGO there.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 15
Merose Haran was born and raised in Kibbutz
Shefayim, north of Tel Aviv. She went to high
school in Tel Aviv and was a 5-month student
exchange in Texas. After a shnat sherut
(community service year) with the Hanoar
Haoved VeHalomed youth movement and an
army service in a combat unit, she fell in love with
contemporary communal life and joined Dror
Israel, a movement of educators who live in urban
kibbutzim all around Israel. Today Merose lives in
the lovely southern town of Mitzpe Ramon, near
one of the most beautiful places on earth - the
Ramon Crater. In addition to studying for a degree in informal education,
Merose runs high school educational trips around the country and works with
the Habonim Dror youth movement. Merose is one of the madrichim (guides)
for Kvutzot Am, the emerging chain of urban kibbutzim founded by
graduates of Habonim Dror who have made aliyah to Israel from all around
the world.
Gali Gavarbovitz was born in Kfar-Sava.
As a teenager she was part of the
Hashomer Hatza'ir, a socialist and left
wing youth movement. During that
period of time she started to develop her
values and opinions about society and
human rights. Today Gali is a B.A student
in sociology, anthropology and
communication at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem. She works at the Hebrew
Union College, the academic center for
Reform Judaism in Israel, as an
administrative coordinator at the
Blaustein Center where she is in charge of developing a training program for
teachers, educators and youth counselors. Gali volunteers at the
educational department of the Rape Crisis Center in Jerusalem where she
runs workshops for high school student about prevention of sexual violence.
In addition, she is doing her internship for communication studies at the
Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel. Gali studies Judaism at Elul, a
pluralist Beit midrash in Jerusalem.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 16
Silvana Kandel Lamdan was born and raised
in Buenos Aires Argentina and moved to
Israel 15 years ago. She studied Jewish
Philosophy and received rabbinic ordination
at the Israeli rabbinic program of Hebrew
Union College in Jerusalem. Her commitment
to Human Rights was inspired by the Jewish
demand for tikkun olam, and that is why she
dedicates most of her time to teaching
children and adults about Judaism in a
humanistic light. Silvana returned recently
from a two year stay in Argentina. Now she
lives in Haifa and strongly believes in the
importance of coexistence and interaction between Jews and Arabs.
Ilana Kishko was born in Moscow, and immigrated
with her family to Israel at the age of six. She holds a
B.A in mass communication from Sapir Academic
College, and an M.A in community development
studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ilana works at a local NGO in Be'er Sheva that is
devoted to provide social and educational support
for new immigrants and coordinates an after school
club for children of asylum seekers in Arad. In
addition to her work Ilana has been working and
volunteering for many years at the third sector,
promoting human rights, Israeli-Palestinian conflict
resolution, animal protection etc. On the international level, Ilana interned for
two months at a local activist media organization, in Kathmandu, Nepal, and
then went on to volunteer at a small village in the Himalayas, helping to
establish a community bakery. Ilana is a proud mother to a two year old boy,
Amit.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 17
Carolina Rios Mandel was born and
raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She had
the privilege to live in various countries,
including Switzerland, Brazil and the U.S
and currently resides in Israel.
Carolina holds a B.A. in Psychology and
International Studies from California State
University (Long Beach) and a Masters in
Social Work from Columbia University. She
had the opportunity to work with various populations in the U.S. and Israel,
including undocumented survivors of domestic violence, youth at risk,
refugees and asylum seekers. She currently works at Enosh in Jerusalem, an
organization that provides social rehabilitation services to people coping with
mental illness, where she serves as the Director of the Anat Art Center and as
the Coordinator of the English speaking social group. Carolina is passionate
about spirituality, social justice and the arts. She enjoys dancing, meditation,
listening to people's stories and reading good books in French.
Maya Norton is a nonprofit fundraiser
working on behalf of the Bedouin
community in Israel's Negev, Israeli-
Palestinian partnerships, and the
development of the periphery. She
strongly believes in the strength of the
Jewish community in Israel and
abroad. Born and raised in the United
States, Maya has been an activist for the
rights of indigenous peoples and
marginalized minorities, and youth
leadership and education. She firmly
believes in the values of volunteerism,
community service, and tikkun olam
(healing the world through service). Maya is the proud mother of two
boychiks, who attend the bilingual, multicultural school in Beer Sheva.
René Cassin 2015 Fellows 18
Matan Rosenstrauch has been working
with asylum seekers in the Israeli AIDS Task
force for the last two years, promoting for
health rights for the status-less living in
Israel. Matan was involved in some
programs of the Jewish Agency and
taught Hebrew in Rio de Janeiro. He was
also sent for a temporary job in Angola,
by the ministry of foreign affairs. Matan
has a B.A. in management and Jewish
history from Ben-Gurion University, and
today he is studying for his M.A. in
community development at Hebrew
University. Human Rights has always a subject close to his heart and, as a
peace activist involved in various educational programs, Matan does
whatever it takes to raise awareness for peace, coexistence and violations of
human rights.
Naama Weinberg was born and educated in
Rishon Le Zion and has been living in Jerusalem for
the last six years. She completed her degree in law
at Hebrew University, after which she interned in
the international law department at the Ministry of
Justice and was admitted to be a lawyer in
November 2014. She is now working on becoming
a teacher in high school so she can pursue her
passion which is educating teenagers. Naama
has been working as a facilitator in an
educational organization called Gesher leading
workshops on the topic of Jewish and Israeli
identity for youth and IDF soldiers. She has also
been volunteering at the Shnieder children hospital, a place she considers as
her second home. Naama loves hiking, travelling to new and interesting
places and learning about different cultures.