Rabbi Yonatan Neril – Founder and Executive Director
Rabbi Yonatan Neril grew up in California and completed a BA and MA at Stanford University with a focus on global environmental issues. During his studies, he conducted research in India on renewable energy and in Mexico on genetically modified corn. In 2003 he came to Israel and studied at Yeshivat Darche Noam, Yeshivat Bat Ayin and Yeshivat Hamivtar, where he completed his rabbinic degree. For over four years he has consulted with the Jewish environmental organization, Canfei Nesharim, during which time he conceived of, edited, and was the lead contributor to the first environmental commentary on the weekly Torah portion, Eitz Chaim Hee. In a collaborative project of Canfei Nesharim and the Bureau of Jewish Education of San Francisco, he served as project manager for seminars on Jewish environmental teaching in the Bay Area, which reached Jewish educators of all denominations. He has also worked as Torah environmental content director for Jewcology, a new Jewish environmental web portal. Rabbi Neril was a Dorot Israel Fellow and developed Jewish Eco Seminars as a Fellow at the PresenTense Institute in the chair sponsored by the Jim Joseph Foundation. He lives with his wife, Shana, and son, Shacharya, in Jerusalem.
Gidon Melmed (MBA) – Deputy Director
Gidon Melmed has close to a decade of experience in management and strategic development of projects, focusing on sustainable development in Israel. In 2011, he completed the Gevim Program for mediation, fulfilling a long-time passion of deepening his practical knowledge and skills in mediation and conflict resolution. Gidon has contributed to several business start-up projects, most recently leading business development for www.excelingo.com. Gidon acquired his MBA from Swinburne University of Technology (2006) and B.Sc. in Life Sciences, minoring in Jewish Thought and East Asian studies, from Hebrew University (2003), combining these studies with yeshiva Torah learning programs. He and his wife Hadas live in Jerusalem with their three children.