The 2015-2016 academic year at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North was launched on September 8 with a celebratory event attended by members of the Mandel community in the North - fellows, graduates, tutors and staff members - from the southern and northern Triangle, the Yezreel Valley and the Galilee.
The evening began with addresses from the center's director, Dr. Danielle Shani, and from representatives of the fellows and graduates: Naeemah Keadan, Yair Afik, Awny Massarwah and Dafna Hasan. The representatives related stories, read poems and spoke about the meaning of the upcoming holidays - the Jewish Rosh Hashanah and the Muslim Eid al-Adha.
The keynote lecture of the event was given by Dr. Meir Buzaglo, who spoke about leadership, tradition, identity and citizenship. Buzaglo, a lecturer of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, talked about the importance for leadership of values in general, and of compassion in particular; about the importance of leaders’ connection to their sources of identity and tradition; and about the ability of his audience - the Mandel community in the North - to propose an alternative vision for the existing reality between Jews and Arabs, and not just for the North.
Following a festive dinner at the Tandokah restaurant in Yokne'am, there was a performance from the award-winning musician and oud player Wisam Jubran, who played a number of his own compositions in an atmosphere of togetherness and hope.
