Meet a Pioneer

Vered Ben-Saadon, owner of an award-winning winery in the small community of Rechalim, purposefully sought to settle in Samaria during the second Intifada. This is Vered’s story.

Yisrael Medad, an American-born political commentator, historian and activist is perhaps one of the most vocal advocates for the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria. After becoming religious as a teenager, he became actively involved in a Zionist Youth Movement, emigrating with his wife to Israel after the 1967 war and settling in Samaria. This is Yisrael’s story – still passionate for Jewish life in Biblical Israel.

Shulamit Kaminsky has been a dear friend of CFOIC Heartland supporters for many years. When she first came to Israel decades ago, as a newlywed, she and her husband wanted to make a difference in their new homeland. But their commitment to settling the Biblical Heartland did not prepare them for the living conditions in the barren desert of the Jordan Valley. This is Shulamit’s story – a Jewish pioneer working to make the desert bloom.

Ahrale Lederberg, head of security and medical emergency services in Zufim, Samaria, is a man who is all heart. In the IDF, Ahrale served as a combat soldier and medic, later becoming a commander of the IDF medics training school. This is Ahrale’s story.

Yohanan’s story is all about Zionism. He made Aliyah as a child to the newly born State of Israel, rose in the ranks of the IDF and then, after retirement, settled in the Judean Hills community of Eshkolot. While so many slow down in retirement, for Yohanan, retirement was an opportunity to create something new in his new-found home of Eshkolot. This is Yohanan’s story.

Today, you will meet a woman who struggled to support her special-needs child until she moved to Judea. Vivienne was born and raised in the UK, immigrated as a teenager to Israel with her parents and siblings, married, and started building a family in her beloved homeland. But when Vivienne’s sixth child Elhi (Short for Elhanan) was born with special needs, life required many adjustments.