Dr. Elana: Israel Forever Foundation

Meet Dr. Elana. 

CEO and executive director of the Israel Forever Foundation. Historian, educator, activist, public speaker, motivator, and mentor. Academic outside of the walls of traditional academia. Mother of three, daughter. Zionist. 

Elana is a lifelong Zionist, who was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Her parents were Zionist leaders in the United States. Being a small-town Jew shaped her relationship with Judaism and understanding that she was part of something much larger. It was after a trip to Israel when she was 13 years old that she knew that her future would be in Israel. “It was the first time that I wasn’t a stranger, and I didn’t have that feeling of strangeness.” She has been living in Israel for 20 years, and is proud of being able to say that she has been able to build her home in her homeland. 

Elana has been obsessed with Jewish history for most of her life. She has worked with the Holocaust in particular. She began teaching her first class at the age of 12, a path that has continued for nearly four decades since. 

“My work as a Holocaust scholar has become transformed through what is happening to the Jewish world. The signs have been on the wall for decades, plural. Some of us have been calling this out year after year after year and trying to find ways to use the lessons of the past in order to impact the Jewish present and future.”

The biggest challenge that Jewish educators face is in finding a way to address the situation, and to overcome the tendency for division. To find ways to have every Jew – “because we are every kind of person and every kind of Jew” -find their place in saving this generation’s Jewish existence. 

Elana was mentored by Elie Weisel. After she finished her doctoral dissertation at Boston University, she told him that she had to move to Israel. “I needed to be at peace, where my soul was at peace, so I made Aliyah. I’ve continued working with what I consider the legacy of Elie Weisel through the Israel Forever Foundation, shaping the messages of Jewish identity, peoplehood, and empowerment and turning it into content resources, materials for every Jew to enable them to feel more confident, capable, and more able to bring Judaism into the life of their home.”

“Not everyone is able to attend Jewish day schools, Many of those who go to Jewish day schools are now some of the most active anti-Israel actors out there. Formal education isn’t necessarily the only answer.”

Elana started as a teacher in America. She set up her website – her virtual classroom and virtual community. It has since grown organically to a global community of over 500,000 people. “We are a grassroots organization. We work on a project-to-project basis, trying to make a difference in people’s lives in a tangible way – both in the diaspora and in Israel. My entire team consists of three other individuals. We are small, yet our impact is wide. It’s amazing what a few dedicated people can do, and what working with integrity can do.”

“Elie Weisel would always say that an individual with integrity can be the trigger for changing the world. Maybe that’s what people are searching for, especially after such a huge awakening moment like October 7. When people see that something like October 7 was possible, that the murder of Jews continues to arouse celebration rather than any type of empathy or sympathy. The more we can do, the more voices we can share, the better off we’ll be.”

Elana has been running Israel Forever for 13 years, and it has been growing steadily. “People are thirsty for a new and different way to approach advocacy, activism, and education.”

As an educator, Elana knows that you can’t force someone to learn. She therefore seeks to find a trigger to help people care, to help them be open to finding a way to make learning about Israel and Judaism personally meaningful. First and foremost, Israel Forever caters to the Jewish world. “We are a Jewish organization for Jewish rights. Our content is written so that Jews can feel proud, empowered, informed, and inspired.” 

There are, however, many non-Jewish members of the Israel Forever community, known as ‘Virtual Citizens of Israel (VCI).’ “We have VCI Pilgrims join our community because they feel aligned with the mission of Israel Forever. It is not about politics but rather about Israel’s existence as a nation, as a destiny, eternally with the blessings of God. We have many interfaith groups that are trying to find ways to work together because their levels of knowledge are drastically different.”

Oftentimes Jews feel that they were failed and are lacking a strong Jewish Identity. They can be raised without Hebrew, without a connection to Israel, without meeting their extended families, and are very easily entrenched into the progressive movements that have swept through the Western world. However, many have reported that in the days that followed October 7^th witnessing their entire social network turn their backs on their Jewish friends. “I met with a student with Israeli parents who was very liberal, progressive, and believed all of these things about Israel, and how our society was too Jewish for her liking for her to be able to say ‘this is mine’. Suddenly her friends were basically calling for her death, and it was an eye-opening moment. She came looking for more understanding of who she was as a Jew.”

Non-Jews have the ability to question where they stand in this fight, in a war that isn’t theirs. “Those who do join as non-Jews are showing that they are the modern iteration of the Righteous Among the Nations, wanting to be a part of saving this generation.” 

As a historian, Elana looks at historical patterns and can estimate that we are at the beginning of the cycles that have preceded us many times in Jewish history that lead to the destruction of entire generations of people. “People need to wake up. But until they do, we need to keep raising our voices to highlight that Jewish rights are human rights.”

Israel Forever tries to empower directly within the home. They work with parents and grandparents, with homeschoolers to incorporate activities and crafts with learning value that strengthen Jewish connection. For example, turning signs and symbols of holidays from abstract into artforms that families can use to celebrate with afterwards, such as a challah cover. “Some of the activities are fairly basic, things you would have done in kindergarten. How do we translate how we feel into something tangible and make it part of our family discussions. How do we do more that wear our pin, hold our flag, send out a post? How do we let October 7^th be more than a tragic event in our lives?”

Israel Forever runs a healing arts program which gives people the opportunity to create therapeutic art for themselves and sent it to recipients in Israel (soldiers, soldiers’ families, bereaved families, hostage victim families), and to victims of antisemitism around the world. “There’s a twofold benefit to creating the art; it touches the person making the craft and it touches the recipient.”

Israel Forever also reaches its followers via social media, that continues to grow. Elana and her team put out videos daily that discuss daily news in a way that resonates with their audience, who craves news that embraces Israel without any political division. The website offers resources, education, and Israel empowerment. “You can type in absolutely anything relating to Jewish history into the search bar on the site, and you’ll find a blog post, academic materials, or educational resources. It’s a one-stop shop for everything to do with Israel and Jewish history; a virtual library of Jewish engagement.”

It is important to Elana that people are able to separate themselves from the politics of Israel and to focus more on being part of the Jewish/Israeli nation because we are living through historical times right now. “This period in history will be covered in future history books. Political figures are rarely liked in their time. We live in a time where media is intentionally looking to fan the flames of resentment so that people spend more time engaging with their content. Pro-Israel influencers have reported losing many of their followers. People are feeling very silenced. At Israel Forever I’ve tried to build a quiet, calm community that is supportive and informative. People don’t give knowledge enough credit these days, they don’t know how to read. They want their information in a meme. So I try to break it down into easily digestible bites.”

Israel forever focuses on informal learning to encourage Jews who have stayed silent to equip themselves with the skills to speak up for Jews everywhere. “We are seeing hateful rhetoric infiltrate western society. It’s not the first time. These are patterns that we should recognize. We need to be paying more attention to all levels of education – not just university students – where pro-Palestinian propaganda has become the norm. Unless we have vocal Jews and vocal friends of Jews we will never be able to stop this trend.”

There has been a concerted effort to instill anti-Israel propaganda at all levels of education and government. It has become socially acceptable. If we look back upon Jewish history we can recognize the patterns and realize that we have seen this before. We have to drown the lies of our enemies with the truth. “You keep telling the truth, again and again. Eventually their lie breaks. It’s the basic facts, the truth that we have to repeat again and again.”

“God has given us a responsibility as Jews. It’s a blessing and a curse. Being the heir of Holocaust memory, and Elie Weisel’s legacy has driven my work because his echo must be heard. It is my role to keep teaching and keep inspiring, deliver content in an informative way that others can grasp. Social media, and even academia today, is so dumbed down. If you want to see your children thrive, you have to push them, challenge them. Let them show you what they are capable of. That’s what we need to do to the world. 

If Jewish history has taught us anything its that this isn’t going to be the end of Israel. It won’t be the end of the state. It won’t be the end of the nation. It is our duty to play our role in keeping it alive. That’s what makes the Jewish people the eternal nation. This too shall pass, and this current enemy will find their place among all those who came before them who tried to destroy the Jewish people. Forgotten. 

Things will likely get worse before they get better. “You cannot defeat violence with calls for peace. What we can do, as Jews, is not give up any of our own goodness, and not be manipulated.” 

Academia is due for a reckoning. “The answer is to focus on policy changes that people can pursue - ousting lying professors, recording every instance of their support for terror and expressions of hate and removing them from their positions. This is also true about labor unions and in the employment industry.

We must stay the course and have a mission. In another ten or 15 years we might see the upheaval we are hoping for.”

Zionism is simply Jewish freedom. “We have to stand by Israel. Israel doesn’t commit genocides, it has been, however, the victim of genocidal attempts – physically and spiritually. We must strengthen everyone’s spirit in a way that when we lose more bodies, the Jewish spirit continues to thrive. Am Yisrael, the Jewish nation, will thrive. We will get through this. We have gotten through worse.” 

Elie Weisel said years ago that the next time wont look like cattle cars and registration lists. It won’t be physical, but the same attempts to exterminate the Jewish spirit will be made. “We must find ways to allow people a voice and to make sure that that voice is heard. Make sure it’s a voice of integrity that will keep spreading the truth. We cannot stop what is happening, but we can live through it.”

October 7^th will be a defining moment for many Jews around the world. It will be the day that made them stand with more strength and pride in their Judaism and Zionism. It will increase people’s desire to contribute to the country through volunteering. It will encourage people to make Aliyah and become part of the story of the nation of Israel. We will continue to live and thrive here, because we have no other land. 

Elana’s grandparents have played their part in building parts of Israel. Now it’s her turn as she builds her home in Israel, and as she strengthens future generations to stand with pride in their Judaism. She continues to build bridges between non-Jewish Zionists, friends of Israel, Righteous Among the Nations.  She will continue to draw upon the lessons of the past to shape the path of the future, and to recognize and celebrate every modern-day miracle that we are lucky enough to bear witness to.