01/05/2026 –, (EG) Meiningen Idioma: English
In the shadow of war, settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank has escalated to alarming levels. This session brings one of the most compelling voices in contemporary Jewish activism to Limmud for a frank conversation about what is happening on the ground, and what a Judaism rooted in human rights demands of us in response.
In the shadow of war, settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank has escalated dramatically. In March of this year alone, six Palestinians in the West Bank were shot dead by settlers, according to the Times of Israel (see: Jüdische Allgemeine, 25.3.2026). The IDF itself reports that settler violence rose by 27 percent in 2025, with incidents classified as terrorist acts increasing by 50 percent. While the world's attention has been focused elsewhere, this violence has intensified, threatening to make any future of shared existence and diplomatic resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impossible.
The New Israel Fund (NIF) has long stood with the Israeli civil society organisations that protect Israeli democracy, defend the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and keep alive the possibility of a peaceful and shared future. Among those organisations is Rabbis for Human Rights, the only rabbinic organisation in Israel that unites rabbis from all Jewish denominations in defence of the human rights of everyone living under Israeli jurisdiction.
Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie — storyteller, spiritual leader, and board member of Rabbis for Human Rights — joins us for an honest and searching conversation about what is unfolding in the West Bank, how Rabbis for Human Rights is responding, and what Jewish tradition demands of us at this moment. He will speak about the organisation's work accompanying Palestinian farmers facing settler attacks, its legal advocacy, and its commitment to Jewish-Palestinian cooperation — not as an abstract ideal, but as a daily practice sustained under enormous pressure.
This is a session for those who believe that Jewish values compel us to act — even when, especially when, it is hard.
This event is organised by New Israel Fund (NIF) Deutschland. NIF is committed to a democratic and safe Israel, which lives in peace with its neighbours. To this end, NIF has supported democratic civil society in Israel for more than 40 years.
The session will be moderated by Maja Sojref, Executive Director of NIF Deutschland.
Maja Sojref has been the Executive Director of the New Israel Fund (NIF) Deutschland e.V. since 2023. A Berlin native, she completed her MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford in 2016 and has since worked at the intersection of civil society, politics and business. From 2017 to 2019, Maja Sojref worked as a project manager for Israeli-Palestinian youth exchange at the Willy Brandt Centre in Jerusalem. Back in Berlin, she specialised in strategic communication and led the digital COVID vaccination campaign of the German Federal Ministry of Health in 2022. Since joining NIF, Maja Sojref has, among other things, established the Netzwerk Israel (eng. Israel Civil Society Solidarity Network), which supports the work of AMCHA in Israel. She has also published op-eds and interviews in support of a democratic and peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.
Social activist and storyteller, writer and community leader, Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie (he/him) is the Co-Founding Spiritual Leader of the Lab/Shul community in NYC and the creator of the ritual theater company Storahtelling, Inc. Israeli born, he’s been living in New York since 1998.
He is Co-Chair of the Board of Rabbis for Human RIghts, 2026 Inaugural Recipient of Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah Fellowship.
He received his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2016, the 39th generation of rabbis in his family — the first one to be openly queer.
Rabbi Amichai is the star of Sabbath Queen, Sandi DuBowski’s award-winning documentary film, 21 years in the making, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2024.