Meet the Israel Outdoors Family
Before we welcome you to Israel, you may be interested to learn a bit more about the Israel Outdoors staff in North America and in Israel.
 Adrian Simons
Office Director (Israel)
Born in England, Adrian moved to Israel in 1990 after graduating with a degree in Jewish Education Studies at London University. After briefly working for the Jewish Agency, Adrian moved to Tlalim-Authentic Israel where he has served for the past 20 years. Adrian lives in the town of Modi'in in Israel along with his wife and five children.
 Avi Green
Office Director (North America)
Born in Jerusalem and raised in Philadelphia, Avi graduated with a masters degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and subsequetly worked in Jordan on an Arab-Israeli economic cooperation initiative funded by USAID. Returning to the States, Avi co-founded the Israel Outdoors project in 2001 after years of hiking and biking Israel's countryside.
 Nicole Barda
Program Manager (North America)
Born and raised in Potomac, Maryland, Nicole studied at the University of Haifa in Israel. After returning from Israel, Nicole worked for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington as well as the Jewish Claims Conference in New York City. Nicole returned to her hometown of greater Washington, DC in 2005 to serve as the North American program coordinator for Israel Outdoors. Most importantly, Nicole is a recent mother. Congratulations Nicole!
 Oshrit Fallach
Operator - Taglit-Birthright Israel Groups (Israel)
Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Oshrit has been working with Taglit-Birthright Israel groups since 2005 as well as managing several other projects. Oshrit currently lives in Ramat Pinkas.
 Nirit Einhoren
Operator - Taglit-Birthright Israel Groups (Israel)
Born and raised in Kfar Saba, was involved with Bnei Akiva (youth movement) and The Maccabia as counselor. In her national service Nirit Served in Kibbutz Tirat zvi for the first year and for the second year in Jerusalem. Later She Graduating with a degree in Communication and Management studies at The College of Management. Nirit has been working with Taglit-Birthright Israel groups since 2008 as well as managing several other projects. Nirit currently lives in Givat Shmuel.
 Ofer Akrish
Operator - Taglit-Birthright Israel Groups (Israel)
Born and raised in Jerusalem, Ofer spent five years in the army as an intelligence officer before completing a degree program at the Jezreal Valley College. Ofer enjoys travelling and has been working with Taglit-Birthright Israel groups since 2007.
 Yael Horovitz
Head field coordinator - Taglit-Birthright Israel Groups (Israel)
Born and raised in Kfar Saba, Yael spent three years in the army as a training officer. Yael likes to travel around the world and has lived in the U.S for two years and is now planning to study human resources in the Ariel college. Yael has been working with Taglit-Birthright Israel groups since 2007.
 Matan Safran
Special Projects (Israel)
Matan grew up in Karmei Yossef and served in special forces in the IDF. He has worked at Authentic Israel since 2004 and is currently working part-time while studying full-time at the Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herziliya where he also resides. In his free time, Matan also works as a freelance photographer specializing in aerial photography.
 Roxy
Office Dog (North America)
Born and raised in California, Roxy moved east to Washington, DC in 2006 and is now a regular fixture at the Israel Outdoors offices in North America. You can typically find Roxy asleep on the job in her private corporate bean bag.
Meet your Israel Outdoors Trip Guide...
 Sara Zeltzer
Trip Guide (Israel)
Sara Zeltzer was born in Tel Aviv in 1979. In spite of the fact that she grew up in the big city, she was always a nature lover and spent her two-year army service in the SPNI (Society of Protection of Nature in Israel) as a tour guide, taking children out into nature, as well as bringing "nature activities" indoors to the elderly. Naturally, she currently studies Biology in Tel Aviv University. Her grandparents being Holocaust survivors, she strongly believes in passing on the story and not letting the memory die with the survivors, yet she tends to find quiet and non-imposing ways to pass the story onwards. When asked why she is a tour guide, she will say that it is the only way to feel and understand the soil and the land.
 Nataly Zeevi
Trip Guide (Israel)
Born in Tel Aviv, Nataly began her love for nature at Sde Boker high school in the Negev Desert. Nataly served in the IDF as a tour guide and since then has been alternatively guiding trips in Israel and traveling the world -- crossing the Himalayas from India to Tibet, riding horses throughout Mongolia, trekking in China, etc. These days she is still guiding and also studying cheesmaking with dreams of making her own dairy goat farm.
 Amir Klar
Trip Guide (Israel)
Born and raised in the center of Israel, Amir has served in the IDF radio station (Galatz). After travels and work in over 30 countries, He graduated with a degree in education, Arabic and regional studies and worked as a guide in the SPNI (Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel). An aficionado of languages and travels, Amir combines these two with his dedication to education, working for the last 6 years as a tour guide, and recently as a K12 Arabic teacher. Amir currently lives in kibbutz Lotem in the Lower Galilee in northern Israel.
 Efrat Sharoni
Trip Guide (Israel)
Efrat was born in Haifa and raised on Moshav Sde Ilan in the Lower Galilee. Her flair for theatrics was given the chance to blossom when she served as an officer in IDF’s Performing Arts Troup. She earned her B.A. from Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva in Biology and Ecology and is currently studying towards her M.A. in Judaic Science and Land of Israel Studies at the Schechter Institute. A tour guide for the last 8 years, Efrat currently lives in Ramat Gan outside of Tel Aviv.
 Avner Sofer
Trip Guide (Israel)
Avner grew up in Haifa and served in the IDF for six years as an intelligence officer (and continues to serve in the reserves). His central interests are hiking, geology the history of Israel, and the story of the Jewish people. Avner began his career working as a ranger for the Nature Reserve Authority in the Mount Carmel region for ten years. In 1988, Avner began work as a tour guide in Israel and has since expanded to guiding in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Jordan, Uzbekistan and others. He currently lives in a small village in the Galilee called Alon HaGalil.
 Yaacov Shabbat
Trip Guide (Israel)
Yaacov was born and raised in Jerusalem. In addition to being a tour guide for 12 years he has a passion for photography, which he studied at Hadassah College. After spending 4 years living in Montreal, Canada, Yaacov now lives with his wife and two sons in Maale Adumim, right outside of Jerusalem.
 Janina (Nina) Grunhaus
Trip Guide (Israel)
Nina was born in Costa Rica and made Aliah in 1989. Since moving to Israel she has completed a B.A. in General History from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Nina loves to travel, and decided to share her love of travel and of Israel with others as a guide. She has been a tour guide for the last ten years and currently lives in Haifa.
 Yoni Ben-Tzedef
Trip Guide (Israel)
Yoni is a life-long Jerusalemite. He did his army service first in the Armored Corps, where he was a tank commander, and he finished his military working in the Army Spokesman’s office. An avid lover in adventure sports, Yoni has been guiding for 9 years. He recently completed his B.A. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Archaeology and Bible Studies, and is currently beginning an M.A. combining the two in Biblical Archaeology. When he is not guiding or adventure sporting, Yoni is a avid reader of anything he can get his hands on.
 Nurit Hertz
Trip Guide (Israel)
Nurit was born and raised on Kibbutz Yavneh on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. She spent her IDF service as an official tour guide and soon after moved to Sde Boker in the Negev Desert. Nurit has also traveled the word, trekking throughout the Indian Himalaya, the Tibetan plateau as well as China and Mongolia. Nurit now works primarily as a trip guide, living in Jerusalem and studying body-mind therapy, a kind of physical psychotherapy.
 Yinon Kahalani
Trip Guide (Israel)
Yinon grew up on Moshav Sde Ilan in the Galilee and currently resides in the village of Zichron Yaacov in the Carmel Mountains. Yinon has been guiding trips for seven years after leaving a career as a private investigator. A guitarist and a natural traveler, Yinon's favorite place for vacations is the Far East. He studied psychology in the Tel Aviv University and utilized his knowledge in various ways that served national security and the IDF.
 Adele Bassin
Trip Guide (Israel)
Adele was born in South Africa from where she made Aliyah to Israel. Before becoming a guide, Adele studied psychology and has worked in the legal field in Israel. But like many other guides, she decided that she had enough working indoors and prefers to be outside and working with people.
 Yoel Oren
Trip Guide (Israel)
Yoel Oren has been working with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (S.P.N.I.) for many years, five of which as the director of the Ein-Gedi Field Study Center, a guiding center located in the Judean Desert by the Dead Sea. Yoel leads treks in the canyons of Jordan, the mountains of Sinai (Egypt), and the alpine ridges of Turkey, as well as "normal" trips and tours, such as family trips, pilgrimage missions, cultural tours, etc.
 Jared Goldfarb
Trip Guide (Israel)
Jared Goldfarb originally hails from the woods of New Hampshire, where there were many more cows than Jews. He later found himself studying at Brandeis University, ironically enough, where there were plenty of Jews but no cows. Jared did the only sensible thing and majored in Russian Theatre. Upon completion of his studies, Jared traveled the world organizing international economic development conferences for three years, at which point he returned to Boston to work for the Jewish Federation as the Coordinator of the 1995 General Assembly. In the summer of 1996, inspired by a rekindled connection to Judaism and Jewish community, and entirely fluent in Hebrew (as long as the conversation never progressed beyond "The pencil is on the table"), Jared moved to Jerusalem, where he first worked as a kindergarten teacher, but has no idea what he told the kids to do. Later, bit by the Jewish learning bug, as well the Israeli history mosquito (ouch!), he studied at Machon Pardes, the Hartman Institute, and the National Tourguide Course. Since then, Jared served for 8 years as the Program Director of Ta-Shma: Pluralistic Jewish Learning, and works as a freelance Jewish/Israel educator for numerous institutions around the country, including the Centre for Biblical Formation at Ecce Homo, the Hebrew College Rabbinical School, Career Israel, Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Melitz Centers for Jewish-Zionist Education, and the Inter-religious Coordinating Council of Israel. He and his partner, Elisa, live in Jerusalem with their three adorable kids, where he is a theatre addict and an environmental activist.
 Ariel Gabai
Trip Guide (Israel)
Ariel Gabai sees himself first and foremost as an educator; born 1974, Ariel is an environmentalist at heart. His army service brought him to some interesting human situations and personal encounters, as he was a paratrooper at the end of the 80's and the beginning of the 90's. He spent four years as a Shaliach in San Francisco, teaching Hebrew and Jewish studies in formal as well as informal frameworks. His education includes multiple degrees in Geography and Israel Studies, while his hobbies include rock climbing, rappelling. His email address hints at his hobby – adobe – alternative and environment friendly building techniques.
 Yeshay Avital
Trip Guide (Israel)
Yishay Avital has been guiding since 1975. This includes providing guiding experiences for Israeli Youth Groups, Study Abroad Programs, Ulpan Groups, American Teen Summer Programs. Private tours, JNF missions, JNF VIPs, Synagogue missions, Birthright Israel and American & British Youth Programs. He uses a compelling storytelling method to convey a dramatic and accurate sense of both ancient and modern Israel, as well as the Jewish connection to the land of Israel. Geology, geography, archeology, Bible study, zoology, military history, botany and other topics are interspersed or highlighted throughout the tour, depending on the particular interest of the group members.
Dror Kidron
Trip Guide (Israel)
Dror Kidron is an 8th generation Jerusalemite. He has a B.A. in Geography from Hebrew University, Jerusalem and is currently completing a M.A. in Israel Studies. Dror served medical care in special paratroopers unit in army.
After completing his military service, he was responsible for building and running 'Outdoor Programs'. He has specialist experience running Young leadership seminars and Israeli Studies programs, as well as training new guides through the Youth Department of the Ministry of Education. Dror has worked with groups of all ages, aiming to share a love for an amazing piece of land rooted in history and legends. He spreads a passion and knowledge through a combination of feeling, learning and touching the land of Israel with the intention of creating a unique, memorable experience. Dror lives with his wife, Efrat, and their three children near Jerusalem.
Efrat Lavi
Trip Guide (Israel)
Efrat Lavi, 31, has been guiding for the last 12 years since she started her army service. She comes from a traditional family and speaks almost-perfect English. Additionally to being a tour guide, she is also a lawyer by training, and has learned, in the course of the years, to think in very different ways.
Yael Menasheh
Trip Guide (Israel)
Yael Menasheh, a Jerusalemite at heart was born and raised in Jerusalem and spent three years of her childhood in the USA. For the last decade she has been working with groups of all different ages, Israeli as well as American. One of her favorite things as a guide is rediscovering Israel again and again through the eyes of the people with whom she is touring.
Erez Landau
Trip Guide (Israel)
Erez Landau, born 1981, is very much an outdoor guide. Having specialized for some time in horse riding and other forms of outdoor activities on Mt. Carmel, he decided that these were just the tools for getting to know the land of Israel – and decided to spend his time guiding, and thereby showing people "the real thing". His work currently includes children, youth and adults, and he finds the way to share his knowledge and his love of the land with anyone he meets, in a way that sometimes seems to be catching.
Hilla Efrati
Trip Guide (Israel)
Hilla Efrati started tour guiding as a form of informal education, as a result of her love of the land and her seeing each and every spot in the country as a class room where a message may be conveyed. As a SPNI (Society of Protection of Nature in Israel) graduate (1997), she finds the outdoors to be the best place for a group to form, and volunteers in an absorption center – as a tour guide. Her work currently includes school children, American youth, birthright group and families, always giving a special meaning to the places being visited, even when they seem to be regular or "everyday" sites.
About Tlalim (aka: Authentic Israel)
 Tlalim - Authentic Israel is a leading organizer of innovative touring programs in Israel. We work with organizations and families around the world. Our officies in Israel are located in Tel Aviv as well as on the campus of Ben Gurion International Airport. We also have local offices in North America (Washington, DC) to support our Taglit-birthright israel participants. All of our Israeli trip guides are licensed professionals who are simply fantastic at connecting with our participants and sharing the Israel experience with the world. .
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