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ConnectED is an educational platform and community dedicated to empowering educators, students, and parents in high schools and middle schools, serving grades 6 through 12.
We partner with academic institutions to achieve their goals of fostering critical thinking, empathy, and respectful discourse on Israel-Palestine, antisemitism, and Jewish history, and equipping students with the skills for media literacy and courageous conversations.
In today’s digital age, when misinformation is pervasive, students are often exposed to biased or false information, leading to misunderstandings and polarized communities. The need for accurate facts, critical thinking, empathy, and the ability to engage in respectful conversations is more important than ever.
ConnectED addresses this challenge by providing educational institutions with reliable, nuanced educational resources that encourage students to explore multiple perspectives and develop a deeper understanding of complex issues. For schools that seek a deeper engagement, we also offer student sessions, professional development, guest speakers, and more.
Our videos and curricula reflect the best practices of the country’s top independent day and public schools. They promote empathy and respectful dialogue, and equip students to evaluate media critically and engage in constructive conversations.
Our comprehensive offerings empower educators to integrate these essential topics into their classrooms, preparing students for academic success and informed citizenship. By fostering thoughtful and nuanced discourse, ConnectED helps build a more empathetic and informed future generation.
Executive Vice President and Head of Education
Dr. Noam Weissman is the Executive Vice President and Head of Education at ConnectED, where he leads our educational vision and philosophy, focusing on developing meaningful content and resources for students and educators. Noam hosts the popular podcast “Unpacking Israeli History,” and leads Unpacked’s content across all platforms. He also heads the Unpacked for Educators division, which is utilized by over 2,000 educational institutions worldwide to explore topics such as Jewish history, Israel, antisemitism, and Jewish identity. Noam earned his doctorate in educational psychology, with a specialization in curriculum design, from the University of Southern California. Previously, he served as the principal of Shalhevet High School. He is a Civil Society Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Program Director
Sara Himeles is the Program Director at ConnectED. She is responsible for the operational execution of the program, overseeing content development, school outreach, and educational offerings. Sara brings an extensive background in content creation and strategic communications, with prior roles in the chief of staff’s office of former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, and a tech company in the Bay Area. Previously, Sara served as the editor-in-chief of the Unpacked website, where she produced content that resonated with both Gen Z Jews and their non-Jewish peers. She holds a BA in communications and public service from the University of Pennsylvania and attended Fieldston School in New York City.
Senior Educator
Yoni Buckman is the Senior Educator at ConnectED, leading student sessions and professional development for both private and public independent schools. Yoni has been instrumental in designing interdisciplinary curricula and spearheading educational initiatives for schools and organizations across the country. He is committed to lifelong learning and is dedicated to cultivating curiosity, creating inclusive learning environments, and integrating meaningful content into the education landscape.
Dr. Mehnaz Afridi is a Professor of Religious studies and Director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College. She teaches courses on Islam, the Holocaust, genocide, comparative religion, and feminism.
Her last book, “Shoah Through Muslim Eyes” (Academic Studies Press, 2017), was nominated for the Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research and the Jacob Schnitzer Book Award. She is currently working on “The Wounded Muslim” (Lexington Books, forthcoming) and a co-edited book on “Global Approaches to the Holocaust” (Nebraska University Press, forthcoming).
In 2019, she was awarded the Costello Award for teaching excellence in the School of Liberal Arts and the Lasallian Educator (2020) at Manhattan College. She is also a U.S. State Department Member on the delegation for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. She also serves as a member of the Committee of Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, D.C.
Afridi obtained her Ph.D. from the University of South Africa and her M.A. and B.A. from Syracuse University.
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is an American writer and analyst who grew up in Gaza City, having left in 2005 as a teenage exchange student to the United States. He writes extensively on Gaza’s political and humanitarian affairs and has been an outspoken critic of Hamas and a promoter of coexistence and peace as the only path forward between Palestinians and Israelis. Alkhatib is a resident senior fellow with the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in intelligence and national security studies. His writing has been published in U.S. and Israeli outlets, and his opinions and comments have been featured in the international press.
Professor Mohammed Dajani Daoudi is the Director of the Wasatia Academic Institute in Jerusalem. A Jerusalem-born scholar and peace activist, Dajani holds doctorate degrees from the University of Texas and the University of South Carolina. He is the author of numerous books and articles on peace and reconciliation.
He founded the Wasatia (Moderation) Movement in 2007 to promote religious and political temperance. He was a founding member of the Jena Center for Reconciliation Studies at Friedrich Schiller University in Germany. In 2017, he co-founded the European Wasatia School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Europa University in Flensburg, Germany.
He has served in various leadership roles, including as the founding director of the Political Science and Diplomatic Studies Department at Applied Science University in Amman, Jordan, a Senior Consultant to the Palestinian Authority, and the founding director of the American Studies Graduate Institute at Al-Quds University.
Dajani has received multiple awards for his work. In 2014, he received the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from Tufts University’s Institute for Global Leadership, recognizing his dedication to creating a vibrant and democratic Palestinian society. His commitment to combating antisemitism earned him the 2022 Simon Wiesenthal Prize from the Austrian Parliament. Despite facing significant threats and challenges, he continues to advocate for moderation, coexistence, peace, and reconciliation.
Haviv Rettig Gur is an Israeli journalist who serves as the senior analyst at The Times of Israel. He has covered Israeli politics and the country’s foreign and regional policies, as well as its relationship with the Jewish diaspora. He has reported from over 20 countries on the issues of the day.
He is fluent in Hebrew and English, lectures in Israel and abroad on Israeli society and history, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and more. He served as director of communications for the Jewish Agency for Israel, Israel's largest NGO, and was an early advocate and lobbyist for SpaceIL, working to advance science and space education through the construction and launch of an Israeli spacecraft. He teaches about the intersection of journalism, history and politics at prestigious Israeli premilitary academies.
Darius Jones is the Founder and President of the National Black Empowerment Council (NBEC). The National Black Empowerment Council is a membership organization whose mission is to close the systemic wealth, influence and achievement gaps between African Americans and more structurally advantaged groups.
Formerly, Jones served as the Deputy National Political Director for Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign. He spent a decade as National African American Constituency Director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
In the years prior to AIPAC, Jones founded Vanguard Leadership Group (VLG), an honor society and leadership development academy for top minority students at Clark-Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a previous speechwriter for the former Mayor of Atlanta, Bill Campbell and Mayor Kasim Reed.
Dr. Thomas Kelly is Head at Horace Mann School, an independent day school in Bronx, NY. In addition to his administrative duties, he is a member of the Upper Division faculty where he has taught both Ethics in School and Society and Advanced Placement Psychology. He is the first educator to be inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame.
Kelly’s commitment to the community at large includes serving as a member of the Board of Directors for Early Steps, Riverdale Senior Services, Inc., The IDEAL School and the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. He is also a member of the advisory board serving the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Pre-College Program at Columbia University and the Committee to Advise the Academic Dean and President at Brown University. Past service includes DeLaSalle Academy, as a trustee, and as a member of the New York State Association for Independent Schools' Accreditation Commission.
Prior to working at Horace Mann School, Kelly served in the public school arena as a Superintendent of Schools, High School Principal and Director of Special Education, and has held the rank of Adjunct Assistant Professor of Education at several graduate programs, including Teachers College, Columbia University and City College of New York. He holds M.A. and M.Ed. degrees in education, as well as M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in behavior disorders and research. He's married to Rachel and together they have a daughter, Emma Rose.
Yossi Klein Halevi is a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He co-directs the Institute’s Muslim Leadership Initiative, which teaches emerging young Muslim American leaders about Jewish identity and Israel.
Klein Halevi is the author of the New York Times bestseller, “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor” and co-host of the Institute’s award-winning podcast, “For Heaven’s Sake.”
He is also the author of “Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation,” which won the Jewish Book Council’s Everett Book of the Year Award.
Other books by Klein Halevi include “At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew’s Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land,” published in 2001. His first book, “Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist,” told the story of his teenage attraction to, and subsequent disillusionment with Jewish militancy.
Klein Halevi writes for the op-ed pages of leading American newspapers. He is a former Contributing Editor of The New Republic.
Klein Halevi was born in New York. He has a B.A. in Jewish studies from Brooklyn College and an M.S. in journalism from Northwestern University. He moved to Israel in 1982, and lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Sarah. They have three children.
Chloé Valdary is the founder of the Theory of Enchantment, a New York-based inclusion and belonging organization that fights against racism and bigotry by teaching love. Theory of Enchantment trains businesses and organizations across industries, including tech companies (Bytedance), hospitals (Kadlec), human resources (Second Harvest), schools and more. The training focuses on social-emotional learning, character development, and interpersonal growth for leadership development in the boardroom, out in the field, and beyond.
Valdary’s work has been featured in Atlantic Magazine, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. She is a sought-after speaker and has lectured at universities across America, including Harvard and Georgetown, promoting empathy and understanding through her unique approach to diversity training. Previously, she was a Bartley Fellow at The Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Noam Weissman is the Executive Vice President and Head of Education at ConnectED, where he leads our educational vision and philosophy, focusing on developing meaningful content and resources for students and educators.
Weissman hosts the popular podcast “Unpacking Israeli History,” and leads Unpacked’s content across all platforms. He also heads the Unpacked for Educators division, which is utilized by over 2,000 educational institutions worldwide to explore topics such as Jewish history, Israel, antisemitism, and Jewish identity.
He earned his doctorate in educational psychology, with a specialization in curriculum design, from the University of Southern California. Previously, he served as the principal of Shalhevet High School. He is a Civil Society Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.