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it’s happening across the world”, says Dagan-Levy. “We need a new generation of community leaders. Our role is to help it emerge. I come from the business world, so I’m inherently goal-oriented. What I want, is to bring about radical change so that transformative action occurs. As I said to President Herzog, perhaps it’s a good thing the platform didn’t launch before October 7, as the thirst for solutions is far stronger now”. The initiative has been established as a community interest company, belonging half to the Jewish Agency and half to the Zionist Organization, and its budget is

President Isaac Herzog meeting with the members who came to Israel I Photo: Dor Pazuelo

funded by philanthropists Danna Azrieli, Patrick Drahi, and Mark Wilf. Young new voices October 7 led Dagan-Levy to put her start-up on hold and dedicate herself entirely to the solidarity initiatives that were sprouting across Israel at the start of the war, until her appointment as CEO of the new platform. “The thing I love most in the world is bringing people together and solving problems, and the opportunity here is immense”, she promises. “Every person above 18 who identifies as Jewish has a chance to become a council member. We received more than 1,000 applications. We were going through them during months of great challenges, including attacks from Iran and sirens constantly going off, so we felt so thankful to be working on something so full of hope and positivity at such a time”. Taking shape “We aimed for a council that’s 75% under 50, and developed an algorithm to help us achieve the level of diversity we wanted in terms of gender, socio-economic backgrounds, walks of life, practicing and Orthodox Jews, non-practicing Jews, etc. Eventually, after very many Zoom calls, we narrowed it down to a list of 400 men and women, out of which the current council was

“President Herzog first outlined the idea for the platform when he was chairman of the

elected in February, and last month, they all finally met in person, in Israel, for the first time”, she recounts. Finding new solutions “The Voice of the People is a global, multicultural start-up and it’s unlike anything we’ve seen until now. It was made possible thanks to President Herzog, whose experience and family history encouraged people to join. But ultimately, this initiative will only be effective if each person, within their community, pushes towards the formation of a new common voice”. It may be too early to predict what ideas and solutions the council will propose, but one thing is certain: there is hope - and it’s as strong as ever. ˆ Jewish Agency, but it only launched in September 2024, as a global council made up of 50 members from Israel, 50 from the USA, and another 50 from the rest of the world”

Photo: Daniel Edri

Shirel Dagan-Levy, CEO of the Voice of the People: "We need a new generation of community leaders. Our role is to help it emerge. What I want, is to bring about radical change so that transformative action occurs. As I said to President Herzog, perhaps it’s a good thing the platform didn’t launch before October 7, as the thirst for solutions is far stronger now”

40 ATMOSPHERE APRIL 2025