Liheyot Ye’udi, an educational program inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, has completed its second year after reaching 70,000 students across Israel, organizers said this week.
The initiative, run by The Rabbi Sacks Legacy and coordinated by Sulamot, works with students in Israel’s state and state-religious school systems. It aims to help young Israelis see themselves as leaders, moral voices, and people capable of responding to the country’s social challenges with responsibility and action.
The year-end event brought together students, educators, public figures, and Israeli content creators who have been involved in the program. It included appearances by Itay and Omri Rozenblit, former contestants on "The Amazing Race Israel."
Omri Rozenblit, who was wounded while fighting in Gaza and lost a leg, told the students that identity is shaped by values rather than by physical condition.
“You are who you define yourselves to be. You are the size of your values,” he said. “I was wounded in the war and lost a leg. Perhaps I am defined as disabled, but as far as I am concerned, I am not disabled. I remind myself that this is only body and flesh. I am my ideals. I am Israeli, Jewish, a fighter.”
Dylen Dror: Doing good begins with a small decision
Digital influencer Dylen Dror, who has helped create content for Liheyot Ye’udi over the past two years, said the program changed the way he thinks about doing good.
“The most meaningful thing I learned is that doing good does not begin only with a big project,” Dror said. “It begins with a small decision: to notice, to listen, to help, to choose, and to see the other. Rabbi Sacks said that every person has a unique voice and a role in the world, and that idea spoke to me as well.”
The day concluded with a tribute at the President’s Residence, where President Isaac Herzog praised the initiative and the students participating in it.
“We live in a world filled with worry and anxiety,” Herzog said. “And what can the solution be? When we read Rabbi Sacks, we feel calmer. There is something deeply logical there, something that explains where you are and where you are going. I commend this initiative to spread the teachings of Rabbi Sacks.”
Turning to the students, Herzog added: “Continue to spread Rabbi Sacks’ teachings. They are important, and they will accompany you always.”
Rabbi Sacks’ teachings as an answer to polarization
Nadiva Koschitzky Sheer, representing the Koschitzky family, which supports the project, said Rabbi Sacks’ teachings were especially relevant at a time of polarization in Israeli society.
“Rabbi Sacks taught us that disagreement is not a threat to our unity, but the foundation of Judaism, of a strong democracy, and of a healthy society,” she said. “You, the young participants in this program, are the best antidote to the polarization and division in Israel.”
Daniel Taub, chair of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy in Israel and a former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, said the project was part of a broader effort to bring Rabbi Sacks’ ideas into Israeli homes and classrooms.
“A year ago, when we met with the President, he set us a challenge: that Rabbi Sacks should be in every home in Israel,” Taub said. “This year, too, the Liheyot Ye’udi program reached 70,000 students across Israel, in both the state and state-religious school systems.”
Rabbi Sacks, who served as chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, became one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of his generation, writing widely on morality, identity, responsibility, and Jewish leadership. Since his death in 2020, his family and students have worked to expand access to his teachings in Israel and around the Jewish world.
Liheyot Ye’udi has become one of the main Israeli educational frameworks carrying that legacy into classrooms, with students using Rabbi Sacks’ writings as a basis for discussion, personal reflection, and social action.