Our professionals of the Village Way Educational Initiatives Staff
Chaim Peri
Founder, Village Way Educational Initiatives
chaim@derechkfar.org.il
Chaim Peri is recognized as one of Israel’s leading experts on the education and rehabilitation of at-risk youth. He served as the visionary educator and director of the Yemin Orde Wingate Youth Village in Israel for 3 decades, touching the lives of thousands of children, both immigrant and Israeli born.
Additionally, his endeavors include the establishment of the Shvut Am Institute at Yemin Orde, which addresses the identity conflicts of adolescent immigrants; initiating the Steering Center of Ethiopian Educational Affairs at the Ministry of Education and founding the Mechina Leadership Program for Immigrant Youth in the town of Hatzor in the Upper Galilee.
In 2007, Chaim launched “Yemin Orde Educational Initiatives”, (now known as Village Way Educational Initiatives) an educational endeavor aimed at rejuvenating youth villages throughout Israel. The Initiatives mission is based on the philosophy and methodology developed at Yemin Orde Youth Village. Village Way Educational Initiatives reflects Yemin Orde’s values of diversity, pluralism, service to the community, and Jewish identity and spirituality.
Chaim Peri has been recognized for his work on behalf of Israel’s youth with Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ “Guardian of the Child” Award, and was honored to light a ceremonial torch during the official opening of a Independence Day celebrations in Jerusalem. In 2007, he was awarded the Exemplary Educator Award by the Minister of Education.
Dr. Peri holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bar Ilan University, a Masters degree from Columbia, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of London.
Haim Rubovitch
Chief Executive Officer
hmr@derechkfar.org.il
Haim Rubovitch is known for his extraordinary management and leadership skills. Prior to his position on the Village Way Educational Initiatives staff, Haim served for nearly two decades in executive positions with Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency. His responsibilities included budget planning, management and supervision of staff, as well as implementing organization policies, strategic planning, and human resource development within the organization.
Early in his career with Shin Bet, he served as Head of the Secret Service Unit in the Lebanon area and the Samaria area. Additionally, he served as acting head of the Secret Service Unit in the Jerusalem area, among other top level positions. From 1998-2001, he commanded and managed the Northern District Department of Israel’s Secret Service agency.
Haim received a BA in Political Science and a MA, Political Science and International Relations, both degrees from University of Haifa.
Dotan Levi
Director, Derech Kfar (The Village Way) Educational Institute
Dotan joined the staff of Yemin Orde Youth Village in 1996 as a teacher and informal educator. He later served as head of the informal education team and as assistant principal of the high school. Under Dotan’s visionary leadership as Director of the Educational Institute, the creative team of educators who staff the Institute has developed a unique curriculum for teaching the Village Way educational methodology to educators.
They have established and continue to expand a resource center of educational materials including “how to” manuals for educational program implementation. The Institute is currently “educating educators” working with youth-at-risk in Israel and around the world.
Dotan’s professional career as an educator began in 1991 in Kibbutz Ein Tsurim. At the kibbutz, Dotan combined his role as a high school teacher with informal educational work and mentored immigrant and at-risk youngsters from development towns. For the past 15 years, he has lectured in schools around the country and in the IDF on understanding Ethiopian culture and immigrant absorption. Previously, he facilitated seminars in various educational settings including: “Gesher”, Bnei Akiva” and leadership empowerment forums for Ethiopian immigrants.
During Dotan’s high school years, he was active in the Bnei Akiva youth movement, serving as a counselor. He was instrumental in the establishment of the movement’s Department of Immigrant Absorption in the early 1990s. At age 21, he was part of a national leadership program through which he established an after-school program for at-risk children ages 6-14.
Dotan lives in the Hefer Valley in central Israel, with his wife and four children. He grew up in Bat Yam and is a first generation Israeli, born to Moroccan immigrants. He served in a combat unit of the IDF from 1987-1991, and remains on active reserve duty. Dotan holds a B.A. in Education and Jewish Thought from Herzog College (1994) and an M.A. in Jewish History and Traditional Literature from the University of Haifa (2002).