As part of our year of celebration as we approach Rabbi Zemel’s retirement on June 30, 2025, the Celebration Committee presents a three-part series of panels, Imagining the Jewish Future, featuring accomplished rabbis, thinkers, and Jewish leaders from the United States, Israel and Canada.
The second panel, Israel in the Year 2048, features a discussion with Gili Re’i, Jon Allen, and Col. Uri Dromi. The panel will be moderated by Rabbi Healy Slakman.
Registration is NOT required to attend this event. We look forward to welcoming our guests to Temple Micah.
If you are unable to attend in person, please complete this form to receive a link to join us online.
Gili Re’i
Gili Re’i has over 2 decades of executive experience in social change in Israel. In her various roles she has led programs advocating for human rights, civic equality and has also initiated and led programs that deal with the relationships between various communities in Israeli society, addressing the challenges of a shared society. For the past three years she has been working for an American NGO specializing in negotiation strategies. She is a proud Jerusalemite and a mother of two.
Jon Allen
Jon Allen (LL.B., University of Western Ontario, 1976; LL.M., International Law, University of London School of Economics, 1977) joined Canada’s then Department of External Affairs in 1981. In addition to postings abroad in Mexico City and New Delhi, Mr. Allen held the positions of Minister (Political Affairs) at the Canadian Embassy in Washington (2004-2006) and Assistant Deputy Minister for the Americas (2010-2012). From 2006 to 2010, he was Canada’s Ambassador to Israel and from 2012 to 2016 he was Ambassador to Spain and Andorra. From 2012 to 2014, he served concurrently as Charge´ d’affaires at the Canadian Embassy to the Holy See.
He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, a Distinguished Fellow of the Canadian International Council, and the Chair of Rozana Canada, a not for profit whose objective is to build bridges between Palestinians and Israelis via the health sector.
Col. Uri Dromi (Ret.)
Col. Uri Dromi (Ret.) was born in Israel in 1946. He volunteered to the Israeli Air Force in 1964 and served as a navigator, fighting in four wars. Apart from flying, Dromi was the Chief Education Officer of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), Editor-in-Chief of the IAF Magazine and the head of the IDF Publishing House. In 1989 he retired from the Air Force with the rank of Colonel. He continued flying in the reserves until 2003.
Upon retiring, Dromi became the North American Director of Information of the World Zionist Organization, and was based in Los Angeles, initiating the Do the Write Thing program for student journalists. In August, 1992, Dromi returned to Israel and was appointed by the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as the Spokesman of the Israeli Government.
Between 1996 and 2007, Uri Dromi has been the Director of Publications at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI). Since 2002 he has also assumed the position of Director of International Outreach at IDI.
From 2007 to 2013 Dromi was Director General of Mishkenot Sha’ananim Conference Center, Jerusalem, initiating the Jerusalem International Writers Festival. In 2013 he founded the Jerusalem Press Club, aiming at assisting the foreign journalists covering and visiting Israel in gaining a nuanced perspective of Israel, taking into account its challenges and geo-strategic neighborhood. He retired in February 2024.