This event brings together a small group of Israelis, personal friends of Lior Lekner, Community Shlicha of the Jewish Agency in Brooklyn, who are educators and long-term IDF reservists.

They served and fought during the Iron Swords War, leaving behind homes, families, classrooms, and workplaces for extended periods of reserve duty during Israel’s longest wars in recent memory.

This is a rare opportunity to ask honest questions of combat reservists who served across Gaza, the West Bank, and the northern front. The panelists will speak from direct lived experience, not analysis or commentary.

The conversation will focus on the personal, social, moral, and educational challenges of being educators in uniform: teaching values while carrying a weapon, returning to students while holding unresolved questions, and sustaining responsibility, humanity, and civic commitment during a prolonged war.

This is not a political debate or a briefing. It is a space for listening, complexity, and serious questions about leadership, education, and the future of Israeli society.

For security and privacy reasons, the names and additional details of the panelists will be shared only with registered participants.

The event will not be recorded. If you are interested in this type of conversation but are unable to attend on this date, please indicate this when you register and we will do our best to coordinate an additional session.

As part of registration, participants will be asked to submit a question in advance. Questions will be shared with the panelists ahead of time, and only those they feel able to address will be included in the conversation.