As Hazon’s Assistant Director of Foundation Relations, Nellie secures funding to support the organization’s impactful programs and initiatives. She joins Hazon with 15 years of experience in the cultural sector as a program director, fundraiser, educator, and partnership builder. Nellie has completed coursework in civic ecology through Cornell University, and holds a master’s degree in elementary special education from Brooklyn College, along with bachelor’s degrees in theatre and broadcast journalism with a French minor from Pennsylvania State University. Nellie loves to dig for worms in her urban garden, travel the world, cook, dance, and make art, all with her husband and girl-boy twins, and serves as the president of the board of their nature-based, cooperative preschool.

Elana Eyal is Hazon’s Associate Director of Special Initiatives, dedicated to the organization and smooth sailing of our special events, including the Israel Ride. Prior to joining Hazon, she worked for a renewable energy (biogas) startup, and at a socially-conscious video production company. Elana is very connected to Israel, where she lived for 8 years after graduating from Tel Aviv University. She loves all things outdoors, creating art, practicing yoga, and has backpacked solo throughout the world.

Sarah Zell Young is the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Interim Director of Retreats at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. Sarah comes to Hazon with over a decade of educational and nonprofit management experience. She most recently was the Director of Finance at a flagship Jewish day school and a co-director of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Boston University partnering with Hillel. While living In Israel, she earned a certificate in educational and spiritual leadership at the Claudia Cohen Women’s Educators Institute, was an inaugural art fellow at Pardes, and a Dorot Fellow. Sarah is also a certified Urban Zen Integrative Therapist and an award-winning visual artist and is excited to be bringing her creativity to an organization that shares her values of learning from the wisdom of Jewish tradition to create a sustainable world for all.

Abby Bresler is the Jewish Youth Climate Movement Manager. She has a background in youth climate justice organizing and helping movements center equity and inclusion. She co-founded and co-coordinated Sunrise Movement’s National Disability and Accessibility Volunteer Team, as well as the Dartmouth College Sunrise hub and a campus accessibility group called Access Dartmouth. Abby is a graduate of Dartmouth College and an alum of JOIN for Justice’s Access to Power Fellowship and the Jewish Education Project’s GENERATE Fellowship. In her free time, Abby enjoys cooking, writing poetry, singing, and spending time outdoors.

Liana Rothman is the co-founder and director of the Jewish Youth Climate Movement, where she supports Jewish teens in taking climate action, and promoting climate justice within Jewish institutions nationally. Liana also supports the Hazon Seal of Sustainability program, and JOFEE (Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming, and Environmental Education) field-building initiatives. Liana was an Adamah Fellow, Teva Educator, and JOFEE Fellow from 2018-2020. Liana is pursuing a MPA in nonprofit management and public policy from New York University. Liana loves to go on hikes, spend long hours on porches with friends, and is committed to building a more just society.

Aharon Ariel Lavi is the founder and director of Hakhel: The Jewish Intentional Communities Incubator in the Diaspora, at Hazon.

Lavi is a serial social entrepreneur and a professional community organizer, who believes that networks are key to shaping our reality. He founded his community in Shuva in Israel, the Nettiot network and was also Co-founder of MAKOM: the national umbrella organization of intentional communities in Israel.

In 2020, Hakhel was awarded the Jerusalem Unity Prize, by the President of Israel.

Lavi is also a thinker who believes Judaism can inspire and inform all walks of life, and vice versa. He holds Rabbinic Semicha, as well as academic degrees in Economics, Geography and History and Philosophy of ideas. He writes his dissertation on migration of ideas between US Jewry and the Israeli society. He was a fellow in several research institutions in Israel and wrote extensively on Judaism and economics, environmentalism and other issues.

Lavi lives with his wife, Liat, and their five children in Shuva, and in his spare time he is also a professional mountain biking racer and trainer. His recent book, Seven, deals with Shmita inspired economic, social and environmental ideas.