The New Israel Fund and Sha’ar Zahav are pleased to present:

Rabbi Avi Dabush
Director of NIF grantee Rabbis for Human Rights

Moderated by Rabbi Mychal Copeland

Hosted at Sha’ar Zahav
290 Dolores St, San Francisco

Co-Sponsored by: The Kitchen Shared Society Project and Congregation Sherith Israel

As the Executive Director of NIF grantee Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR), and as a survivor of the October 7 attack at Kibbutz Nirim, Rabbi Dabush truly puts his faith into action. Since 2019, he has led RHR’s network in interfaith dialogue, humanitarian relief programs, and the protection of Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest season. A well-known author and activist, he has also written articles for Ha’aretz and The Times of Israel.

Rabbi Dabush will discuss the post-October 7 reality–the fragile Gaza ceasefire, settler violence on the West Bank, continuing erosion of Israel’s democratic norms–and why he is still hopeful and looking toward a more equal, just and inclusive future. 

About Rabbis for Human Rights:
Rabbis for Human Rights is an inter-denominational movement in Israel promoting human rights and an end to the occupation of the West Bank—spreading awareness of the situation and motivated by the Jewish belief that every person is made in the image of God. 

About Rabbi Avi Dabush:
Avi was born in Ashkelon to a religious, right-wing, Mizrahi family and attended Zionist-religious schools and the Bnei Akiva youth movement. In his early twenties he founded and headed a school for children with autism. Over the last two decades he has been involved in and has led several social organizations and movements, including the Negev Council, The Movement for the Future of the Western Negev and the Movement of the Peripheries, and was one of the leaders of the Equality March in 2016 and 2022. He is author of the book The Periphery Rebellion and a regular op-ed contributor for Ha’aretz and Israel Hayom newspapers. Avi was recently ordained at Beit Midrash for Israeli Rabbis, holds an MA in organizational sociology from Ben Gurion University of the Negev and is a graduate of the Heschel Institute’s Sustainability Leadership Fellowship Program. He was awarded the New Israel Fund UK's human rights prize in 2021 and the Sami Michael Award for Equality and Social Justice in 2024. For the last 16 years he has been living with this family in the Gaza Envelope, until being displaced after October 7th. His family was fortunately able to return to Kibbutz Nirim during 2025. 

ABOUT NIF:

The New Israel Fund is the leading organization advancing and defending democracy in Israel. Widely credited with building Israeli progressive civil society, NIF has provided over $300 million to more than 900 organizations since its inception in 1979. Learn more about NIF at www.nif.org.

ABOUT CONGREGATION SHA’AR ZAHAV:

Founded in 1977, Sha’ar Zahav is San Francisco’s only LGBTQIA+ synagogue. We embrace a diversity of individuals of all sexualities, genders, races and abilities. We welcome a diversity of families, including single members, interfaith, single-parent, and multicultural families.