The story of Israel’s elections goes far beyond campaign ads and political debates. Join the Baltimore Jewish Council and three Baltimoreans living in Israel for an insider’s perspective on the issues that matter most, the conversations happening on the ground, and what is at stake for Israel’s future.
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Moderator
Emily Honick, BJC Board President
Panelists
Judi Rowland is an ordained rabbi and cantor and has a master’s in Jewish educational leadership from Hebrew Union College. She served Baltimore Hebrew Congregation with great joy for 12 years from 1996-2008, before moving to New York City and then making Aliyah on October 20, 2021, exactly five years ago. In Israel she is a grandma, a perpetual Hebrew student and an avid embracer of Tel Aviv life.
Zahava Klein served as Director of Israel and Jewish Advocacy at the Baltimore Jewish Council from 2017 to 2022, where she worked to strengthen Jewish communal engagement and advocacy around Israel. During Operation Iron Swords, she organized fundraising efforts to provide essential supplies and equipment for the units of her two brothers, who were serving on the front lines in Gaza and Lebanon.
Zahava holds a bachelor’s degree in Judaic Studies from Touro College and a master’s degree in public administration, with a concentration in nonprofit management, from the University of Baltimore. In 2025, she made Aliyah to Israel, where she lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with her husband and four sons.
Howard Goldstein is a retired 70-year-old, now living in Ashkelon, and active in volunteer work. He was in Baltimore for 15 years, completed Aliyah 3 and a half years ago in Spring 2023, just before Yom Ha’atzmaut, and before October 7th. His wife made Aliyah this January, and his daughter in April. She will draft into the IDF in 2 more months.
His wife continues to work remotely, and they both volunteer. His volunteer work includes home repairs for poor, elderly, and others after October 7th, bringing food, holiday items, and good cheer and gratitude to soldiers on bases, from near Gaza, to the Lebanon and Syria borders and in between, agricultural work, helping local people with odds and ends, teaching Ethiopian new arrivals, and visiting people in an orphanage, and senior citizen residential facility.
