Jeremy Leigh teaches Israel Studies and Modern Jewish History at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem. He is the coordinator of the Richard J. Scheuer Israel Seminar for the Year-In-Israel Program as well as director of the HUC-JIR-JDC Fellowship for Global Jewish Responsibility. He leads the Year-In-Israel Program’s program in Lithuania and coordinates the annual professional development program in Former Soviet Union. 

Prior to coming to HUC-JIR, Leigh taught Ethnography of Israeli Society through Cinema, at Rothberg Inter- national School of the Hebrew University. As well as teaching at various academic institutions in Jerusalem, he is the director of ‘Jewish Journeys,’ a long standing initiative to develop and advance the eld of global Jewish travel. Leigh studied at University College London and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He has written extensively about the eld of Jewish educational travel, including his last book, Jewish Journeys: Re ections on Jewish Travel (Haus, London 2006). Leigh was born in London, England and moved to Israel in 1992. 

Yoel Mansfeld is a Professor of Tourism Planning & Development, a consultant and a trainer based in Haifa, Israel. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE), University of London, UK. His main areas of interests include sustainable tourism, cultural tourism; cultural routes; tourism and security; socio-cultural impacts of tourism development; community-based tourism; and religious tourism.  He is also the founder and Head of the University of Haifa's Centre for Tourism, Pilgrimage & Recreation Research (CTPRR) and one of the founding members of the European Cultural Routes Universities Network (ECRUN) established by the Council of Europe’s European Institute for Cultural Routes. Yoel Mansfeld is also an active member of the UNESCO-UNITWIN network on Culture, Tourism & Development, and a member of the scientific committee of AEPJ, which supports the preservation, appreciation and promotion of Jewish culture and heritage in Europe.