Under the Radar 

Where we talk to and learn about Mitzvah heroes, those amazing people who are doing their part in Tikkun Olam and making the world a better place to live in.

Under the Radar: Meredith Rothbart

Aug 1, 2022 | Under the Radar

Written by Arnie Draiman

A feminist, an Orthodox hair-covered-with-a-head-scarf Zionist, an IDF veteran, a mother of 3+, a peace builder in Israel, and one in the Palestinian Authority, walk into a bar. But only one drink was ordered because all of those descriptions refer to just one person, and this barely begins to describe Meredith Rothbart.

Meredith was born to a traditional Jewish family in Allentown, PA, located in typical American farm country. And those roots go back for generations – one of her great-grandparents was born in Allentown. She attended Jewish day schools, went to Jewish summer camps, was involved in Jewish youth movements, the local JCC; so much of her life revolved around the Jewish community that she rarely saw non-Jews. 

Her grandparents were very active in the community as well, sponsoring scholarship programs so teens could go to Israel (decades before Birthright was created). They also instilled a love of Israel in the entire family; Meredith’s first of many visits to Israel was when she was nine. Her grandparents were also very active in the Soviet Jewry movement, being responsible for bringing over many Soviet Jews to Allentown, helping them adjust, enrolling them in the Jewish day school, and more. They also had made several trips to the Soviet Union in the 1980s, smuggling in supplies and Judaica to the local population.

Meredith learned quickly from her parents and grandparents that this is what it means to be Jewish and to be a good person – social change is a value, Israel is a value. She remembers distinctly that during her first trip she was asked by her father, “You really like it here? You’re going to stay here, aren’t you?” and Meredith responded enthusiastically, “Yes!” She did make Aliyah, in 2008 during the Gaza War (Operation Cast Lead).

Growing up, Meredith’s parents were members of all three synagogues in Allentown; the Orthodox, the Conservative, and the Reform. Because of this, Meredith was allowed to join any of the youth groups. She tried each, and on the day that she was at the Reform NFTY program, they were doing a social action project. The assignment was to write a letter to your congressman using Jewish values as the basis for what you wanted to see changed. She wrote a letter that instilled the Jewish values of saving a life and doing teshuva (repentance). She felt so comfortable with this activity, and realized that this was the right place for her, making the world a better place to be from within her Judaism.

During high school, she took the train to Washington DC many times, getting involved in protests and activism, again, from a Jewish perspective. Her concerns included the deteriorating situation in Darfur (in Sudan, Africa), the environment, poverty and hunger, and more. If her activism didn’t keep her busy enough during high school, she was the editor of her school paper, was in the drama club, and was on the lacrosse team. Her nickname was “Hall Walker” because she was always headed somewhere (and rarely in class!). When the teachers complained to her parents, she felt her parents had her back, understanding the tradeoff of getting decent grades of A-/B+ (and not A+) while saving the world.

Meredith’s parents wanted all of their children to not only be active, but to also explore the world – they offered each child the opportunity to spend a summer somewhere outside of the United States on the condition that they spent the year prior doing all of the research to make 

an educated choice. Meredith chose to spend her summer after 11th grade in Ghana, via a program of the American Field Service, living with a family there, and working in an orphanage.

After high school, Meredith went to the University of Pittsburgh where she majored in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, enjoying the honors majors, small classes, and personal attention.

While at university, Meredith became more active in Africa-related causes. There were Somalian refugees living in Pittsburgh, and she was engaged in many activities to help these families directly. She helped them create a community organization and to start their own non-profit. The program skyrocketed, and with outside funding, the Somalis were able to improve their new lives in the USA and even build a school.

During Meredith’s junior year abroad at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, she really wanted to find a way to stay in Israel. She transferred to Hebrew University, worked out the credits with her academic advisor in the US, and officially graduated from University of Pittsburgh although she was only there for five semesters. 

In Jerusalem, Meredith studied at the women’s Torah center Nishmat in Jerusalem and felt it helped her solidify her Judaic background and kept her on the path of Orthodoxy. She also wanted to acclimate as quickly as possible in Israel, seeing the IDF as the most logical way to accomplish this – she applied but was rejected. She tried again, at age 22, and was accepted to the IDF Civil Administration, Liaison and Coordination Unit for Judea and Samaria, where she was a liaison officer interacting mainly with foreign NGOs building large infrastructure projects for Palestinian communitites in Area C.  (Primer for non-Israelis: Area C is a large part of Judea and Samaria where both Israelis and Palestinians live – but none of the major Palestinian cities are included. It is under Israeli control, though the Palestinian Authority provides various services as well.)

When she first encountered Israeli-Palestinian leadership programs, she thought it was “just another social action” issue. Instead, there was her “aha” moment, when she realized the effect of the Zionist dream on the Palestinian people. As a result, she had to come to terms with her own beliefs and choices and how they affected the Palestinian people as well. “I’m Israeli and Jewish, and can only work from within my identity,” Meredith explains. She knew that this topic area is what she wanted to be involved in, and her idea was to create a more peaceful reality for Israelis and Palestinians.

Meredith’s first “real job” in Israel was with Rabbi Michael Melchior working in a variety of not-for-profit organizations he founded related to building bridges between communities in conflict – for religious and secular communities, Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs, Jews and Muslims throughout the world, and also Israelis and Palestinians. [Rabbi Melchior is a former Israeli Minister of Social and Diaspora Affairs, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and is 

currently the rabbi of Beit Boyar in Talpiyot, Jerusalem, and is still considered the Chief Rabbi  of Norway.] While working with Rabbi Melchior, she pursued a Master’s degree at Hebrew University in Community Development. During this time, she also interned at Kids4Peace – an organization designed to bring together children and families from diverse backgrounds including Arab Christians, Arab Muslims, and Israeli Jews with the goal of “creating a community of leaders acting for lasting change.”

The work at Kids4Peace was very meaningful, and Meredith stayed on, eventually becoming the director, a unique role for a religious Jewish woman in a peacebuilding organization. After the 2014 Gaza War – Operation Protective Edge – there was a significant increase in the number of religious Jews wanting to take part in coexistence and peacebuilding programs. Many even learned Arabic in order to be able to communicate more clearly. But Meredith noticed that the many peace NGOs were all acting quite independently – each dealing with their own issues from logistics to bureaucracy on both sides of the border, and more. No one had time to focus on the bigger picture, to try to talk about the overall impact on making a change.

So, together with Basheer Abu Baker, the Palestinian accountant from Kids4Peace, she co-created an organization that can be of service to the entire field, helping every peacebuilding organization have a stronger strategic vision. Its importance also showed up in funding – donors were certainly more interested in seeing groups work together as partners instead of as rivals.

Her organization, created in 2019, is called Amal-Tikva (“Hope” in Arabic and Hebrew), and they are a professional service to others in the field. For an organization to be able to take advantage of Amal-Tikva’s free services, they have to go through a four-month onboarding process, where everything is reviewed including mission statements, budgets, personnel structure, strategic vision, and more. They continue to work with about 18 organizations, continuously monitoring and evaluating, and continuously adding new NGOs and new opportunities for the NGOs they serve.

When asked about the flak she might get from the public – after all, she is still one of the few religious Jewish women running a cross-border peacebuilding organization – she smiles and says, “I just try to keep my head down and do my work.” 

Meredith met her husband Zack while they were both in the IDF, and she chose to get married instead of going to IDF Officer’s Training School. They have three children, ages nine, six, and three and God-willing, another joining the family this fall.

Meredith is an idealist with a very pragmatic vision. A few months ago, she was asked to speak to the United Nations Security Council. She told them, in part, that “the UN has passed resolution after resolution. But in order to build peace between Israelis and Palestinians, I ask you to consider investing in social peace. Commit to investing in the infrastructure needed for real peace. Help us build a multilateral inter-entity.”

Creating a community of leaders acting for lasting change.

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