Prayer and reading of the Torah by Rabbi John Spitzer
Continental breakfast sponsored by the Canton Jewish Community Federation
Drs. Khaled and Jasmin Atalla will discuss Multiculturalism at Western Galilee Hospital and life in the Nes Ammim kibbutz. Nes Ammim is a village in the northern part of Israel, situated between the city of Haifa and the border of Lebanon. What separates Nes Ammim from other kibbutzes in the country, is that the village was founded and is inhabited by a Christian community of European volunteers. In Nes Ammim, the inhabitants live and work together with their Jewish and Arab neighbors. The kibbutz is a platform for interfaith, intercultural and interpersonal dialogue, for dialogue between people of Israel – Jewish, Arab or otherwise - and for people from Europe and elsewhere, who want to listen and learn from each other.
Drs. Khaled and Jasmin Atalla will answer your questions.
Rabbi Spitzer was ordained from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Cincinnati) in 1973. Following eight years as Assistant and Associate Rabbi of Congregation Shaare Emeth (St. Louis) he moved with his wife, Cheri, and two sons, Joshua and Gabriel, to Canton to assume the pulpit of Temple Israel. Serving as Rabbi from 1981 to 2008, he was active as a pulpit rabbi, educator, Police and Prison chaplain and community activist. Rabbi Spitzer earned a Doctor of Ministry Degre from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1995. Since retirement he continues to be active in issues of social justice and interfaith understanding.
Dr. Khaled Atalla, an Arab citizen of Israel, was born in 1985 in Kfar Yassif to a Christian family. In 2003, he began his medical studies at The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, where he met his wife, Jasmin, a Muslim Arab. After completing their medical degrees, they married and, in 2016, moved with their three children to Nes Ammim, a unique village in the Western Galilee.
Nes-Ammim was founded in 1964 by European Christians as a gesture of solidarity with the Jewish people after the Holocaust. The village's name, derived from Isaiah 11:10, means "Banner of the Nations." Its founders envisioned it as a place of friendship and reconciliation with Israel. Today, Nes-Ammim continues to promote peacebuilding through seminars and dialogues between Israeli Jews and Arabs, fostering coexistence and mutual understanding.
Dr. Atalla graduated from the Technion in 2011 and completed his Internal Medicine residency at Bnai Zion Medical Center in Haifa in 2016. During his residency, he served as a Clinical Instructor at the Technion and as a Clinical Tutor for medical students during their clinical rotations, earning two Excellence in Medical Training awards.
His passion for Emergency Medicine led him to pursue a second residency in the field at Galilee Medical Center from 2016 to 2019. During this time, he also worked as a Clinical Instructor at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University in Safed. Following his Emergency Medicine residency, he completed a one-year Emergency Medicine Fellowship and an additional six-month advanced fellowship in Emergency Medicine Leadership at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. He was among the first cohort of fellows to complete the Mount Sinai Emergency Medicine Fellowship, a collaborative initiative between the Israeli Ministry of Health, Sinai Health Systems, and Mount Sinai's Schwartz/Reisman Emergency Medicine Institute (SREMI).
In 2021, Dr. Atalla returned to Galilee Medical Center as a senior physician, and in April 2022, he was appointed Director of the hospital's Emergency Department. Under his leadership, the department played a critical role during the Swords of Iron War, treating over 2,000 injured soldiers and hundreds of civilians while ensuring the highest level of care for the region's diverse population. Beyond crisis response, he has focused on improving emergency department operations, implementing strategic measures to enhance efficiency, patient outcomes, and disaster preparedness. His leadership continues to strengthen the hospital’s capacity to provide high-quality emergency care under both routine and extraordinary conditions.
Rambam Health Care Campus is a 1,100-bed world-class teaching hospital and Level-1 trauma center. As the major referral center for the 2.5 million residents of Northern Israel, Rambam serves a diverse patient population—including referrals from 12 district hospitals, defense and peacekeeping forces, and patients from across Israel, the Mediterranean region, and around the world. The hospital provides care across every medical discipline through advanced, specialized facilities located across its campus.
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