Giving everything, compromising on little: Nava Swersky Sofer, president and CEO of Hebrew University’s Yissum.She visits with foreign dignitaries regularly and closes multi-million dollar deals. But by the end of the day, on this particular day, she runs home to …

An instant connection: Peter Berg directs Ashraf Barhoum in The Kingdom.Many go through life without ever finding that perfect person, never feeling an instant connection. Ashraf Barhoum is picky, too, waiting patiently and passing up second-rate opportunities for the right …

Local hero: Jamal Alkirnawi is helping Bedouin students at Ben Gurion University face the challenges of studying in a western environment.There are about 170,000 Bedouins living in Israel, and more than two-thirds call the Negev Desert home. They can be …

The cast of Avoda Aravit. Norman Issa in glasses at the back.The latest star of Israeli television isn’t exactly who you’d expect. But actor Norman Issa thinks it’s about time an Israeli Arab was the star of a prime time …

“The goal is to see progress,” Irad Eichler, CEO and social worker at Paperworks.From a distance, it looks like a run-of-the-mill factory in Ramle. Beneath the steel beams of an old warehouse, about 30 workers sit at various stations folding, …

Ron Leshem: I regard this all as just a backdrop to a totally human story.Ron Leshem bounds into his office with youthful energy and apologizes profusely for being 15 minutes late for our interview. Sporting the urbanite uniform of jeans, …

Dr. Amnon Gimpel: The trouble with Ritalin is that it doesn’t solve the problem.Brawn for the brain is part of a cure to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to Dr. Amnon Gimpel. The Israeli physician has developed a comprehensive …

Mindy Wenner Ajzner at a seminar: Most of the roots of poverty and terrible suffering are in mismanagement and lack of knowledge and skills.Giving charity is a good deed, but how many people tackle the root causes of poverty by …

Quantum physics professor Ron Folman hopes to bring the high-tech industry to Israel’s neglected south, using the expertise of Ben Gurion University as the drawRon Folman has spent a considerable part of his 45 years breaking barriers. As an Israel …

Tamir Sher: Ninety percent of the time I don’t carry a camera. I see something, think about it, and return with my tools, ready to work.A children’s house on a kibbutz is an unlikely place to discover a talent for …