Founders
Nir Lahav
Nir Lahav was born and raised on Kibbutz Gazit, where he established a large organic farm. He served in the IDF in the paratrooper brigade. Nir holds a BA from Pomona College (California) and a law degree from Tel Aviv University. Co-founder and co-CEO of a large organic produce wholesale company, he subsequently decided to enter the non-profit sector in Israel and was a fellow at the Mandel School of Educational Leadership in Jerusalem. He has worked at the Joint Distribution Committee, and most recently at the Jewish Agency for Israel as the director of the social activism unit overseeing many programs including the Youth Futures program, youth villages, pre-military academies, and Project TEN (volunteering in underprivileged communities around the world). Along the way, Nir served for over two years as founding director of the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda for orphans of the genocide. Over the course of the past year, Nir has been working to establish Ruca’s Farm with a group of professionals who believe in working the land as a therapeutical venue for post traumatic soldiers.
Guy Ronen
Guy Ronen, was an active pilot in the Israeli Air Force for 35 years., serving as squadron commander, and he holds the rank of colonel in the reserves. He holds a B.A. from the Combined Department of Social Sciences in Logistics, Bar Ilan university, an M.A. in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration Management, from Ben Gurion university. After his military service, Guy worked as an engineer in a project management company and in this framework managed projects at every stage of the process, from testing programming, planning and until execution control. Guy has also undergone training/certification from a coaching and mediation courses. During and after his active military service, Guy worked extensively in the training of pilots, empowering them for success and accomplishments while emphasizing teamwork utilizing his professional skills. He also managed and conducted systemic audits within the framework of the IDF Comptroller’s Unit in a variety of fields. Guy sees himself as a people person. and is committed to the success of Ruca’s Farm.
Liat Koren Litvinoff
Liat Koren Litvinoff holds a bachelor’s degree in government and politics from Beit Berl College and the Open University, and an MBA from Ono College, specializing in strategy and entrepreneurship. For over 20 years, she has lived in the southern Arava region, where she has worked in a variety of areas to provide services to the community and to promote its development: Liat has years’ experience in the field of regulation, planning and business development, as well as decision-making and execution. Recently she managed a medical cannabis manufacturing company while also serving as a mentor to managers and entrepreneur. Today, she serves as the CEO of the Yitzhak Navon Heritage Center, established in honor of Israeli’s president. She has lived most of her life in Moshav Ein Tamar in the southern Dead Sea region. Liat has three children from her first marriage, and is currently married to Dov Litvinoff and has four other sons. Recognizing the tremendous societal need to help post-traumatic soldiers, and coming from an agricultural background, she believes that working the land can greatly help them reintegrate into society. She considers it a great privilege to be part of Ruca’s Farm’s founding team.
Mario Firstman
Mario Firstman is an Israeli CPA with a degree in Business administration from Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel For many years, he managed the finances of a large, Israeli multinational company as part of the senior management team of the company, working closely with the company’s board of directors and its owners. Recently retired from the business world, he decided to volunteer in different projects and apply his professional experience for the benefit society, in addition to serving as the financial manager for the Israeli Tennis Association. Mario believes that the government cannot deal alone with all societal problems, and that caring citizens should contribute and donate to advance special purposes and goals. Helping former IDF soldiers who suffer from traumas caused during their service, as part of the NGO team that will manage Ruca’s Farm, is the realization of his dream to work to build a better society.
Marc Bernstein
Marc Bernstein is a professor of Hebrew and Israel studies in the United States. His association with Israel began at the age of 13, and in the intervening years, he has spent a total of more than half a dozen years in the country and has devoted his entire adult professional life to the study and teaching of its culture. Particularly formative were the two final years of high school at Kibbutz Gazit, where his adoptive mother and father were Ruca and Eliyahu Lahav and his kibbutz brother was Farm founder, Nir Lahav. During this period, he worked with the kibbutz flocks of dairy sheep, as well as in other branches of agriculture, including the citrus and avocado groves. He has taught at the University of Michigan, Achva College in Kiryat Gat, the George Washington University, and for the past twenty years at Michigan State University, where he is a member of the core faculty of both the Jewish Studies and Muslim Studies programs, teaching courses on all aspects of Israeli culture and society. Among his publications is the book, Stories of Joseph: Narrative Migrations between Judaism and Islam, in which he explores the shared pool of traditions surrounding the figure of Joseph. Marc is the father of Natalie, Emily, Joshua, as well as Lianna, who lives in Israel. He is excited about the opportunity to be part of Ruca’s Farm and help disabled veterans of the Israeli armed forces live fuller and happier lives.
The Israeli-Segev law firm
The Israeli-Segev law firm is a dynamic and experienced firm based on decades of experience (since 1985) which has engraved excellence and service of man along with contributing to the community. The firm provides full counseling and accompaniment to its clients in all areas of civil and commercial law, including contract law, real estate, planning and construction law, banking law, labor law, bankruptcies, assembly and liquidations, administrative law, corporate law, associations, labor law, inheritance law, privacy protection and more.
The firm provides Ruca’s Farm all of the legal services, on a full volunteer basis., with the understanding of the great need and out of a sense of partnership and commitment to take part in helping those veterans of the security forces who suffer from PTSD mentally ill to whom the farm is intended. It is a great privilege for us, as an office and as citizens, to be part of the Rocca Farm.
