Dr. Nevo Shimon Vaknin, Director of the MA Jewish Studies Program at Ono Academic College. Prior to that, he founded BINA – Secular Yeshiva in Be’er Sheva and directed it for five years. The yeshiva offers Jewish learning and social volunteering as steps to strengthening Jewish identity, mutual responsibility, and social involvement.Shimon holds a B.A. in Jewish and Biblical Thought and the Ancient Near East, an M.A. in Biblical Studies and the Ancient Near East, and a Ph.D. in Law in Israel and Judea during the eighth century B.C., all from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He lives in Beer Sheva.