Meet Rebecca

Meet Rebecca Bardach, a Hand in Hand parent and our Director of Resource and Development Strategy. Rebecca will be leaving Hand in Hand soon and we wanted to tell you more about her and her remarkable contributions to Hand in Hand.

Rebecca juggled her role as part of our senior staff and as a parent/community member. Her experiences as a parent boosted her ability as a director, and vice versa.

Since she joined the Hand in Hand team in 2012, we have doubled the number of our schools, and have reached levels of success only dreamed of before.

Being both a senior staff member and a parent to students at the school has made Hand in Hand a 24/7 experience for Rebecca. It also created a ripple effect for her friends and family, both close and abroad. Living this vision, Rebecca says, “means there is never a moment where you can allow yourself the luxury of giving into despair. One of the biggest challenges of living in conflict is that it feels so much bigger than you as an individual, and you think, ‘What can I possibly do to make a difference.’ But when you’re a parent at Hand in Hand, you don’t have a choice, because even when you really feel the pull of despair, you think, ‘But wait, my kids are going to go to school tomorrow. They’ll be with their Arab friends, and their Jewish and Arab teachers. We have to figure out a way to talk about this differently.’ And that’s part of the power of Hand in Hand. You have to find the pathway through and make it work.”

Rebecca’s role at Hand in Hand has made her a catalyst to turn ideas and thoughts into reality. “The power of our role in this organization is to help the people on the ground—people who feel it, who live it, who breathe it—to articulate and strategize where it all goes, and to bring in the funds and make it possible, and to bring in partners to make it happen. Our fundamental partners at Hand in Hand are the parents, government officials, and philanthropic partners, and they are truly partners. And I’ve met so many amazing wonderful committed human beings who are playing a role in making this happen.”