Aaron Weil Addresses Knesset

By Samantha Taylor

Aaron Weil and Knesset member Idan Roll at the Knesset compound in Jerusalem, Israel.

Aaron Weil, who served as the executive director of Central Florida Hillel for eight years (and also graced the cover of J Life in the summer of 2020) was recently invited to address Knesset (Israeli parliament) to discuss the disturbing rise of antisemitism around the world.

Aaron and his wife Sharon moved back to Israel to be closer to their children in 2022 after spending a year enjoying global adventures and travel. The couple originally made aliyah in 1993 and lived in Israel for 10 years before Aaron began his successful career at Hillels across America. He was eventually recruited to work in Orlando and create the most robust Hillel project in the country at the University of Central Florida, the largest undergraduate university in the nation with the third-largest Jewish population in the United States.

After some soul-searching, Aaron decided that his passion for Israel was more than just Zionism. If he was going to live in Israel, he wanted to contribute to the country he loves so much. A former colleague reached out to Aaron and invited him to become a part of the General Zionist Party of the World Zionist Congress. Soon after getting involved, Aaron became the organization’s secretary general.

When a member of Knesset called for a special session on the topic of antisemitism abroad, Aaron received a phone call asking if he’d address the Knesset special session based on his two decades of service in the United States on college campuses.

“It only took me a second to accept,” says Aaron. “And in typical Israeli fashion, I got the invitation just 12 hours before I was expected to make my remarks. This was my first time addressing the group at Knesset, and it was intimidating and humbling as one might imagine. It was also a terrific honor.”

Here’s an excerpt from Aaron’s speech at Knesset:

“For Zionism to have a future as bright as its past, we need to invest in innovators who have the tools and the courage to reimagine not just Israel, but our relationship to global Jewry through a new lens; and a new generation whose time to stand up and be counted has arrived.”

Aaron has many plans to continue his volunteer work with the General Zionist Party, and he is also working with a new Florida-based nonprofit organization called Repair the Sea – the world’s first Jewish environmental organization to focus exclusively on the ocean and waterways.

A few months ago, the United Nations reached out to the organization to formally request that Repair the Sea become the first Jewish environmental organization to join the UN’s Environment Program. A pilot of this program is currently being explored with Shalom Orlando for the greater Orlando Jewish community.

Story was originally published in print in Summer 2023.