Dr. Eilon Schwartz founded the Heschel Center along with Dr. Jeremy Benstein in 1994 and served as Director until 2012. He is currently the head of Shaharit: Creating Common Cause, a think-tank he established with the aim of generating a new vision for Israeli society.

 

Eilon is also a faculty member of the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he teaches advanced degree courses in Judaism and environmental education, environmental policy and ethics, education for cultural criticism, science and religious education, and others. In 2000 he was selected as one of the Outstanding Teachers at the Hebrew University. Eilon has published both academic and popular articles on related issues, and lectures widely on the Israeli environment. His book Living in the World: Human Nature, Ecological Thought and Education after Darwin was published by SUNY Press.

 

Eilon was the founding chairperson of the Israeli Union for Environmental Defense, and has served on the board of Green Course – the students' environmental organization, and on the National Council of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. He has also served on the directorate of the Jewish National Fund. He was recently elected to serve as Chairperson of "Life and Environment", the umbrella organization of environmental organizations in Israel. He spent his sabbatical year in 2005-6 as Visiting Professor in the Global Environment Program at Brown University.