From Tech to Teaching Tomorrow’s Leaders
When it comes to places to make life-changing decisions, few can match the mind-focusing qualities of the inside of a tank. “It’s dark, it’s cramped. It’s hot and then it’s cold. On the one hand, you’re under intense fire, but on the other you’re strangely disconnected from the outside world,” explains Shalem graduate Bentzion Matar ’23, who served in Gaza for ten months as a platoon commander after his call-up on October 7th. “I had a lot of time to think about the future of my country and my role in shaping it.” Combined with the loss of fellow soldier and close friend Or Brandes—a “kind, joyful person, and a force for peace in the world,” says Matar—the experience made him decide to change directions after his release.
“It’s fair to say that the person who came out of that tank was different from the one who went in,” Matar says.
After graduating with a degree in Philosophy and Jewish Thought, Matar planned to start a full-time position as business development manager at the sales-tech startup where he’d been interning. “My sophomore year at Shalem, I told [Vice President of Alumni and External Relations] Odelia Yatzkan that I wanted to gain experience in the corporate world,” explains Matar, who had spent several years before his studies at Shalem working with youth in educational frameworks. “Shalem was providing me with a new layer of knowledge about the human condition and the basis for a good society. What I was missing were the kinds of skills that enable you to turn ideas into impact, and I thought business would be the right place to acquire them.”
Yatzkan matched him with an entrepreneur in the early stages of his venture, enabling him to help with all aspects of a successful launch. By the time he graduated, the company had raised tens of millions of dollars and gone public—and Matar was already managing a team of half-a-dozen employees. If not for the outbreak of war, he admits, he would likely be on a path to a successful exit.
“After October 7th, it was clear to so many of us that things in Israel needed to change. Most importantly, there needs to be a change in the country’s leadership,” Matar says. “I wanted to be a part of that change, and to find a leverage point from where my knowledge and skills could make the most difference for Israel’s future.”
In the end, Matar found two leverage points: the first in the army, and the second in the professional realm. Explaining that the army had invited him a year ago to take an advanced officer’s course, but that life had been too busy—Matar and his wife welcomed their second daughter, Tchelet, six days after October 7th, for which he was granted two days’ leave; their first daughter, Alma, turned four years old this fall—he decided, once and for all, to make it a priority. Today he’s a company commander, in charge of several platoons in the Armored Corps.
The second leverage point took him far from the Tel Aviv tech hub, in particular to the Judean desert community of Kfar Adumim. There, he serves as head of one of the prestigious Ein Prat Leadership Academy’s three mechinot, or pre-military programs for outstanding Israeli youth. Blending the study of Judaism, Zionism, and Western civilization with social action and physical health, Ein Prat aims to grant its students—most of whom will go on to elite positions in the army and Israeli society—the foundation for more meaningful and influential service and citizenship. “Students arrive at Ein Prat at a formative moment in their lives, when they’re figuring out what kind of people they want to be and their role in their communities and country,” Matar says. “Especially at this formative moment in Israeli history, my ability to help shape their goals and give them the tools they need is for me a real contribution.”
In keeping with the key role played by Shalem in his trajectory thus far, Matar adds that it’s only fitting that it be a big part of his work at Ein Prat.
“On the most basic level, many of our teachers are fellow Shalem graduates, who bring the Shalem mindset and broad knowledge base with them. [Shalem lecturer of classic and rabbinic literature] Dr. Ido Hevroni also advised us on our curriculum, and we’ve had Shalem lecturers such as Dr. Asael Abelman speak about Jewish history,” Matar points out. “But more than that, Shalem’s educational experience also emphasizes the critical role of the spirit in leadership. Ultimately, that’s what we’re trying to cultivate in our students too,” he concludes. “Shalem insists that the commitment to learning, the sense of curiosity, and the willingness to wrestle with ideas makes great leaders into visionary ones. And more than anything else, that’s what Israel needs.”
