Shmuel Benalal moved to Israel from Venezuela and was one of the earliest residents
of Tzur Hadassa, near Jerusalem. An expert in educational consulting,
training and management, he was CEO of the Telos Group, a consulting
firm specializing in educational and social international development.
Among other projects, Shmuel participated in development initiatives of
the World Bank, the European Union, UNICEF and UNESCO, and consulted
for Jewish communities in several countries, as well as governments in
Eastern Europe, Latin America, and South-East Asia.
Shmuel was a
graduate of cohort 2 of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows. After completing
his studies, he engaged in developing Jewish education abroad, and was
principal of the Tarbut day school in Mexico. He wrote curricula and
served as an academic advisor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He
also authored handbooks on educational planning, school development, the
role of parent committees in education and the integration of children
with disabilities into educational frameworks.
At the Mandel
Foundation, Shmuel directed from 1997 to 1999 the Intensive Development
Programs (IDP) for senior professionals from abroad, which ran alongside
the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows. In recent years he was a member of the
tutoring development team headed by Dr. Daniel Marom, and led workshops
for Mandel fellows. This year, in addition to developing the workshop
for first-year fellows, Shmuel became one of the tutors for the project
workshop of the Mandel Programs for Leadership Development in the Haredi
Community. Together with the director of the Mandel School for
Educational Leadership, Danny Bar Giora, he also took part in a
consulting project for Ministry of Education staff.
Over the
years, Shmuel served as personal tutor to many Mandel fellows. He was
loved and valued by those he tutored and by his colleagues, and was
always generous in sharing his wisdom, experience and good-naturedness.
One of the fellows he was tutoring this year mourned him with lines
from Bialik:
“There
was a man – and look, he is no more.
He died before his time.
The
music of his life suddenly stopped.
A pity! There was another song in
him.
Now it is lost forever.”
Shmuel saw his educational work
as a Jewish and Zionist undertaking. He was a man of culture, both
Jewish and universal. He was a synagogue cantor and was active in a
choir. He also volunteered in a number of different settings, including
consulting for the Hapoel Jerusalem youth basketball team, on which his
son, Netanel, played.
Shmuel was 60 when he was struck down by terror. He leaves
behind his wife, Flori, and his children, Asher, Avi and Netanel. We
mourn his passing with great sorrow and send our deepest condolences to
his family. May his memory be blessed.
