Prison commissioner turned bridge builder: Healing Israel's religious-secular divide

As Israel's first female prison commissioner 25 years ago, Adato encountered something that decades of military service hadn't prepared her for: the "backyard of Israeli society." What she witnessed behind bars fundamentally changed her understanding of national security.

"I realized that the most important component of our national security is social cohesion and social resilience that leads to national resilience," Adato explains. This revelation would eventually lead the seventh-generation Israeli to dedicate her post-military career to something unprecedented - bringing together religious, secular, and ultra-Orthodox Jews who had never sat in the same room.

Adato rejects the common metaphor of Israel as a melting pot. Instead, she sees Israeli society as a puzzle where each piece maintains its unique identity while contributing to a cohesive picture. "You don't find two components that are exactly the same," she says, describing how leadership means building unity from diversity rather than erasing differences.

This philosophy drives Gesher, the organization where Adato now serves as chairperson. Founded over 50 years ago, Gesher has evolved from youth programs into a sophisticated operation training Israeli leaders to navigate the country's most challenging internal conflicts.

Under Adato's leadership, Gesher's Leadership Institute has produced over 500 alumni now occupying influential positions across Israeli society. The program deliberately brings together secular, national religious, and ultra-Orthodox participants from public service, business, and NGOs.

But Adato's innovation goes beyond domestic dialogue. Recognizing that "we always think we are the center of the world," she sends Israeli leaders to meet Jewish communities globally. The impact is profound - even Adato herself, despite her military rank, had never met diaspora Jews face-to-face until joining these missions.

When COVID-19 hit, Gesher was among the first organizations to move online, facilitating Zoom meetings between haredi and secular families. When war erupted on October 7th, the organization pivoted again - assisting government ministries with delegations of bereaved families and survivors speaking worldwide.

The war has intensified Gesher's work. The organization now operates in evacuation hotels, provides support to reserve units serving extended deployments, and runs youth leadership programs in communities near Gaza. "Crisis is sometimes an opportunity," Adato notes, describing how the shared trauma has created new possibilities for connection.

While most civil society organizations focus on the 80% of issues where Israelis agree, Gesher deliberately tackles the 20% where conflict exists. "We are dealing deep down into the conflict, but making the atmosphere around it to keep people together," Adato explains.

This approach has yielded remarkable results. When heads of the IDF's educational corps completed Gesher's leadership program, they implemented similar training for hundreds of military officers. The Education Ministry distributed Gesher's "five rules of discourse" - developed from bereaved families' wisdom - to over 20,000 teachers, reaching one million children.

Adato's next challenge involves bringing together Israeli and diaspora leaders for year-long seminars. As antisemitism rises globally and younger Jews increasingly distance themselves from Israel, she believes joint leadership development is crucial.

"We all are responsible for the next generation," she emphasizes, envisioning programs that will help design "our mutual future" rather than merely responding to current crises.

For Adato, national unity isn't just idealistic - it's strategic. "The relative advantage we have here is human resources," she argues. "We don't have the privilege not to fully utilize it."

This pragmatic approach to peacebuilding reflects her military background. Just as she once looked five steps ahead to anticipate enemy moves, Adato now applies strategic thinking to social challenges, always asking: "What will be the challenge that society is facing, and what needs to be done now?"

As Israeli society grapples with unprecedented divisions, Adato's work represents a quiet revolution - one conversation, one seminar, one carefully constructed bridge at a time.