Join Chazzan Danny Maseng on Saturday Mornings, 10:00 a.m.

(This is an organic fluid experience and we cannot be sure exactly how long it will last, but this is a rough estimate).

July 17, 2010

* These dates will not include a Bar/Bat Mitzvah.

Daniel Seidemann, founder of 'Ir Amim', a non-profit association dedicated to an equitable, stable and sustainable Jerusalem, has been a practicing attorney in Jerusalem and a partner in a firm specializing in commercial law since 1987.

Since 1991, he has also specialized in legal and public issues in East Jerusalem, in particular, with regard to government and municipal policies and practices, representing Israeli and Palestinian residents of Jerusalem before the statutory Planning Boards regarding development issues. Key cases have included the takeover of properties in Silwan, the legality of the Har Homa expropriation and town plan, the Ras el Amud town plan, and administrative demolition orders. In 2001, he successfully filed suit to the Israel Supreme Court, requiring the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Education to provide adequate educational facilities and services to the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem.

From 1994 to 2000, Mr. Seidemann served as lead counsel of Ir Shalem, an NGO dedicated to the development of Jerusalem for the benefit of all of its residents, Israeli and Palestinian. In this capacity, he acquired expertise in the functional exercise of authority in Jerusalem, particularly in the fields of planning, residency rights, allocation of resources, property rights, and the subjective perceptions of the various populations of the city in this regard, particularly as these impact on the functioning and viability of Jerusalem.

Due to this expertise, since 1994, he has participated in Track II talks on Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians. In 2000-2001, Seidemann served in an informal advisory capacity to the final status negotiations; serving as a member of a committee of experts commissioned by the Prime Minister Barak's office to generate sustainable arrangements geared to implement the emerging political understandings with the Palestinians.

Mr. Seidemann has participated in various Jerusalem-related projects, colloquia and back channel work, sponsored, by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the French Institute of Foreign Relations (IFRI), UNESCO, The Davis Institute of the Hebrew University, the British Foreign Office, the Olaf Palme Institute, the Organization of Architects and Planners in Israel, the European Parliament, New York University, and others.

Mr. Seidemann is a native of Syracuse, NY, and a graduate of Cornell University, immigrating to Israel in 1973, where he has lived since. From 1973-77 he was involved with educational work with youth leaders in Israel. He is a retired Reserve Major in the Israeli Defense Forces, who engaged in leadership training of senior officers. Mr. Seidemann is a member of the Israeli Bar Association, receiving his degree in Law from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is married and has three daughters.