HERITAGE STUDY PROGRAMS PRESENTS: An advanced bible study program and a fact finding expedition to Israel, focusing on the status of Jerusalem and the region’s security & defense.

Bios

Tom TrentoTom Trento

Tom Trento is one of the leading academic activists in the United States. A highly skilled debater and dynamic public speaker, Tom frequently goes toe to toe with Muslim Brotherhood representatives exposing their radical agenda to the public and elected officials. Mr. Trento with earned degrees in Law Enforcement and Philosophy and Theology was awarded the The Carnegie Hero Medal Award for saving a man from a burning car.

Mr. Trento has traveled extensively throughout the US and Europe lecturing and exposing Islamic violence and infiltration in government, law enforcement and academic institutions. He is one of the co-authors of Shariah: The Threat To America and appears frequently on major media outlets and talk shows as an authority on Islamic ideology.


Ron WexlerRon Wexler

Ron Wexler is the principal owner of Heritage Study Programs, Inc., an educational organization based in Boca Raton, Florida and Tel Aviv, Israel. Ron is also the director of the Poland Jewish Heritage Peoplhood Program for Jewish Life & Culture. He is also the brainchild and president of the Judeo-Christian initiative -Ten Commandments Commission. The Ten Commandments Commission (TCC) a non profit organization 501(c) was formed in the spring of 2005 by Ron Wexler.

The main purpose behind the organization was to create a global think tank with the world’s leaders who have already recognized the power behind the Ten Commandments Commission (TCC). And, bring together a Christian/Jewish mechanism which will stand up for Israel without any hidden agendas, dogmas or doctrines.

Ron was born and educated in Israel and served in the Israel Defense Force during the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. His Yeshiva studies (Rabbinical School) and later on his research work on early Christianity provided him with a unique perspective on Jewish and Christian issues. He is internationally known for his extensive projects and teachings that promote unity and reconciliation among Jews and Gentiles.

Ron produces special thematic events and productions associated with the Judeo-Christian calendar. These events include biblical reenactments (dramas) that are based on biblical stories and accords performed on location in Israel. In 1994, Ron produced and reinstated the Feast of Pentecost celebration which is now an official annual event supported by the Municipality of Jerusalem and the Government of Israel Tourist Office.

His vision of unity, harmony, and reconciliation among all races and genders has received the blessings of the international religious community. Through Ron's efforts, thousands have been touched with a new appreciation, respect, and tolerance for the differences in the way people observe their faiths. Ron has utilized his extensive contacts within the religious community to assemble together a cross-cultural, interdenominational strategic coalition of influential Christian leaders known as the Millennium Council. Ron has produced “Jerusalem 2000” - the millennium celebrations in Jerusalem.

In his capacity as the President of the Ten Commandments Commission, Ron is working with leaders and politicians in Israel and the U.S. on finding practical solutions to the current and ongoing problems of the region. His work internationally deals with region's economies, natural resources, and conflicts.

Ron is the Founder and President of the future Garden of Beatitudes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The Garden will be a cross-cultural, spiritual center and a learning facility. The center will include a devotional garden, a theater, classrooms and dormitories, a state of the art conference center, and a hotel.


Tom TrentoDan Gordon

Dan Gordon is an Israeli-American film and television screenwriter. He also serves as a captain in the Israel Defense Forces.

Dan Gordon grew up in Southern California and in Ginnegar, a kibbutz in the Valley of Jezreel in Israel.[He graduated from UCLA as a film and television major. A dual Israeli-American citizen, Gordon served in the Israeli Army as a young man.

He has written screenplays including Passenger 57 (1992), Wyatt Earp (1994), Murder in the First (1995), The Assignment (1997) and The Hurricane (1999).

His play, Irena's Vow, premiered at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, New York, in September 2008. Starring Tovah Feldshuh, it is the true story of Irena Gut, who hid twelve Jews in a cellar during World War II. The play is scheduled to open on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre in previews starting March 10, 2009, officially March 29, 2009, with the same cast from off-Broadway. His stage adaptation of Barry Morrow's "Rain Man" premiered at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End in 2009 and was subsequently performed in places like Prague (Czech Republic), Stuttgart (Germany), Brussels (Belgium) and Utrecht (The Netherlands). Gordon is also a co-founder of the Zaki Gordon Institute (ZGI), a film school in Sedona, Arizona. The institute is named for his eldest son, Zaki Gordon, who died in a traffic accident in 1998 at the age of 22 years. Gordon taught part-time at the institute. He also teaches at Columbia University School of the Arts, USC School of Cinematic Arts and UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, to which he donates an annual $5,000 prize to screenwriting students in honor of his son.

In 2012, he left the Zaki Gordon Institute after founding the Zaki Gordon Center for Cinematic Arts at Liberty University in 2011. After Gordon left, The Zaki Gordon Institute changed its name to the Sedona Film School. Gordon was also a close friend of Tim Buckley, collaborating with him on an unfilmed movie script called "Fully Airconditioned Inside." He also played the role of a homeless man in the independent film Waiting for Mo (1996), which he produced with his son, Zaki, who wrote and directed the film. He has been a member of the Directors Guild of America since 1985.

He served as an escort officer in the Military Spokesperson’s Unit during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. He is a captain in the Israel Defense Forces Reserves.


Daniel AyalonDaniel "Danny" Ayalon

Daniel Ayalon is an Israeli diplomat and politician who currently serves as Deputy Foreign Minister and as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu. Formerly he served as Israeli Ambassador to the United States from 2002 until 2006. He frequently writes in Israeli and international newspapers, notably in the Jerusalem Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Ayalon was appointed Israel's Ambassador to the United States in 2002 by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Before his appointment, Ayalon had served as a Deputy Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and to Ehud Barak as well as Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Throughout his time in Washington, Ayalon cultivated a strong relationship with President George W. Bush and played a leading role in the Road Map for Peace negotiations between President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon. He also secured the agreement for $9 billion in U.S. grants and loan guarantees to Israel beginning in 2003 which Israel needed in order to raise funds abroad at low interest rates. In early 2012, as Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Ayalon, met with his U.S. counterparts to secure another three-year, $3.8 billion extension of loan guarantees.


Mordechai KedarDr. Mordechai Kedar- Lt. Col. (res.)

Mordechai Kedar is one of the top Israeli scholars of Arabic literature and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University. He holds the Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University.

Kedar is an academic expert on the Israeli Arab population. He served for twenty-five years in IDF Military Intelligence, where he specialized in Islamic groups, the political discourse of Arab countries, the Arabic press and mass media, and the Syrian domestic arena. The Los Angeles Times' Edmund Sanders described him as "one of the few Arabic-speaking Israeli pundits seen on Arabic satellite channels defending Israel".

Kedar drew attention with a June 2008 Al-Jazeera interview in which he challenged the moderator's assertion that "You cannot erase Jerusalem from the Qur'an", pointing out that Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Qur'an.