永利国际app

Rav Rachel Adelman

Rav Rachel Adelman
Associate Professor of Bible
永利国际app
Tamid of 永利国际app

Rav Rachel Adelman, who joined the full-time faculty in 2012, provides a dynamic, open approach to text study, drawing on a wide range of sources, from Tanakh and classical midrash to modern Israeli poetry. She holds a M.A. in Jewish Studies from Matan/Baltimore Hebrew University and a Ph.D. in Hebrew literature, with a specialty in鈥痬idrash, from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and rabbinical ordination from 永利国际app.

Her first book,鈥�The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha, is based on her doctoral dissertation, and she began her second,鈥�The Female Ruse: Women鈥檚 Deception and Divine Sanction in the Hebrew Bible, under the auspices of the Women鈥檚 Studies in Religion Program (WSRP) at Harvard. She is currently working on a new book,鈥�Daughters in Danger from the Hebrew Bible to Modern Midrash鈥�(forthcoming, Sheffield Phoenix Press). When she is not writing books, papers, or鈥痙ivrei鈥疶orah, it is poetry that flows from her pen.

Rabbi Jeff Amshalem, PhD

Rabbi Jeff Amshalem, PhD
Tamid of 永利国际app

Rabbi Jeff Amshalem has been in Jewish education for over twenty years in a variety of roles, and has done much of his learning and teaching in pluralistic environments such as Pardes and Beit Midrash Elul in Jerusalem and 永利国际app. For the past several years he was a Senior Educator at Ayeka Soulful Education, mentoring teachers in making their classrooms spaces for personal reflection and spiritual transformation, and now teaches in the Religion Department at Tufts University.

He earned his PhD in Jewish Thought from Ben-Gurion University and has orthodox rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes and Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of Jerusalem. He currently lives in Sharon, MA, with his wife Ariella, four children, a dog, a cat, and ten chickens.

President Sharon Cohen Anisfeld

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Deborah Anstandig

Deborah Anstandig
Tamid of 永利国际app

Deborah Anstandig is in Shana Bet Rabbinical Student at 永利国际app. Deborah earned an undergraduate degree in English Literature at Yeshiva University, a Masters of Jewish Education from 永利国际app, and a Masters in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Deborah spent eleven years teaching middle and high school Judaic Studies at SAR High School and The Heschel School in New York City. Most recently, Deborah also served as the Dean of Instruction at Heschel, supporting the professional development of the faculty. Deborah loves being in Jewish community and engaging ideas where the questions are greater than any possible answer. Deborah is a 永利国际app/IYUN Fellow.

Alan Avery-Peck

Alan Avery-Peck
Tamid of 永利国际app

Alan Avery-Peck is Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, where he teaches a wide range of courses in Jewish history, religion, and culture. He specializes in Judaism in the first six centuries C.E., with particular attention to the literature of Rabbinic Judaism. Alongside involvement in accessible works such as听The Encyclopaedia of Judaism听(Brill, 2005) and听The Blackwell Companion to Judaism听(2000), he is a co-author of听A Comparative Handbook to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke: Comparisons with Pseudepigraph, the Qumran Scrolls, and Rabbinic Literature听(Brill, 2021) and is co-editor-in-chief of听The Encyclopedia of Religious and Philosophical Writings in Late Antiquity听(Brill, 2007). His commentary on 2 Corinthians appears in听The Jewish Annotated New Testament听(Oxford, 2011), and he is a member of the translation team of听Readings from the Roots: A New Historically Sensitive Translation of the Revised Common Lectionary听(). Alan taught some of the first Meah classes in MetroWest, some twenty-five years ago, and he very much looks forward the excitement of learning with adults this year.

Avi Bernstein-Nahar

Avi Bernstein-Nahar
Tamid of 永利国际app

Avi Bernstein-Nahar received his doctorate in religious studies from Stanford University and a BA in philosophy from Brown. He is the author of papers on Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Charles Taylor, and is currently working on Die Schrift, Buber and Rosenzweig鈥檚 translation of the Tanakh into German. He has been lauded as a 鈥済ifted and passionate teacher,鈥� and praised for bringing 鈥渄eep learning and empathy鈥� into the classroom. Avi has served as Executive Director of Brandeis鈥� Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and Dean and Director for Adult Learning programs at 永利国际app.

Rabbi Allison Berry

Rabbi Allison Berry
Tamid of 永利国际app

Rabbi Allison Berry is honored to serve as the Director of the Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for Jewish Healing at Jewish Family & Children’s Services. She is passionate about her work supporting members of the Jewish community and beyond who are on a journey through the many stages of grief and healing.

Prior to joining JF&CS Rabbi Berry served for many years as a congregational rabbi – most recently as the Co-Senior Rabbi of Temple Shalom in Newton, MA. Rabbi Berry is a graduate of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion and Brandeis University. She is proud to be the past chair of the Newton Interfaith Clergy Association and volunteers as a trained court mediator for Metrowest Mediation Services.

Aliza Brosh

Aliza Brosh
Ulpan

Aliza has vast experience teaching Hebrew to adults and high school and college students in both Israel and the United States. For nearly 20 years, Aliza taught Hebrew literature at a leading high school in Rishon Le-Zion, Israel. In addition, she led a special Hebrew language program for young high-school age immigrants. Following her move to the Boston area 20 years ago, Aliza founded the Israeli School in Lexington and taught there for a year. Since 2002, she has been teaching Hebrew at Brandeis University and at Prozdor and Ulpan at the 永利国际app. Additionally, since 2012, Aliza has been teaching Hebrew immersion courses at Middlebury College Summer School in Middlebury, Vt., for the Life-Long Learners program. Aliza holds a B.A. in literature and sociology from Haifa University, a Teaching Certificate from Haifa University, and a M.A. in Liberal Arts from the 永利国际app.

Adva Cohen Alpert

Adva Cohen Alpert
Hebrew Language Ulpan

Born in Jerusalem and a native Hebrew speaker, Adva started her career as an instructor in the IDF. She then received her degree and earned a teaching certificate from the Hebrew University and David Yallin, Jerusalem.

Over the past 20 years, Adva continued her education taking post-graduate classes including psychology and Hebrew as a second language, at Boston University, Lesley College, and 永利国际app, along with teaching both children and adults in different schools in the Boston area as well as in Israel (ex. Boston University, Maimonides, Keren Karev, etc.)

Adva has been with the 永利国际app since 2003, teaching Hebrew as a second language at all proficiency levels and in different programs such as Prozdor, Ulpan and Rabbinic (Mekorot).

Adva enjoys integrating Israeli and Jewish culture into the curriculum to stimulate classroom learning and to help students achieve a higher level of proficiency.

Maya Dalzell

Maya Dalzell
Ulpan

Maya Dalzell has been a Hebrew and Jewish Studies teacher for more than 25 years. Born and raised in Israel, Maya began her studies at the University of Tel Aviv, where she received her undergraduate degree in literature and language arts. After receiving her master鈥檚 degree in translation and linguistics, Maya started her teaching career in the University of Tel Aviv School of Languages, where she taught for several years. For the last 16 years, Maya has taught Hebrew, Jewish Studies, and Israeli history at the Rashi School. This past summer, Maya taught at the Brookline Public Schools, working with high school students on subjects such as math, English and science. In recent years, Maya completed several workshops and courses at 鈥淔acing History and Ourselves鈥� and earned a diploma after completing the course, 鈥淔rom an Idea to a State鈥� with Professor Eyal Naveh of the University of Tel Aviv. She is thrilled to be joining the 永利国际app team.

Jan Darsa

Jan Darsa
Tamid of 永利国际app

Jan Darsa was Director of Jewish Education at Facing History and Ourselves for over 20 years, and has developed curricula in the field of Holocaust History, Jewish life before WW II and Israeli History. Her recent publications are Sacred Texts, Modern Questions: Connecting Ethics and History Through A Jewish Lens, and Colliding Dreams Study Guide. Jan has taught in public and private high schools and Tufts University. She is a Jerusalem Fellow, studying for 2 years (1988-90) in Jerusalem, and in 1991 was a scholar-in- residence in South Africa. In 2010 she received the Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish Education. She taught in the Open Circle program last fall.

Marc Dollinger

Marc Dollinger
Tamid of 永利国际app

Marc Dollinger听is the Goldman Research Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University, gifting him the platform to talk about his passion for Jewish social justice. He is a past board president of both Brandeis-Hillel Day School and the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, and has served on the board of Jewish听LearningWorks, URJ Camp Newman, Brandeis Marin Jewish Day School, the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, and Ha-maqom. Currently, he serves on the board of the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Community Federation in the San Francisco Bay Area.听

Dollinger was named the volunteer of the year in 2008 by the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco. In 2015, the Jewish Community Relations Council awarded him the year鈥檚 Courageous Leader for his work at SF State, a sometimes-hostile campus for Jews. He has appeared in a PBS television show, American Jerusalem, offering insights into the history of San Francisco Jews, and then enjoyed 8 minutes of fame on NBC鈥檚 prime-time 鈥淲ho Do You Think You Are?鈥� teaching academy-award winning actress Helen Hunt about her San Francisco Jewish roots.听听

Dollinger is the author of 鈥淏lack Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing the Alliance in the 1960鈥檚,鈥� 鈥淎merican Jewish History,鈥� 鈥淨uest for Inclusion鈥� and 鈥淐alifornia Jews.鈥�听

Michael Fraade

Michael Fraade is a fifth-year rabbinical student at 永利国际app. In the past he has worked as a farmer and Jewish outdoor educator in the south; learned Torah at a variety of progressive yeshivas including Hadar, Yashrut, and Pardes; and volunteered with nonprofits focused on food justice, reproductive rights, and Jewish communal life. He has also completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he currently serves as a part-time chaplain. Michael lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife, Rabbi Jenn Queen, and their dog Priya.

Elisha Gechter

Elisha Gechter
Tamid of 永利国际app

Elisha Gechter听is the Senior Program Manager for Fellowships Curriculum at Harvard Kennedy School鈥檚 Center for Public Leadership.听She designs leadership learning experiences for over 100 fellows, oversees the Wexner Israel Fellowship and the Wexner Senior听Leadership Program as well as the Black Family Fellowship for active duty and veteran military students. Elisha has been working in听the Boston Jewish Community for 14 years 鈥� previously connecting people searching for community and for Jewish wisdom as the听Associate Director of Adult Learning and Community Engagement at 永利国际app (where she founded the Eser program in 2011and has been teaching in the young adult and young family community ever since) and fundraising with local young leaders at CJP.听She has a BA in psychology from Yeshiva University鈥檚 Stern College in New York and an MA/MBA from Brandeis鈥� Heller Hornstein听Program in Jewish Leadership and Non-Profit Management. She served as president of the board of Mayyim听Hayyim Mikvah and听Education Center, a co-chair of Encounter鈥檚 Boston Regional Circle, and lives in Somerville, MA with her husband and two kids. She attends听minyan at Minyan Tehillah, Cambridge Minyan and the Tremont Street Shul.听In June 2025, she will be ordained from Yeshivat Maharat.

Jonah Mac Gelfand

Jonah Mac Gelfand
Tamid of 永利国际app

Jonah Mac Gelfand(he/him) is a rabbinical student at 永利国际app. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of听Gashmius Magazine, an online journal that publishes art, writing, and poetry in an effort to make Jewish mysticism radically accessible. He got his Master’s in Jewish Studies from the Graduate Theological Union, where his research focused on neo-Hasidic leadership, and his writing has been published in both popular and academic journals.

Yaakov Ginsberg-Schreck

Yaakov Ginsberg-Schreck
Tamid of 永利国际app

Buoyed by text study and blessed by expert mentorship, Yaakov Ginsberg-Schreck has guided RUACH’s growth from a breath-focused project proposal into one of the most exciting Jewish startups in the nation (UpStart UpLift Summer 2024 Cohort). Applying his education in American Studies (BA Yale ’15, magna cum laude, concentration in Cultural Theory), his experience with social movement organizing, and his belief in the healing nexus of science and spirituality, Yaakov began RUACH as a rabbinical student project at 永利国际app. From 2020-2022, he worked with 永利国际app’s senior leadership to design Beit Neshama (“House of Breath”), the first Jewish movement and meditation studio in the country, on the school’s collaborative campus. In 2023, after four transformative years of learning, RUACH incorporated as its own nonprofit, and Yaakov left the rabbinical program to move into full-time organizational leadership, serving as RUACH’s Managing Director before being appointed Executive Director by RUACH’s board in 2024

Rabbi Neal Gold

Rabbi Neal Gold
Tamid of 永利国际app & Me’ah Classic

RABBI NEAL GOLD teaches and writes about Jewish texts, Israel, and the intersections between Jewish spiritual life and the contemporary world. In 2020, he created a rapidly expanding online platform for adult Jewish learning called 鈥溾�� He is adjunct faculty 永利国际app in Newton, MA, and in 2023 became the spiritual leader of .

Neal is the Immediate Past President of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis. In 2021, he became an inaugural JJGI [J.J. Greenberg Institute for Advancement of Jewish Life] Fellow at Hadar Institute in New York.

Neal received smicha (rabbinic ordination) from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he also received a Doctor of Divinity honoris causa degree in 2022. In 2018 he earned a second Master鈥檚 Degree in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. He is the author of many academic and popular writings about Judaism and Israel, and he is the editor of of Danny Siegel, published by the Jewish Publication Society in 2020.

For over 18 years, Neal served congregations in New Jersey and Massachusetts. He was the Jewish Chaplain and Hillel Director for the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life at Babson College. He also served as the Director of Content & Programming for ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America, and was a delegate at the 37th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. He serves on the boards of a variety of Jewish, interfaith, and social justice organizations. His writing and blogging on issues of Jewish interest, and his teaching schedule both online and in person, can be found at .

Neal lives in Massachusetts with his wife Heidi Gold and their children Avi and Jeremy. He enjoys fishing, writing, Talmud, playing bass guitar, yoga, and highly amplified music.

Jonathan Golden

Dr. Jonathan Golden
Tamid of 永利国际app

Dr. Jonathan Golden is Director of Wellspring Initiatives at Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Previously he served as the Israel Curriculum Coordinator and a history teacher at Gann Academy, a pluralistic Jewish high school in Waltham, MA. During his career at Gann, he taught AP American History, chaired the History Department, served as Assistant Head of School and Director of Academic Operations, and mentored numerous teachers and department chair. He teaches adult education courses on contemporary Israel at synagogues and homes in the Greater Boston area and is a member of CJP鈥檚 Boston-Haifa Shared Society Task Force and a Community Representative of JCRC Boston.

A graduate of Princeton University, Jonathan received his M.J.Ed. from 永利国际app and Ph.D. from Brandeis University. At Brandeis, he studied American Jewish history under the tutelage of Professor Jonathan Sarna and wrote a dissertation entitled From Cooperation to Confrontation: The Rise and Fall of the Synagogue Council of America.

Jonathan has participated in the Schusterman Center Summer Institute for Israel Studies which in 2022 included participants from Abraham Accords countries (Morocco, Bahrain, UAE), and has taught the Myra Kraft Seminar on Israel to first year students of the Hornstein program at Brandeis University.

As a member of a Conservative synagogue in his childhood, a Reform community in college, modern Orthodox synagogues in his 20s and the independent Temple Beth Zion today, Jonathan is interested in historical and contemporary questions of Jewish pluralism. His professional career in the world of Jewish pluralism is a natural extension of his educational path.

In 2007, Jonathan was the recipient of 永利国际app鈥檚 Sydney Hillson Memorial Award for Distinguished Leadership in and Commitment to Jewish Education. In 2014, he received the AJC Boston Young Leadership Award. In 2018, he was given CJP鈥檚 Chai in the Hub award honoring the contributions of young professionals and lay leaders in the greater Boston Jewish community.

Jonathan lives in Brookline, MA with his wife and son, and serves as a Brookline Town Meeting member.

Laila Goodman

Laila Goodman
Tamid of 永利国际app

Laila Goodman听has been a high school teacher since 1985. Since 2005, she has worked at Gann Academy, a pluralistic Jewish High School in Waltham. She is a biology teacher and the Madrichat听Ruchanit听(Spiritual Advisor), a role in which she designs听and implements experiential Jewish programming, including running a Mussar听class for adults and students. Laila graduated from FSU with a degree in Marine Ecology and has a M.Ed听from Harvard University.

Rabbi Leonard Gordon, D. Min.

Rabbi Leonard Gordon,
Tamid of 永利国际app

Dr. Rabbi Leonard Gordon is the chair of the National Council of Synagogues (NCS) and a frequent teacher in the Tamid of 永利国际app 惭别鈥檃丑 program since 2017. The NCS organizes interfaith dialogues between the American Jewish community and the Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Muslim communities. This winter he is serving as Rabbi for the Jewish Community of Barbados.

Building on his interest in the origins of secular forms of Judaism in modern times and his family history in Europe, he will be teaching about and co-leading a trip to Central Europe for Tamid this spring.

Gordon received rabbinic ordination and an MA from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He also holds a BA and M Phil from Columbia University, and an MA in Religious Studies from Brown University. In 2018, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree in Interfaith Studies at the Andover Newton Theological School.

D'vorah听J. Grenn, Ph.D. and听Kohenet

D’vorah听J. Grenn, Ph.D. and听Kohenet
Tamid of 永利国际app

D’vorah J. Grenn听is Founding Director of The Lilith Institute (1997). She co-directed the former Women’s Spirituality MA Program at Institute of Transpersonal Psychology/Sofia University, founded Mishkan Shekhinah, a movable sanctuary honoring the Sacred Feminine in all traditions, and served on the Founding Advisory Board of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. D鈥檝orah directs The Lilith Institute鈥檚 new Women’s Leadership Program and Mishkan Shekhinah program; recently taught “Amulets, Incantations & The Evil Eye: Jewish Magic and Folklore” for 永利国际app, and co-hosts the 鈥淭ending Lilith鈥檚 Fire鈥� broadcast/podcast with Kohenet Annie Matan, and serves as a mashpi’ah/spiritual mentor.

Her “Talking To Goddess” anthology includes sacred writings of 72 women from 25 spiritual traditions. D鈥檝orah鈥檚 dissertation, 鈥淔or She Is A Tree of Life: Shared Roots Connecting Women to Deity鈥� studied beliefs and rituals among South African Lemba and U.S. European-American Jewish women. Other publications include her book “Lilith鈥檚 Fire: Reclaiming our Sacred Lifeforce”; “The Kohanot: Keepers of the Flame”, in Stepping into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writing on Priestesses (Key & Cant); the Jewish priestess and Lilith entries in the Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions (de-Gaia), and 鈥淭he First Resister: Evoking Lilith For Transformation And Freedom鈥� in Original Resistance: Reclaiming Lilith, Reclaiming Ourselves (Girl God Books).

Osnat Hazan

Osnat Hazan
Ulpan

Osnat Hazan was born and raised in Israel. She started her teaching career as an instructor in the IDF, and studied Hebrew linguistics and Hebrew literature at Ben -Gurion University. Before Ulpan, she taught in 永利国际app’s Prozdor program.
She has also at Boston University.

Joshua R. Jacobson

Joshua R. Jacobson
Tamid of 永利国际app

Joshua R. Jacobson, one of the foremost authorities on Jewish choral music, is Emeritus Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Northeastern University and Visiting Professor in the School of Jewish Music at 永利国际app.听听He is also founder and artistic director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston. He holds a Bachelors degree in Music from Harvard College, a Masters in Choral Conducting from the New England Conservatory, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati, and an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from 永利国际app. Prof. Jacobson is past President of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. He is the recipient of the Cantors Assembly鈥檚 鈥淜avod Award,鈥� Choral Arts New England鈥檚 Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award, and Chorus America鈥檚 Distinguished Service Award. Over one hundred of his choral arrangements, editions and compositions have been published, and are frequently performed by choirs around the world. He is the author of Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation,听Salamone Rossi: Renaissance Man of Jewish Music听and听co-author of听Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire鈥擵olume IV: Hebrew Texts.听听His latest project is听, a searchable website with tons of information and recommendations for conductors of all choruses.

Rabbi Dan Judson, Ph.D.

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Jordan Katz

Jordan Katz
Me’ah

Jordan Katz is a historian of early modern Jewry, with a focus on Jewish cultural history, history of medicine, and women and gender in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Her current book project examines the role of Jewish midwives within communal, intellectual, and medical frameworks in the early modern Ashkenazic world. Through an exploration of Jewish midwives鈥� medical influences, their engagement with administrative knowledge systems, and their intellectual status in the eyes of prominent male leaders, Katz鈥檚 study offers a new understanding of the structures of knowledge and authority that undergirded early modern European society. More broadly, she is interested in the ways in which expertise and special skills created pathways for interaction between Christians and Jews, and between Jews of different socioeconomic classes, that have not yet been studied.

Professor Katz has received fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture; the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine; the Center for Jewish History; and the Leo Baeck Fellowship Programme. Her work has been published in Jewish Quarterly Review and Jewish Social Studies.

Publications

鈥淛ewish Midwives, Wise Women, and the Construction of Medical-Halakhic Expertise in the Eighteenth Century.鈥� Jewish Social Studies Vol. 26, No. 2 (Winter 2021): 1-36.

鈥淢idwife | Judaism鈥� and 鈥淢idwife | Medical Treatises and Other Scholarly Reception.鈥� Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR) Online. Berlin: De Gruyter (2020).

鈥溾�楾o judge and to be judged鈥�: Jewish Communal Autonomy in Metz and the Struggle for Sovereignty in Eighteenth-Century France.鈥� Jewish Quarterly Review 104.3 (Summer 2014): 438-470.

Rabbi Adam Lavitt

Rabbi Adam Lavitt `12, MJED `12
Tamid of 永利国际app

Rabbi Adam Lavitt (he/they) is a spiritual companion, educator, and creative facilitator committed to helping people connect with their inner wisdom and explore what matters most.

Rabbi Adam currently serves as the full-time Director of Learning at . Drawing from his background in pastoral care, education, and chaplaincy, Adam creates transformative spaces where people can deepen their connection to themselves, each other, and Jewish tradition.

Adam has served as a spiritual leader in congregations, college campuses, and healthcare settings. Ordained at 永利国际app, where he earned a Master鈥檚 in Jewish Education and the school鈥檚 first certificate in Pastoral Care, Adam also completed training as a Spiritual Director and became a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC). An alumnus of CLAL鈥檚 Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship and the JOIN for Justice Clergy Fellowship, Adam now works with the Jewish Studio Project, guiding educators, spiritual leaders, and seekers in integrating creativity and spirituality as pathways for growth and discovery.

Eliot Lazar

Elliot Lazar
Tamid of 永利国际app

Elliot Lazar is a Boston-based theatre artist, musician and educator, originally from Winnipeg, Canada, and a graduate of the University of Manitoba (Bachelor of Music, Vocal Performance) and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (M.F.A. Theatre). He has toured the US, Canada (and briefly, Scotland) as Paul Simon in听The Simon and Garfunkel Story, and as Motel Kamzoil in the National Tour of Fiddler on the Roof. Other credits include Frankie Valle in Jersey Boys听(Arts Club), Mark Cohen in Rent (Rainbow Stage),听The Band’s Visit听(Huntington/Speakeasy) and听The Drowsy Chaperone听(Lyric Stage). When not performing, he teaches private voice lessons in person and on Zoom.听For more information, visit听听or follow @ElliotLazar on Instagram.

Layah Lipsker

Layah Lipsker
Tamid of 永利国际app

Layah Kranz Lipsker is a Boston based Jewish educator and spiritual coach. For three decades, Layah has been sharing Jewish wisdom through engaging text study in Biblical literature and Midrash, through the lens of Kabbalah. A research associate at the Hadassah Brandeis Institute, Layah is passionate about issues related to religion and gender and is the director of the Boston Agunah Taskforce, an organization focused on eliminating gender disparities in Jewish divorce practices. Layah serves as scholar in residence for spiritual retreats, trips to Israel, and lectures widely. She lives in Swampscott, MA, and is the mother of six amazing human beings.

Shari Lowin, Ph.D.

Shari Lowin, PhD
Tamid of 永利国际app & Me’ah Classic

Shari Lowin is professor of religious studies at Stonehill College. She previously taught at the University of Chicago, Yeshiva University, Brooklyn College and in Ma’ayan. Lowin is fluent in Arabic and has researched and published on a number of topics comparing Judaism and Islam.听She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

David Magazine Malamud

David Magazine Malamud
Tamid of 永利国际app

David Magazine Malamud is a proud Shannah Dalet student at 永利国际app. Originally from Gaithersburg, MD (DMV represent!), David moved to the Boston area to pursue a PhD at Boston University in Religion, but fell in love with 永利国际app instead. As a recovering academic, David has spent past summers learning Talmud at JTS and Hadar. This past summer, David read Torah at Temple Israel in Nantasket, MA and worked in the Judaica division of Harvard鈥檚 Widener libraries. In his spare time, David enjoys tending to his backyard garden, cooking complicated and sometimes disastrous dinners, and terrorizing the local turkeys of Cambridge with his trusty companions Lilah (dog) and Rebecca (wife).

Rabbi Natan Margalit, Ph.D.

Rabbi Natan Margalit, PhD
Tamid of 永利国际app

Natan Margalit is the author of The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking. He was ordained in Jerusalem in 1990 and earned a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley, 2001. He has taught at Bard College, RRC, and 永利国际app Rabbinical School.

Natan is currently Interim Dean of Faculty and chair of the Rabbinic texts Department at the Aleph Ordination Program. He is also Director of AOP鈥檚 Earth-Based Judaism program and founder of the non-profit Organic Torah. He lives in Newton, MA with his wife, two sons and dog.

Stav Meishar

Stav Meishar
Tamid of 永利国际app

Stav Meishar(she/they) is an award-winning performance maker, interdisciplinary stage artist, researcher and educator. As a dedicated historic researcher, writer and lecturer, Stav’s research spans their many interests 鈥� intersecting Jewish history, circus history and/or queer history. Stav has taught courses and presented听 talks at many academic conferences, festivals and public events throughout the world, including The Leo Baeck Institute (NY), Paideia The European Institute for Jewish Studies (Sweden), Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture (Canada), and many more. Stav鈥檚 work has been published in books, academic journals and magazines in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and soon-to-be French. Stav received her MA in Contemporary Circus Practices from the Stockholm University of the Arts. They hold a BFA in Musical Theatre from The New School in New York with a double minor in Gender Studies and Jewish Culture.

Jacob Meskin, Ph.D.

Jacob Meskin, PhD
Tamid of 永利国际app & Me’ah Classic

Dr. Jacob Meskin is currently Academic Advisor and Senior Lecturer in the 惭别鈥檃丑 Program at 永利国际app. He teaches in, and has taught for the 惭别鈥檃丑 and 惭别鈥檃丑 Select programs, the Tzion program, and for various synagogue and professional groups in the Boston area. In addition to having served for many years as teacher trainer for the 惭别鈥檃丑 Program, he is co-author of the curriculum for Parenting Through A Jewish Lens, and works as a consultant on adult Jewish education and teacher training in the Boston area. Meskin was the inaugural holder of the Ruderman Chair in Jewish Studies at Northeastern University, and has taught at Princeton University, Rutgers University, the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University, Williams College, and Lehigh University. His articles have appeared in Modern Judaism, The Journal of Religion, Soundings, Levinas Studies, Judaism, Cross Currents, Educational Philosophy and Theory, and in several edited volumes. Despite being a transplant from New York City, Meskin has become an avid Boston sports fan. His hobbies include chess (which he thinks he鈥檚 good at), Go (which he wishes he were good at), nineteenth century English novels, old movies, and Indian vegetarian food. He lives with his wife and daughter in Brookline.

Rabbi Marcia Plumb

Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Tamid of 永利国际app

Marcia Plumb is the senior rabbi of Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Brookline.听 She has studied and taught Mussar for many years.听 She teaches Mussar at Mishkan Tefila in Newton and in Winchester.听 She lived and worked in London for many years and now lives in Needham with her husband and two children.

Rabbi Nehemia Polen, Ph.D.

Rabbi Nehemia Polen, PhD
永利国际app Professor of Jewish Thought

Nehemia Polen is a leading expert in Hasidism and Jewish thought. A widely published author, his books include The Holy Fire: The Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto; a translation of Malkah Shapiro鈥檚 The Rebbe鈥檚 Daughter: Memoir of a Hasidic Childhood, a project that originated in Polen鈥檚 research as a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow and recipient of a National Jewish Book Award; Filling Words With Light: Hasidic and Mystical Reflections on Jewish Prayer; and From Tiberias, With Love: A Collection of Tiberian Hasidism, Volume I: Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk. His most recent book, Stop, Look, Listen: Celebrating Shabbos Through a Spiritual Lens (Maggid 2022), was named a finalist for the 72nd Jewish Book Council鈥檚 Myra H. Kraft memorial Award for Contemporary Jewish Life & Practice. In 2024, he received Hadar鈥檚 Ateret Tzvi essay award second prize.

Polen holds a doctorate from Boston University, where he studied with and served as a teaching fellow for Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. Prior to his career in Jewish academia, Polen served for 23 years as a congregational rabbi.

Meredith Reiches

Meredith Reiches
Tamid of 永利国际app

Meredith Reiches is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, a Senior Researcher in the GenderSci Lab at Harvard University, and a Shanah Bet student in the rabbinic ordination program at 永利国际app. Meredith earned a B.A. in Comparative Literature in French and Italian at Brown University and a Ph.D. in Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. Her research focuses on how ideas about the biology of sex show up in the stories we tell about adolescence and reproduction. She is a proud member of the Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston.

Rabbi Shayna Rhodes

Rabbi Shayna Rhodes
Me’ah Classic

Rabbi Shayna Rhodes is a graduate of Bais Yaakov High School and Barnard College and was a member of the first graduating class of 永利国际app Rabbinical School.听 Upon ordination she joined the faculty as a Bet Midrash Instructor.听 She now divides her time between the classroom and the Bet Midrash where she is the director.听 She teaches Talmud, Tanakh and Halakha.听听 Shayna combines tradition with feminism, empowering students to discover their own voice in sacred text.

Rabbi Or Rose

Rabbi Or Rose
Director, Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership
Tamid of 永利国际app

Rabbi Or Rose is the founding director of the鈥�Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of 永利国际app. Before assuming this position in 2016, he worked in various administrative and teaching capacities at 永利国际app for over a decade, including serving as a founding faculty member and associate dean for Informal Education of the Rabbinical School. Rabbi Rose was also one of the creators of CIRCLE, The Center for Interreligious & Community Leadership Education, cosponsored by 永利国际app and Andover Newton Theological School (2007-2017) and has taught for鈥�永利国际app鈥檚 惭别鈥檃丑 Classic program.

In addition to his work at 永利国际app, Rose has taught for the Bronfman Youth Fellowships, The Wexner Graduate Fellowship, and in a variety of other academic, religious, and civic contexts throughout North America, and in Asia, Europe, and Israel. A prolific author and editor, his writings have appeared in鈥�Beliefnet;鈥� 罢丑别鈥疐辞谤飞补谤诲;鈥� The鈥疕uffington Post;鈥�舛寞Interfaith America; The鈥疛ewish Telegraphic Agency;鈥�舛寞 Patheos;鈥� MyJewishLearning; 鈥疪eligion News Service;鈥� The鈥疶imes of Israel;鈥� Tikkun;鈥� 厂丑鈥檓补;鈥� The Washington Post;鈥痑s well as various scholarly publications. Rose is the Senior Publisher of鈥�鈥� as well as co-editor of鈥�鈥�Speaking Torah: Spiritual Teachings from Around the Maggid鈥檚 Table, and the award-winning anthology,鈥�鈥�My Neighbor鈥檚 Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth, and Transformation. His most recent publication is the co-edited volume,鈥�Rabbi Zalman Schachter: Essential Teachings. Rose is currently working on two new anthologies: a contemporary鈥痬ultifaith commentary on the Psalms, tentatively entitled鈥�The Book of Psalms: Here & Now鈥�(Paraclete Press, 2023) and鈥�With the Best of Intentions: Interreligious Missteps & Unexpected Learnings鈥�(Orbis 2023).

Sarah Rosenson

Sarah Rosenson
Tamid of 永利国际app

Sarah Rosenson has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies from the Spertus Institute.听 She practiced law for a decade, and then taught classes on ethics, philosophy, and world religions at a private high school.听 She currently teaches adults in person at her local Jewish Community Center and two retirement communities, and online for various institutions around the country.

Classes Sarah has created and taught include The Biblical Art of Marc Chagall, Text and Art:听 Five Bible Stories, Difficult Stories of Women in the Bible, Children鈥檚 Bible Stories for Adults, Ethics Thought Experiments, Ethics in Modern Life, Ethics and Sports, Jane Austen and Philosophy, and The Hobbit and Philosophy.

Shirah Rubin

Shirah Rubin
Tamid of 永利国际app

Shirah Rubin is a ceramic sculptor exhibiting nationally and a seasoned Jewish arts educator who has explored the intersections between Judaism and art in museums, universities, schools, camps, and synagogues. Shirah founded Co-Imagine Arts, which supports leaders, group organizers, and participants in utilizing the arts as a transformative tool for creativity, personal growth, and community engagement. She tailors her unique arts workshops to the custom needs of diverse groups and individuals.

She has been an artist-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston through the Community Arts Initiative. She currently teaches in the community including Harvard Ceramics, Artisan’s Asylum, the Jewish Community Day School, and Camp Yavneh. Her outdoor art installation, the Path: LAByrinth, will be on exhibit at 永利国际app April 25 through – November 7, 2025. Learn more about her work at .

Rabbi Benjamin Samuels, PhD

Rabbi Benjamin Samuels
Tamid of 永利国际app & 惭别鈥檃丑 Classic

Benjamin J. Samuels has served since 1995 as rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton, Mass., and has been a member of the 惭别鈥檃丑 faculty since 1996. He received his bachelor鈥檚 degree, master鈥檚 degree and rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University and is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship program. Rabbi Samuels earned his PhD in Science, Philosophy and Religion at Boston University.

Rev. Rob Schenck

Rev. Rob Schenck
Visiting Scholar of Christianity & Religious Leadership
Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of 永利国际app

Rev. Rob Schenck, D.Min. is an ordained evangelical minister and a progressive voice of dissent in his religious community.

Over a 40-year career, he has served as an addictions counselor, youth director, pastor, global humanitarian outreach worker, and a minister to top elected and appointed officials in Washington, DC. In the aftermath of 9/11, Schenck helped lead an unprecedented international dialogue between North American evangelical leaders and North African Islamic scholars. Shortly afterward, he was the subject of Abigail Disney鈥檚 Emmy Award-winning documentary, The Armor of Light, a critique of the American evangelical embrace of popular gun culture, eventually leading to his break from evangelical orthodoxy on guns, abortion, and the public display of religious symbols.

Schenck holds degrees in Bible and Theology, Religion, and Christian Ministry and a Doctor of Ministry in strategic leadership with a concentration in church and state. He has been a visiting academic at Oxford University where recently co-convened a historic colloquium on racialized Christian Nationalism. Schenck tells the story of his religious journey in a memoir, Costly Grace: An Evangelical Minister鈥檚 Rediscovery of Faith, Hope and Love (HarperCollins). His essays on the intersection of religion and public life have been published by Religion News Service, USA Today, TIME Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and The New York Times, among other national journals.

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Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership: Faculty & Staff
Liz Aeschlimann
Dignity Project Fellowship Program Director
Wise Huston Chabot
Contextual Education Fellow
Kyle Desrosiers
Program Administrator
Rafi Ellenson
Rabbinic Intern
Rev. Dr. Soren M. Hessler
Instructor of Christian and Interreligious Studies
Dr. Axel Marc Oaks Tak谩cs
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal for Interreligious Studies
Rabbi Or Rose
Director
Rosys
Associate Program Director of the Dignity Project
Rev. Rob Schenck
Visiting Faculty

Linda Yael Schiller, MSW, LICSW

Linda Yael Schiller, MSW, LICSW
Tamid of 永利国际app

Linda Yael Schiller is an international speaker, dreamwork specialist, and integrative mind/body/spiritual psychotherapist.

She is the author of PTSDreams: Transform your Nightmares from Trauma through Healing Dreamwork, (2022, Llewellyn Worldwide Publishing) Modern Dreamwork: New Tools for Decoding Your Soul鈥檚 Wisdom (Llewellyn 2019), Comprehensive and Integrative Trauma Treatment (Western Schools, 2010) and numerous articles, book chapters, and audio programs on dreamwork, trauma treatment and relational group work.

Linda is professor emeritus of Boston University School of Social Work, recognized internationally for her original theory of relational group work and for teaching excellence. She regularly teaches dreamwork to both professionals and the public of her Integrated Embodied Dreamwork approach and her creative Dreamwork Through the Lens of Kabbalah. Her innovative nightmare treatment protocol is based on best practice in trauma treatment and Jungian active imagination called 鈥淭he GAIA* Method (Guided Active Imagination Approach)鈥�. Her next book, Ancestral Dreaming: Conversations with our Ancestors and Healing Intergenerational Wounds (Llewellyn) is due out September 2025.

Matthew Schultz

Matthew Schultz
Tamid of 永利国际app

Matthew Schultz is an author and rabbi-to-be living between Boston and Tel Aviv. He is currently studying at 永利国际app and expects to be ordained in 2025. He is the weekly columnist for the LA Jewish Journal and the author of the “Dispatches from the Promised Land” newsletter on Substack.

Natasha Shabat

Natasha Shabat
Tamid of 永利国际app

Natasha Shabat is an independent scholar who learned Hebrew as an adult and has been teaching Biblical and Modern Hebrew full- time to adults since 1997, in congregations, community centers, and private homes. Her students 鈥� whom she teaches in groups, individually, and by video and telephone 鈥� include rabbis and rabbinical students, cantors, lay leaders, 惭别鈥檃丑 graduates, Hebrew-school teachers, Hebrew-school dropouts, and Jews-by-choice. Among her students are doctors, lawyers, professors, business leaders, homemakers, grandmothers, great-grandfathers, West Point graduates, and Christian clergy. Natasha is a graduate of Harvard University in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

Rabbi Michael Shire, PhD

Rabbi Michael Shire
Academic Director, Master鈥檚 in Jewish Education听 听 听 听Tamid of 永利国际app

Part-time Rabbi at Central Reform Temple, Back Bay, Boston

Education

Hon. Doctorate, Jewish Religious Education, Hebrew Union College
Doctorate in Jewish Education, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles
Rabbinical Ordination, Leo Baeck College, London
MA Jewish Studies, Leo Baeck College, London
MA Jewish Education, Hebrew Union College, New York
BA Hons. Hebrew Literature and Jewish History, University College London

Biography

Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire grew up in Birmingham England and completed his B.A. Hons in Hebrew Literature and Jewish History at University College, London. He continued his studies at Hebrew Union College both in New York and Los Angeles completing a M.A. and Ph.D. in Jewish Education. His research work, later to be published, proposed a curriculum orientation for spiritual enhancement in Jewish educational settings. He concurrently served as director of education at Temple Beth Hillel, a large Reform synagogue in North Hollywood, California. On returning to Great Britain in 1988, he took up the post as the national director of the Centre of Jewish Education developing the infrastructure, day schools and professional and academic learning of Jewish education in the UK. Following further study, he was ordained as rabbi at Leo Baeck College in 1996. In 2001, he merged the Centre of Jewish Education with the rabbinic training school, Leo Baeck College, and became its vice-principal for an additional eleven years. He became the professor and dean of the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education in 2011 and subsequently was appointed as chief academic officer of 永利国际app from 2015-2020. He has been widely published in the field of Jewish education and spiritual education. In addition, he has published four books of creative liturgy with medieval illuminations in association with the British and Bodleian Libraries. He is founder of the Torah Godly Play pedagogic methodology and serves as trustee of the Pursuit of History, the Association of Institutions of Graduate Jewish Education.

Selected Publications and Presentations

Judaism and Childhood, The Sage Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies (Sage Publishing, 2020)
Mazal Tov: The Rituals and Customs of a Jewish Wedding, Frances Lincoln (UK) and Stuart, Tabori and Chang (USA), 2003.
The Illuminated Haggadah, Frances Lincoln (UK) & Stuart, Tabori and Chang (USA), 1998 (Co-productions in Germany, Holland, France, Russia and Israel).
鈥淩esponding to the Questions of Uncertainty Online,鈥� Wabash Center website, May 12, 2020
“Torah Godly Play: An Innovative Approach to Religious Education for Shlemut”听 in “Gleanings: A dialogue on Jewish Education” Volume 6:2 2019
Leo Baeck and Oppeln, Poland in Manna Spring 2011
Rabbinic Training and the Interfaith Imperative in Pursuit of History.

Rabbi Jessica Spencer

Rabbi Jessica Spencer
Tamid of 永利国际app

Rabbi Jessica Spencer is an experienced teacher of Talmud and rabbinic texts, having taught at Lehrhaus, Limmud UK, and Azara鈥攖he UK鈥檚 first cross-denominational yeshiva, which she co-founded. She received ordination from 永利国际app, where she was a SVARA-HC Talmud Pedagogy Fellow, and has also studied with R鈥� Daniel Landes, in the Pardes Kollel, and at Hadar and the Drisha Institute. Jessica is the co-author of poem hashavua, a collection of poems on the weekly Torah portion, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in religion at Columbia University, where her research focuses on questions of relationship, authority, and care in the Babylonian Talmud. When not learning, she swims outdoors, reads, and muses on the best recipe for hot chocolate.

Rabbi Moishe Steigmann

Moishe Steigmann, The Mindful Rabbi, is the founder and director of a non-profit organization, Own Your Judaism: Where your life journey and your Jewish journey meet. He seamlessly blends ancient Jewish wisdom with contemporary passions and practices. Through his teachings, writings, and workshops, he continues to influence and lead the conversation on mindful living within and beyond the Jewish community. He also speaks, hosts livestream conversations, and offers Jewish Life Coaching and organizational consultation.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Rabbi Steigmann is a proud father of two children, loves sports, is passionate about living gratefully, and enjoys almost all puzzles and games.

Dr. Susie Tanchel

Dr. Susie Tanchel
永利国际app Vice President

Education
Ph.D., Brandeis University
B.A., Brandeis University

Dr. Susie Tanchel joined 永利国际app in the summer of 2020, after serving as the head of school at JCDS, Boston鈥檚 Jewish Community Day School.

During her nine-year tenure at JCDS, Tanchel was an accomplished and deeply beloved leader, guiding the school to preeminence as a national model of excellence in pluralistic Jewish education, and creatively embodying its abiding commitments to community, centrality of Hebrew language, and teaching the whole child.

She was a recipient of the 2018 Covenant Award for Jewish Educators.

Rivka Nechemya Thrope

Rivka Nechemya Thrope
Tamid of 永利国际app

Rivka Nechemya Thrope is a second-year rabbinical student at 永利国际app. His experience as a Jewish educator spans a variety of settings, including at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, Beit Rabban Day School, and Hebrew Senior Life. In addition to immersing hirself in Torah, Rivka Nechemya enjoys hiking, writing poetry and midrash, and spending time with hir adorable calico cat, Chickpea.

Sam Tygiel

Sam Tygiel
永利国际app Rabbinical Student

Sam Tygiel is an alumnus of Hadar鈥檚 Rising Song Residency, Or Halev鈥檚 Yesod Jewish Meditation Training and a fourth year Rabbinical student at 永利国际app. In his teaching and prayer leadership, Sam draws on the rich narrative and ancestral musical traditions of Judaism to create emotional openings for people to discover connection, curiosity and healing. Sam prioritizes unusual and forgotten Jewish narratives to illuminate the treasure trove of Jewish mythology and expand notions of what is normative, permissible, and possible within contemporary Judaism. Sam also composes original Jewish music, which can be heard on his website: .

Aron Wander

Aron Wander
Tamid of 永利国际app

Aron Wander is a 永利国际app rabbinical student, a writer, and an organizer. He is an alum of the Dorot Fellowship in Israel, served as the Rabbinic Intern at Temple Emunah of Lexington and Ohel Ayalah of Long Island City, and worked as a Rabbinic Fellow at Temple Israel of Boston.

His writing has appeared in Lehrhaus, Jewish Currents, and Gashmius, and his poetry has appeared in The Curator, The Shore, and Thimble Literary Magazine.

Fran Zamore

Fran Zamore, MSW, is a veteran social worker, mindfulness and meditation teacher, and Wise Aging facilitator. After over 30 years of experience as a clinical social worker/therapist focusing on personal and spiritual growth and mind-body-spirit connection, Fran is now focusing on facilitating Wise Aging groups and leading Jewish mindfulness meditation. Fran is the co-author of GriefWork ~ Healing from Loss, The GriefWork Companion ~ Activities for Healing and GriefWork for Teens.

Fran is a member of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD, a longtime participant in programs of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and active with Jews United for Justice, among other social justice organizations.

Shlomi Zan

Shlomi Zan
Ulpan

Shlomi is an experienced educator with both children and adults. In Israel, Shlomi taught Hebrew and History in high school for four years, and served as a head of an elementary school for five years. Currently, Shlomi teaches Hebrew both at Gann Academy High School and 永利国际app. He holds a bachelor degree in History from听Hebrew University, Jerusalem, an听M.A in Public Policy, from Tel Aviv University,听a Teaching Certificate听from Beit-Berl College, and a Public School Principal Certification from Kibbutz Seminar College in Tel Aviv. Shlomi lives in Brookline with his husband and their dog, Joy.