Faculty

	Margie Bogdanow Margie Bogdanow currently serves as a national youth specialist for the Union for Reform Judaism and as a consultant to the Youth Educator Initiative of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. She co-founded and served as co-executive director of Parenting Resource Associates in Lexington, Mass. Bogdanow holds a bachelor’s degree in Russian language and literature from Brandeis University and an MSW from Simmons College.
	Sabrina Burger Sabrina Burger has lived in Israel for 12 years, where she studied English literature and linguistics at Hebrew University and attended the Bezalel School of Art and Design. She studied rabbinic texts and Hasidic philosophy at the Nishmat Center for Advanced Torah Studies and Midreshet Bat Ayin. Burger has taught for Ikkarim, Pathways, Ma'ayan and in private classes, where she integrates Torah, art and parenting skills.
	Shari Churwin Shari Churwin has worked for more than 17 years in many capacities at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, most recently as education director. She holds a Master of Jewish Education and a certificate in Jewish family education from Hebrew College. Churwin and her husband, Mike, have three daughters.
	Rabbi Sharon Clevenger Rabbi Sharon Clevenger is the middle-school rabbi at the Rashi School in Dedham, Mass. She previously served as associate rabbi at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, Mass., where she taught numerous adult-learning classes. Clevenger is married and the mother of two young daughters.
	Judy Elkin Judy Elkin is a long-time Jewish educator and a certified personal and professional coach, working with individuals, couples and professional teams. As a Jewish educator, she has worked with adolescents, parents, parent educators, teachers and graduate students, and was the founding director of Ramah Family Camp. Learn more about Elkin at her website.
	Roselyn Farren Roselyn Farren is executive director of Ma'ayan: Torah Studies Initiative for Women. She holds doctorate in English literature from Brandeis University and enjoys teaching Jewish texts to teens through senior adults. On her off-days, you will find Farren singing and gardening with her husband and three children.
	Rabbi Sally Finestone Rabbi Sally Finestone has led congregation Or Atid in Wayland, Mass., since 1998 and was among the first group of female rabbis to be ordained, in 1982 from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School, where she is currently the denominational counselor for Jewish students.
	Rabbi David Jaffe Rabbi David Jaffe is the school chaplain at Gann Academy: The New Jewish High School and the founder and dean of The Kirva Institute for Torah and Spiritual Practice. A graduate of the Columbia University School of Social Work and the Jewish Theological Seminary Communal Service program, Jaffe received his rabbinic ordination from the Bat Ayin Yeshiva in Israel. He is a veteran Ikkarim instructor and has taught widely throughout the Boston community.
	Rabbi Daniel Liben Rabbi Daniel Liben received his rabbinic ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1983 and has served as the spiritual leader of Temple Israel in Natick, Mass., since 1991. A prolific teacher, he is a recipient of the Bureau of Jewish Education's Keter Torah Award for his work in family education.
	Layah Kranz Lipsker Layah Kranz Lipsker is a Jewish educator, writer and lecturer with 20 years of teaching experience in Jewish mysticism and biblical texts. She is the primary instructor for the Jewish Learning Institute in Swampscott, Mass., and lectures nationwide on topics ranging from Talmudic ethics to Kaballah. Lipsker’s signature program, Jewish Woman's Day of Learning, inspires women of all backgrounds to add their voices to thousands of years of Jewish tradition.
	Natan Margalit Natan Margalit studied anthropology at Reed College in Portland, Ore. He received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990 and earned a Ph.D. in Talmud from the University of California, Berkeley. He is spiritual leader of The Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life, in western Connecticut, and visiting rabbi at Congregation Adas Yoshuron, in Rockville, Maine.
	Jacob Meskin Jacob Meskin is academic director of the Me'ah and Ikkarim programs and an assistant professor of Jewish thought and education at Hebrew College. He received a Ph.D. from Princeton University and has taught at Rutgers University, Princeton University, Yeshiva University and Williams College. He is one of the co-authors of the Ikkarim curriculum, and both trains faculty for and teaches in the Me'ah program.
	Ken Richmond Ken Richmond has served since 2006 as cantor and family educator at Temple Israel in Natick, Mass. He enjoys leading the congregation in participatory prayer and teaching and learning with students of all ages. Richmond and his wife, Rabbi Shira Shazeer, are klezmer musicians and speak Yiddish with their two sons.
	Rabbi Michelle Robinson Rabbi Michelle Robinson has made her home at Temple Emanuel of Newton since 1999. She is deeply committed to sharing her love of text study with others and has greatly enjoyed teaching in Hebrew College’s Parenting Through a Jewish Lens program since its inception. She and her husband, Mike, have three children.
	Rabbi Benjamin Samuels Rabbi Benjamin Samuels of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton, Mass., is co-curriculum designer and an educational consultant and instructor for the Ikkarim program at Hebrew College. He received his rabbinic ordination and master’s degree from Yeshiva University and is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship program. Samuels is a doctoral candidate in science, philosophy and religion at Boston University. He serves on the faculty of Me'ah and Ma'ayan and is a Genesis scholar at Combined Jewish Philanthropies.
	Ronit Ziv-Kreger Ronit Ziv-Kreger is principal at Ziv-Kreger & Associates and has been serving as a consultant to innovative initiatives in day schools and congregational schools in Israel and the Boston area since 1998. She is a consultant for CJP’s Innovators Community of Practice initiative to help revitalize and reinvent supplementary education in the Boston area. She is a graduate of the Pardes Educators Program and holds a doctorate from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
	Rabbi Julie Zupan Rabbi Julie Zupan attended Tufts University for her undergraduate degree and received ordination from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1999. She has served as a congregational rabbi and as an elder care chaplain and currently serves as the Jewish Family Educator for the Early Learning Centers of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Boston (JCCGB).