Community Learning Faculty

Rachel Adelman, PhD

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Rabbi Jeff Amshalem

Rabbi Jeff Amshalem
Me’ah, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

In addition to being a husband and parent of two nielughters and one son, Rabbi Jeff Amshalem teaches both kids and parents at Gann Academy, where he is also Coordinator of Spiritual Advising. Jeff worked in community and family education throughout Boston for a number of years, and then spent some years in Israel at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem and at Ben-Gurion University. In 2014 he received smicha from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg and Rabbi Daniel Landes, along with an MA in Jewish Thought from Ben-Gurion University, with a focus on Hasidism and Kabbalah. He is currently working with Ayeka: Soulful Jewish Education to bring a focus on spiritual growth into Jewish day schools across the country.

President Sharon Cohen Anisfeld

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Rabbi Marc Baker

Rabbi Marc Baker
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Marc Baker is President & CEO of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston and the former Head of Gann Academy in Waltham, MA. Previously, he served as the director of Judaics and Student Life at the Doris and Alex Weber Jewish Community High School in Atlanta, Georgia. In November 2011 Marc was among five Jewish educators in the country to receive The Pomegranate Prize, established by the Covenant Foundation to honor and nurture exceptional, emerging Jewish education professionals. Marc currently serves as the Scholar in Residence of the Cynthia and Leon Shulman Acharai Leadership Program of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP).  He lives in Brookline, MA, with his wife Jill and their four children.

Merry Arnold

Merry Arnold
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Biography is coming soon.

Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman

Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Audrey Marcus Berkman has been a chaplain, cantor, teacher and lifecycle officiant in the Boston area for the past seven years. She currently serves as rabbi and chaplain at Center Communities of Brookline. From 2007 to 2013, she was congregational rabbi at Congregation Shir Hadash. She is a graduate of Oberlin College, holds a master’s from Harvard University and was ordained in 2007 from Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Pennsylvania.

Rabbi Jay R. Berkovitz, PhD

Rabbi Jay R. Berkovitz, PhD
Me’ah

Jay Berkovitz is professor and chair of the Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He earned his Ph.D. degree at Brandeis University and rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Dan Chanan in Jerusalem. Berkovitz’s research and teaching focus on the early modern history of the Jews, with special emphasis on Jewish law, family, ritual and communal governance. He is the author of “Protocols of Justice: The Pinkas of the Rabbinic Court of Metz, 1771-1789” (Brill, 2014). Berkovitz has held visiting appointments at Bar Ilan University, University of Connecticut at Storrs, Yeshiva University and Hebrew University. In 2011-12, he was the Inaugural National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Scholar at the Center for Jewish History in New York. He currently serves as joint editor-in-chief of the journal Jewish History.

David Bernat, Ph.D. 

David Bernat, Ph.D.
Me’ah, Open Circle Jewish Learning

David Bernat is the Executive Director of The Synagogue Council of MA, a Lecturer in Judaic Studies at UMass Amherst, and a veteran and popular member of the Meah faculty. His Ph.D. is in Biblical Interpretation from Brandeis.  Before entering graduate school, Bernat spent 8 years in the NYC wine industry.

Rabbi Allison Berry

Rabbi Allison Berry
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Allison Berry has served since 2011 as associate rabbi of Temple Shalom in Newton, Mass. She served previously as director of education at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Chestnut Hill and as rabbi and education director at Temple Beth David in Canton. A classically trained vocalist, Berry formerly worked as a cantorial solist for several Boston-area congregations. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and was ordained in 2007 by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City.

Tamar Biala

Tamar Biala
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Tamar Biala is engaged with Jewish feminism as a writer and lecturer. She received her BA at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her MA in Women’s Studies and Jewish Studies at the Schechter Institute. Ms. Biala has taught at IASA, Jerusalem’s high school for gifted students, at the Hartman Institute’s teacher training program, in pluralistic batei midrash in Isra,el and for the Israel Defense Forces. She also served for several years on the board of Kolech, the Religious Women’s Forum, developing developed high school curricula for the empowerment of young women and for sex and family education for both young men and young women. She is the co-editor of Dirshuni: Midrashei Nashim (Yediot Acharonot and the Jewish Agency for Israel, 2009), the first-ever collection of Midrashim written by contemporary Israeli women.

Sam Blumberg

Sam Blumberg
Rabbinical student, Eser

Sam Blumberg is a second-year Rabbinical student. Before coming to Hebrew College, he spent five years in Portland, Ore., teaching Jewish Studies in the middle school at Portland Jewish Academy. Sam holds a Master in Jewish Education degree from Hebrew College and is a graduate of the Pardes Educators Program. Sam is currently the student rabbi at Temple Sinai in Brookline, as well as rabbinic intern at Congregation Betenu in Amherst, NH. He lives in Waltham with his wife Amalia, son Zamir (born April 2016), daughter Sol (born January 2018), and their dog Kishu.

Margie Bogdanow

Margie Bogdanow
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Margie Bogdanow, LICSW, is an educator, coach and consultant in the Greater Boston area. Her professional work focuses on impacting adults to make a difference in the lives of young people. She serves as a Senior Consultant to the Commission on Jewish Life and Learning at CJP, and was co- founder and executive director of Parenting Resource Associates, in Lexington. She is passionate about finding ways to make Judaism meaningful for people in as many ways as possible.

Marc Brettler, PhD, H'15

Marc Brettler, PhD, H’15
Me’ah, Me’ah Online

Marc Brettler is the Bernice and Morton Lerner Chair of Religious Studies at Duke University. He was formerly the Dora Golding Professor of Bible in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, where he was awarded the Michael L. Walzer Teaching Prize. He is the author of many articles on literary and historical aspects of biblical texts, including being co-editor of “The Jewish Study Bible” (Oxford University Press; 2004), winner of a National Jewish Book Award in 2004. Brettler has been a Me’ah instructor since the program’s inception.

Sabrina Burger

Sabrina Burger
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

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.

Rabbi Jillian Cameron

Rabbi Jillian Cameron
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Rabbi Jillian Cameron was ordained at Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in 2012 after receiving a Masters Degree in Jewish Education in 2008. After graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, CT, she worked at several Jewish organizations and synagogues, pursuing her passion for education, Israel and Judaism. During her time at HUC-JIR, she had the opportunity to work on a variety of publications from prayer books to a collection of essays on Jewish food ethics to a guide to creating Jewish weddings. Following her ordination, Rabbi Cameron served as the Assistant Rabbi and Educator at a synagogue in Virginia where she had the privilege to work with many different types of families and individuals, helping them to find relevance in Judaism and explore an array of Jewish paths. She believes in the power and importance of everyone’s story and how diversity can only strengthen the Jewish community. Jillian is a New Jersey native, the proud product of an interfaith family and a Salem resident.

Shari Churwin

Shari Churwin
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Shari Churwin has worked for more than 17 years in many capacities at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Mass., most recently as education director. She is a graduate of Indiana University and holds a Master of Jewish Education and a certificate in Jewish family education from Hebrew College. Churwin is a member of the National Association of Temple Educators, the National Association Education of Young People and the Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Sharon Clevenger

Rabbi Sharon Clevenger
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

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.

Rabbi Shaye J.D. Cohen, PhD

Rabbi Shaye J.D. Cohen, PhD
Me’ah

Shaye J. D. Cohen is an ordained rabbi and the Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. Before arriving at Harvard in 2001, he was for 10 years the Samuel Ungerleider Professor of Judaic Studies and professor of Religious Studies at Brown University. The focus of Cohen’s research is the boundary between Jews and gentiles and between Judaism and its surrounding culture. He is also a published authority on Jewish reactions to Hellenism and to Christiaity.

Shira M. Cohen-Goldberg

Shira M. Cohen-Goldberg
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Shira Cohen-Goldberg works as a literacy specialist at an educational nonprofit focused on organizational change, teaching teachers and coaching administrators. She is a graduate of Barnard College, holds a certificate in program planning, management, monitoring and evaluation from Boston University and an Ed.M. in language and literacy from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and has engaged in multiple Jewish learning opportunities.

Misha Clebaner

Misha Clebaner
Current rabbinical student, Eser

Misha is in his final year of Rabbinical School at Hebrew College. Originally from San Francisco, Misha graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia with a degree in Sociology and Religion. Misha has served with AmeriCorps and also with American Jewish World Service (AJWS) in India through the World Partners Fellowship. He has studied at the Hebrew University, as well as the Conservative Yeshiva of Jerusalem. He recently worked for his second summer at the pioneering Brandeis-Bardin Collegiate Institute in Simi Valley, CA. He is currently the rabbinic figure at Temple B’nai Israel in Revere, MA.

Eli Cohn-Postell

Eli Cohn-Postell
Eser

Eli Cohn-Postell is the Director of Israel Engagement at the JCRC of Greater Boston. Originally from Minneapolis, Eli holds a BA in philosophy from Lewis and Clark College and Masters Degrees in Jewish Leadership and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from the Hornstein Program for Jewish Leadership at Brandeis University. Eli is particularly passionate about modern Jewish history, early Zionism, and the current American Jewish experience. He has been privileged to serve in a variety of educational roles in the Jewish community, and his focus as a teacher and Israel trip leader is on finding new pathways for Jews to discuss their relationship to Israel as a Jewish state and supporting grassroots efforts to bring peace and justice to Israelis and Palestinians. He lives in Malden with his wife, Cheyenne, and their daughter, Miri.

Jody Comins

Jody Comins
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Jody Comins is the Principal at A Better Way; Divorce & Family Mediation. She is a court-approved facilitator for the required parent Education program and teaches in Boston, Canton, and Waltham and is a mentor for mediators in the Norfolk Probate & Family Court. Prior to becoming a mediator, she worked in the Boston Jewish community for 24 years at numerous agencies. She is a founder and past President of MetroWest Jewish Day School. Jody received her Masters in Social Work with a clinical concentration from Boston University in 1997.

Behzad Dayanim

Behzad Dayanim
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Behzad Dayanim has been involved in Jewish education for 18 years. He has dedicated himself to the Jewish community, serving as a youth director and family educator, and has designed numerous informal-education programs. He is also a seasoned artist and musician who has performed throughout the world. Dayanim is graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and holds an MBA and M.A. through the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University.

Judy Elkin

Judy Elkin
Open Circle Jewish Learning, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

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, Ph.D.

Roselyn Farren, Ph.D.
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Roselyn Farren is an English teacher at Plymouth North High School and has also taught English at the Maimonides School in Brookline, Mass.  She is the former executive director of Ma’ayan: Torah Studies Initiative for Women. She enjoys teaching Jewish texts to teens through senior adults, as well as singing and gardening with her husband and three children. Farren holds a doctorate in English literature from Brandeis University.

Rachel Fish, Ph.D.

Rachel Fish, Ph.D.
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rachel Fish is the Associate Director of the Schusterman Center at Brandeis University. She completed her doctoral degree in 2013 in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department at Brandeis University, where she researched the history of the idea of bi-nationalism and alternative visions for constructing the State of Israel. She has taught at Brandeis University, UMASS Amherst and the Me’ah Adult Jewish Education program. In 2015 she held the Rohr Visiting Professorship at Harvard University, where she lectured on modern Israel and received the Derek Bok Certificate of Teaching Excellence. She is co-editor, with Ilan Troen, of the forthcoming book Essential Israel: Essays for the Twenty-First Century.

Elisha Gechter

Elisha Gechter
Eser, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Elisha Gechter is program manager of the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. A former associate director of community engagement for adult learning at Hebrew College, she graduated from the Heller Hornstein master’s program at Brandeis University. She is the recipient of the Nachshon Leadership Award from Mayyim Hayyim and was named a 2015 Chai in the Hub honoree by Combined Jewish Philanthropies. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, daughter, and son.

Dena Glasgow

Dena Glasgow
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Dena Glasgow is a students at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Before returning to graduate school, she was the director of faculty and curriculum development in the adult learning division at Hebrew College. Before joining Hebrew College, she worked for five years as director of the Boston-area Jewish Education Program, a Sunday school community at Brandeis University. She was also a long-term member of the PJ Library Book Selection Committee. As a mother of four children, Glasgow particularly enjoys teaching on parenting topics. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s degree in Jewish studies and Jewish communal service from Brandeis University.

Bonnie Glickman

Bonnie Glickman
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Bonnie Glickman consults with teachers, families, schools and employers. She has worked as a classroom teacher, special-education teacher, curriculum developer, school counselor and private consultant. She founded and administered a school for high-school dropouts in Montreal, which won an award from the Canadian Broadcasting Company. Glickman holds master’s degrees in reading instruction and special education from McGill University and a master’s in counseling from the University of Vermont.

Rabbi Neal Gold

Rabbi Neal Gold
Me’ah

Neal Gold is a rabbi and committed teacher and prolific writer, as well as a dedicated counselor and social activist. In May 2018 he will receive his (second) MA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. Neal received smicha from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and for over 18 years served congregations in New Jersey and Massachusetts. He served as the Director of Content & Programming for ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America and was a delegate for ARZENU at the 37^th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem in October 2016. His writing and blogging on many issues of Jewish interest can be found at nealgold.net.

Ketriellah Goldfeder

Ketriellah Goldfeder
Open Circle Jewish Learning 

For over 20 years, Ketriellah has been actively helping women improve their physical, emotional and spiritual lives. Before moving to Sharon, Mass., Ketriellah and her husband, Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder, led an Open Orthodox congregation in Boulder, Colo. for a decade. She now has a private practice as a Certified Hakomi Practitioner & Personal Growth Coach. You can learn more about Ketriellah at her website www.newmoonhakomi.com or by joining her Facebook group for women, Slow Jewish Home.

Rabbi Leonard Gordon, DDiv

Rabbi Leonard Gordon, DDiv
Me’ah

Rabbi Leonard Gordon co-directs Interfaith Partners for Peace. Rabbi Gordon is rabbi emeritus of the Germantown Jewish Centre which he served as senior rabbi until 2010. He was then senior rabbi at Congregation Mishkan Tefila (Chestnut Hill, MA) until 2016.

With rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, he has 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 at the Andover Newton Theological School with a thesis entitled, “Building Interfaith Relationships to Promote Peace.”

Rabbi Gordon has taught comparative religion and Humanities at Columbia University, Kenyon College, and the Ohio State University; and he has taught rabbinic literature, history, philosophy, and liturgy at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Hebrew College Rabbinical School, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He began teaching for Me’ah in 2018. Among his publications, he was an editor of Mahzor Lev Shalem and is author of the forthcoming article, “A Jew Reads Sura Al Fatiha.”

Rachel L. Greenblatt, PhD

Rachel L. Greenblatt, PhD
Me’ah

Rachel L. Greenblatt teaches at Dartmouth College, and has previously taught at Harvard and Wesleyan Universities. She holds a Ph.D. in Jewish History from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and B.A. in History from Cornell.  She has also studied biblical and rabbinic text at the Pardes Institute and at Matan – the Sadie Rennert Women’s Institute for Torah Study, both in Jerusalem.

Rachel’s scholarship focuses on the cultural and social history of Jews in central and eastern Europe. She is the author of To Tell Their Children: Jewish Communal Memory in Early Modern Prague (Stanford University Press, 2014), which incorporates a wide variety of material and textual sources in reconstructing the ways in which Prague’s early modern Jews—women and men, young and old—told their own stories of their communal past and familial histories.

Rabbi Eric Gurvis

Rabbi Eric Gurvis
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Eric Gurvis is a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, with a BA in Sociology and Judaic Studies. He was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.  Eric has served congregations in New York City; Jackson, Miss.; Teaneck, NJ; and, most recently, completed 18 years as Senior Rabbi of Temple Shalom of Newton in Newton, Mass., where he is now Rabbi Emeritus. For the past year, Eric served as East Coast Manager for Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, where he has overseen all programmatic activity and relationship management in East Coast cities. Eric has long been deeply involved in youth activities and Jewish camps, interfaith work, as well as Israel programming and education. He was a member of the 4th cohort of the Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Leadership Initiative and became a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Institute in 2013, where he serves on the Rabbinic Advisory Council. Eric has also completed training with The Mussar Institute, and is a certified Mussar Va’ad leader. He facilitates Mussar groups in congregations throughout the greater Boston area, as well as in Western Massachusetts. He serves as a member of the Faculty for the Hebrew College Open Circles program. He is a blogger and has been a contributor to Fresh Day, an online interfaith e-zine. Eric lives in Newton, Massachusetts with his wife, Laura Kizner Gurvis. Eric and Laura have four children, and most recently, an 18-month old grandson, in whom they take great delight.

Christina Hayes

Christina Hayes
Me’ah Online

Professor Christina Hayes is a specialist in the history and literature of Judaism in late antiquity. Before joining the Yale faculty, Professor Hayes taught at Princeton University. Her most recent book, What’s Divine about Divine Law?, received numerous awards, including the 2015 National Jewish Book Award. Her class on the Hebrew Bible was selected for the pilot program of “Yale University Open Courses,” and has subsequently been one of the most watched online courses about classical Judaica.

Lynne Heller, PhD

Lynne Heller, PhD
Me’ah

Lynne Heller combines a passion for the biblical text and wide-ranging knowledge of it with her academic background in comparative literature and Jewish studies. Deeply committed to teaching adults, she has taught in Hebrew College’s Kol Isha, as well as the Ma’ayan, CJP Genesis and Parenting Through a Jewish Lens programs. She has also taught Bible in the Rabbinical School. Heller holds a Ph.D in English and comparative literature from New York University and is a graduate of the MIDRASA, Hebrew Teachers College, established by the Yeshivah of Flatbush in New York City. Her essay, “Teaching to the Head and the Heart: The Power of Weeping,” was published in “Keeping Faith in Rabbis: A Community Conversation on Rabbinical Education” (Avenida Books, 2014).

Rabbi Hillel Greene, Rab'14

Rabbi Hillel Greene, Rab’14
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Hillel Greene is an educator at Gann Academy in Waltham, Mass. He formerly served as a rabbinic adviser and Jewish chaplain at Boston College and Northeastern University. He is a graduate of Columbia University and was ordained in 2014 from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, An avid reader, Greene is slowly working his way through the complete works of William Shakespeare.

Cheryl Harris

Cheryl Harris
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Cheryl Harris has worked for the past 20 years as a school psychologist at Sharon (Mass.) High School. Prior to that, she worked for eight years as a teacher of students with learning disabilities at The Ramaz School in New York City. Harris holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Barnard College and three master’s degree — an M.A. in remedial reading, an Ed.M. in learning disabilities and an Ed.M. in school psychology — from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Lisa Goodman

Lisa Goodman
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Lisa Goodman is an experienced Jewish educator and a licensed social worker.  Since 2009, she has facilitated Mussar/Tikkun HaMiddot groups since 2009 Temple Shir Tikvah in Winchester, Congregation Beth El in Sudbury, Temple Isaiah in Lexington, and in private homes.  Lisa is a 2009 graduate of the Manchim program of The Mussar Institute, which trains Mussar group facilitators.  She has studied Mussar with Alan Morinis, author of Everyday Holiness and With Heart in Mind, and is presently a student of Rabbi David Jaffe.

Rachel Gordan, Ph.D.

Rachel Gordan, Ph.D.
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rachel Gordan received her PhD in American religious history from Harvard. She is working on a book about American Judaism and teaches in Jewish Studies and American Studies at BU and Brandeis. She has taught at Northwestern University and at the University of Toronto.

Janette Hillis-Jaffe

Janette Hillis-Jaffe
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Janette Hillis-Jaffe is the author of Everyday Healing: Stand Up, Take Charge and Get Your Health Back . . . One Day at a Time and a sought-after speaker, consultant and coach. She has a Masters in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health and has spent hundreds of hours studying the health care system, the mind-body connection, nutrition, and counseling during her successful effort to heal from a six-year, debilitating autoimmune disorder. She has studied Torah at Nishmat, Yakar, and MaTan in Jerusalem and currently lives in Sharon, MA, with her husband and two sons.

Rabbi David Jaffe

Rabbi David Jaffe
Open Circle Jewish Learning, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

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 Yaakov Jaffee, PhD

Rabbi Yaakov Jaffee, PhD
Me’ah

Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Jaffe serves as the rabbi of the Maimonides Minyan and as the Director of the Tanach program and member of the Judaic Studies Faculty at Maimonides School. He received his ordination and doctorate from Yeshiva University, where he holds graduate degrees in Bible, Jewish History, and Jewish Education.  Rabbi Jaffe has lectured and written widely on topics in Bible, Medieval Jewish History, Jewish Education, and Jewish Law. Rabbi Jaffe’s unique approach to Tanach, Tefillah, and Hebrew poetry is informed by his B.A. in English literature from Columbia University and the historicist approach to the study of ancient texts.

Rabbi Dan Judson, Ph.D.

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Dr. Orit Kent

Dr. Orit Kent
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Dr. Orit Kent is a long time educator, teacher-educator, researcher and writer, with experience working with both children and adults in the Greater Boston area. She is the co-creator of The Pedagogy of Partnership, an innovative research-based approach for the design of relationship-centered education.  She has authored many articles on peer learning and its impact on social-emotional and ethical learning and is co-author of the award winning book, A Philosophy of Havruta.  Dr. Kent consults with schools and educational organizations. She has a Ph.D. in Judaic Studies and Education from Brandeis University, an Ed.M. in Teaching and Learning from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in history from Yale.

Rabbi Daniel Klein, Rab'10

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Deeana Copeland Klepper, Ph.D.

Deeana Copeland Klepper, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Deeana Copeland Klepper is associate professor of religion and history at Boston University, where she teaches classes on Christianity, Judaism and Islam, especially in medieval context. Her research focuses on Christian and Jewish approaches to biblical interpretation and medieval Christian-Jewish encounter more generally. She is the author of “The Insight of Unbelievers: Nicholas of Lyra and Christian Reading of Jewish Texts in the Later Middle Ages” and a range of articles and essays. Keeper is currently working on a project that examines the intersections between Christian theological approaches to Jews and Judaism and the practical engagement between Christians and Jews in medieval European society. She holds a PhD in medieval European history from Northwestern University.

Rabbi Yaakov Komisar

Rabbi Yaakov Komisar
Eser

Rabbi Yaakov Komisar is a co-director of beit midrash at Gann Academy. He studied for rabbinic ordination under Rabbis Adin Steinsaltz, Ariel Holland, and Menachem Froman, at Yeshivat Hesder Tekoa, while also serving in the IDF’s artillery unit. He holds a BA in Political Science, a MA in International Affairs, and a MA in Jewish Education. Previously, he was a managing editor of Rabbi Steinsaltz’s Koren translation of the Talmud Bavli. Rabbi Komisar lives with his wife and children in Sharon, MA.

Rabbi Jamie Kotler, Rab`17

Rabbi Jamie Kotler, Rab`17
Open Circle Jewish Learning

A mid-life graduate of Hebrew College Rabbinical School, Jamie teaches in a wide variety of settings around the Boston area, from synagogues to campfires. She is energized by the prospect of re-visioning the fullness of our tradition in a way that speaks to the needs of today’s world.  She loves teaching Torah to adults in a way that enables us to reflect on our connection to The One, to one another, to the chain of generations on whose shoulders we stand, and to the world we inhabit.  She brings an extensive range of traditional, Hasidic and modern sources – including art and poetry – to the conversation, to inspire and deepen our understanding of the text and our relationship to it, and to help us to find our own modern voices in the ancient words of our ancestors.

Rav Claudia Kreiman

Rav Claudia Kreiman
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Claudia Kreiman has served since 1997 as associate rabbi of Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, Mass. Originally from Chile, she moved to Israel and entered the Rabbinical School of the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies, where she was ordained in 2002. Prior to accepting her position at TBZ, Kreiman was director of Jewish studies at the Jewish Community Day School of Greater Boston, in Watertown. She is married to Rabbi Ebn Leader, a faculty member at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College.

Ruth Langer, Ph.D.

Ruth Langer, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Ruth Langer is Professor of Jewish Studies in the Theology Department at Boston College and Associate Director of its Center for Christian-Jewish Learning. She received her Ph.D. in Jewish Liturgy in 1994 and her rabbinic ordination in 1986 from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.She writes and speaks in two major areas: the development of Jewish liturgy and ritual; and Christian-Jewish relations. Her newest book, Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat HaMinim (Oxford University Press, December 2011) combines these two interests, tracing the history of a Jewish prayer that was, in its medieval forms, a curse of Christians. She is also author of To Worship God Properly: Tensions between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism, published in 1998 (Hebrew Union College Press; pbk 2005). She also co-edited Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue (Eisenbrauns, 2005) and has published a long list of articles.

Lori Hope Lefkovitz, Ph.D.

Lori Hope Lefkovitz, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Lori Hope Lefkovitz holds the Ruderman Chair in Jewish Studies at Northeastern University, where she is professor of English and director of both the Jewish studies program and the Humanities Center. Lefkovitz is a scholar of narrative and narrative theory and has published widely on the Hebrew Bible. She has taught at Kenyon College, the Reconstructionist Rabbincal College, Northeastern University and as scholar-in-residence throughout the Jewish community for several decades. She has published four books, the most recent of which, “In Scripture: The First Stories of Jewish Sexual Identities,” was a finalist for the 2010 National Jewish Book Award in the category of women’s studies. Lefkovitz holds a Ph.D. from Brown University.

Rabbi Navah Levine, Rab'10

Rabbi Navah Levine, Rab’10
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Navah Levine is the rabbi at Temple Beth Abraham in Canton, Mass. Previoulsy, she served as rabbi-educator at Temple Emeth in Chestnut Hill, where she focused on adult education and spiritual engagement. She was ordained by the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2010, and is a proud mother who finds much inspiration and guidance when parenting “through a Jewish lens.”

Rabbi Dan Liben

Rabbi Dan Liben
Open Circle Jewish Learning, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Daniel Liben has served since 1991 as spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Natck, Mass. A prolific teacher, he is a recipient of the Bureau of Jewish Education’s Keter Torah Award for his work in family education. He received his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1983.

Layah Lipsker

Layah Lipsker
Open Circle Jewish Learning, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Layah Kranz Lipsker is a Jewish educator currently teaching for Kevah and Eim Chai. She is also a research associate at the Hadassah Brandeis Institute and the creator of www.getyourget.com, a website that supports women seeking Jewish divorce. Lipsker is part of the newly formed Boston Agunah Taskforce, and serves as a liaison for women with the Boston Bet Din. She lives with her husband and six children in Swampscott.

Shari Lowin, Ph.D.

Shari Lowin, Ph.D.
Me’ah

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. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Maud Mandel, Ph.D.

Maud Mandel, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Maud Mandel is associate professor of Judaic studies and history at Brown University. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan. She teaches courses on many aspects of modern Jewish history, including history of the Holocaust, Zionism and the birth of the state of Israel, and history of American Jews.

Rabbi Natan Margalit, Ph.D.

Rabbi Natan Margalit, Ph.D.
Me’ah, Open Circle Jewish Learning

Natan Margalit  is spiritual leader of The Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life, in western Connecticut, and visiting rabbi at Congregation Adas Yoshuron, in Rockville, Maine. After graduating from Reed College with a degree in anthropology, he went on to receive rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary and earn a Ph.D. in Talmud from the University of California, Berkeley.

Rabbi Emily Mathis

Rabbi Emily Mathis
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Emily Mathis serves as the Director of Community Development at theTremont Street Shul in Cambridge. Ordained by Hebrew College in 2009, she also served as rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Peabody for seven years. Prior to her work in Jewish settings, Rabbi Mathis directed programming in the fields of environmental education, urban gardening and family literacy. She and her spouse, Hali Diecidue, live in west Newton with their three girls (18, 8, and 2) and their labradoodle.

Rabbi Todd Markley

Rabbi Todd Markley
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Todd Markley serves as one of the senior rabbis of Temple Beth Shalom on Needham. He has a passion for Jewish learning and has helped to reimagine many of Beth Shalom’s learning programs for children and adults. He is a graduate of Hebrew Union College’s School of Jewish Education as well as their rabbinical school.

Jacob Meskin, Ph.D.

Jacob Meskin, Ph.D.
Me’ah, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Jacob Meskin is an instructor and faculty adviser at Me’ah, Hebrew College’s signature adult-learning program. He also teaches in the Tzion program and is a co-author of the Parenting Through a Jewish Lens curriculum. Meskin teaches a variety of adult Jewish education classes in Greater Boston and works as a consultant on adult Jewish education and teacher training. He has also taught at Princeton University, Rutgers University, the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University, Williams College and Lehigh University.

Tova Mirvis

Tova Mirvis
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Tova Mirvis is the author of three novels, Visible City, The Outside World, and The Ladies Auxiliary, which was a national bestseller. Her memoir, The Book of Separation will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in September 2017. Her essays have appeared in various anthologies and newspapers including The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, and Poets and Writers, and her fiction has been broadcast on National Public Radio. She lives in Newton, MA.

Rabbi Jim Morgan, Rab`08

Rabbi Jim Morgan, Rab`08
Open Circle Jewish Learning, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Rabbi Jim Morgan is Rabbi and Chaplain at Center Communities of Brookline, a network of three independent living facilities that is part of Hebrew SeniorLife. He is also Rabbinic Adviser for the Worship and Study Minyan at Harvard Hillel, a lay-led congregation that serves the university and the larger community. He holds a PhD in Russian literature from Yale and was in the first cohort of rabbis  ordained at Hebrew College. He lives in Brookline with his wife and two children.

Rabbi Jeremy S. Morrison

Rabbi Jeremy S. Morrison
Me’ah

Jeremy S. Morrison has served since 2001 as rabbi at Temple Israel of Boston. In addition to his pulpit responsibilities, he currently directs Temple Israel’s education programs. Morrison is the founder of the Riverway Project, a nationally recognized synagogue-based outreach and engagement initiative for adults in their 20s and 30s. He was ordained from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and is currently a doctoral student at Brandeis University.

Sarah Mulhern

Sarah Mulhernnt,
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Sarah Mulhern is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College, where she is also working towards a Masters in Jewish Education and is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. During rabbinical school, Sarah has worked in a variety of settings—including synagogues, social justice organizations, mikvaot, hospitals, and adult and youth education. Previously, Sarah worked for several years as a Jewish educator at the American Jewish World Service. Sarah is an alumna of Yeshivat Hadar, Pardes Institute, Drisha Institute, Beit Midrash Har El, and Brandeis University. She currently lives in Cambridge, MA, with her husband, Will, and too many books. Sarah is passionate about the idea that Torah belongs to every Jew, and can open up wise and exciting conversations about the issues which really matter to us.

Paul E. Nahme, Ph.D.

Paul E. Nahme, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Paul Nahme is the Dorot Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies and assistant professor of religious studies at Brown University. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and has studied rabbinic literature and Jewish law at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Nahme’s research interests focus on modern Jewish philosophy and rabbinic thought, intellectual history, ethics, hermeneutics and the philosophy of law. His current book project examines the philosophy of Hermann Cohen in the context of late-19th-century Wilhelmine Germany and interrogates Cohen’s response to the philosophical problem of secularity for German-Jews living in a Protestant state.

Nina Piken

Nina Piken
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Nina has been an educator for over three decades.  She began her career with a Bachelor of Music Degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston.  After specializing in arranging and composition, she taught and performed in the Boston area. She returned to college for an MBA from Babson College, where she specialized in systems analysis.  She formed her own consulting firm, designed and installed turnkey systems, developed curriculum and taught computer classes for many local and national companies. Her quest for harmony and balance led her to pursue yoga, meditation and mussar. Nina completed a three year teacher certification program for Jewish Meditation from Chochmat Halev and taught in the Miami area for over a decade.   She was on the board of Directors of The Mussar Institute and involved in developing curriculum for this unique and inspiring Jewish Spiritual practice.  Combining her rich Jewish spiritual heritage with yoga, meditation and mussar is her passion. Teaching from the heart is her path.

Rabbi Marcia Plumb

Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Marcia Plumb is the rabbi of Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Brookline.  She has studied and taught Mussar for many years.  She teaches Mussar at Mishkan Tefila in Newton and in Winchester.  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.-

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Allison Poirier

Allison Poirier
Rabbinical student, Eser

Allison is a fifth year rabbinical student at Hebrew College, where she is also pursuing a Masters in Jewish Education. Allison graduated from Barnard College and spent two years living and working for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, MS. She is happy to be back home in Boston, and excited to be serving as the Rabbinic Intern at Temple Israel in Sharon. When she is not studying or teaching, Allison loves to be outdoors, and is a super obnoxious Boston sportsfan.

Simon Rabinovitch, PhD.

Simon Rabinovitch, PhD.
Me’ah

Simon Rabinovitch teaches modern Jewish, European and Russian history at Boston University, and has served since 2010 as an associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. He is a graduate of McGill University and holds masters and doctoral degrees in comparative history from Brandeis University. Rabinovitch’s published work has examined different aspects of Jewish intellectual history, Jewish politics in revolutionary Russia and the history of folklore and ethnography. He is also an occasional contributor to Haaretz (English) and an editor at The Marginalia Review of Books.

Rabbi Michael Ragozin

Rabbi Michael Ragozin
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Michael Ragozin is the rabbi at Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott, MA.  He learned the aleph-bet (Hebrew alphabet) at age 25 and fell in love with Jewish life while living in Jerusalem and studying at Pardes from 2000 – 2002.  Prior to becoming a rabbi, Ragozin owned a bakery (from age 9 – 14), taught Algebra through Teach for America, and worked in technology.  He is married to Sarah; their children were born in 2007 and 2009.  He enjoys basketball and the outdoors.

Cantor Ken Richmond

Cantor Ken Richmond
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Ken Richmond is a graduate of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary and 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
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Michelle Robinson is rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Newton, Mass. 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 is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and received ordination in 1999 from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.

Rabbi Or Rose

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Rabbi Micha’el Rosenberg

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Shani Rosenbaum (she/her)

Shani Rosenbaum (she/her)
Open Circle Social Justice

Shani Rosenbaum grew up in Worcester, MA and Seattle, WA, and has spent the past several years living, working, and learning in Jerusalem. She has served as Program Coordinator for Encounter and most recently as Program Manager for OLAM, where she produced and hosted the Global Torah podcast. Shani has studied at Midreshet Lindenbaum, Matan, Beit Midrash Har’el, and in the Pardes Kollel. She holds a BA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University, and is currently pursuing rabbinic ordination at Hebrew College.

Renee Rudnick

Renee Rudnick
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Renee Rudnick’s passion for education and Jewish education have converged for over 20 years in her various roles in the Jewish education world. As parent, teacher, administrator, consultant, and head of a Jewish day school, she has found tremendous fulfillment working with children, parents, and fellow educators, including her own three grown daughters. Renee holds a BA in Elementary Education from Goucher College and a MA in Near Eastern Judaic Studies from Brandeis University.

Rabbi Benjamin Samuels

Rabbi Benjamin Samuels
Me’ah, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Benjamin Samuels has served since 1995 as rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton, Mass., and is a co-curriculum designer, educational consultant and instructor for the Parenting Through a Jewish Lens program. He received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and rabbinic ordination 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.

Sara Sandmel (they/ them)

Sara Sandmel (they/ them)
Eser, Open Circle Social Action

Sara Sandmel is a second year rabbinical student at Hebrew College, an educator and a community organizer! Before moving to Boston Sandmel worked as Program Director for SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, where they coordinated queer-centered Talmud study. They also have taught at Jewish after-school programs focused on child-driven, pluralistic Jewish learning, and currently teach 6th grade at Dorshei Tzedek. When not teaching, organizing or studying, Sandmel enjoys baking, living communally, and jumping in ponds.

Jonathan D. Sarna

Jonathan D. Sarna
Me’ah

Jonathan D. Sarna is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University and director of its Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program.

Sarna attended Brandeis University, Hebrew College, Mercaz HaRav Kook in Jerusalem, Israel and Yale University, where he obtained his doctorate.  Sarna is regarded by Forward newspaper as one of the most prominent historians of American Judaism.

Sarna’s book, American Judaism: A History, won a number of awards, including the National Jewish Book Award for 2004 and the Publishers Weekly Best Religion Book 2004 award.  Sarna is a contributor on religion to the Newsweek-Washingtonpost.com joint project On Faith, the author of Lincoln and the Jews: A History, St. Martin’s Press and is a member of The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute’s Academic Advisory Board.

Michael Satlow, Ph.D. 

Michael Satlow, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Michael Satlow is professor of Judaic studies and religious studies at Brown University. He is the author of “Creating Judaism: History, Tradition, Practice” (Columbia University Press, 2006) and “How the Bible Became Holy” (Yale University Press, 2015).

Satlow holds a Ph.D. in ancient Judaism from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and has taught in the Me’ah program for the last decade. He has held fellowships from the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Fulbright Scholar Program and the American Council of Learned Societies, among others.

Solomon Schimmel

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Rachel Dvash Schoenfeld

Rachel Dvash Schoenfeld
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Rachel Dvash Schoenfeld has been the rabbi of Shir Hadash Havurah in Newton since 2013.  She has also been the Education Director at Kahal Braira in Cambridge since 2013.  She was ordained in 2005 by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Originally from Toronto, she lives in Jamaica Plain/Roxbury with her husband, toddler and infant.

Julie Seltzer

Julie Seltzer
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Julie Seltzer holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Brown University, and has been working as a scribe and educator since 2009, when she wrote a Torah on display at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Before learning the scribal arts, Julie worked as a baker at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, a Jewish Studies teacher at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, and, for one glorious day, a shepherd on a Kibbutz. She is currently writing her fourth Torah, as well as a memoir chronicling her spiritual journey. Originally from Philadelphia, Julie now resides in the Hudson Valley with her Israeli mutt, Shusha. Her hand is featured on the homepage of Sefaria.org [https://www.sefaria.org/].

Rabbi Meir Sendor, Ph.D.

Rabbi Meir Sendor, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Rabbi Meir Sendor has served for more than 20 years as spiritual leader of Young Israel of Sharon. He holds rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University and a doctorate in medieval Jewish history from Harvard University. Sendor lectures widely on Jewish history, philosophy, law and mysticism.

Rabbi Phillip Sherman, Rab`13

Rabbi Phillip Sherman, Rab`13
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Philip Sherman has served since 2013 as associate rabbi of Temple Beth Elohim, in Wellesley, Mass. He is a graduate of Indiana University and was ordained in 2013 from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. He is a proud parent of two young children and looks forward to exploring Judaism and parenting in new and meaningful ways.

Jeffrey Shoulson, Ph.D.

Jeffrey Shoulson, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Jeffrey Shoulson is the Konover Chair in Judaic Studies, director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, and professor of literatures, cultures and languages at the University of Connecticut. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge and PhD from Yale University.

His scholarship focuses on Jewish-Christian relations in the medieval and early-modern periods, especially the ways in which Jews and Judaism are represented within Christian writings and Christianity influences or is thematized in Jewish writings.

Becky Silverstein (he him)

Becky Silverstein (he him)
Open Circles Social Justice

Rabbi Becky Silverstein believes in the power of community, Torah, and silliness in transforming the world. He strives to build a Jewish community and world that encourages and allows everyone to express their full selves. Becky currently serves as the Rabbi-in-Residence for Keshet Shabbatonim, and Program Manager / Co-teacher at the Boston Teen Beit Midrash. He is the chair of the boards of The Jewish Studio Project and SVARA: A traditionally radical yeshiva, and sits on the board of Keshet. You can find him speaking and teaching Torah to the world we live in throughout the Greater Boston Area. Becky grew up in New York, holds a B.S. in Engineering from Smith College and Rabbinic Ordination from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Becky is a lifelong NY Mets fan, has no problem rooting for the Red Sox (unless they are playing the Mets), and resides in Jamaica Plain, with his spouse, Naomi.

Pete Sperber

Pete Sperber
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Pete Sperber is a licensed independent clinical social worker with a range of experience working with children and adolescents. He is currently the school social worker at the Jewish Community Day School of Greater Boston, where he works with children and families to support them in managing social, emotional and behavioral challenges as they work to be successful in their academic, peer and adult relationships. Prior to earning his Master of Social Work, Sperber taught middle-school and high-school math for eight years at Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Mass.

Michele Tamaren

Michele Tamaren
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Michele Tamaren is an author, presenter, life coach, spiritual director, and former special educator who speaks widely at national, international, and regional conferences and retreat centers. Positive Psychology and Spirituality enliven her keynotes and courses on healing, happiness, parenting, compassionate care, and self-discovery. Michele’s original program, Journey to Your Jewish Soul, guides individuals to explore their soul’s wisdom, purpose and path. In 2012 she authored the acclaimed spiritual memoir, ExtraOrdinary: An End of Life Story Without End. Michele is a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League’s Leonard P. Zakim Humanitarian Award for her work in fostering interfaith harmony. www.micheletamaren.com.

Adam Teller, Ph.D.

Adam Teller, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Adam Teller is associate professor of history and Judaic studies at Brown University, where he teaches history of the Jews in Eastern Europe, the history of Jewish family, the development of modern Jewish mysticism and Hasidism, and Jewish popular culture.

Prior to joining Brown in 2010, he was on the faculty of the University of Haifa. Teller is a graduate of Oxford University and holds a Ph.D. in modern Jewish history from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Aaron Tillman, Ph.D.

Aaron Tillman, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Aaron Tillman is a fiction writer, Associate Professor of English at Newbury College, and Director of Newbury’s Honors Program. His short story collection, Every Single Bone in My Brain, was published by Braddock Avenue Books in July of 2017. Aaron received a Short Story Award for New Writers from Glimmer Train Stories and won First Prize in the Nancy Potter Short Story Contest at University of Rhode Island. Two pieces of his flash fiction were nominated for inclusion in The Best Small Fictions of 2015 anthology, and his novel was a finalist in the 2016 Molly Ivors Prize for Fiction.

His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Mississippi Review, Glimmer Train Stories, Sou’Wester, upstreet, The Tishman Review, The Madison Review, Arcadia Magazine, The Carolina Quarterly, great weather for MEDIA, Prick of the Spindle, Burrow Press Review, and elsewhere. He has recorded two stories for broadcast on the Words & Music program at Tufts University and another for Functionally Literate Radio. His essays have appeared in The Writer’s Chronicle, Studies in American Humor, Symbolism, The CEA Critic, and The Intersection of Fantasy and Native America(Mythopoeic 2009).

Alan Verskin, Ph.D.

Alan Verskin, Ph.D.
Me’ah

Alan Verskin is an assistant professor of history at the University of Rhode Island. He holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University and an M.A. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is active in both formal and informal Jewish education. His academic work ranges in topic from nineteenth-century Yemen to medieval Spain, and from Islamic law to Jewish philosophy. He is an avid translator of Arabic, Judeo-Arabic, and Hebrew.

Reb Moshe Waldoks, Ph.D.

Reb Moshe Waldoks, Ph.D.
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Moshe Waldoks is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, Mass. He has been active in creating a center for Jewish-Muslim Relations in Boston and has initiated and supported TBZ’s affiliation with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. He is an active member of the Brookline Clergy Association, a storyteller and stand-up comedian. He holds a doctorate in Jewish intellectual history and received “smicha” from Rabbis Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Arthur Green and Everett Gendler.

Rabbi Miriam-Simma Walfish

Rabbi Miriam-Simma Walfish
Me’ah

Rabbi Miriam-Simma Walfish is pursuing a doctorate in Talmud at Harvard University and directs Boston’s Teen Beit Midrash. A graduate of the Pardes Educators Program, she has taught Tanakh, Talmud, and Jewish Law in numerous settings including Yeshivat Hadar, Harvard University, Hebrew College, and the National Havurah Committee’s summer institute.

Her specific interests include rabbinic approaches to Shabbat, gender, parenting, and education, and her article, “Upending the Curse of Eve: Reframing Maternal
Breastfeeding in Bavli Ketubot” was published in 2017. Miriam-Simma revels in the process of learning Torah with and from her students.

Ronit Ziv-Kreger, Ph.D.

Ronit Ziv-Kreger, Ph.D.
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

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.

Heather Zacker

Heather Zacker
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Heather Zacker, M.S., is a consultant and certified personal and professional coach. She holds an undergraduate degree in religion from Brown University and a Master’s from Harvard School of Public Health. Heather served as a parenting columnist for the Jewish Advocate and currently works with adolescents preparing for b’nei mitzvah, young adults transitioning to independence, parents, health educators and others.  She and her husband have two young-adult sons and a teenage daughter. Heather is passionate about sharing ways that Judaism strengthens families through fun, meaningful, and creative engagement. Learn more about Heather at her website.

Ilana Zietman

Ilana Zietman
Rabbinical student, Eser

Ilana Zietman is a fifth-year rabbinical student at Hebrew College, where she is also pursuing a master’s degree in Jewish Education. During her time in rabbinical school, Zietman continues to enjoy teaching, learning and praying with people of various ages and flavors of Jewish identity and practice. She currently serves as the Rabbinic Fellow at Tufts University Hillel. Zietman graduated in 2011 from the Double Degree program between Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary. She is excited to be returning to Eser for her third year.

Rabbi Julie Zupan

Rabbi Julie Zupan
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Julie Zupan is on the staff of Reform Jewish Outreach Boston, working with interfaith couples, families and individuals exploring Judaism. She guides and accompanies couples, individuals and families on their spiritual journeys. She has served previously as a congregational rabbi, an elder-care chaplain and a Jewish family educator. Zupan is a graduate of Tufts University and received ordination in 1999 from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.