Community Education Faculty

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen is the co-founder and President pro-tem of the Jewish Climate Action Network-MA, and the founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, a congregation that holds services outdoors all year long. She received her MA in Jewish Studies from Hebrew College in 1999, her rabbinic ordination in 2005 from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, NY, and her chaplaincy board certification from Neshama: Association for Jewish Chaplains in 2010. Prior to her ordination, Allen worked as a science teacher, a writer and editor of educational materials, and a Jewish educator. She served Temple Tifereth Israel in Winthrop and worked for ten years as a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She later served part-time as a hospice chaplain while facilitating spirituality and Earth programs at Open Spirit in Framingham. Rabbi Allen lives and gardens with her spouse in Wayland

Rabbi Jeff Amshalem

Rabbi Jeff Amshalem
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Jeff Amshalem has been in Jewish education for over twenty years in a variety of roles. 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. He has taught Me’ah, a two-year, college-level course on Jewish texts, and a number of series on mindfulness and personal growth using the teachings of Rav Kook, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and most recently Rebbe Pinhas of Korets, on whom he is writing his doctoral dissertation. He has orthodox rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes and Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of Jerusalem and has done much of his learning and teaching in pluralistic environments, such as Pardes in Jerusalem and Gann Academy in Waltham, MA. 

President Sharon Cohen Anisfeld

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Deborah Anstandig

Deborah Anstandig
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Deborah Anstandig is in Shana Bet Rabbinical Student at Hebrew College. Deborah earned an undergraduate degree in English Literature at Yeshiva University, a Masters of Jewish Education from Hebrew College, 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 Hebrew College/IYUN Fellow.

Merry Arnold

Merry Arnold
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Merry Arnold has been a student of Mussar for over fifteen years, taking courses at The Mussar Institute, and studying with local Rabbis Carol Glass and David Jaffe. She has led a number of Mussar groups. Merry finds Mussar to be a natural fit with some of her interests as a clinical psychologist, especially the areas of positive psychology, spirituality and professional ethics. She is an active member of the Adult Learning Committee at Temple Sinai.

Rabbi Laura Bellows `18

Rabbi Laura Bellows`18 Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Bellows is the Director of Teen Learning and Prozdor at Hebrew College. She is passionate about building a Jewish future that is spiritually resilient, justice seeking, ecologically engaged, and accessible and has been working as an educator, curriculum designer, climate activist, and artist for 20 years. Before Hebrew College, Laura led the BIMA and Genesis programs at Brandeis University, where she designed a course that received the Lippman Kanfer Prize for Applied Jewish Wisdom. Prior to that, she pioneered Jewish environmental congregational and teen programs at Teva (now Hazon). She received her M.A. and rabbinic ordination from Hebrew College and B.A. from Oberlin College. Laura is a leader in the Havurah Movement, a practicing soferet, an aspiring song leader, and has taught various Hebrew College classes, including composting as spiritual practice, theology for teens, and variations on the theme of Torah and art.

Rabbi Daniel Berman `10

Rabbi Daniel Berman `10
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Dan Berman is the rabbi of Temple Reyim in Newton. He has taught a number of courses at the rabbinical school of Hebrew College. He also taught a post-Me’ah course for 20 adult learners for 2.5 years. Rabbi Berman received a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and practiced as a trial attorney at Mintz Levin in Boston for several years. As an attorney, he represented men and women seeking asylum in the United States after suffering persecution and torture in their countries of origin. In 2010, he received rabbinic ordination from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. He came to Temple Reyim in the summer of 2013.

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, PhD
Me’ah

David Bernat is 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.

Margie Bogdanow

Margie Bogdanow
Grandparenting Through a Jewish Lens

Margie Bogdanow, LICSW, is an educator, coach and consultant working in the Boston area.  Over her many years as a facilitator for Parenting Through a Jewish Lens, Margie demonstrated both her belief that Judaism has wisdom to help us navigate our lives as well as her love of connecting the Jewish and secular worlds.  She is passionate about “educating and supporting adults to make a difference in the lives of young people.” After spending many years as a parent educator, Margie is thrilled to now work as a grandparent educator as well.  In addition to her work with grandparents, she is currently focused on finding ways to use Judaism to contribute to wellness and well-being in young people.  After 25 years in Lexington, she now lives in Cambridge with her husband Michael.  They have been active members of Temple Isaiah since 1989.

Rabbi Josh Breindel `09

Rabbi Josh Breindel `09
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Josh Breindel `delights in suffusing an experience of Judaism with a celebration of the natural world as the rabbi for Congregation Beth El of the Sudbury River Valley in Sudbury. In his previous pulpit at Temple Anshe Amunim in Pittsfield (MA), he was the first rabbi to serve as the president of the Pittsfield Area Council of Congregations. Having completing master’s degrees in Jewish studies and Jewish education at Hebrew College, he was ordained in its Rabbinical School in 2009. He is a repeat instructor for LimmudBoston and has presented on Jewish storytelling, theater and folklore throughout New England. He is especially passionate about the power of Jewish science fiction and fantasy to express timeless ethical values. He finds some of his greatest pleasure while hiking in the beauty of the New England hills with his wife and two children.

Marc Brettler, PhD, H'15

Marc Brettler ’15, PhD
Me’ah

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.

Rabbi Minna Bromberg `10

Rabbi Minna Bromberg `10
Open Circle Jewish Learning

As the founder and president of Fat Torah, Rabbi Bromberg is passionate about bringing her nearly-three decades of experience in fat activism to writing and teaching about the nexus of Judaism and body liberation. She received her doctorate in Sociology from Northwestern University in 2005, with a dissertation on identity formation in interfaith couples, and was ordained at Hebrew College in 2010. Since then, she led a 250-family Conservative congregation, released her fifth album of original music, made Aliyah, and ran the Year-in-Israel program for Hebrew College. When Rabbi Bromberg is not working on Fat Torah, she teaches voice to people who use their voices in leading prayer. She lives in Jerusalem with her husband, Rabbi Alan Abrams, and their two children.

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 Hebrew College. 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 Hebrew College.

Rabbi Ariel Burger

Rabbi Ariel Burger
Open Circle Jewish Learning

ARIEL BURGER is the author of Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, and the founding director and senior scholar of The Witness Institute, a new project to empower emerging leaders, inspired by the life and legacy of Elie Wiesel. He is an author, teacher, and artist whose work integrates spirituality, the arts, and strategies for social change. An Orthodox-trained rabbi, Ariel received his PhD in Jewish Studies and Conflict Resolution under Elie Wiesel. A lifelong student of Professor Wiesel, Ariel served as his Teaching Fellow from 2003-2008, after which he directed education initiatives at Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. As a Covenant Foundation grantee, Ariel develops cutting-edge arts and educational programming for adults, facilitates workshops for educators, consults to non-profits, and serves as scholar/artist-in-residence for institutions around the U.S. When Ariel’s not learning or teaching, he is creating music, art, and poetry.

Shoshana Cetlin, PhD

Shoshana (Susan) Cetlin, PhD
Open Circle Jewish Learning

A long term meditator and avid Jewish learner, Shoshana has been leading weekly Shabbat morning Jewish meditation classes and other programs at the Tiferet Center of Temple Israel: A Place for Jewish Spiritualty,Wellness and Healing (a community resource she helped establish 10 years ago).  Last year, Shoshana completed an 18 month teacher training program in Jewish Mindfulness Meditation at the Institute of Jewish Spirituality. She is a psychologist in private practice in Sharon, MA. with over 30 years of experience.

Rabbi Noah Cheses

Rabbi Noah Cheses
Me’ah

Rabbi Noah Cheses received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University (RIETS) and earned his Master’s in Theology from Yale University. Rabbi Cheses is the rabbi of the Young Israel of Sharon after spending two years as the Assistant Rabbi of Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in mid-town Toronto and three years as the OU-JLIC Orthodox Rabbi at Yale University.  He and his wife Sarah have been blessed with four wonderful children: Adina, Natan, Orly, and Ezra.

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.

Rabbi David Curiel

Rabbi David Curiel
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Not so long ago, Rabbi David Curiel was a statistic that worried institutional Jews: a Spiritual None, turned off by mainstream American Jewish practice as he had received it. Yet he always felt a spiritual longing for connection. He worked at Apple Computer, earned an MBA (2001) at Indiana University, and moved to the West Coast to work in the wine industry. Along the way, he found many folks with a shared zeitgeist: a desire for living in community and supporting each other spiritually, physically and emotionally.

Through an unexpected turn of events (you can ask him about it over coffee sometime!), he found Jewish Renewal, a daring approach to Judaism as a spiritual practice, and realized not only that this Jewish thing was for him, but also that he needed to become a rabbi.

With his wife, Amberly, he made his home in Boston, where he began his rabbinic studies with Aleph, the Alliance for Jewish Renewal, while also working at Nehar Shalom Synagogue in Jamaica Plain and at Kesher Hebrew School in Cambridge/Somerville. As part of his studies, he took classes at Hebrew College, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, the Shalom-Hartman Institute and the Jewish Theological Seminary.

He taught and led davvening with Nava Tehila in Jerusalem, Romemu in New York City and Kol Hai in the Hudson Valley along the way to dual ordination as Mashpi’a Ruchani/Spiritual Director and Rabbi from the Ordination Program of Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal in January 2018. Along with Amberly, he is the co-founder and spiritual director of the Asiyah Jewish Community in Somerville/Cambridge.

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’s 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 “Facing History and Ourselves” and earned a diploma after completing the course, “From an Idea to a State” with Professor Eyal Naveh of the University of Tel Aviv. She is thrilled to be joining the Hebrew College team.

Rabbi Getzel Davis

Rabbi Getzel Davis
Open Circle Jewish Learning; Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Reb Getzel is trying to answer this question: How do we live meaningful and ethical lives in this post-modern, high-stress, computerized world? While he hasn’t yet resolved the question, many of the clues he has found are in gems of ancient Jewish wisdom.

Rabbi Getzel Davis received his Bachelor’s Degree from Brandeis University and his rabbinical ordination from Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, where he also received a Masters in Jewish Education. He works as a rabbi and educator at Harvard Hillel and also as an Harvard University Chaplain, where much of Getzel’s work is to engage unobservant students. He is also the advisor for the Student Conservative Minyan, teaches regular classes, and counsels students, faculty, and community members.

Getzel is also the founder and executive director of Unorthodox Celebrations, a service that connects unaffiliated Jews with inspiring rabbis and cantors nationwide to facilitate meaningful weddings, bar mitzvahs and baby namings, and the founder of ZIVUG Couples Classes for folks transitioning towards marriage. Getzel loves teaching Open Circle Jewish Learning and Parenting Through a Jewish Lens classes and is also pursuing a certificate in Family Systems Therapy through Therapy Training Boston. He is a contributing blogger at the Huffington Post and received an honorable mention in Newsweek’s “Top 50 Rabbis of 2015” for leading Yom Kippur Services at Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park. He recently was honored by the Combined Jewish Philanthropy’s Chai in the Hub award for his work with Unorthodox Celebrations.

Hayley DeLugach

Hayley DeLugach
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Hayley DeLugach is a Jewish educator, with experience teaching in Jewish day schools, synagogue schools, as well as to adults through both synagogues and the Kevah Program in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a graduate of the Pardes Educators’ Program with a Masters in Jewish Education from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Hayley is especially interested in discussing how we can apply the ideas of Jewish tradition to our lives today and strives to help others authentically deepen their connection to Judaism through learning. She lives in Norwich Vermont with her partner Rabbi Mark Melamut, their two children Kinneret and Geffen, and their dog Shoko. In addition to teaching and learning, Hayley enjoys baking, hiking, yoga, and knitting.

Marc Dollinger

Marc Dollinger
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Marc Dollinger 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 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. 

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’s 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’s prime-time “Who Do You Think You Are?” teaching academy-award winning actress Helen Hunt about her San Francisco Jewish roots.  

Dollinger is the author of “Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing the Alliance in the 1960’s,” “American Jewish History,” “Quest for Inclusion” and “California Jews.” 

Eric Feld

Eric Feld
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Eric Feld is a father of two young children and a rabbinical student at Hebrew College. Eric is passionate about teaching Jewish perspectives on parenting and healthy communities, as well as raising Jewish children in an interfaith home. Prior to rabbinical school, he was a community sustainability planner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. When not working, Eric enjoys kayaking, performing standup comedy, and spending time outdoors with his family.

Rachel Fish, Ph.D.

Rachel Fish, PhD
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Dr. Rachel Fish is a celebrated academic with 20 years of experience in the fields of Israeli history, Zionist thought, and Middle Eastern Studies. Recognized for her teaching prowess and pedagogical approaches, Dr. Fish has published extensively and is frequently called upon to advise on community interventions to reclaim an Israel discourse that is nuanced and complex while remaining accessible to a broad audience.

Most recently, Dr. Fish was the founding executive director of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, which was established to catalyze dynamic new solutions to stop the age-old hatred advanced by those who seek the elimination of Judaism and the Jewish people and the modern movement to destroy the world’s only Jewish State. Dr. Fish was previously Senior Advisor and Resident Scholar of Jewish/Israel Philanthropy at the Paul E. Singer Foundation in New York City. She worked closely with grantees to support them and provided framing around their educational content and programming. Dr. Fish served as the executive director for the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University where she trained the next generation of scholars and Jewish communal professionals in Israel Studies.

Dr. Fish completed her doctoral degree in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department at Brandeis University. Her dissertation, “Configurations of Bi-nationalism: The Transformation of Bi-nationalism in Palestine/Israel 1920’s-Present,” examines the history of the idea of bi-nationalism and alternative visions for constructing the State of Israel. In 2015 Dr. Fish 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 book, Essential Israel: Essays for the Twenty-First Century.

Robin Freeman

Robin Freeman
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Robin Freeman is a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in systemically oriented family therapy. She has facilitated parenting groups and groups for adolescents. In addition to her work as a family therapist, Robin spent several years as a teacher of English literature and history. Since moving to the Boston area in 2012, she has enjoyed becoming an active and enthusiastic adult learner, taking advantage of the myriad opportunities for Jewish education and engagement in the Boston area.  She is the mother of three sons who keep her on her toes. Robin holds a BA from Oberlin College and an MSW from NYU.

Rabbi Lev Friedman, Rab`18

Rabbi Lev Friedman
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Lev Friedman was ordained in 2018 by the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. He has served in a rabbinic role for almost 40 years. Under the mentorship of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, zt”l, he founded B’nai Or Religious Fellowship of Boston in 1982. Reb Zalman empowered him as Maggid, Rabbinic Pastor and Cantor in 1990. Lev was the spiritual leader of B’nai Or, a Jewish Renewal community, from 1982-1996. During his tenure in this position he helped many Jews find a way back to their traditions in a contemporary and meaningful way.  As part of his rabbinic training, Lev wrote Shabbat as a Mystical/Spiritual Practice Through Selected Teachings of the Netivot Shalom for his Capstone. He translated portions of the Netivot Shalom’s writings on Shabbat and reflects on them through the eyes of a modern seeker. His hope is that these teachings and reflections will inspire others to deepen their own Shabbat and other Jewish practices. Lev is a seasoned service leader and enthusiastic teacher who brings life experience, knowledge and wisdom along with beautiful music, meditation, and the teachings of his teachers, Rabbis Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, zt”l, Arthur Green, Sharon Cohen-Anisfeld, Ebn Leader, and Nehemia Polen, to name a few, to the Jewish community. He has a warm voice and a subtle, sensitive way of playing guitar that helps bring congregations into the music. Lev believes that everyone is a singer and works wonders with willing participants to create community through music. He weaves prayer, kavvanot (teachings and intentionality about prayer) and stories that enliven and deepen the worship experience. He also believes in what Reb Zalman called “Producer Judaism,” meaning that it is up to the community to create the prayer/spiritual experience along with the Shaliach Tzibur, the community prayer leader. He was the owner of Kolbo Fine Judaica in Brookline for almost thirty years until 2011. Lev is also a singer-songwriter and skilled finger-style guitarist. His CD, Breathing Still, is a collection of original songs. He and his wife Joyce live in Newton and have three daughters, three sons-in-law and, as of this writing, two beautiful grandchildren.

Sara Gardner

Sara Gardner
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Sara Gardner is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota. Her work focuses on the culinary heritage and cultural identity of the Sephardic Jews. Before coming to UMN, she worked as the Collaborations Manager for the Jewish Arts Collaborative and the Associate Director for Young Adult Programs at Hebrew College in Boston, Massachusetts. From 2016-2017, Sara lived and researched medieval Sephardic culinary heritage in Spain as a Fulbright Graduate Research Scholar. She has presented her work at various international food studies conferences, including the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery and the Dublin Gastronomy Symposium. Sara is also a published cookbook author; you can buy her cookbook, The Rosh Hashanah Seder Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from the Reform Jewish Community of Madrid, on Amazon. Sara taught multiple Eser courses in her time as the Associate Director for Young Adult Programs, including Cooking Your Jewish Customs, an Interreligious discussion circle in partnership with the Miller Center for Interreligious Leadership and Learning, and Eser: Ten Millennial Updates to Judaism.

Elisha Gechter

Elisha Gechter
Open Circle Jewish Learning, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Elisha Gechter is the Senior Program Manager for Fellowships Curriculum at Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership. She designs leadership learning experiences for over 100 fellows, oversees the Wexner Israel Fellowship and the Wexner Senior Leadership Program as well as the Black Family Fellowship for active duty and veteran military students. Elisha has been working in the Boston Jewish Community for 14 years – previously connecting people searching for community and for Jewish wisdom as the Associate Director of Adult Learning and Community Engagement at Hebrew College (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. She has a BA in psychology from Yeshiva University’s Stern College in New York and an MA/MBA from Brandeis’ Heller Hornstein Program in Jewish Leadership and Non-Profit Management. She serves as president of the board of Mayyim Hayyim Mikvah and Education Center, a co-chair of Encounter’s Boston Regional Circle, and lives in Somerville, MA with her husband and two kids. She attends minyan at Minyan Tehillah, Cambridge Minyan and the Tremont Street Shul. 

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.

Rabbi Carol Glass

Rabbi Carol Glass
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Carol Glass has been a rabbi and educator for over thirty-five years. She currently serves as a Chaplain for Faith and Family Hospice in Marlborough, MA and offers Spiritual Director to ordination students and private clients. She was the first Dean of Students for the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Rabbi Glass began facilitating Mussar groups in 2009.

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.

Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder

Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder teaches Jewish Studies at the Gann Academy. Previously, he served at MIT Hillel and, before that, he was rabbi of the Aish Kodesh synagogue in Boulder, CO. He has written three books and runs a small publishing house. He even started his own denomination – “Alternadox.”

Ketriellah Goldfeder

Ketriellah Goldfeder
Open Circle Jewish Learning 

Ketriellah Goldfeder is a Certified Hakomi Practitioner and Life Coach. She is passionate about facilitating mindful, embodied, andcompassionate self-awareness and sustainable life transformation. She helps women clarify and prioritize their values and goals, take effective action, manage life difficulties, and feel more relaxed, energized, and satisfied. You can find her at NewMoonCoaching.com. 

Laila Goodman

Laila Goodman
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Laila Goodman has been a biology teacher for over 35 years. She is also the Madrichat Ruchanit (Spiritual Advisor) at Gann Academy. She is a Mussar facilitator at Gann Academy for faculty and students for over 10 years and has taught 3 Mussar classes for Open Circle Jewish Learning in the past 2 years. She was trained by Rabbi David Jaffe as a Mussar facilitator.

Rabbi Leonard Gordon, DMin

Rabbi Leonard Gordon, DMin
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.”

Rabbi Arthur Green

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D'vorah J. Grenn, Ph.D. and Kohenet

D’vorah J. Grenn, Ph.D. and Kohenet
Open Circle Jewish Learning

D’vorah J. Grenn 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’vorah leads the Lilith Institute’s Lilith’s Fire Circle and Speaker Series, does the “Tending Lilith’s Fire” broadcast/podcast with Kohenet Annie Matan  and also serves as a spiritual mentor and guide.  

Her “Talking To Goddess” anthology includes sacred writings of 72 women from 25 spiritual traditions. D’vorah’s dissertation, “For She Is A Tree of Life: Shared Roots Connecting Women to Deity” studied beliefs and rituals among South African Lemba and U.S. European-American Jewish women. Other publications include her book “Lilith’s 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 “The First Resister: Evoking Lilith For Transformation And Freedom” in Original Resistance: Reclaiming Lilith, Reclaiming Ourselves (Girl God Books).

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.

Genevieve Greinetz

Genevieve Greinetz
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Genevieve Greinetz received her Master’s in Jewish Studies from the Graduate Theological Union before beginning rabbinical school at Hebrew College in 2016. She currently works with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality as a local trainer in their EJSL program, teaches meditation with the Chicago based organization, Orot, and is the rabbinic intern at Asiyah, a renewal prayer space in Cambridge, MA. She is passionate about text study, as well as empowering students to trust their perceptions and intuitive spirituality.

Naomi Gurt Lind

Naomi Gurt Lind
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Naomi Gurt Lind is pleased to return to Open Circle for her third course. Also a Shanah Bet student at Hebrew College Rabbinical School, Naomi has studied at Hadar’s Jewish Professionals Institute, Drisha’s Summer Kollel, and the Davening Leadership Training Institute of Aleph Jewish Renewal. Naomi is a writer who contributes frequently to Hebrew College’s 70 Faces of Torah blog. She served several years on the Board of Directors of LimmudBoston; her term as Chair of that organization was marked by diversity and innovation. Naomi leads services and teaches around town and is developing a podcast exploring the relationship between onstage performance and religious leadership, supported by a grant from the Innovation Lab at Hebrew College. She is part of the inaugural cohort of Mayyim Rabbim fellows through Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikveh. In her free time, Naomi plays cards with her husband and their two genius boys, solves crossword puzzles (in pencil), and bakes a legendary challah. 

Rabbi Eric Gurvis

Rabbi Eric Gurvis
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Eric Gurvis is a graduate of the University at Albany, with a BA in Sociology and Judaic Studies, and was ordained as a Rabbi at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

Eric is Director of Chaverim & Engagement for The Mussar Institute. He has served congregations in New York City; Jackson, Mississippi; Teaneck, New Jersey; and in Newton, Massachusetts. In July 2019 he became Rabbi of Sha’arei Shalom – a Jewish congregation serving Ashland and Metrowest.

Eric has trained with The Mussar Institute and is a certified Mussar Va’ad leader. He has long been deeply involved in youth activities and Jewish camps, interfaith work, and Israel programming and education. Eric is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Hartman Institute.

Eric and his wife, Laura Kizner Gurvis have four children and two young grandsons in whom they take great delight.

Keshira haLev Fife

Keshira haLev Fife
Open Circle Jewish Leraning

Keshira haLev Fife is a Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess) and a queer Jew of Color who delights in serving as shlichat tzibbur, lifespiral ceremony/ritual creatrix, liturgist, songstress, teacher and public speaker. She is Oreget Kehillah (Executive Director) of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, founder/co-leader of Kesher Pittsburgh, Program Director of the ALEPH Kesher Fellowship, and Lead Facilitator for Keshet’s GLBTQ+ Jewish Youth of Colour programming. Keshira received Kohenet smicha from the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute in 2017 and earned her BS 2000 and MS 2001 at Carnegie Mellon University. Dual-citizens of the USA and Australia and avid travelers, these days, she and her beloved are leaning

into stillness and sheltering-in-peace at home on Osage and Haudenosaunee land, also called Pittsburgh, PA.

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 Hebrew College’s Prozdor program.
She has also at Boston University.

Christina Hayes

Christina Hayes
Me’ah 

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).

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.

Rachel Jackson

Rachel Jackson
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rachel Jackson, owner of Binah Design, is a Modern Orthodox artist, graphic designer, bookbinder, and scribe. She is an ardent feminist and passionate about craft and Judaica. She has a degree in visual art from the University of Chicago and a certificate in bookbinding from the North Bennet Street School in Boston. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

Rabbi David Jaffe

Rabbi David Jaffe
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 Jaffe, PhD

Rabbi Yaakov Jaffe, 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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Rabbi Lila Kagedan

Rabbi Lila Kagedan
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Lila Kagedan holds degrees and certificates from Midreshet Lindenbaum, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The University of Toronto, Harvard University, The Medstar Washington Hospital Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a Shalom Hartman Institute Rabbinic Senior Fellow. She is also a Hadassah Brandeis Institute Gender, Culture, Religion and Law Research Associate. Rabbi Kagedan was ordained in 2015, by Yeshivat Maharat and served until recently as the senior rabbi of the Walnut Street Synagogue in Chelsea, MA. She was also the founder of the Sulam School in Brookline, MA. Rabbi Kagedan is a professor of bioethics in the faculty of medicine of New York Medical College and is also an ethicist at Boston Children’s Hospital as well as a clinical ethicist and a chaplain in hospitals and hospice settings nationally and internationally.

Carolyn Keller

Carolyn Keller
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Carolyn Keller has been an educator and community builder in the Boston Jewish community for four decades.  She has been instrumental in many successful enterprises from Me’ah to the MetroWest Jewish Day School.   She is currently New England Regional Director for the University of Haifa and pleased to help support higher education in Israel. She is proud mother of three adult children and grandmother to three grandchildren.

Mikhael Kesher

Mikhael Kesher
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Mikhael Kesher is Director of Israel Programs at Harvard Hillel, where he engages students in thoughtful conversations about Israeli society, culture, and politics.  He has taught at the Conservative Yeshiva and several Limmud conferences, among others, and holds Master’s degrees in Near Eastern & Judaic Studies and Jewish Professional Leadership from Brandeis University, and in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, UK.  As a British-Israeli dual citizen living in the USA, he brings his lived experience as a liberal Zionist, a new immigrant, and an ex-pat to his teaching.  Mikhael was formerly Director of Online Learning at Hebrew College, where he taught the Introduction to Pluralist Judaism course. 

Rabbi Daniel Klein, Rab'10

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Deeana Copeland Klepper, Ph.D.

Deeana Copeland Klepper, PhD
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.

Michelle Klieger

Michelle Klieger
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Michelle Klieger is the founder of Stratagerm Consulting, an agricultural and business consulting firm. She has worked in the food and agriculture sector for over a decade. As an economist and a business consultant, she works with specialty meat companies, the global seed industry, agtech firms, conventional and non-conventional agricultural firms, non-profit organizations, and philanthropic foundations. Her work has taken her around the world, helping industry leaders manage and grow their global businesses. Michelle has spoken at workshops, meetings, and conferences in the United States, Asia, and South America, wrote The Demise of Free Trade and has been published in over two dozen publications. She is a professor of Economics at Bentley University. She holds a Masters in Agriculture Economics from Purdue University and an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Sara Klugman

Sara Klugman
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Raised in Western Massachusetts, Sara (she/her) has made homes in Brooklyn, Jerusalem, and most recently, Somerville. Sara has a Bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Carleton College, with a focus on dance and performance studies, and a Masters in Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has worked at the nexus of arts education and liberatory work for the past 10 years—in New York, Boston and Jerusalem. Sara’s educational work and rabbinical studies are supported by an understanding of religious and artistic work as interrelated and necessary pathways to individual and collective liberation. Sara loves to dance, write poetry, cook big meals, walk and practice slowness. Currently, Sara works as a Teaching Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, co-teaching a class on possible futures in arts education.

Sara is a Hebrew College/IYUN Fellow. 

Ruth Langer, Ph.D.

Ruth Langer, PhD
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.

Elliot Lazar

Elliot Lazar, MFA
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Elliot Lazar is a performer, writer, and educator originally from Winnipeg, Canada. He studied music at the University of Manitoba before moving to Boston to pursue an M.F.A. in Theatre at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Elliot has performed across Canada and the United States, appearing in plays, musicals, operas, films, and in concert. As an educator, Elliot has taught theatre and music classes with Wheelock Family Theatre, Berklee Summer Programs, Rainbow Stage, and the Manitoba Conservatory for Music & Arts. He also offers private lessons through his home studio teaching voice, piano, guitar, songwriting, audition technique, acting and dialects to students ranging in age from early teens into adulthood. For the 2021/22 season, he is on the national tour of the recent Bartlett Sher-directed Broadway revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Rabbi Ebn Leader

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Lori Hope Lefkovitz, Ph.D.

Lori Hope Lefkovitz, PhD
Me’ah

Lori Hope Lefkovitz holds the Ruderman Chair in Jewish Studies at Northeastern University, where she is professogr 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 Allan Lehmann

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Rabbi Noam Lerman `20

Rabbi Noam Lerman `20
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Noam Lerman (they/them) is a trans Jewish educator, musician, story-collector, ritual-holder, Restorative Justice Circle Keeper,
and Hebrew scribe. They received their rabbinical ordination from Hebrew College in 2020. In addition to serving as an associate clergy
member at Lab/Shul in NYC, Noam serves as rabbi and Jewish student advisor at Smith College. Noam founded Der Tkhines Proyekt,
which provides experimental and songful workshops that give life to Yiddish Tkhines, Ashkenazi spontaneous supplications that were
once regularly written and prayed by women, trans, and gender non-conforming people. They have facilitated workshops about tkhines
and spontaneous prayer at KlezKanada, Romemu Yeshiva, Matir Asurim – Jewish Care Network for Incarcerated People, Nehar
Shalom Community Synagogue, Merhav: Experiments in Jewish Distance Education, Yiddish Vokh, Open Circle Jewish Learning, and
The Jewish Ancestral Healing Podcast. Noam is one of the co-founders of Let My People Sing!, an intergenerational and liberatory
Jewish singing retreat that uplifts diasporic singing traditions. Noam is a facilitator for Tzelem, a spiritual community- building group
for Jewish trans teens. They have previously acted as a chaplain for elders, incarcerated youth, and previously incarcerated fathers
resiliently fighting for survival and healing. Noam is a TEVA outdoor educator, loves spending time with the Earth, and strongly
supports reparations and indigenous sovereignty.

Rabbi Navah Levine `10

Rabbi Navah Levine `10
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Levine spent 15 years working in the investment and financial consulting world before leaving to find a new path.  That path led her to travel, parenting and the rabbinate.  Rabbi Levine graduated from Hebrew College in 2010, worked as a rabbi-educator at Temple Emeth, and then as ther abbi at Temple Beth Abraham in Canton until its merger in 2018.   Since that time, she has worked free-lance (life cycle events, high holidays, and teaching), and as the part-time spiritual leader for a small synagogue in transition in Sharon MA. In 2020 she co-founded a middle school community beit midrash in Providence, RI. 

Sydney Levine, PhD

Sydney Levine, PhD
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Sydney Levine, PhD, is a postdoctoral scholar in cognitive science with a joint appointment at Harvard and MIT. She studies the moral judgments of adults, children, and artificial intelligences. She has learned at Yeshivat Hadar in New York and Midreshet Nishmat in Jerusalem

Rabbi Dan Liben

Rabbi Dan Liben
Grandparenting Through a Jewish Lens

Daniel Liben has served since 1991 as spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Natick, 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 

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.

Allen Lipson

Allen Lipson
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Allen Lipson is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College with a background in finance, labor organizing, and traditional Jewish learning. His previous experience includes a stint as finance coordinator and organizer at UNITE HERE, the hotel and food service employees’ union; and two years as an internal consultant at AXA, a global insurance company. An alumnus of Yeshivat Hadar’s year fellowship and a major in rabbinic literature and economics at the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia, respectively, he has written on economics and rabbinic law in The Review of Rabbinic Judaism and Jewish Currents. 

Ayelet Lipton

Ayelet Lipton
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Ayelet Lipton is the Hebrew and Spanish Languages Department chair at The Rashi School in Dedham, MA. She has been a classroom teacher of Modern Hebrew, Tanakh, and T’fillah for 9 years, and has a broad range of experience in teaching multiple aspects of Jewish and Israeli culture, for children and adults alike. Ayelet has an MA in Teaching Hebrew from Brandeis University, and has served as a mentor for teachers pursuing graduate degrees in teaching Hebrew as a second language at Middlebury College. For over four years, Ayelet has been an instructor with Pedagogy of Partnership (Hadar, NYC), helping to lead workshops on pedagogy for teachers and administrators. As a parent, Ayelet particularly enjoys applying her passion for Jewish Education to parenting topics. In addition to this specialized teaching experience, Ayelet has also completed a two-year program in Educating for a Jewish Spiritual Life at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (Chicago), and is one of the organizers of the Jews of Color of Greater Boston, an organization that seeks to foster a safe space for Jews of Color in the Greater Boston area.

Shari Lowin, Ph.D.

Shari Lowin, PhD
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.

Naomi Malka

Naomi Malka
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Naomi Malka has served as the Director of the Adas Israel Community Mikvah in Washington, DC since 2006. As a pioneer in the progressive Mikvah movement, her work focuses on Mikvah as a tool for positive body image. Naomi created an award-winning program called Bodies of Water, which frames Mikvah, Jewish yoga, and mindful eating as important and embodied Jewish rituals. She is also the founder of Tevila b’Teva: Immersion in Nature, a program that brings safe (and bathing-suit on!) outdoor immersion to Jewish summer camps. Naomi has taught about Mikvah in Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, Modern Orthodox, and trans-denominational circles, and she is a content provider for At The Well, a Jewish women’s wellness organization dedicated to celebrating Rosh Hodesh. She earned a masters in Jewish Music from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2000 and a BA in Sociology from UCLA in 1991.

Leora Mallach

Leora Mallach, MEd
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Leora Mallach, MEd, is co-founder and Executive Director of Beantown Jewish Gardens, building community through experiential food and agricultural programs in the greater Boston area. She is the former director of the Adva Network, working with alumni of the Teva Learning Center and Adamah: The Jewish Environmental Fellowship in professional development, networking & job placement in the Jewish Community. She was a 2013 Boston PresenTense Fellow and is a senior Environmental Leadership Program Fellow. She was a mentor for the JOFEE Fellowship and is excited to be creating new paradigms in the Jewish community. In her free time, she can be found hiking in the mountains, berry picking, doing crafty projects with fabrics, or dreaming about homesteading projects on her property, especially her annual springtime Beers and Boildown maple sugaring.

Maud Mandel, Ph.D.

Maud Mandel, PhD
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 Craig Marantz

Rabbi Craig Marantz (he, him, his) has served as a congregational rabbi and educator for over two decades and is currently enjoying a personal shmitta year for personal renewal and professional retooling. Lately, one of his favorite pastimes is volunteering for Sympara, a unique startup dedicated to sacred & civic placemaking and repurposing religious assets for common good.  Ordained in 1999 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, Rabbi Marantz also has a Master’s degree in Education from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in History from UCLA. A native of Los Angeles, Rabbi Marantz  is married to Betsy, and they have two children, Cara and Jared. He is a big fan of Rabbi Greenberg and the essential wisdom of The Jewish Way, one of the most indispensable books on his bookshelf. 

Rabbi Natan Margalit, Ph.D.

Rabbi Natan Margalit, PhD
Me’ah, Open Circle Jewish Learning

Natan Margalit was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. As a young adult he lived for twelve years in Israel and received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990. He earned a Ph.D. in Talmud from UC Berkeley in 2001. Natan has taught at Bard College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College.

He is a member of the Va’ad (steering committee and core faculty) of the Aleph Ordination Program, and serves as chair of their Rabbinic Texts department. He is also the Director of the AOP’s Earth-Based Judaism Program.

Natan is Founder of Organic Torah, fostering holistic thinking about Judaism, environment and society, which is a program of Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. He lives with his wife, two sons and their dog, Pele (named for the Hebrew word for wonder, and also the Hawaiian goddess, not the soccer player) in Newton, Mass..

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 Richard Meirowitz

Rabbi Richard Meirowitz
Me’ah

Rabbi Richard “Rim” Meirowitz was ordained as a Conservative Rabbi in 1975 and joined the Reform movement in 1989. He is currently a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the organizing body of the Reform movement. In 1985, he was chosen as a founding head of The Rashi School and presided over its opening in September 1986 and its early years until 1992.

Most recently he was the rabbi at Temple Shir Tikvah in Winchester from 1997-2014 and is now rabbi emeritus. He loves teaching adults. Last year he taught at Shir Tikvah a course called, “Judaism for Scientists, Skeptics, and Agnostics.” He is presently finishing up a course on “Exploring Dying, Death, and Life after Death.”

As a pulpit rabbi, Rim wants to teach to the hearts, minds, and souls of his students.  As Rim has found Judaism and Torah a way to live well, he wants to bring that to his adult students.

Rim and his wife Anne have been happy residents of Brooksby Village in Peabody since 2011 and are blessed with seven grandchildren under the age of six.

Jackson Mercer

Jackson Mercer
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Jackson is an Ordination Candidate at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Newton, MA. He grew up at Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael, CA, where he cultivated a love of Judaism, emboldened with music, spirituality and justice. He served as Rosh Shira/Rosh Tefillah at URJ Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, CA, for several years. Recently he was the Musical Director at Asiyah Jewish Community in Boston and is the “Head Shadchan” at Unorthodox Celebrations.

His two newest adventures: intentional Judaica called Hiddur Mitzvah, partnering with Binah Designs to create innovative, tangible aspects of ritual; and beginning work on an album of original Jewish music, set for release in Fall 2020.

Jacob Meskin, Ph.D.

Jacob Meskin, PhD
Me’ah, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Dr. Jacob Meskin is currently Academic Advisor and Senior Lecturer in the Me’ah Program at Hebrew College. He teaches in, and has taught for the Me’ah and Me’ah 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 Me’ah 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’s 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 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.

Paul E. Nahme, Ph.D.

Paul E. Nahme, PhD
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.

Akiva Nelson

Akiva Nelson
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Akiva Nelson is a rabbinical student in Shanah Bet at Hebrew College. Born and raised in North Carolina, he graduated from Columbia University in 2012. Post-college, Akiva worked in renewable energy for 4 years in Detroit, Michigan. Simultaneously, he began exploring the Jewish roots he had left dormant since his teenage years, falling in love with a Judaism infused with song, meditation, joy, and justice. For the past 5 years, Akiva has designed curricula and taught about the Divine, Jewish identity, the changing American religious landscape, and entrepreneurship to groups ranging from Jewish clergy and teens to recent college graduates and university-based scientists and engineers. A dedicated meditation practitioner and song leader, he has studied Jewish text, prayer, and mysticism in communities like the Pardes Institute, Nava Tehila, the Romemu Yeshiva, Yeshivat Hadar, and the Jewish Theological Seminary. Akiva is excited to teach inclusive and accessible forms of Jewish wisdom to learners of any faith or Jewish educational background.

Ruth Nemzoff

Ruth Nemzoff
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Dr. Ruth Nemzoff is the author of Don’t Roll Your Eyes: Making In-Laws Into Family (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2012) and Don’t Bite Your Tongue: How to Foster Rewarding Relationships With Your Adult Children (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2008) and a frequent speaker on family dynamics. She is a resident scholar at Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center.Currently, Dr. Nemzoff serves on the board of Interfaith Family and is the advice columnist for the American Israelite. She and her husband have four adult children, four in-law children and eleven grandchildren

Barbara Penzner

Barbara Penzner
Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Barbara Penzner has served as the rabbi of Temple Hillel B’nai Torah since 1995. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she has raised two adult children and is enjoying being a grandparent.

Amy Grossblatt Pessah

Amy Grossblatt Pessah
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Amy Grossblatt Pessah graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a double B.A. in History and Jewish Near-Eastern Studies. She continued her education by attending HUC-JIR where she received a Master’s degree in Jewish Education. In January 2019, Amy was ordained as a rabbi by ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal.

Throughout the years, Amy has studied a variety of religions, participated in interfaith work, and has been a student of mindfulness and Jewish mysticism. In addition, she has been trained in Spiritual Direction, Jewish energy healing, Reiki, Integrated Energy, and chaplaincy.

Amy’s new book, Parenting on a Prayer: Ancient Jewish Secrets for Raising Modern Children, is the inspiration for her upcoming class for Parenting Through a Jewish Lens.

Rabbi Marcia Plumb

Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Marcia Plumb is the senior 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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Sara Pollack

Sara Pollack
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Sara Pollack is currently a second year Rabbinical School student at Hebrew College. She grew up in Florida and currently lives in Cambridge with her wife, Elana. As a child, Sarah felt a strong sense of Jewish identity but lacked formal ways to articulate her spiritual yearning. She immersed herself in Jewish life at The University of Florida while pursuing a BA in Forensic Anthropology. After spending a summer in Uganda as part of a volunteer program with AJWS and a semester abroad at the University of Haifa, Sarah was eager to continue her exploration of Judaism and Jewish Peoplehood. She moved to Jerusalem, where she spent two years learning at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, first as the Social Justice Fellow, and then on the Judaism and Conflict Resolution track. As a Pardes Fellow, Sarah organized volunteer opportunities and facilitated community-building programming. Her professional journey started at Encounter Programs, where she spent the next five years exploring the ways that Jewish American professionals and lay leadership engage with Palestinians. Sarah most recently worked for Honeymoon Israel (HMI) as the Director of Community Engagement in NYC, empowering young Jewish families to explore their relationships to Jewish community and identity. 

Rabbi Mathew Ponak `20

Rabbi Mathew Ponak `20
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Mathew Ponak `is a musician, teacher, and joyful trouble-maker. Rabbi Matt is a scholar of Jewish Mysticism and has studied with many of this generation’s leading Jewish spiritual teachers including Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, R. Arthur Green, R. Zvi Ish-Shalom, R. Tirzah Firestone, and R. Rami Shapiro. Besides receiving ordination from Hebrew College Rabbinical School, he also holds an MA in Contemplative Religions from the Buddhist-inspired Naropa University. Rabbi Matt weaves world wisdom with ancient Jewish insights and combines Torah teachings with contemporary spiritual practices. His previous Hebrew College courses include “How to Live in Oasis Time: The Experience of Shabbat,” and “Jewish Paths of Transformation: Find the Hidden Light Within.” Rabbi Matt’s upcoming book, Kabbalah and Transformation: Jewish Mysticism for All People, which will include a forward from Rabbi Arthur Green, translates and comments on Jewish mystical texts that resonate with the consciousness and yearnings of our times.

Rabbi Rachel Putterman `20

Rabbi Rachel Putterman ’20
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Putterman was ordained by Hebrew College in 2020. Since then, she has worked as Rabbi-Educator at Temple Emanu-El of Haverhill and chaplain-in-training at McLean Hospital. In 2018, Rachel launched “All Genders Wrap,” a series of instructional videos with a diverse cast of all genders demonstrating how to wrap tefillin. The videos have been viewed more than 30,000 times since they went live. Prior to rabbinical school, Rachel was a public interest attorney. She represented veterans, tenants, and domestic violence survivors in their family law cases. Rachel has worked towards women’s empowerment and gender justice in both Jewish and non-Jewish contexts throughout her professional life. Currently she is a Research Associate with  the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI). Rachel is a Hebrew College/IYUN Fellow. 

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 Or Rose

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Emily Rogal

Emily Rogal
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Emily Rogal is proud to be beginning her rabbinic education at Hebrew College. She graduated from The New School in 2017 with a degree in Religious Studies, where she focused on the mikveh as a site of contemporary feminist ritual intervention and care, before pursuing a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. She is a trained birth and postpartum doula, mikveh guide, and a Jewish educator invested in cultivating Jewish spaces which center reflection, resilience, joy, justice, and just the right amount of angst. Most recently, she has spent time working for Fat Torah (an organization centered on fat and body liberation in the Jewish community), USY(the USCJ’s youth group), and Harvard Hillel. She spends the majority of her free time drinking oat milk lattes, hunting down weird midrashim (which is basically rabbi fanfiction in her book), reading and writing fantasy, and finding her perpetually lost water bottle. 

Rabbi Shani Rosenbaum `21

Rabbi Shani Rosenbaum `21
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Shani Rosenbaum Rab’21 serves as a faculty member teaching Talmud and Halakha at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Shani 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 received rabbinic ordination from 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 Sonia Saltzman ’08

Rabbi Sonia Saltzman ’08
Open Circle Jewish Learning 

Rabbi Saltzman served as Senior Rabbi at Ohabei Shalom, Brookline from 2011 to 2018 and as the rabbi of Sha’arei Shalom, Ashland, MA from 2008-2011.  She was ordained at Hebrew College in 2008.  Prior to becoming a rabbi, she worked in economic development, eleven years in the field of micro-finance at ACCION International and seven years at Bank of Boston. She chose to enter the rabbinate because “I believe in the wisdom and beauty of Judaism and hope to inspire others to deepen their relationship to Judaism by offering opportunities to engage in study, to experience the richness of prayer and to build a caring and committed community. “She grew up in Chile, in a home imbued with Jewish values, but at a time when opportunities for Jewish learning were especially limited for women. Rabbi Saltzman holds a Masters Degree from Columbia University in International Affairs as well as a Masters in Bible and Jewish Thought from Brandeis. 

Rabbi Benjamin Samuels, PhD

Rabbi Benjamin Samuels
Me’ah

Benjamin Samuels has served since 1995 as rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton, Mass., and has been a member of the Me’ah faculty since 1996. He is a Genesis Scholar at Combined Jewish Philanthropies and a Master Educator at Ma’ayan. 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. Rabbi Samuels earned his PhD in Science, Philosophy and Religion at Boston University.

Frankie Sandmel

Frankie Sandmel
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Frankie Sandmel is a fourth-year rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Boston, an educator and a community organizer. Frankie spent last spring interning with T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and is currently a SVARA teaching fellow, where they are learning about curating radically accessible, authentic Jewish text study. Before starting rabbinical school, Frankie was program director at SVARA, and taught at innovative Jewish after-school programs across Chicago. These days, Frankie is a teacher at Prozdor and a fellow at the Center for Small Town Jewish Life, where they work with a congregation in Augusta, Maine. When not teaching or exploring ancient texts, they love to bake and build community in their home in Jamaica Plain, MA.

Jonathan D. Sarna, PhD

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, PhD
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.

Ian Schiffer

Ian Schiffer
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Ian Schiffer (he/him) is an organizer, community-builder, resource mobilizer, and life-long learner born and raised in Tovaanger/Los Angeles. Ian is a Dalai Lama Lifelong Fellow, co-created a Jewish men’s group called Mensch Work, and has loved doing “men’s work” with masculine-identified people for the past three years in Madrid and Los Angeles. He spends his days working for AFSCME Local 800 supporting Jewish non-profit workers to gain fair contracts and as the Community Weaver for Nefesh. Ian lives in a collective house, loves going for walks looking for the sun and connecting with his neighbors, spending time with his kin, playing, laughing, and reading.

Solomon Schimmel

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Yael Linda Schiller

Yael Linda Schiller
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Yael Linda Schiller is a body/mind/spiritual psychotherapist, author, trainer, and consultant. She has presented and taught dreamwork from multiple perspectives for the past 35 years internationally, and is the author of the recently published book, “Modern Dreamwork: New Tools for Decoding Your Soul’s Wisdom.”

She has been on numerous radio and television shows, blogspots, and written articles for both professional and lay journals on dreamwork.

Linda has also published numerous articles about mindfulness, trauma treatment and group work. As professor emeritus of Boston University School of Social Work, she pioneered the relational model of group development.

Linda consults, supervises, has been running dream circles for over 30 years, and has been a member of her own dream group for almost 40 years. She is a member of IASD (the International Association for the Study of Dreams). She offers group and individual dreamwork sessions both in person and on-line.

One student writes about her teaching: “Linda is a master educator . . . Her confident and inviting demeanor makes participants feel at ease immediately. She is engaging, articulate, and inspiring. Her ideas are clearly presented and the interactive activities make learning more interactive. She lovingly guides participants to another level of understanding. It was a pleasure to experience someone who has mastered the art of teaching.”

Matthew Schultz

Matthew Schultz
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Matthew Schultz is an author, educator, and current rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Newton, MA. Since graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 2010, he has worked as a Jewish educator in schools from Manhattan to Tel Aviv. He is a columnist with the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles and author of the essay collection “What Came Before.” Matt is a Hebrew College/IYUN Fellow. 

Rabbi Jordan Schuster

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Rabbi Meir Sendor, Ph.D.

Rabbi Meir Sendor, PhD
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.

Josh Schreiber Shalem

Josh Schreiber Shalem
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Josh Schreiber Shalem, MM, GCFP is a musician, prayer leader, and teacher of the Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education, developed by Israeli physicist and martial artist Moshe Feldenkrais. He has spent the last decade and more developing a unique blend of these pursuits, combining deep mind-body awareness with the musical, spiritual and intellectual traditions of Jewish prayer, to create an experience he calls “Embodied Judaism.” Josh lives and teaches in the Boston area, where he is on the faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, attends the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College,

and delights in playing seventeenth century pop music with his band Seven Times Salt. He can frequently be found attending or leading Shabbat services at Havurat Shalom in Somerville.

Leann Shamash

Leann Shamash
Open Circle Jewish Learning, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens

Leann Shamash has worked in a variety of Jewish education roles, including working as an education director both at Temple Sinai in Brookline and at Congregation Beth Elohim in Acton where she created, directed and produced the synagogue’s long running community Purim Shpiel; organized four congregation trips to Israel, a trip to Jewish Cuba and to Jewish Spain. She has developed her interest in photography, writing and dancing. She leads a yoga dance class online and is writing a compilation of poetry for parshat hashavua. She reads her poetry weekly at the morning minyan at Congregation Kehillath Israel. She created a unique project photographing her 95-year-old mother in a century of hats, called, “Irma G: A Century of Hats and Spirit.” During Covid, she compiled reflections, poetry and photographs of the Kehillath Israel morning minyan called, “The Memory Room.” Leann minored in Judaic Studies at UMass and has a Master’s degree from Brandeis University’s Hornstein program in Jewish Communal Service with a concentration in Jewish Education.  

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, PhD
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.

Molly Schulman

Molly Schulman
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Molly Schulman (she/her) received her B.A. in American Studies from Tufts University with a focus on institutions and power. Since graduating, Molly has sought opportunities to combine her passions for community organizing, resource mobilization, and Judaism. She is an alumna of the JOIN for Justice Jewish Organizing fellowship, the Chordata Capital fellowship, and the Urban Adamah fellowship. She has worked as an educator in both Jewish and secular settings, founding and facilitating a Rosh Chodesh circle, curating and facilitating a Jewish praxis group with Resource Generation, teaching at Central Synagogue, and training at multiple orientations with IfNotNow. She currently serves on the board of JOIN for Justice, is preparing to apply for rabbinical school, and is an ALEPH Kesher Fellow. Molly lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire

Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire grew up in Birmingham England and completed his BA 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 MA and PhD 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 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 Chief Academic Officer of Hebrew College 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.

Adam Teller, Ph.D.

Adam Teller, PhD
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, PhD
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, PhD
Me’ah

Alan Verskin is an associate 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.

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.

Aron Wander

Aron Wander
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Aron Wander (he/him) is an organizer, writer, and second-year rabbinical student at Hebrew College. Currently, he serves as the rabbi of Ohel Ayalah LIC, a pop-up minyan in Queens, and as a rabbinic intern and educator at Temple Israel in Brookline. Before beginning rabbinical school, he worked as the

Northeast Campus Organizer for J Street U and served on the coordinating team for Kavod, a justice-oriented Jewish community. He spends most of his time reading sci-fi/fantasy, studying Torah, and scavenging for books.

Alona Weimer

Alona Weimer
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Alona Weimer (she/her) brings to this role an extensive background in community organizing and critical text study. After receiving her B.A. in Black Studies from Brandeis University, Alona was a JOIN for Justice Fellow where she mobilized Jews on racial and economic justice. Alona has attended Yeshivat Hadar, lived in Leipzig, Germany on a Fulbright Grant, and is pursuing an M.A. in Race and Ethnicity Studies through Freie Universität Berlin. Alona currently resides in Cambridge, MA where she weaves her love for Jewish learning with her commitment to intervening in systemic oppression. Alona regularly presents to Jewish audiences on the topic of reparations and originally taught this course in Spring 2019. 

Rabbi Joshua Weisman ’18

Rabbi Joshua Weisman ’18
Open Circle Jewish Learning

Rabbi Weisman is Senior Program Officer for Racial Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the East Bay at the Jewish Community Federation (Bay Area). Recently, he served as Senior Jewish Educator at Hillel at the University of Washington and Jconnect Seattle. Prior to that, he was the Jewish Emergent Network Rabbinic Fellow at the Kavana Cooperative in Seattle. He was ordained at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2018. Prior to rabbinical school, he worked as a grass-roots organizer, including with congregations. As an organizer, he discovered the way that Jewish text can be a powerful inspiration and guide to social change work, and how both learning and social change can build community. He continues to work at the intersection of Jewish learning and practice, social change, and community building. He has taught Jewish text to adults, young adults, graduate students, college students, teens, and middle school students in a variety of settings including congregations, Hillels, and social justice contexts. 

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.

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 Hebrew College. He holds a bachelor degree in History from Hebrew University, Jerusalem, an M.A in Public Policy, from Tel Aviv University, a Teaching Certificate 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.