Esther Altmann is on the teaching faculty at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School and is a supervising psychologist at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. She is in private practice where she specializes in work with adolescents, couples, and families.

Wendy Amsellem is Director of the Dr. Beth Samuels High School Program and an alumna of the Drisha Scholars Circle. She is pursuing a PhD in Judaic Studies at New York University and has a BA in History and Literature from Harvard University.

David Arnow is a psychologist and the author of Creating a Living Passover Seder. An activist in the Jewish community, he has written numerous articles on the Passover seder in Jewish newspapers and scholarly journals.

Elisheva Baumgarten is a social historian and lecturer in the Department of Jewish History and the Gender Studies Program at Bar-Ilan University where she specializes is the history of Jewish women, Jewish family, and Jewish-Christian relations.

Yitzhak Berger is Assistant Professor of Bible at Hunter College. He has a PhD in Bible from the Bernard Revel Graduate School and ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He has taught Bible at Yeshiva College, Jewish Studies at the Yeshivah of Flatbush High School and Talmud in Drisha’s full-time programs.

Yitzchak Blau received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminar. He has an MA in Medieval Jewish History from BRGS, a BA in English Literature from Yeshiva University. He teaches at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Israel, has served as scholar-in-residence, and has a forthcoming book, Fresh Fruit and Vintage Wine: The Ethics and Wisdom of the Aggada.

Channa Lockshin Bob teaches in the Drisha Scholars Circle and Beit Midrash Programs. She is a graduate of the Scholars Circle, has an MA in Religion from Columbia University, and a BA in Religious Studies from York University. She has taught at Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Ma'yan, Harvard Hillel, and Maimonides High School in Boston, and has served as a teaching assistant at Columbia and an instructor for CLAL in New York.

Jerome A. Chanes, Faculty Scholar at Brandeis University’s Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, has taught American Jewish history and sociology, Jewish philosophy, history of Zionism, Biblical Hebrew, and the history of Christian-Jewish relations at universities in the USA and abroad. He is the author of the award-winning A Dark Side of History: Antisemitism through the Ages, A Primer on the American Jewish Community

Steven Fine is Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University, head of the Department of Jewish History at Yeshiva College, and Director of Yeshiva University’s Center for Israel Studies. He received a PhD in Jewish History from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, an MA in Art History and a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Southern California.

Rachel Friedman is Associate Dean and Chair of Tanakh Studies at Drisha. She also directs Drisha's Yesodot Skill-Building Program. She has served as scholar-in-residence at synagogues and educational institutions throughout the United States and abroad. She has an MA in Bible from Yeshiva University and a JD from Columbia University School of Law.

Elana Stein Hain is pursuing a PhD in Religion at Columbia University focusing on the interplay between secular and Jewish legal theories. She is the Community Scholar at Lincoln Square Synagogue.

Nathaniel Helfgot is a Maggid Shiur in Talmud and Director of the Tanakh and Jewish Thought Departments at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School. An alumnus of the Jerusalem Fellows program, he received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and has an MA in Education from the David J. Azrieli Graduate School.

Moshe Kahn teaches halakha in the Drisha Beit Midrash Program; is an instructor of Talmud and Halakha at Stern College for Women, the Graduate Program for Women in Advanced Talmudic Studies of Yeshiva University; and is a member-in-training to become a licensed psychoanalyst at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis in New York City. He received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

Ysoscher Katz is the Director of the Beit Midrash Program (preparatory year) at YCT. He received ordination from Rabbi Roth, dayan of UTA Satmer. He studied in Brisk and in Yeshivat Beis Yosef, Navaradok. A graduate of the HaSha'ar Program for Jewish Educators, he has taught at the Ma'ayanot High School for Girls and SAR High School.

Elie Kaunfer is Executive Director of Mechon Hadar: An Institute for Prayer, Personal Growth and Jewish Study. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, he received ordination and has an MA in Liturgy from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is pursuing a PhD in Liturgy. The Forward named him one of 50 Top Jewish Leaders.

Judy Klitsner is a senior faculty member at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, where she teaches courses in Bible and Biblical Exegesis. She is the author of several articles on biblical themes and is currently working on a book based on her original insights into the Bible. She lectures to diverse and multi-denominational audiences in Israel, the US, and Great Britain.

William Kolbrener received a PhD and a BA from Columbia University and an MA from University College in Oxford. He has published many articles in scholarly journals.

Aaron Koller is an assistant professor in the department of Bible at Yeshiva University, and has interests especially in the fields of Semitic languages and Israelite history.

Jenny Labendz is a PhD candidate in Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary. A graduate of Barnard College where she studied philosophy, she earned an MA in Ancient Jewish History and Talmud from Hebrew University, and studied in the Makhon Pardes Kollel for two years, She has published several academic articles and has taught at various Jewish institutions in the United States and Israel.

Aliza Lavie is a Professor of Political Science at Bar-Ilan University, where she earned a PhD. An English version of her book, A Jewish Woman’s Prayer Book, was published in December.

Menachem Leibtag is one of the pioneers of Torah education via the internet. He is the founder of Yeshivat Har Etzion’s Virtual Beit Midrash and more recently founded the Tanakh Study Center. He also lectures at Midreshet Lindenbaum, MMY, Pardes and Orot College for Women.

Adi Libson is a PhD candidate in Law at Tel-Aviv University. He has a LLM in General Legal Studies from New York University School of Law and a LLB in Law and a BA in Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics from Hebrew University.

Ayelet Libson is pursuing a PhD in Talmud at New York University. She holds a BA in Jewish Thought from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a graduate of the Advanced Talmud Institute at MaTaN. She has taught in the Drisha Scholars Circle, at MaTan, Yakar, Pelech High School, and Emunah College in Jerusalem.

Adina Luber has an MA Mishpat Ivri (Jewish Law) from Tel Aviv University, a BA in Law from Bar Ilan University, and a teaching degree from Herzog College. She is a graduate of the three­year Advanced Talmud Program at MaTaN and was a recipient of the ATID fellowship for leadership in Jewish Education. She teaches Talmud and Tanakh at S.A.R. High School.

Adam Mintz s an adjunct professor in Jewish History at Queens College and the immediate past president of the New York Board of Rabbis. He lectures widely on a variety of topics in Jewish History and his weekly streaming video entitled “This Week in Jewish History” is featured on the internet at www.rayimahuvim.org. Rabbi Mintz served in the pulpit rabbinate for over twenty years and is one of the founders of Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim. He has recently published a book entitled Jewish Spirituality and Divine Law (Ktav, 2005).

Dina Najman, Rosh Kehilla of Kehillat Orach Eliezer, was named on of 50 Top Jewish Leaders by the Forward. She teaches at KOE and SAR and was a fellow at Drisha and Nishmat. She is a certified Bioethicist through the NYU/Einstein Bioethics and Medical Humanities program and lectures on bioethics and halakha in many communities.

Sarah Rudolph has an MA in Jewish Education from the Azrieli Graduate School and is pursuing an MA in Bible at the Bernard Revel Graduate School. She completed the Graduate Program for Women in Advanced Talmudic Studies of Yeshiva University. She was a teaching fellow at the Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Institute in Massachusetts and taught Talmud and Bible at the Stern Hebrew High School in Philadelphia.

Daniel Rynhold is Assistant Professor of Modern Jewish Philosophy in the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University. He was a lecturer in Jewish Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College in London. He has authored a book entitled Two Models of Jewish Philosophy: Justifying One’s Practices.

Ben Sandler is a software developer at Goldman Sachs. He has an MS from New York University, a BA from Yeshiva University, and studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel. He is the president of the Mount Sinai Jewish Center in Washington Heights and is responsible for building the eruv there.

Shuli Sandler is a graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle. She has a PsyD in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University. She lectures on a variety of Jewish topics throughout the tri-state area.

David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. He received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He received the Covenant Award in 2000.

Erin Leib Smokler is a member of the Drisha Scholars Circle. She has a PhD in Philosophy and Religion at the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought. She has taught adult Jewish education throughout the DC and Chicago areas. Her writing has appeared in The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, The Jerusalem Report, and The New York Jewish Week.

Tamar Tanner is a graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle, Beit Midrash Program, and HaSha’ar. She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Bucharest and is pursuing an MA in Talmud from the Bernard Revel Graduate School.

Ethan Tucker teaches in the Drisha Scholars Circle. He has studied at Yeshivat Ma’ale Gilboa in Israel and received ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. He has a PhD in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary.