Faculty and Guest Lecturers

Jesse Abelman is pursuing a PhD in Medieval Jewish History at Bernard Revel Graduate School and is a rabbinical student at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He received an MA in the Talmud Department of Yeshiva University. He served as a rabbinic intern for the Manhattan Jewish Experience.

Etta Abramson is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar and will study Education and Midrash at JTS. She has taught Jewish texts, cantillation and the intersection of arts and Jewish studies at BIMA, Beit Rabban and Drisha Institute, where she studied as an Arts Fellow in the Beit Midrash program. She is the director of Storahtelling’s B-Mitzvah program.

Esther Altmann is on the teaching faculty at Yeshi­vat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, is a supervising psychologist at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, and has a private practice.

Wendy Amsellem is the former Director of the Dr. Beth Samuels High School Program and an alumna of the Drisha Scholars Circle where she currently teaches. 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 has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Boston University. He is the author of Creating Lively Passover Seders: A Sourcebook of Engaging Tales, Texts, and Activities, and co-editor of and contributor to My People's Passover Haggadah, both published by Jewish Lights. He has published numerous articles on the haggadah in Jewish newspapers and scholarly journals.

Ruth Balinsky learns at Yeshivat Maharat. She studied in Drisha’s Beit Midrash Program and Scholars Circle and will be participating in the Collegiate and Graduate Student Immersion Program. She serves as Rosh Beit Midrash of Uri L’Tzedek, has been a Rabbinic Fellow at Or Tzedek, and has taught in a variety of settings in New York and Chicago. She has a BA in Psychology and Jewish Studies from Barnard College.  

Dan Baras teaches in a variety of institutions including the ‘Havruta’ Beit Midrash program at Hebrew University. He is pursuing a PhD in Philosophy and is a graduate of Yeshivat Har Etzion. He is the founder of the Shevut Am volunteer project for integration of Ethiopian olim in Israeli society.

Elana Bell was selected by Fanny Howe as the winner of the Walt Whitman Award for 2011. Her first collection of poetry, Eyes, Stones, will be published by Louisiana State University Press in 2012. She is the recipient of grants and fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, the Edward Albee Foundation, and Drisha Institute. Her work has recently appeared in Harvard Review, CALYX Journal, Bellevue Literary Review, and Storyscape.

Yitzhak Berger is Associate Professor and Head of the Hebrew Division 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 Biblical Hebrew in Drisha’s full-time programs.  

Adele Berlin is the Robert H. Smith Professor of Bible Emerita at University of Maryland. Her special interests are literary approaches to the Bible and the theory and practice of biblical interpretation. She has published seven books, written over thirty scholarly articles, and edited three books.

Atara Lindenbaum Bressman teaches Judaic Studies at Maimonides High School in Brookline, MA. She has a BA from Stern College in History and Philosophy, and a Masters in Jewish Education from Hebrew University. She has also completed the Masters Program in Bible and Bible Education at Matan in Jerusalem.

Jerome Chanes is the author, amongst other works, of the award-winning A Dark Side of History: Antisemitism through the Ages and A Portrait of the American Jewish Community. Forthcoming is The Future of American Judaism (Columbia University Press).

Talia Cottrell Furleiter has an MA in Biblical and Talmudic Interpretation from Yeshiva University. She learned in Drisha’s Beit Midrash Program and has a BA in Politics and Religious Studies from New York University.

Nicole Fix was an Arts Fellow at Drisha for two years. She received an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant and has been awarded fellowships from Can Serrat International Artist Residency and Summer Literary Seminars. Selected publications include Post Road Magazine, Thieves Jargon, Go Magazine and The Cup Project, an Australian-based publication, which distributes art and literature on coffee cups across Melbourne. She has collaborated with visual artist and printmaker Liz Lake on an illustrated story and has been a featured presenter at The Folding Chair and Sunday Salon in New York, Four Stories at the Enormous Room in Cambridge and “Mostra d’art Can Serrat” in Barcelona, Spain.  Presently Fix is writing a novel.

David Flatto is pursuing a PhD in Jewish Studies at Harvard University. He has a JD from Columbia Law School, a BA in Computer Science from Yeshiva College and received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He has written and lectured on Maimonides, Jewish legal philosophy, and the critical and historical study of rabbinics.

Jeffrey Fox is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Maharat and teaches it the Drisha Scholars Beit Midrash and Yesodot Programs. He received ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and served as the spiritual leader of Kehilat Kesher in Tenafly, NJ.

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.            

Miriam Gedwiser has a BA from the University of Chicago in the History and Philosophy of Science, and a JD from NYU School of Law. She studied in the Drisha Scholars Circle as well as at other programs in Israel and Boston, and has taught at several New York area synagogues and Hillels. She is currently an Associate at Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP.

Dyonna Ginsburg is the Director of Jewish Service Learning at the Jewish Agency. She has an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University and a BA in Political Science from Columbia University. She was awarded the World Council of Jewish Communal Service’s Ted Comet Exemplar Award for Outstanding Leadership in Strengthening the Jewish People in 2008.

Ari Goldman is a professor of journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where he directs the Scripps Howard Program in Religion, Journalism and the Spiritual Life. He is the author of numerous articles and three books including the best-selling The Search for God at Harvard.

Anne Gordon is an alumna of the Drisha Scholars Circle and has learned at the women’s batei midrash of Jerusalem. She is pursuing a PhD in Jewish Education. She has directed the Summer Program at Matan in Jerusalem and the Beit Midrash Program of Camp Morasha and has taught throughout the United States and abroad. She has an MA in Judaic Studies and a BA in History and Philosophy from Harvard University.  

David Goshen is a graduate of the Har Etzion and Mir Yeshivot and has studied Philosophy and Religion at the Hebrew University. He taught at the ‘Havruta’ Beit Midrash program at Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University.

Deena Grant is an assistant professor of Bible at Barry University. She received her BA from Brandeis University in Near Eastern and Jewish Studies and her PhD from New York University in Hebrew and Judaic Studies, with a focus on the Hebrew Bible in its ancient Near Eastern setting. She studied at Drisha, Hebrew University’s Institute for Advanced Studies and Midreshet Lindenbaum and has taught at Hofstra University and Drisha.

Amit Gvaryahu is an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion and the Hebrew University. A past scholar-in-residence at the Paideia Institute for Jewish Studies in Stockholm, he is currently a graduate student in Talmud at the Hebrew University.

Nathaniel Helfgot is a Maggid Shiur in Talmud and Director of the Tanakh and Jewish Thought Departments at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School. He also serves on the faculty of the SAR High School and is the rabbi of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, NJ. 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.

Gila Hoch is Director of the Dr. Beth Samuels High School Programs. She has a BA in Jewish History from Barnard College. She is currently studying in the Advanced Talmudic Institute at Matan in Jerusalem and pursuing an MA in Talmud at Bar Ilan University.

Shira Holder  has an MS in Psychology from The New School for Social Research and has studied in Drisha’s Scholars Circle. She has taught in the department of psychology at The New School for Social Research, SAR High School, and in the beit midrash at Camp Stone.                                       

Tammy Jacobowitz received her PhD in Midrash from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010, and is a recipient of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. A graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle, she has taught extensively in various communal settings throughout the New York and Philadelphia areas.   She recently co-authored JOFA's gender-sensitive Shmot curriculum and is on the Rabbinics faculty for Me'ah NYC.

James Jacobson-Maisels teaches Jewish thought and mysticism at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Judaic Studies from Brown University and an M.St. in Modern Jewish Studies from Balliol College, the University of Oxford and received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes in Jerusalem. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago in Jewish Studies specializing in Jewish mysticism.

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.

Leon Kass is chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics, the Addie Clark Harding Professor, Committee on Social Thought, the University of Chicago, and Hertog Fellow in Social Thought, American Enterprise Institute. He has published widely in Biomedical Ethics, Science and Human Affairs, Philosophy, and Social Thought. He is the author of The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis.

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

Dages Juvelier Keates is a movement artist and was an Arts Fellow at Drisha for two years. She received a BA in dance from Bard College and attended Interlochen Arts Academy. Her collaborative work has been presented through ATARA, d.u.m.b.o arts festival, Food for Thought at St. Marks, Judson Memorial Church, BRIC, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She is also a board-certified Health Coach (American Association of Drugless Practitioners) and is the founder and director of Delicious Dialogues.

Jon Kelsen is the Director of the Collegiate Immersion Programs and teaches in Drisha’s Beit Midrash and Yesodot Programs. A graduate of the Pardes Kollel and a fellow in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Hadarim Program, he received ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes and holds an MA in Jewish Civilization from the International School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He works to build community and collaboration within the full time programs.

Gilah Kletenik, Congregational Scholar at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City, is also a Talmud and Judaism instructor at Ramaz Upper School. She received an MA in Biblical and Talmudic Interpretation at Yeshiva University and is pursuing an MA Jewish Philosophy. Last year,The Jewish Week named her as an upcoming Jewish leader. She is a recipient of the Covenant Foundation’s inaugural Pomegranate Prize.

Judy Klitsner is a senior lecturer at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where she teaches Bible and biblical exegesis. She is the author of Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other. 

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

Yedidah Koren is currently studying in the Advanced Talmudic Institute at Matan Jerusalem, and is a member of the steering committee of Yeshivat Talpiot, an egalitarian yeshiva initiative in Jerusalem. She studied Talmud and Classics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and has also studied at Drisha, Migdal Oz, and Midreshet Lindenbaum. During the upcoming year, she and her husband will be the scholars in residence at the Paideia institute for Jewish studies in Stockholm.

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 Tanach Study Center. He also lectures at Midreshet Lindenbaum, MMY, Pardes and Orot College for Women.

Shari Lowin is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College where she teaches about Islam and Judaism. She has a PhD from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. She is the author of The Making of a Forefather: Abraham in Islamic and Jewish Exegetical Narratives.

Rolando Matalon is the Rabbi at Congregation Bnai Jeshurun in Manhattan. He received ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary from which he has a Masters of Hebrew Letters. He has a BS in Chemistry from the Universite de Montreal.

Jonathan Milgram is Assistant Professor of Talmud at The Jewish Theological Seminary. His research interests and publications deal with the redaction of the Talmud and medieval Jewish Law. He is currently working on a book entitled, Reishit Ha-Bekhorah: Inheritance Law from Mesopotamia to the Mishna.

Bronwen Mullin is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in Musical Theater Composition and Jewish Studies. An alumna of Drisha's Arts Fellowship, she is in her first year of Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Her work focuses on the emotional / psychological / horrific / fantastical / spiritual / sexual / reverential / exponential exegesis of classical Jewish texts through the musical theater medium. Works created through the Drisha Arts Fellowship include: "By the Circle" (based off of the Honi narratives in Masechet Taanit, 2008), "Sarah and Hagar: A Love-Midrash" (2009), "Chalom" (an opera comprised of sections of Chapter 9 of Masechet Brachot in the original Aramaic and Hebrew, 2010), and "Two Little Lights" (a historical midrash connecting the tragic life of Elazar Azikri to his famous liturgical masterpiece, Yedid Nefesh, 2011). She is greatly indebted to the serious and heartfelt Torah learning combined with disciplined and daring art creation that Drisha engenders through the Arts Fellowship.

Ronnie Perelis is the Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Abraham and Jelena Alcalay Assistant Professor of Sephardic Studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School. He received his PhD from NYU, writing on the topic of the history and literature of the Marranos.  His research and teaching focus on the nexus of Hispanic and Jewish culture in Iberia and the New World. He is currently writing a study of family and identity in the Sephardic Atlantic world.

Anne Pettit  studies in the Drisha Scholars Circle. She writes bi-weekly commentary on the Torah portion for Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins’ newsletter, DOV-ray Torah. She holds a JD from Fordham University School of Law and was a practicing attorney before undertaking full time Jewish learning.

Daniel Reifman teaches Talmud and Halakha at Midreshet Lindenbaum and Midreshet Amit and has taught both in the Drisha Scholars Circle and at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He received ordination and an MA in Bible from Yeshiva University, and is currently a PhD student in hermeneutics at Bar Ilan University.

Daniel Rhynhold is Associate Professor of Modern Jewish Philosophy at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Yeshiva University. He is the author of Two Models of Jewish Philosophy: Justifying One’s Practices (2005) and An Introduction to Medieval Jewish Philosophy (2009).

Rachel Rosenthal is a student in the Drisha Schol­ars Circle and a graduate of the Beit Midrash Program. She has worked on curriculum development and pro­gramming for a number of organizations and has taught throughout the east coast. She has a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jaclyn Rubin has a BA in English from Barnard College and a BA and MA in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She has studied in the Drisha Scholars Circle and Yeshivat Hadar. She is currently studying at Matan and Beit Morasha in Jerusalem.

Ben Sandler is a software developer for Goldman Sachs and is pursuing an MA from New York University. He is a graduate of Yeshiva University and studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel. He is Co-Founder of Kumah, an organization which promotes North American aliyah.

Shuli Sandler is Director of the Bat Mitzvah and Beyond Program at Drisha and a graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle. She completed her doctorate in Clinical Psy­chology from Long Island University. She lectures on a variety of Jewish topics throughout the tri-state area. She currently works in private practice with children and adults.

Yehuda Sarna serves as a University Chaplain for NYU and Rabbi of the Bronfman Center, which he joined in 2002. He and his wife, Michelle, also serve as the Educators for the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, a program of the Orthodox Union. Rabbi Sarna was awarded the Richard M. Joel Exemplar of Excellence from Hillel International in 2008, and was listed as one of "36-under-36 Changemakers" by the Jewish Week in 2009. He and Michelle live with their four children, Batya, Maayan, Moshe, and David in Gramercy Green, an NYU residence hall.

Basya Schechteris a Drisha Arts Fellow alumnae and received a BA in English Literature from Barnard College. She is the band leader of Pharaoh's Daughter, which blends a psychedelic sensibility and a pan-Mediterranean sensuality. She leads her band through swirling Hasidic chants, Mizrachi, and Sephardi folk-rock, and spiritual stylings filtered through percussion, flute, strings and electronica. Her sound has been cultivated by her Hasidic music background and a series of trips to the Middle East, Africa, Israel, Egypt, Central Africa, Turkey, Kurdistan and Greece. 

Joshua Schreier teaches at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem and has taught at Yeshivat Ohel Shlomo in Beer Sheva. He has a BA in History and an MS in Jewish Education from Yeshiva University. He received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

Chaim Seidler-Feller has been UCLA’s Hillel Director for thirty-four years. He received ordination and a Masters in Rabbinic Literature from Yeshiva University. He is a lecturer in the Departments of Sociology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA and is a faculty member of the Shalom Hartman Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, and of the Wexner Heritage Foundation. He was a founding member of Americans for Peace Now and serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom.

Yehuda Septimus is the Rabbi of the Young Israel of North Woodmere. This year he is also serving as an assistant adjunct professor at Brooklyn College. He has a PhD and an MA in Classical Jewish history and literature from Yale University, and received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

Marc B. Shapiro holds the Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies at the University of Scranton and is the author of various books and articles on Jewish history, philosophy, and theology. He received a BA from Brandeis University and PhD from Harvard University.

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. He is the author of A Passover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn (JPS, 2011)      

Ben Skydell teaches Talmud and Chumash and is the Director of Religious Guidance at North Shore Hebrew Academy. He received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

Natan Slifkin has an MA in Jewish Studies from the Lander Institute in Jerusalem and is pursuing a PhD in Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University. He received ordination at Ohr Somayach Institutions. He teaches an extensive course in Judaism, Science and Zoology at Yeshivat Lev HaTorah in Ramat Bet Shemesh, and guest lectures at synagogues worldwide. He has written numerous books on the topic of Judaism and the natural sciences.

Erin Leib Smokler is a Claims Conference Advanced Shoah Studies Fellow at the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. She is also an instructor of Jewish Philosophy at Drisha and Yeshivat Maharat. Erin holds an MA from the University of Chicago and a BA from Harvard University. Her writing appears regularly in JOFA's Shema Bekolah, and has also been featured in The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, The Jerusalem Report, and The New York Jewish Week.

Aviva Stern has an MA in Bible from the Bernard Revel Graduate School and a BA from Stern College. She learned at Stern’s Graduate Program for Biblical and Talmudic Interpretation, and teaches Judaic Studies at Yeshiva Har Torah.

Heather Stoltz was a Drisha Arts Fellow for two years. She has a  BA in Jewish Studies and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College and an MA in Jewish Women’s Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. She is a fiber artist whose quilted wall hangings and fabric sculptures feature themes from classic Jewish texts and have been shown at many venues and in several publications. 

Shuli Taubes teaches Tanakh and Machsehvet Yisrael at SAR High School. She has a Masters in Divinity from the Harvard Divinity School, where she focused on Scripture and Interpretation.

Jeffrey Tigay is Emeritus A.M. Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pennsylvania. He received a BA in Ancient History from Columbia, Master of Hebrew Literature and Rabbinical Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a PhD in Comparative Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies from Yale.

Miriam Udel is Assistant Professor at Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory University. She has a PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. She is the recipient of their Starr Fellowship in Judaica for 2010-2011.

Ari Weiss is the Director of Uri L’Tzedek. A frequent scholar-in-residence, he has taught at foundations, synagogues, and on campuses nationwide. He was recently selected as a Joshua Venture Group fellow. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in June 2007.

Devorah Wolf teaches Talmud, and is a Special Services Assistant at Ma’ayanot. She is pursuing an MA in English Literature at Hunter College, has a BA from Barnard College, and is a graduate of the Stern Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies. She has also studied at Drisha Institute, Bernard Revel Graduate School, and Pardes Institute.

David Wolkenfeld is co-director of the Jewish Learning Initiative at Princeton University. He has studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and Yeshivat Har Etzion. He earned a BA in Intellectual History from Harvard University and has completed coursework in Medieval History at Bernard Revel Graduate School.  

Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld is co-director of the Jewish Learning Initiative at Princeton University. She was a member of the Drisha Scholars Circle and has studied Talmud and Halakha at Midreshet Lindenbaum, Nishmat, the Pardes Kollel, and Beit Morashah and has studied Talmud at Bernard Revel Graduate School. She has a BA in Judaica and Comparative Literature from the University of Pennsylvania.      

Shmuel Wygoda is the Director of Herzog Teachers' College at Alon-Shevut in Israel and the Academic Director of the New Horizons for Jewish Educators project for senior educators from religious high schools. Dr. Wygoda also directs the Channels of Knowledge project for heads of hesder yeshivot.

Rute Yair-Nussbaum teaches Chassidut in Matan, Jerusalem, in Maale (the religious film school) and in Yakar Tel-aviv. She has a BA in Jewish Philosophy and Jewish History from Hebrew University and is pursuing a PhD in Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism in NYU.