Sabrina Burger received her B.A. in English literature and linguistics from Hebrew University. She studied advanced rabbinic texts and Hasidic philosophy at the Nishmat Center for Advanced Torah Studies and Midreshet Bat Ayin. She has taught adults in the Boston area through CJP, Hebrew College, and other organizations.
Isaac Gottlieb, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the Bible Department at Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, where he teaches medieval Bible exegesis. He is also a member of the Institute for the History of Jewish Bible Research. He is the author of Order In the Bible: The Arrangement of the Torah in Rabbinic and Medieval Jewish Commentary, and he co-authored The Bible in Rabbinic Interpretation: Hosea.
David Jacobson, Ph.D., is Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Program in Judaic Studies at Brown University. Dr. Jacobson received his B.A. from the University of Chicago, his B.J.Ed. from Hebrew College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from UCLA. His publications include: Modern Midrash: The Retelling of Traditional Jewish Narratives by Twentieth-Century Hebrew Writers (1987); Does David Still Play Before You?: Israeli Poetry and the Bible (1997); and Creator, Are You Listening?: Israeli Poets on God and Prayer (2007).
Rabbi Elliot Kaplowitz serves as the Co-Director of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Brandeis University and as Advisor to the Brandeis Orthodox Organization. Rabbi Kaplowitz received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. Rabbi Kaplowitz served as the rabbinic intern at Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton. He has also taught adult education classes at the JCC in Manhattan.
Toby Goldfisher Kaplowitz serves as the Co-Director of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Brandeis University. A graduate of the Graduate Program for Women in Advanced Talmudic Studies at Yeshiva University, she holds an MS.Ed from Bank Street College of Education, and a B.A. from Stern College for Women. This will be her second semester facilitating the Women’s Beit Midrash.
Deborah Klapper holds an A.B. from Harvard College in Near Eastern Languages and a Scholars’ Circle certificate from the Drisha Institute. She teaches Rabbinic Literature at Gann Academy and has taught adults in a variety of settings.
Rabbi Dr. Avi Rockoff received his B.A. from Yeshiva University, his M.D. at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Pirchei Shoshanim in Jerusalem. Over the past 26 years, he has taught classes and has both organized and led adult education programs in Newton and Brookline synagogues.
Rabbi Roy Rosenbaum received his ordination from the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois, and his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Political Science from the University of Chicago. He has held senior staff positions in three Jewish federations and five national Jewish organizations. He has taught adult groups in Chicago and New York, and currently teaches Talmud and Bible at Maimonides High School.
Rabbi Ari Schwarzberg is a first-year student at the Harvard Divinity School studying philosophy of religion and Jewish theology. He received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University and holds a B.A. in Jewish Studies from Yeshiva College and an M.S. in Jewish Education from the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education. He has served as the rabbinic intern at The Jewish Center and taught at NYU’s Hillel.
Karyn Spero is pursuing her M.A. in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. A graduate of Stern College, she spent three years studying at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, and has taught Tanakh at Maimonides School and in the Women’s Beit Midrash of the Torah MiTzion Kollel in Cleveland.