Ta Shma - About Ta Shma

Faculty & Staff Profiles

Faculty

Rachel Adelman is a graduate of the MaTaN M.A. program in Tanakh, and is now pursuing her doctorate in Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has taught at the Conservative Yeshiva, the Ramah High School, and the Rothberg School for Overseas students. Five years ago, she founded a women's beit midrash, a branch of MaTaN, in Beit Shemesh, where she still teaches midrash and Tanakh.

Abbi Adest earned a B.A. in English Literature from Stern College and an M.A. in Jewish Education from Hebrew University. She is also a graduate of the Pardes Educators Program. Abbi made aliyah in 2001 and is currently working as an educator for semester programs in Israel for diaspora high school students, including Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim and Netivot Yeladim. She lives in Jerusalem with her husband and baby daughter.

Rahel Berkovits received her B.A. in religion from Barnard College and is now pursuing an M.A. in Jewish Education at the Hebrew University. For many years she has studied Talmud at advanced levels at, amongst other institutions, Midreshet Lindenbaum and the Shalom Hartman Institute. Rahel currently teaches at Machon Pardes.

Gail Diamond is the Assistant Director of the Conservative Yeshiva. She was ordained in 1993 from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and served for seven years as a congregational rabbi in Massachusetts prior to making aliyah in 2001. Gail teaches for Project Oded, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Bat Kol Institute, and also serves as editor of the Yad Mordecai Adult Learning Curricula for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation.

Adam Frank was born and raised in Atlanta, GA. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Emory University (where he was captain of the varsity basketball team). Adam studied at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles where he received Conservative rabbinical ordination as a member of that seminary's first graduating class in 1999. A former director of Ramah Darom's Center for Southern Jewry retreat center in North Georgia, Adam moved to Israel in 2001. Currently, Adam teaches for the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem and is active in animal welfare issues.

Miri Gold made aliyah in 1977 from Detroit to Kibbutz Gezer, where she lives today. Ordained at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, she now serves as the congregational rabbi for Kehilat Birkat Shalom at Kibbutz Gezer, affiliated with the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism. Miri received her M.A. from the Institute for Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University.

Alan Goldman has studied in yeshiva and worked in Jewish education, both formal and informal, since he made aliyah in 1989. He received rabbinic ordination in 1996. Previously co-Director of the High School Department of Ramah Programs in Israel, he is now a full time faculty member of the Young Judea Year Course and mashgiach ruchani for their Shalem Program. Alan lives in Beit Meir with his wife and two children.

Amy Klein is the Director of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Israel Program. She is also a member of the Liberal Yeshiva faculty and serves on the board of Rabbis for Human Rights. Amy graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia in 1996, and made aliyah in 1997. A graduate of the UCLA School of Law, Amy worked as a deputy public defender in her hometown of Los Angeles before pursuing the rabbinate.

David Levin-Kruss is an educator and consultant for institutions such as Pardes, the Conservative Yeshiva, Young Judea, Melitz, Ramah and Ta Shma. Previously he served as director of the overseas department of Melitz and before that as community director and family educator of Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue in London. David has studied at the Pardes Institute and at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat. He was ordained from the Joseph Strauss Rabbinic Seminary and holds a B.A. in English Literature and Jewish Philosophy from the Hebrew University. David made aliya from South Africa in 1983 and lives in Jerusalem with his wife and two children.

Joel Levy received his B.A. from Cambridge University in 1987 in the Natural Sciences. He came to Israel in 1989 to study and teach, returned to the UK for three years to serve as Director of Noam, England's Masorti (Conservative) youth movement, and then returned to Israel to continue his Jewish studies in 1994. Joel received non-denominational rabbinic ordination from Rabbi David Hartman in 2001 and currently divides his time between his role as a congregational rabbi in London and teaching for various programs in Israel.

Arielle Parker is a Rabbinical student at the Conservative Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, and at various institutions in Israel in the meantime. A seeker of meaning, and lover of Jewish texts and tradition, she prefers exploring the depth and variation of the big picture to limiting understanding to selected disciplines or categorizations. Deeply interested in Ethics, she studied Philosophy, Physics and Sociology at Brandeis as an undergraduate, and she continues to blend social activism with her ongoing learning.

Dina Pinner is a feminist, teacher, poet, counsellor and graphologist. She made aliya from London, England in October 2000 and lives in Jerusalem, teaching Bible and other Jewish topics. In her time in education she has worked for various Jewish organizations with various religious affiliations, from Reform to Ultra-Orthodox, sometimes simultaneously (no, she never told them). Dina grew up in a family that aligned itself politically and religiously with Bnei Akiva and was in the movement for many years, but has worked for the Masorti movement in England and Israel since 1996. Today she describes herself as datiya leshavar - formerly religious.

Matt Plen grew up in London and made aliyah to Jerusalem in 1998. He completed his M.A. in Jewish Studies and Education at the Schechter Institute (JTS) in 2001 and is currently studying at Kerem - The Institute for Humanist Jewish Education. Matt has been active in the world of informal education and youth movements, both in Israel and the Diaspora, working for organizations such as the Institute for Youth Leaders from Abroad, Noam, Netzer and Young Judea. Matt currently serves on the educational staff of Melitz - Centers for Jewish Zionist Education.

Peretz Rodman has pursued parallel careers as a Jewish educator and a translator/editor. A former Jerusalem Fellow, he earned his B.A. and M.A. from Brandeis University, his B.H.L. from Hebrew College in Boston, and rabbinic ordination from the (Conservative) Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. He has taught Hebrew and Jewish studies in high schools, universities, and seminaries throughout the U.S. and Israel.

Daniel Rose, originally from England, has studied at Yeshivat HaMivtar in Efrat, and holds a B.A. in Jewish Studies, a teaching certificate, and an M.A. in Religious Education from the University of London. He has worked as a high school teacher and in various youth movements, including Bnei Akiva. Daniel currently teaches for Young Judea and lives in Jerusalem with his wife and newborn daughter.

Julian Sinclair is an Orthodox rabbi living in Jerusalem. He most recently served for four years as campus rabbi at Cambridge University in England. Julian is currently writing a book on the thought of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the 20th century philosopher-mystic.

Yael Unterman has a B.A. in Psychology and Talmud from Bar Ilan University and an M.A. in Jewish History from Touro College. She has taught and facilitated sessions on Jewish text and identity in many forums, Israeli and worldwide, and is also involved in the field of Jewish educational theatre. She is currently writing a biography of the late Nehama Leibowitz.

Elisha Wolfin, born and raised on Kibbutz Kfar Hanasi, has worked in informal Jewish education all around the world, and is currently in his last year of rabbinical school at the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem. He also works for Project Oren and serves as a freelance educator for many institutions.

Batya Yaniger received her B.S. in Social Work from Loyola University in her hometown of Chicago, and is currently a spiritual counselor and graduate student in Psychology. She gives workshops integrating Torah texts for personal development and is a psychiatric rehabilitative social worker. Batya also writes a column, Personal Torah Connections, for the monthly magazine VOICES, and lives in Efrat with her husband and six children.

Ophir Yarden earned his B.A. at Wesleyan University and his M.A. at the University of Chicago. He has studied at the Hebrew University and the Hartman Institute, and is now working towards his doctorate in Jewish History at the Schechter Institute (JTS) in Jerusalem. As Director of Education Initiatives of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, Ophir founded the Israel-Palestine JCM Conference, an ongoing framework for intensive indigenous dialogue. Ophir trains teachers for the TALI (enhanced Jewish studies) schools and teaches Judaism in a variety of Christian institutions.

Staff

Leon Wiener-Dow, Founder and Director of Ta Shma, moved to Israel in 1992. A native of Houston, TX, he received his B.A. from Princeton University in 1991 in the Departments of Religion and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, his M.A. in Jewish Thought from the Hebrew University, and rabbinic ordination from Rabbi David Hartman. Leon lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three daughters.

Jared Goldfarb, Ta Shma's Program Director, is originally from Concord, NH. After studying at Brandeis University, he worked as a Conference Manager for the World Economic Development Congress, and then as Coordinator of the 1995 General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations. Since making aliyah in 1996, he has studied at both Machon Pardes and the Hartman Institute, and has become a licensed tourguide. Jared works as a freelance educator for numerous organizations and lives in Jerusalem with his partner Elisa and daughter Eliana, where he is a devoted environmental activist.

Vered Sakal, a native of Rehovot, directs Ta Shma's Hebrew-speaking programming. After completing her B.A. in Philosophy from Tel Aviv University, she received an M.A. in Non-Profit Management from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an M.A. and rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College. She currently lives in Tel Aviv with her husband and their two daughters.