Shani Taragin is pursuing a PhD in Tanakh while serving as coordinator of the Intensive Tanakh Track for post-high school students at Midreshet Lindenbaum.  She has a BA and MA in Tanakh and Talmud from Bar-Ilan University.  She also teaches at MaTaN, Migdal Oz, Sha’alvim for Women, Lander’s College, and the Womens’ Beit Midrash in Efrat and Ramat Shilo. She is a graduate of Nishmat’s Keren Ariel Program for certification as a halachic advisor in issues of family purity law and serves on the first women’s hotline to deal with issues of Jewish Law.

Click here to access podcasts recorded by Shani Taragin.

Yael Leibowitz has her Master’s degree in Judaic Studies from Columbia University. Prior to moving to Israel, Yael taught Tanakh at the Upper School of Ramaz, and then went on to join the Judaic Studies faculty at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women. She has taught Continuing Education courses at Drisha Institute for Jewish Education and served as Resident Scholar at the Jewish Center of Manhattan. She is currently teaching at Matan Women’s Institute for Torah Learning and is a frequent lecturer in North America and the United Kingdom. For more of Yael’s writing visit: yaelleibowitz.com

Click here to access podcasts recorded by Yael Leibowitz.

Dr. Yael Ziegler is an Assistant Professor in Tanakh at Herzog College and Matan. As of September 2021, Dr. Ziegler assumed the position of Rosh Batei Midrash and Academic Director of Matan. She received her BA from Stern College and an MA and Ph.D. at Bar Ilan University. Dr. Ziegler has lectured widely on various Tanakh topics in Israel, the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and Europe. Dr. Ziegler is the author of Promises to Keep: The Oath in Biblical Narrative and Ruth: From Alienation to Monarchy, which has been translated into Hebrew. Her book: Lamentations: Faith in a Turbulent World was released in June, 2021. She is currently working on a book on Exodus.

Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier is Director of Education and a member of the Drisha faculty. A Research Fellow in Philosophy of Religion at Notre Dame, he received his PhD in Ancient Judaism at Yale University and was a member of Yeshiva University’s Kollel Elyon. Previously he served as Director of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Yale University and as the Flegg postdoctoral fellow in Jewish Studies at McGill University.

Shlomo is an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion and RIETS, as well as of the Wexner and Tikvah Fellowships. He has lectured and taught widely across North America, as well as at Yale Divinity School, Yeshiva University, the Tikvah Fund, and Bnot Sinai. A Founder of The Lehrhaus, Shlomo serves on the Editorial Committee of Tradition and has edited two books on contemporary Jewish thought.

Rabbi Dr. Samuel Lebens is a philosopher at the university of Haifa and adjunct faculty at Drisha. His first book is about Bertrand Russell and the philosophy of language. His second book, The Principles of Judaism (forthcoming with Oxford University Press) is a contemporary exploration of the philosophical underpinnings of the Jewish faith. He is also co-founder of the Association for the Philosophy of Judaism (personal website: www.samlebens.com).

Click here to access podcasts recorded by Sam Lebens.

Shana Strauch Schick is a lecturer in at Bar Ilan University in Israel. She holds a PhD from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. Her first book is Intention in Talmudic Jurisprudence: Between Thought and Deed (Brill, 2021).

Orit Avnery is a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. She is a lecturer in Bible and the Dean of the Students at Shalem College and holds both a BA and an MA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She received her Ph.D. in Bible Studies from Bar-Ilan University, where her dissertation was entitled The Threefold Cord: Interrelations between the Books of Samuel, Ruth and Esther. Orit was a participant in the Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions (ATID), a fellowship program for future educational leaders, and she served as the coordinator of its Yeud Beit Midrash for three years. Orit taught Bible studies at Pelech High School for girls and Midreshet Lindenbaum and has studied at the Matan Women’s Institute for Jewish Studies. Orit’s book Liminal Women: Belonging and Otherness in the Books of Ruth and Estherwas published by The Shalom Hartman Institute and Keter Press in 2015.

Elana Stein Hain is the Director of Leadership Education for the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, where she serves as a lead faculty member and oversees the content of lay and professional leadership programs. She earned her doctorate in Religion from Columbia University and is a graduate of the Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies at Yeshiva University. Dr. Stein Hain served for eight years as a clergy member at Lincoln Square Synagogue and The Jewish Center, both in New York, as well as adjunct faculty at NYU.

Aaron Koller is associate professor of Near Eastern and Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University, where he is chair of the Robert M. Beren Department of Jewish Studies, and also Core Faculty and Coordinator of Adult Educational Programming at Drisha. His most recent book was Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2014), and his next book, Unbinding Isaac, on the ‘aḳedah in religious philosophy, is forthcoming, but he usually works on Semitic languages and linguistics. Aaron has served as a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and held research fellowships at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research and the Hartman Institute. He lives in Queens with his wife, Shira Hecht-Koller, and their children.

Chaim Kranzler, MD, is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. Dr. Kranzler has led High Holiday tefilot at Drisha for thirty-five years.

David Silber is the founder and dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education in New York and Israel. Rabbi Silber received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is a recipient of the Covenant Award, for excellence in innovative Jewish education, and is the author of A Passover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn (Jewish Publication Society 2011), For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther (Koren Publishers 2017), and Malkhut Adam: Iyunim Bsefer Shmuel (Maggid 2021). He is also a nationally acclaimed lecturer on the Bible. Rabbi Silber is married to Dr. Devora Steinmetz. They have eight children and live in New York City.

Click here to access other recorded classes by David Silber.

Yitzchak Etshalom is the Chair of the Tanakh department at YULA Boys High School. He attended Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavne, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and Yeshivat Har Etzion before receiving ordination from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He is the author of Between the Lines of the Bible (Yashar Books) and is an accomplished storyteller, radio host, and songwriter.