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Miriam Zami is a PhD candidate in Talmud and Ancient Judaism at Yeshiva University, where she is writing her dissertation on comedy in rabbinic literature. She teaches Jewish education widely in academic and communal settings. Miriam is a member of the Sefaria Word-by-Word Fellowship and was the inaugural Emerging Scholar Fellow by Ma’ayan in the greater Boston area. She previously served as an editor at the Lehrhaus, an online publication of Jewish thought. Miriam lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their daughter.

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Chanan Gafni Studied at the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, while earning his academic degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (MA) and Harvard University (PhD). He currently teaches at Hebrew University and Midreshet Lindenbaum. His publications include The Mishnah’s Plain Sense (2011), and most recently: Conceptions of the Oral Law in Modern Jewish Scholarship (2019).

Ariel Evan Mayse joined the faculty of Stanford University in 2017 as an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies and serves as the rabbi-in-residence at Atiq: Jewish Maker Institute (atiqmakers.org).

Previously he was the Director of Jewish Studies and Visiting Assistant Professor of Modern Jewish Thought at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts. Mayse holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies from Harvard University and rabbinic ordination from Beit Midrash Har’el in Israel.

His most recent publications include Speaking Infinities: God and Language in the Teachings for Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezritsh (University of Pennsylvania, 2020); Hasidism: Writings on Devotion, Community and Life in the Modern World (Brandeis University Press, 2020), edited with Sam Berrin Shonkoff, and The Language of Truth in the Mother Tongue (Magnes Press, 2020, in Hebrew).

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Sinensky is the Director of Judaics at Main Line Classical Academy in suburban Philadelphia, Director of the Lamm Legacy Project, an accomplished editor, author, and lecturer, and was a member of the inaugural class of Sacks Scholars.

Rabbi Dan Margulies teaches Tanakh, Talmud, and Halakha at the Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville MD and teaches Talmud in the Drisha summer kollel. He received his semikha from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and from his personal mentor Dayan Simcha Krauss ztz”l, and continued his studies in the kollel at YU-RIETS. Before pursuing his yeshiva studies, he earned a BA in Chemical Physics and Mathematics from Columbia University. He previously served as a congregational rabbi in the New York area and currently lives in Washington DC.

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.

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.

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Rabbanit Leah Sarna is the Associate Director of Education and Director of High School Programs at Drisha. She previously served as Director of Religious Engagement at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation in Chicago, a leading urban Orthodox congregation.

She was ordained at Yeshivat Maharat in 2018, holds a BA from Yale University in Philosophy & Psychology, and also trained at the SKA Beit Midrash for Women at Migdal Oz, Drisha and the Center for Modern Torah Leadership. Rabbanit Sarna’s published works have appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Lehrhaus and MyJewishLearning.

She has lectured in Orthodox synagogues and Jewish communal settings around the world and loves spreading her warm, energetic love for Torah and Mitzvot with Jews in all stages of life.

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.