Rachel Kohl Finegold is the Education & Ritual Director at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Conregation, where she holds the Dr. Carol Fuchs Kaufman Rabbanit Chair. Rachel received a B.A. in Religion from Boston University and completed Drisha’s 3-year Scholars program. Her numerous years as a staff member at Camp Nesher in Pennsylvania, as well as other camp settings in the U.S. and abroad, have given her a passion for experimental Jewish education. Rachel lives in Chicago with her husband, Rabbi Avi Finegold and their daughters Kinneret and Nedivah Naama.

Ruth Balinsky Friedman graduated from Barnard College in 2007 with a bachelors degree in Psychology and Jewish Studies. Originally from Chicago, Ruth served as rabbinic fellow for Or Tzedek, a social justice program for Jewish teenagers. Ruth has also served as Rosh Beit Midrash of Uri L’Tzedek, where she planned educational social justice programming, and has taught in the Dr. Beth Samuels z”l Drisha Summer High School Program, Congregation Shearith Israel, and a variety of other locations in New York and Chicago. As a supporter of dialogue and pluralism, Ruth has participated in the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s Retreat for Emerging Jewish and Muslim Leaders in August 2009 and he CLAL Rabbis  Without Borders Student Fellowship in 2009-2010. Ruth was a student at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education before joining Yeshivat Maharat.

Miriam Gonczarska  grew up in Poland and lived in Warsaw prior to beginning her studies at Yeshivat Maharat. She became involved in the revival of Jewish life in Poland beginning in the early 1990s. Miriam pursued her studies in Israel at Nishmat, Matan, and Pardes. She has worked at the Lauder Foundation, Europe Magazine, Aish Hatorah Women’s College in Belarus, and the Hebrew Section of Polish Radio as journalist. She now works for the Jewish Community of Warsaw as a Jewish educator. She has been delegated by her community to study at Yeshivat Maharat. Miriam serves as a member of the Council of the Union of the Jewish Community of Poland and of the Religious Board of the Union. In addition, she is a member of the board of the Council of Christian and Jews and Bne’i Brith. Miriam is actively involved in the recently founded II-cend Generation association in Poland. Miriam has written articles that have appeared in a number of publications and websites including www.jewish.org.pl. She has been featured as a guest in international and Polish media because of her knowledge of Judaism, experiences with Polish – Jewish issues and current Jewish identity issues in Poland. Since her arrival in New York, she has regularly been interacting with people exploring their Jewish roots in Poland and others who are interested in learning about Jewish educational projects in Poland.

Lila Kagedan is a consultant, advocate, educator, and practitioner in the areas of global health, applied and theoretical ethics, religion and education and is a student at Harvard University.  Lila works as an educator and curriculum writer as well as an ethicist and consultant for a variety of NGOs and academic institutions and has lectured and consulted extensively in Canada, India, The Middle East, South and Central America, The FSU, Europe and the United States while also working in clinical environments in the areas of women’s health, family planning and ethics in global health and local settings. Lila has taught Talmud and Jewish studies in a variety of formal and non-formal settings and has written extensively on medicine and halacha and Jewish Ethics as well as on topics relating to women and Judaism/Jewish practice.  Lila spent many summers on staff at Camp Moshava in Canada and studied at Midreshet Lindenbaum and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She received an HBA and M Ed. from the University of Toronto and an MTS from Harvard University. Lila has completed 1 unit of CPE at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Rori Picker Neiss served as Acting Executive Director for Religions for Peace-USA, Program Coordinator for the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, Assistant Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, and Secretariat for the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations. Rori is on the board  of the Young Leadership Council of the International Council of Christians and Jews, a member of the Religions for Peace Global Youth Network, a CLAL Rabbis Without Borders student fellow, and co-editor of “InterActive Faith: The Essential Interreligious Community-Building Handbook.” She recieved her Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies and Political Science from the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College and has studied at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education and Seton Hall University. Currently, Rori is an intern at Hunter Hillel and Bet Chaverim Synagogue of Westport/Norwalk, CT. Rori lives in New York with her husband Russel, and daughter, Daria.

Dr. Anat Sharbat was raised in Israel and graduated from Bar-Ilan University with an M.A. (Cum Laude) and a Ph.D. in Talmud. While writing her thesis for her M.A. degree, she studied at Shalom Hartman Institute’s Beit Midrash Program. Dr. Sharbat served as a board member at “Kolech-Religious Women’s Forum”. Anat is married and has four young daughters. In 2008, she moved from Israel to New York with her family and is a member of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale.

Abby Brown Scheier graduated with a degree in Religious Studies from York University; and pursued an M.A. in Bible at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  She taught Tanakh and developed teaching curriculum at the Solomon Schechter High School in Westchester, NY, and continues to teach in Montreal with her husband, who is a congregational rabbi.  Abby helped establish a supplementary education high school in the synagogue, for which she serves as principal.  She also give regular Torah classes in the synagogue, run a monthly program in my home for students of Bat Mitzvah age, and privately tutor students in Jewish studies, including parshanut and Hidon HaTanakh. For the past two years, she has sat on the Board of Directors of the Bronfman Jewish Education Committee (BJEC), which oversees Jewish education in Montreal.

Victoria Sutton is a graduate of Barnard College with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. She also holds a Grand Diploma in Pastry Arts from the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan. As a student at Hillel Yeshiva High School in Ocean, NJ, Victoria developed a passion for Tanakh study. She continued her learning at Michlelet NCSY in Jerusalem and the Drisha High School program in Manhattan. Most recently, Victoria spent the past year studying Talmud at Mechon Hadar. She has taught elementary and middle school students at Hillel Yeshiva, and high school students at the Yeshiva of the Jersey Shore. Currently, Victoria volunteers time with a number of Upper West Side organizations, among them Congregation B’nai Jeshurun’s Tzeirim, for whom she helps organize volunteer activities, such as monthly cooking for the homeless shelter there. Victoria also serves as a Victim Intervention Advocate at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she is trained to provide emotional support in the Emergency Room to survivors of rape and domestic violence.