Our Rabbis

Rabbi Daniel Atwood serves as the Field School Director at the Institute for Jewish Enrichment in Chicago. He was previously on the Hebrew and Judaic Studies faculty at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School. Before coming to Chicago, he was a public policy/ media strategy consultant for community organizations in New York, an Uri L’Tzedek Fellow and a board member of Jewish Queer Youth. The first openly gay man ordained as an Orthodox Rabbi, R’ Daniel held rabbinic internships at NYU Hillel and Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel in Chicago. He completed chaplaincy training at Columbia University Medical Center, received a masters degree in education from Gratz College and graduated from Yeshiva University’s Honors Program.

President and CEO of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (CJP), Rabbi Marc Baker is a nationally recognized Jewish professional leader known for his teaching and for bringing the voice of Jewish tradition to contemporary issues. He previously served as Head of School at Gann Academy and Director of Judaics and Student Life at Weber Jewish Community High School. In 2011, he was an inaugural winner of the Pomegranate Prize recognizing emerging leaders in the field of Jewish Education. R. Marc studied at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem as a Dorot Fellow. A graduate of Yale University with a B.A. in Religious Studies, he also earned an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Rabbi Jeremy Borovitz is the Director of Jewish Learning for Hillel Deutschland and co-founder of Base Berlin. He also serves as an advisor for Mem Global’s Jewish Learning Collaborative. R’ Jeremy previously served as European Director of Jewish Education for Moishe House. Before he began studies toward the Rabbinate, R’ Jeremy served in the Peace Corps in Ukraine and then remained in Ukraine as a JDC Service Corps Fellow.  He is a graduate of University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and spent a semester studying at the Warsaw School of Economics. R’ Jeremy spent multiple years studying at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah before beginning his studies in Yashrut’s Semikhah Initiative.

Rabba Yaffa Epstein is the Senior Scholar and Educator in Residence at The Jewish Education Project. Previously, she served as the Director of the Wexner Heritage Program at the Wexner Foundation, and as the Director of Education, North America at Pardes. She has taught Talmud, Rabbinic Literature, Liturgy, Jewish Pluralism, and Women in Jewish Law at tens of institutions including Yeshivat Maharat, Drisha Institute, JFNA, UJA, and the Dorot Foundation. She has trained educators and rabbis throughout North America, and also has developed innovative educational programs for Hillel and Limmud. Rabba Epstein was the recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. She received an additional ordination from Yeshivat Maharat and her LLB from Bar-Ilan University.

Rav Avital Hochstein serves as the President of Mechon Hadar in Israel. R’ Avital has been a researcher and she has taught at many institutions, including the Shalom Hartman Institute, where she was a faculty member and a research fellow. She was on the Faculty of the Pardes Institute, where she also served as the Rosh Kollel. R’ Avital received her BA from Hebrew University and her Ph.D. in Talmud and Gender Studies from Bar Ilan University and was ordained by the Beit Midrash Le’Rabbanut Yisraelit. R’ Avital co-authored Women Out, Women In – The Place of Women in Midrash and is a co-founder and leader of Shira Hadasha, an Orthodox egalitarian synagogue in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer is the President and CEO of the Hadar Institute, an organization committed to Jewish learning and community building. A Wexner Graduate Fellow and Dorot Fellow, Elie is the author of Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us about Building Vibrant Jewish Communities (Jewish Lights). A graduate of Harvard, he has been named multiple times to the Forward 50 and to the Newsweek list of “Top 50 Rabbis in America.” Elie holds a doctorate in liturgy from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was ordained in 2007. He serves on the faculty for Wexner Heritage, and has lectured widely on prayer and building grassroots Jewish communities.

Rabbi Jon Kelsen is Chief Education Officer at Drisha where he was previously Rosh Kollel and taught Talmud and pedagogy. He also served for multiple years as Dean of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and as adjunct faculty at the Pardes Institute. R’ Jon holds ordination from R’ Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg z”l and spent several years studying in the Pardes Kollel. He received a BA from University of Pennsylvania, an MA from Hebrew University, and a doctorate in Education and Jewish Studies from NYU as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. R’ Jon serves as a reservist in IDF Combat Logistics.

Rav Na’ama Levitz Applbaum serves as the Director of Educational Leadership and Engagement at Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. She was previously the Director of Ramah Israel Seminar and was a member of the faculty of Hadar and the Schechter Institute. An educational consultant for Hillel International and the Dorot Foundation, R’ Na’ama is also a podcast creator and co-host and serves as a co-chair of Amutat Yashrut and as Gabait for Kehilat Hakhel in Jerusalem. She studied at both Hebrew University and the Schecter Institute.

Rabbi Adam Mayer is Dean of Jewish Studies at Weber High School and Mashpiah Ruchani (Rabbinic Counselor). He previously taught Jewish Studies at Kohelet Yeshiva in Philadelphia where he also served as a coach of track and cross country. Over the course of several years living in Israel, R’ Adam served as an IDF Medic, received Semikhah from R’ Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg z”l  and completed the Pardes Educator’s Program. He received his BA from Brandeis and his MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew College. Outside of the classroom, R’ Adam is known for his contributions to the Jewish camp experience, to bringing together Hip Hop and Judaism and for his work with Rappers and Rabbis.

Rav Sarah Mulhern is the Rabbi of Silverstein Base Lincoln Park in Chicago, serving 20 and 30-somethings and the undergraduate students of Metro Chicago Hillel. She worked as an experiential educator at the American Jewish World Service and as a faculty member and the Director of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Created Equal Project. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, R’ Sarah was in the first cohort of the North American David Hartman Center Fellowship. Originally from Utah and a descendant of Jewish pioneers, R’ Sarah studied at Pardes, Hadar, Drisha, Beit Midrash Har-el and was ordained by Hebrew College in 2017, where she also received an MA in Jewish Education. She has a BA in politics and history from Brandeis University.

Rabbi Shani Rosenbaum serves on the faculty of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, where she teaches Talmud and Halakha. She was project coordinator for the Jewish Law and Ethics Hackathon produced by T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and served as a program manager at Olam: Improving the world together. A recipient of Dorot and Wexner Graduate Fellowships, R’ Shani studied in the Pardes Kollel, Midreshet Lindenbaum, Matan, Beit Midrash Har’el and Yeshivat Hadar. She was ordained by Hebrew College in 2021 and received her BA from Brandeis.

Rabbi Sarah Zager is Assistant Professor of Religion at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Before coming to St Olaf, she was a Fellow at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at University of Pennsylvania. R’ Sarah received the 2021 Salo Baron New Voices in Jewish Studies Award for her work on Jewish responses to contemporary virtue ethics from the Association for Jewish Studies. She earned her Ph.D. from Yale University, MA in Religion from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a BA from Williams College.