Boston Area Me'ah Boston Area Regional Office 617-559-8708
Classes Beginning Fall 2009
FacultyDr. Jay R. Berkovitz is Professor of Jewish History at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he directs the Center for Jewish Studies. Also a specialist in Jewish law, he received his PhD at Brandeis University in Near Eastern and Judaic studies. He is author of The Shaping of Jewish Identity in Nineteenth-century France (Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press, 1989). Rites and Passages: The Beginnings of Modern Jewish Culture in France, 1650-1860 was published in 2004 by the University of Pennsylvania, and a Hebrew edition will be published by the Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History. His most recent work has focused on Jewish social history in the early modern period, with particular emphasis on communal governance, ritual, family, and the history of Jewish law. He has been awarded grants by the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Littauer Foundation, and fellowships at the Hebrew University, Harvard University, and the Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem. Dr. David Bernat received his PhD in biblical studies from Brandeis University and is Assistant Professor of Religion and Jewish Studies at Wellesley College. Dr. Bernat has taught for Me'ah since 1998 and has led Meah's Bible/Rabbinics summer Israel tours. Dr. Avi Bernstein is a veteran Meah teacher. His articles have appeared in the Yearbook of the Leo Baeck Institute, Religious Studies Review and the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy. He has served as a contributing editor of Philosophy of Education, and is a member of the Tikvah Foundation’s project on Jewish Thought. In 2009-2010, he will serve as a teacher in residence at Newton South High School. Reuven Cohn is an adult Jewish educator, and an attorney. He is a veteran teacher in the Me'ah program and also teaches for the Me'ah Graduate Institute, Hebrew College Online, and Maimonides School. He holds rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University, a JD from Yale Law School, and has done advanced graduate work in Jewish studies at Harvard University. Among his areas of interest are Jewish interpretations of the Bible, the literary development of the Mishnah and Talmud, and history of the prayerbook. Dr. Lynne Heller is a graduate of the Yeshivah of Flatbush and its Midrasha. Dr. Heller received a BA with honors in English and education from Brooklyn College (Scholars Program) and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her MA and PhD degrees in English and comparative literature at New York University as a New York State Regents Doctoral Fellow and a National Defense Education Fellow. She has taught Bible in several of the adult learning programs of Hebrew College and CJP, including the Early Morning Text Study program, Genesis Bible study program, Ikkarim, Kol Isha and the Institute for Jewish Studies in Lexington. Dr. Reuven Kimelman is Professor of Classical Rabbinic Literature at Brandeis University. Previously, he was Joseph Shier Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto and Five College Professor of Judaic Studies at Amherst College. He has also taught at Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Trinity and Williams Colleges, as well as, at the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In addition, he served as Scholar-in-Residence of the National Jewish Community Centers Association and as Senior Scholar of CLAL. His Ph.D. is from Yale University in Religious Studies. Dr. Kimelman has published widely in journals of scholarly and popular interest on Bible, history, ethics, liturgy, and current affairs. He is the author of the Hebrew work, The Mystical Meaning of ‘Lekhah Dodi’ and ‘Kabbalat|Shabbat’, published by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and three audio books, He is also engaged in writing a book on the meaning and the history of Jewish prayer and one on terrorism, war, democracy, and the Jewish ethics of power. Dr. Deeana Copeland Klepper holds a PhD in Medieval European History from Northwestern University and is currently Assistant Professor of Religion at Boston University where she teaches a variety of courses on the religious culture of the Middle Ages. She has published articles on late medieval Christian-Jewish relations, and is completing a book on polemics, interpretation, and Jewish texts in the middle ages. Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies, began teaching at Harvard in 1988, having previously taught at the University of Chicago and at Wellesley College. His work concentrates on the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, including its reinterpretations in the "rewritten Bible" of Second Temple Judaism and rabbinic midrash. He also teaches a seminar in the use of medieval Jewish commentaries for purposes of modern biblical exegesis. He has a strong interest in the philosophical and theological issues involved in biblical studies, especially the relationship of premodern modes of interpretation to modern historical criticism. Much of Professor Levenson's work centers on the relationship of Judaism and Christianity, both in antiquity and in modernity, and he has long been active in Jewish-Christian dialogue. His interests and courses in Jewish theology include the modern period. His book Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life (Yale University Press, 2006) won a National Jewish Book Award and the Biblical Archaeology Society Publication Award in the category of Best Book Relating to the Hebrew Bible published in 2005 or 2006. His most recent book is Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews (Yale University Press, 2008), which he wrote with Kevin Madigan of HDS. In all his work, Dr. Levenson's emphasis falls on the close reading of texts for purposes of literary and theological understanding. Dr. Shari Lowin is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She has taught at University of Chicago, Yeshiva University, Brooklyn College, and in Ma’ayan. Shari is fluent in Arabic and has researched and published on a number of topics comparing Judaism and Islam, including her dissertation: The Making of a Forefather: Abraham in Islamic and Jewish Exegetical Narratives. Rabbi Natan Margalit earned his PhD in Near Eastern studies from UC Berkeley. He studied for many years in Israel and received rabbinic ordination from Machon Harry Fischel (The Jerusalem Seminary) in 1990. He has served as Jewish Chaplain and Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion at Bard College, as well as Director of Education at Makor, a Jewish cultural and arts center in New York. He was a Rabbinic Fellow at CLAL and has taught at Machon Pardes and Yakar Learning Community in Jerusalem. He currently serves on the Ethics Committee and the Task Force on Ethical Kashrut for Ohalah, the association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal. He has published articles on gender, textual practice, ecology and spirituality in numerous journals, and is currently preparing for publication of his book, Life Containing Texts: Gender and Writing in the Mishnah. Dr. Jacob Meskin is Assistant Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew College. He also helps train faculty for Me'ah. He has taught previously at Princeton University, Williams College and Rutgers University. He received his MA and PhD from Princeton University. His articles have appeared in Modern Judaism, The Journal of Religion, Soundings, Judaism, Cross Currents, and in several edited volumes. He is currently completing a manuscript on the relationship between philosophy and Jewish tradition in the work of Emmanuel Levinas. Rabbi Benjamin Samuels is the rabbi of Congregation Sha'arei Tefillah in Newton. He holds a BA in English literature and an MA in both Bible and medieval Jewish history from Yeshiva University. Jeffrey Spitzer is the chair of the Rabbinic Literature Department at Gann Academy-The New Jewish High School in Waltham. Spitzer is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary where he did doctoral work on the social history of the ancient synagogue. Spitzer was formerly the Senior Educator at Jewish Family & Life; he was the editor of the Jewish texts section of the acclaimed MyJewishLearning.com website (developed in conjuction with Hebrew College), and has contributed 50 articles to the site. Spitzer is also on the interdenominational editorial board of BabagaNewz, a Jewish values magazine for children in grades 4-7. Dr. David Starr is Hebrew College Vice President for Community Education, Assistant Professor of Jewish History and Dean of Me'ah. An expert on the subjects of modern Jewish history, Jewish education and adult Jewish learning in America, he has overseen a decade of Me'ah's national growth. Dr. Starr received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Dr. Claire Sufrin is the Schusterman Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow in Jewish Studies at Northeastern University. She earned a PhD in Religious Studies from Stanford University, with a focus on modern Jewish thought. Her dissertation, which she is currently revising for publication, addresses the German-Jewish philosopher Martin Buber's writings on the Bible. She has taught at Stanford University, the San Francisco Bay Area Lehrhaus Judaica, and in the Melton Adult Mini-School. Dr. Ronit Ziv-Kreger serves as Judaic Studies Coordinator and Family Educator at MetroWest Jewish Day School. She developed an award winning course for Hebrew College’s Prozdor program, designed a neighborhood-based preschool family “play and learn”program, and authored curriculum for the Israeli Ministry of Education. She is a graduate of the Pardes Educators Program, and a cantorial program at Jerusalem's Hebrew Union College. Dr. Ziv-Kreger received her PhD from M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management.
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