Rachel Besser is a professor of Bible at Stern College as well as a teacher and department chair at the Frisch School. A graduate of Stern College, Rachel received her Masters from Hunter College in English Literature.

Rabbi Ari Hart is the spiritual leader of Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob in Skokie, Illinois. He previously served as associate rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and director of admissions at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He is the co-founder or Uri L’Tzedek (Awaken to Justice): The Orthodox Social Justice Movement. Rabbi Hart was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and studied at Yeshivat Hakotel and the Pardes Kollel.

Rav Yitzchak Etshalom was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He
attended Yeshivat Kerem B"Yavne, Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Theological
Seminary and Yeshivat Har Etzion before receiving Semicha from the Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim. He teaches Tanakh and Gemara at the YULA High Schools, besides being a sought-after Scholar in Residence throughout North America and Israel. His critically acclaimed series "Between the Lines of the Bible" is a methodological guide to the study of Tanakh and his book on Amos was published in the fall of 2024 as part of the Koren Maggid Studies in Tanakh. Rabbi Etshalom lives in Los Angeles with his wife Stefanie, also a dynamic educator; their children live in Yerushalayim, Washington Heights and Teaneck.

Rabbi Nathaniel (Nati) Helfgot was ordained by RIETS and holds an MA in Education from the Azrieli Graduate School of Yeshiva University. He served for a decade as chair of the Dept. of Talmud and Rabbinics at SAR High School.

Previously, Rabbi Helfgot was the Chair of the Departments of Bible and Jewish Thought at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and before that, the Director of the Judaic Studies Curriculum at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls. He has also taught at the Frisch School and Torah Academy of Bergen County.

Rabbi Helfgot has been a leader in the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), The International Rabbinic Fellowship, and the Orthodox Caucus and Orthodox Forum sponsored by Yeshiva University.

Rabbi Alex Israel is an author, Tanakh teacher and international lecturer. He is a beloved teacher at Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi, Midreshet Lindenbaum, and records a daily 929 podcast - The Tanakh Podcast. 

Rabbi Israel holds degrees from London School of Economics, the Institute of Education, London, and Bar Ilan University. His books, "I Kings - Torn in Two"(Maggid/Koren, 2013) and "II Kings: In a Whirlwind" (Maggid/Koren 2018) have been received enthusiastically by teachers and laypeople alike. 

Rabbi Yehoshua Karsh is the director of The Torah learning Center of Northbrook, a suburb of Chicago. He grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of Marquette University where he received an M. Ed in Guidance and Counseling. Rabbi Karsh spent seventeen years in Jerusalem studying and teaching at various yeshivot and women's seminaries. Upon moving to Chicago, Rabbi Karsh became Director of Outreach at the Chicago Community Kollel. It was during his tenure at the Kollel that he helped found the Torah Learning Center.  Rabbi Karsh is also currently a Rabbi at Darchei Noam of Glenbrook, a vibrant new orthodox community in Northbrook.

Rabbi Dr, John Anthony Krug was with The Frisch Yeshiva High School in Paramus, NJ and served as the Dean of Student Life and Welfare. He also taught an honors chumash course and AP Psychology at the school, as well as serving as Director of Drama. In addition, he also served as an adjunct professor at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) as well as the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education from 2001-2018, when he made Aliyah. In Israel, he maintains a professional association with Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh, where he consults for and designed the pastoral counseling curriculum for the smicha students at World Mizrachi. He currently also teaches at the Amudim Seminary.

In addition to his semicha, he holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and drama/film making (BA), a Master of Science (MS) in Jewish Education, a Master of Arts (MA) in Psychology, a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) .

Rabbi Menachem Leibtag, an internationally acclaimed bible scholar and pioneer of Jewish Education on the internet, is well known in the Jewish community for his essays on the weekly Bible portion.  His vibrant thematic-analytical approach blends the methods of modern academic scholarship with traditional Jewish approaches to the Biblical text. He is best known for his ability to teach students how to study rather than simply read Biblical passages. As his essays focus on meta-themes in the Bible, his readership has expanded to students of the Bible from all religions and walks of life.

He routinely lectures around the globe, primarily as a Scholar in Residence in communities in North America; and is a regular guest lecturer for students at universities such as Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, NYU, Penn, and Brandeis.

He earned a BA in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia College and remains an active alumnus. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, Rabbi Levine received rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and was the winner of RIETS' writing prize. He holds an MPA in Public Policy from NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School and recently completed his coursework toward a doctoral degree in Early Modern Jewish History at Yeshiva University's Bernard Revel Graduate School. He is writing on Hakham Zevi, religious zealotry and the nature of rabbinic responsa in the early modern period. Rabbi Levine served as Rabbinic Intern, Assistant Rabbi and Associate Rabbi at The Jewish Center where he received practical rabbinic training and mentoring from Rabbi Ari Berman. Before joining the Center, he served as the educational director of the Lauder Foundation's Beit Midrash in Berlin, Germany and as the visiting scholar of Congregation Knesseth Israel in Birmingham, Alabama.

Rabbi Asher Lopatin is the spiritual leader of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation, a modern Orthodox synagogue in Chicago. On a Rhodes Scholarship, he completed an MPhil in medieval Arabic thought from Oxford University and did doctoral work at Oxford on Islamic fundamentalist attitudes toward Jews. He was ordained by Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik, Yeshivas Brisk, and Yeshiva University.

JUDAIC STUDIES BACKGROUND

Telshe Yeshiva, Cleveland ( 3 years ), Hebrew Theological College, Skokie (HTC), Ordination from HTC 1972, Selected as a Jerusalem Fellow (WZO) 1986-1987

GENERAL STUDIES BACKGROUND

BA History, Loyola University, ILMA.ADM.EDU, University of Illinois

CAREER

Ida Crown Jewish Academy, Chicago, Served as principal and is currently instructor of TaNaCH, Hartman (Formerly Blitstein Institute of HTC), Principal, Woodfield Community Hebrew School, Rabbi, Or Chadash Traditional Congregation, Schaumburg, Illinois

Daniel Rynhold is Dean and Professor of Jewish philosophy at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Yeshiva University. Prior to this, he spent 6 years in the department of theology and religious studies at King's College, London. He has also served as the Shoshana Shier Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto. He has written extensively on Jewish philosophy, with books including Nietzsche, Soloveitchik, and Contemporary Jewish Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2018) (co-authored with Michael J. Harris) and An Introduction to Medieval Jewish Philosophy (I.B. Tauris, 2009). Most recently, he co-edited The Routledge Companion to Jewish Philosophy (Routledge, 2025) (with Tyron Goldschmidt).  

Rabbi Weil, the son of a German cattle dealer, was raised on a cattle farm outside of Buffalo, NY . He attended Yeshiva University, concurrently completing his ordination at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (REITS) and a Master’s in Business Administration from NYU’s Stern School of Business. Weil served as the Senior Rabbi of Beth Jacob Congregation of Beverly Hills CA , CEO of Friends of the IDF and currently is the Senior Managing Director of the OU.

Before becoming a rabbi, Mark Wildes was on track to become part of the family legal legacy as a high profile attorney. He got his JD from the Cardozo School of Law and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University. While on this track, he and his father worked closely with Ed Koch to help “Refusenik” Jews obtain emigration rights when the Soviet Union tried to ban them from leaving.

Dr. Yael Ziegler is a senior lecturer in Tanakh at Herzog College and 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, 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 also been published in Hebrew: “רות: מניכור למלוכה” Her forthcoming book on Megillat Eikha is scheduled for publication in 2020.

Rabbi Michael Taubes has been involved in Jewish education, formal as well as informal, for over forty years, serving both in the classroom and in various administrative posts. He is presently a Rosh Yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) and at The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy-Yeshiva University High School for Boys. In addition, he is the spiritual leader of Congregation Zichron Mordechai in Teaneck, New Jersey, and delivers regular Shiurim and lectures both there and at the Beis Medrash of Bergen County, as well as at other venues. Many of his presentations may be found on the YUTorah website.

A graduate of Yeshiva College and a musmach of RIETS at Yeshiva University, Rabbi Taubes, who worked for a number of years with NCSY, helped found The Jewish Learning Experience of Bergen County, a communal adult outreach institution. He is the author of The Practical Torah, a collection of articles on topics in Halachah based on the weekly Parshah, as well as of numerous essays on an array of Torah subjects which have appeared in various Jewish publications. He has also done work for ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications as a writer and editor, co-edited High Holiday Machzorim and a Siddur featuring the comments of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik as well as a series focusing on Rabbi Soloveitchik’s insights on the holidays, and has been involved in other Torah literature projects under the auspices of RIETS, the Orthodox Union, and others.

Rabbi Taubes resides in Teaneck with his wife and family.