The Jewish Education Experience Podcast

Zahava Bauer grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey and attended RYNJ and Maayanot there. She then ventured to Israel and attended Midreshet Harova, and then made her way to Stern College in NY where she double majored in English Literature and Jewish Education. She then completed a dual masters at Graduate Program for Advanced Talmud Study and Azrieli, finishing also with teaching certification in Englis...

Aviva Lauer is the Director of the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators . She majored in Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women, and earned a Master’s degree in Midrash at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies. Aviva is a Jewish educator with 25 years of experience in curriculum development, classroom teaching, school administration and educational consulting. Upon making...

Rabbi Rick Schindelheim has taught Jewish History, Tanakh and Talmud at the Fuchs Mizrachi School in Cleveland, OH since 2013. He currently serves as the chair of the Talmud Department and is the Upper School Judaic Studies Coordinator. His informal educational experience includes over a decade of work at Camp Stone in a variety of capacities. After studying in Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh in Israel fo...

Rabbi Mark Trencher is the president of Nishma Research, which has been studying the Orthodox Jewish Community since 2015. He lives in West Hartford, Connecticut, but considers himself a “Brooklyn Boy,” having grown up in the very first chasidish shtiebel in Flatbush. He received semicha from RJJ (the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School), taught in three Orthodox day schools and three universities. He also...

Michelle Farbman is the Dean of Students at Shulamith school for girls in Long Island, NY. She began teaching in 2008 at YCQ in NY. She was a morah there for 6 years and continued on to the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, NY where she was a morah and became director of Middle school girls. After being there for 7 years, Michelle came to Shulamith as a new administrator.  She received her Bachelors i...

Rabbi Mitchell Rocklin is the academic director and dean of the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education. His prior work on Jewish Classical Education as a research fellow with Tikvah was featured in the Wall Street Journal . He received his PhD in history from the CUNY Graduate Center, held postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and Yeshiva University, and taught at both CUNY and Pri...

Naomi Hollander grew up in Brookline, MA. She attended Maimonides school through 12th grade. She then attended michlalah in Yerushalayim and then got her BA from Stern College in NY. She worked at Manhattan Day School and Yeshiva of Central Queens and now has been at Shulamith School for Girls for the past 16 years teaching second grade Judaic studies.   Gems: Find another educator you can emulate...

Esty Freund is an educator with over a decade of experience in Kiruv and she is closing in on her eighth year in Jewish education. She has dedicated herself to teaching the next generation of Jewish women and mothers. Her career has taken her from serving as an assistant and teacher at HALB, (The Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, NY) to teaching for CAHAL, (Communities Acting to Heighten Awareness and...

Rabbi Chaim Jachter is a prominent rabbi who serves as the rabbi at Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck, NJ and is a popular Torah teacher at the Torah Academy of Bergen County, NJ.  He also serves as a Dayan on the Beth Din of Elizabeth, NJ and has acquired an international reputation of excellence in the area of Get administration. He has authored fifteen books on is...

Rabba Daniella Pressner is Head of School at the Akiva School in Nashville, TN. Born in Jerusalem, and raised in Chicago, Daniella received her BA from Barnard College in Religion and Dance and her MA from Vanderbilt University in Jewish Studies. She has studied at Drisha, Pardes, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was awarded a prestigious DSLTI fellowship for future leaders of Jewish D...

Rabbi Avery Joel has been at the Fuchs Mizrachi School in Cleveland, OH since 2008 as a teacher, the Principal of the Stark High School, and now as the Head of School. Prior to moving to Cleveland, Rabbi Joel served as a teacher and grade coordinator in the Ramaz Upper School in NY and was heavily involved in camps and other experiential education settings. Following two years of studying Torah at...

Orit Lasser was born in Israel but spent her teenage years with her family in New Jersey, where she attended Bruriah High School. She has a first degree in Education with focus on Tanakh and Oral Law, and a second degree in NPO Management from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She learned for three years in Midreshet Lindenbaum and in various different frameworks and Beit Midrash programs.  Orit...

Slovie Jungreis Wolff is a noted teacher, author, relationships and parenting lecturer. She is the leader of Hineni Couples and daughter of Rebbetzen Esther Jungreis. Slovie is the author of the parenting books, Raising A Child With Soul and The Soul of Parenting. She gives weekly classes and has lectured throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Panama, and South Africa. You can reach slovie at slovie...

In this episode we take a visit down memory lane and feature highlights from our top ten most popular interviews.   Rabbi Elazar Grossman: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1257653/stats/episodes/9122149-learning-to-engage-students-intellectually-and-emotionally-with-rabbi-elazar-grossman Rabbi Gil Perl: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1257653/stats/episodes/9096009-figuring-out-the-bigger-picture-with-educat...

Rabbi Menachem Leibtag is the founder of the Tanach Study Center www.tanach.org . He is an internationally acclaimed bible scholar and pioneer of Jewish Education on the internet. Rabbi Leibtag teaches at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel. He is best known for his ability to teach students how to study Tanach. Rabbi Leibtag also teaches at Matan, Midreshet Lindenbaum, & Yeshivat Shaalavim; and rou...

Shaindel Hecht, is a shluchah to the University of Connecticut along with her husband since 2005. She has been an early childhood educator at the Hebrew Academy now known as New England Hebrew Academy for close to 17 years. She brings her creativity to life inside her Reggio inspired classroom.  Gems:  Find ways to point out the gifts of each student. Show Hashem’s presence with all that we do. He...

Chedvi and Miri the sisters behind Alef Bet Sensory. They believe children learn best by a multi-sensory approach to learning. Their tactile Alef - Bet products provide a multi-sensory way for the little ones to learn about the Alef - Bet. Gems: Allow children to learn and explore materials through play. Live with Judaism. Education is something that we have to do. Model the behavior we want our s...

Nechama Liba Backer expressed interest in Judaic studies, art, and working with people from a young age and has been involved ever since! She earned an Associates Degree in Fine Arts and a Bachelors in Judaic Studies after attending two years in seminary in Jerusalem, where she received a teachers certification. After teaching art for years privately and in several institutions in Baltimore, MD, N...

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin is the Mara D’Atra of the BAYT (Beth Avraham Yosef of Toronto) in Thornhill, Ontari,o Canada, and honorary president of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA).  Gems: Inspiring teachers can help inspire their students. Look for opportunities to help people grow spiritually. G-d is the background of everything a Jewish educator has to discuss. It’s important to have clarity w...

Goldie Plotkin, a native New Yorker, is a Rebbetzin and Shlucha (Chabad emissary) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Together with her husband, Rabbi Avrohom Plotkin, they run a vibrant and successful Synagogue and Chabad House.  She has been the director of Torah Tots preschool for 35 years and is the Executive Director of Tamim Academy. Goldie presented the Keynote address at the Chabad Annual conven...

Rabbi Howard Finkelstein is the former rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel, Kingston, Ontario, Canada and Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beit Tikvah, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He was the founding rabbi and Judaic principal of Yitzhak Rabin High School (full day school high school) Ottawa, Ontario. He is also the Jewish Studies Head Emeritus of the Ottawa Jewish Community School. Rabbi Finkelstein ear...

Nechamy Segal is the Founder and Lead English & Hebrew Specialist of Scenic Route Literacy and Hebrew Scouts. Drawing on her experiences and professional training as a classroom teacher, special education coordinator, clinical interventionist, graduate-level professor of reading, and mom of six, Nechamy provides a perfect blend of academic structure with a nurturing sensitivity.    Nechamy lov...

Batsheva Frankel worked in the film industry for many years but decided to leave it for a more meaningful career in education. Using her creativity, she taught in various school settings, and is now an educational consultant. Batsheva teaches professional development workshops and courses through New Lens Ed. She has a Masters of Arts in Teaching from The American Jewish University and a Bachelor’...

Chanie Kirschner is the director of Gesher Judaic Studies Program, an afternoon Judaic studies program for children in grades K-6. She holds a Masters in Jewish Education and has over 20 years of experience both in formal and informal Jewish education. She created Gesher to provide an affordable, yet comprehensive Judaic studies program for elementary-age students not in Jewish day school in Boca...

Sara Stave Beckerman is a Jewish educator, curriculum writer and consultant.  Educated and inspired by her studies at JTS's Davidson School of Jewish Education, Sara earned her MA in Jewish Studies with a concentration in informal Education in 2004.  She has been making an impact in the world of Hebrew schools and Jewish camps for over 20 years, serving as teacher, edTech consultant and Rosh...