Managing Editor
Davida Kollmar is a Data Scientist living in Washington Heights, NYC. Formerly, she was the Program Administrator at the Center for Modern Torah Leadership, running their Summer Beit Midrash program. She has also tutored Statistics and Jewish Studies to Associates Degree students at Yeshiva University’s Katz School, and taught Halakhah and Physics Lab at Yeshiva University High School for Girls – Central. Davida is a graduate of NYU, GPATS, Stern College for Women, and Nishmat’s Shana Ba’Aretz program.
Editors
David Fried teaches Judaics at Ramaz Upper School. He has semikha from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and has learned at Yeshivat Har Etzion. He lives in New Jersey with his wife Molly and their two sons Elchanan and Saadia.
Chesky Kopel is a lawyer, writer, and lecturer living in Philadelphia with his wife Talya and their two children. His writing has appeared in Yashar, Project 929, Moment, Tablet, The Lehrhaus, and law reviews.
Tamar Ron Marvin was born in Israel and raised in the United States. She is a scholar, writer, and educator currently based in Los Angeles and making aliyah with her family in 2024. She holds a Ph.D. in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a B.A. in Literature and Journalism from New York University. A 2022 Vatichtov writing fellow and an inaugural Sefaria Word-by-Word fellow, Tamar is at work on her first book, “The Worlds of the Rishonim: An Intellectual History of Medieval Jewish Life, 500-1570.” Tamar is also a 2022-23 iCenter fellow with a master’s concentration in Israel education. She remains fascinated by the thought of the Rishonim, with a new interest in the process and philosophy of halakha, especially its unfolding in the State of Israel.
Tamar’s writing has appeared in academic and broader media, including The Lehrhaus, and she is active online promoting Jewish learning. She has developed virtual learning experiences since 2013, teaching and lecturing, both in person and online, in a number of university and Jewish settings, including American Jewish University, the Wexner Heritage Foundation, and the American Sephardi Federation. Tamar is passionate about creating access to foundational Jewish texts—in their full complexity—for all who wish to approach them. Her website is trmarvin.org.
Chaya Sara Oppenheim is pursuing a PhD in Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a B.A. summa cum laude from Barnard College, where she studied English and history. Her work focuses on American Jewish culture, and she teaches and has written about the language, literature, and lifestyle of Jewish communities. She serves as editor of The Shekel, a numismatic journal, and her writing has appeared in Tablet, HaMizrachi, Mishpac
Tzvi Sinensky is Upper School Principal and Director of Judaic Studies at Main Line Classical Academy, and Director of the Lamm Heritage Archives at Yeshiva University. He recently completed his PhD in Jewish Philosophy on the subject of rabbinic conceptions of manhood at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. A popular lecturer and author, Tzvi completed three book-length series published by Yeshivat Har Etzion’s Virtual Beit Midrash, and has served as a Lehrhaus editor for over four years. Tzvi lives in Lower Merion, PA, with his wife and three children.
Consulting Editors
Miriam Krupka Berger currently serves as Dean of Faculty at the Ramaz Upper School in Manhattan, NY, where she has taught Tanakh and Jewish Philosophy since 2006. In addition to her current role, she shapes Judaic Studies curriculum and teaches interdisciplinary seminars. Ms. Krupka completed an M.A. in Jewish Philosophy from Columbia University where her thesis work focused on the messianic writings of Isaac Abarbanel. Ms. Krupka has lectured widely to adult audiences in a variety of venues and sees Biblical Text as the foundation for all thoughtful philosophical discussion. Miriam currently lives in Teaneck, NJ with her husband, Dr. Ari Berger, and sons, Etai, Gavriel, and Shai.
Elli Fischer is an independent writer, translator, and editor. He is editor of Rabbi Eliezer Melamed’s Peninei Halakha series in English and cofounder of HaMapah, an project that applies quantitative analysis to rabbinic literature. He is a founding editor of The Lehrhaus, and his writing has appeared in numerous Jewish publications. Among the issues he writes about are religion and politics in Israel; the interplay between legal and nonlegal elements of the Talmud; Jewish religious culture; and Central European Jewish History. Previously, he was the JLIC rabbi and campus educator at the University of Maryland. He holds degrees from Yeshiva University, rabbinical ordination from Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, and is working toward a doctorate in Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. Originally from Baltimore, he currently resides in Modiin, Israel, with his wife and four children.
Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at the Ramaz Upper School and is on the faculty at Drisha. She has a B.A. in the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from N.Y.U. School of Law. Miriam studied at Midreshet Lindenbaum and in the Drisha Scholar’s circle, as well as at other programs in Israel and Boston. She previously practiced commercial litigation at a large law firm and clerked for the Hon. Debra Freeman, U.S.M.J., in Manhattan. Miriam serves as a guest lecturer at synagogues and programs around the Northeast, and has written on topics of Jewish and Torah interest for The Lehrhaus, The Forward, the Center for Modern Torah Leadership blog, and Project 929. She also serves on the board of the Center for Modern Torah Leadership and on the Advisory Board of The Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership. Miriam lives in New Jersey with her family.
Yosef Lindell is a lawyer, writer, and lecturer living in Silver Spring, MD, with his wife and two sons. He has an MA in Jewish history from Yeshiva University and a JD from NYU Law. His writing spans several genres, from science fiction to Jewish scholarship. In addition to writing for the Lehrhaus, he’s been published by the Atlantic, the Jewish Review of Books, Tablet, JTA, the Forward, Modern Judaism, Hakirah, Jewish Action, and other venues. Before joining the consulting editorial board, he was an editor at Lehrhaus for more than four years, which included a period as its managing editor.
Chaim Saiman is a Professor of Law at Villanova University where he teaches Jewish law, Contracts and Insurance law. He has served as the Gruss Professor of Talmudic Law at Harvard Law School and University of Pennsylvania Law School, as a fellow in Religion and Public Life at Princeton University, and as a visiting professor at Hebrew University and Bar-Ilan. Chaim has also served as an arbitrator on rabbinical courts and as an expert witness in insurance law and Jewish law in federal court. His book Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law was Published by Princeton in 2018.
Jeffrey Saks is the founding director of ATID – The Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions in Jewish Education, in Jerusalem, and its WebYeshiva.org program. He is Editor of the journal Tradition, Series Editor of The S.Y. Agnon Library at The Toby Press, Director of Research at the Agnon House in Jerusalem, and faculty member at Midreshet Amudim. A three-time graduate of Yeshiva University (BA, MA, Ordination), Rabbi Saks has published widely on Jewish thought, education, and literature.
Jacob J. Schacter is University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University. He previously served as Dean of the Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Institute in Boston, Rabbi of The Jewish Center in New York City, and Rabbi of the Maimonides Minyan in Brookline, MA. Dr. Schacter holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages from Harvard University and received rabbinic ordination from Mesivta Torah Vodaath.
Dr. Schacter is co-author of the award winning A Modern Heretic and a Traditional Community: Mordecai M. Kaplan, Orthodoxy, and American Judaism (1996), author of The Lord is Righteous in All His Ways: Reflections on the Tish‘ah be-Av Kinot by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (2006), and close to one hundred articles and reviews in Hebrew and English. He is the editor of Reverence, Righteousness and Rahamanut: Essays in Memory of Rabbi Dr. Leo Jung (1992), Jewish Tradition and The Nontraditional Jew (1992), and the award winning Judaism’s Encounter with other Cultures: Rejection or Integration? (1997), and co-editor of The Complete Service for the Period of Bereavement (1995) and New Perspectives on Jewish-Christian Relations: In Honor of David Berger (Brill, 2012). He is the Founding Editor of The Torah u-Madda Journal, a prestigious academic publication which has gained international acclaim.
Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld is the Director of Education at Sefaria, a new online database and interface for Jewish texts. She is passionate about Talmud education and expanding Jewish textual knowledge for all. Her previous experience includes serving as Director of Education at the Center for Jewish Life – Hillel at Princeton University as part of the OU’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus. She studied Talmud and Jewish Law at various institutions of Jewish learning in Israel and America including Midreshet Lindenbaum, Drisha, Nishmat, and Beit Morasha and speaks on various Jewish topics at synagogues, schools, and in university communities. She lives in Chicago with her husband and their five children.
Shlomo Zuckier, a Founder of the Lehrhaus, is the Flegg Postdoctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies at McGill University and a lecturer at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. He recently completed a PhD in Religious Studies at Yale University as well as studies in Yeshiva University’s Kollel Elyon. Shlomo was formerly Director of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Yale University. An alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion and Yeshiva University (BA, MA, Semikhah), he has lectured widely across North America, and is excited to share Torah and Jewish scholarship on a broad range of issues. He has taught at Yale Divinity School, Yeshiva University, the Drisha Institute, Bnot Sinai, and Tikvah programs, and has held the Wexner and Tikvah Fellowships. Shlomo serves on the Editorial Committee of Tradition, is co-editor of Torah and Western Thought: Intellectual Portraits of Orthodoxy and Modernity, and is editing the forthcoming Contemporary Uses and Forms of Hasidut.
Founders
Zev Eleff
Ari Lamm
Shlomo Zuckier
Staff
Copy Editor – Jonathan Engel earned his BA in mathematics with a minor in Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College, where he was also an active member of the OU-JLIC community. He completed further academic coursework in Judaic Studies at Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and Yeshiva University, and spent four years studying at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh in the old city of Jerusalem. Jonathan earned his JD, magna cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School, where he was on the editorial staff of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law. Jonathan is currently a Court Attorney for the New York State Unified Court System, and is on the editorial staff of Jewish Bible Quarterly.
Copy Editor – Ashley Stern Mintz graduated from Emory University in 2019 with a BA in History, Religion, and Jewish Studies. She also works as an academic copyeditor at Emory School of Law in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, where she assists professors with their publications. Ashley currently lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband, Ariel, and their son, Samuel.
Copy Editor – Avi Herzog received semikhah from Hebrew Theological College (Skokie Yeshiva) and a Masters of Hebrew Literature from HTC’s Jewish University of America. Avi studied in Yeshivat Sha’alvim for two years. He was a pulpit rabbi for several years, as well as a teacher of adult education and a classroom teacher, until his aliyah in 2019. He has been a scholar-in-residence in several communities in the US, Canada, and Israel. He currently delivers shiurim at the OU Israel Center and teaches a course in Jewish Philosophy at Yeshivat Migdal HaTorah. In addition to teaching, Avi freelances as a translator and editor. His work includes translating and/or editing doctoral dissertations and articles for academic journals. He and his wife Leah live in Givat Ze’ev, where he enjoys serving as a ba’al tefillah, ba’al keri’ah, and delivering shiurim in Beit HaKenesset Neve HaGivah. Avi is proud that his two adult children also live in Israel.
Website and Social Media Manager – Matt Feiler is a STEM Educator at Yavneh Academy. In the past, Matt edited the All About Audiology podcast and also hosted The Jewish Music Show, a radio show that was streamed on WFDU HD2 Teaneck. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends, traveling, and listening to music. Matt enjoys supporting the Lehrhaus team through social media outreach and spreading the word about its new content.
Site Operations and Technology by The Berman Consulting Group.