2020-21 Cohort

Rabbanit Devorah Evron – Previous Director of Ohr Torah Stone’s Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership (WIHL).

Michal Froman – recognized Israeli grassroots interfaith activist.

Rabbanit Dr. Yaffa Gisser – prominent Israeli educator specializing in Jewish Thought.

Rabbi Nehemia Krakover – Principal of Ohr Torah Stone’s Neveh Channah High School for Girls.

Rabbi Elchanan Nir – Cultural and Religious Editor of the leading Israeli National Religious newspaper Makor Rishon, and a prominent Israeli author and poet focusing on issues of spirituality.

Rabbanit Oriah Mevorach – senior faculty at two Ohr Torah Stone institutions: Midreshet Lindenbaum and Neveh Channah.

Rabbi Eyal Vered – rabbi of the “Yachdav” community in Petach Tikva, faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Torah Studies at Bar Ilan University, and author.

Rabbi Matanya Yedid – doctoral student in Education at the University of Córdoba in Spain. Founded the Bnei Akiva Alumni Movement. Teaches at Bar Ilan University and several seminaries, while also serving as the head of the Mosaic Rabbis Program.

2021-22 Cohort

Rebecca Abrahamson – co-director of Al-Sadiqin, an organization that researches the common heritage of Islam and Judaism. Written and edited many articles related to interfaith dialogue for news outlets such as the Jerusalem Post, the Israel National News service, and the Jewish Press.

Rabbi Dr. Michael Ben Admon – head of Ohr Torah Stone’s Maarava program, which trains rabbis to work as emissaries in Sephardic Jewish communities around the world. Interested in halakhic approaches to non-Jews, as well as the position of the National Religious community in Israel on this issue.

Rabbi Yitzchak Ben David – community rabbi and teacher in the Israeli city of Tzur Hadassa. Works with leaders in the nearby Arab town of Husan to build relationships between their two communities.

Rabbanit Yaffit Gold – graduate of Ohr Torah Stones’ Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership (WIHL). Serves as the rabbanit of a school for religious and secular students in Tzur Hadassah, working to create a spiritual community where religious and secular Jews can celebrate together. Specializes in the connection between spirituality and Jewish law.

Rabbanit Dr. Hannah Hashkes – completed the Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership’s five-year program and is now the Director of WIHL’s International Halakha Scholars Program (IHSP). Published a book on rabbinic discourse. Has taught philosophy, Jewish studies, and feminism on high school and university levels.

Rabbi Yoni Lavi – educator, writer, and speaker, and among the heads of the Kehillim organization, which provides Jewish content to different population groups through workshops and speakers. Has significant experience working with teachers, youth, singles, and couples. Formerly a high school teacher, he now serves as a community rabbi in Petach Tikva.

Rabbi Nir Manussi – teacher and writer, who spent many years exploring different religious traditions before returning to delve deeply into his own Jewish traditions. Particularly drawn to Hassidic Jewish approaches, focusing his teaching and writing in this area. Published two books, one on the connection between Torah and science and another on the role of women in Judaism from a Hassidic perspective (together with Yitzchak Ginsberg).

Yifat Misgav  – teaches citizenship and oversees educational pedagogy at Ohr Torah Stone’s Neveh Channah High School for Girls. Facilitates continuing education courses for teachers and school principals and develops educational content for Herzog College. Trained as a yoetzet halakha (advisor on matters of ritual family purity).

Rabbanit Bili Rebenstein – head of the beit midrash and a ramit (senior Talmud teacher) at Midreshet Lindenbaum. Beloved by her students, serving as a teacher, role model and mentor to them. Many of her students go on to serve in the IDF and reach out to her for guidance and advice throughout their service.

Rabbi Dr. Avraham Stav – teaches at the Robert M. Beren Machanaim Hesder Yeshiva and at Ohr Torah Stone’s Neveh Channah High School for Girls. In his doctoral dissertation, he dealt significantly with comparisons among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Netanel Shai Yechieli – group facilitator who works for Beit Morasha, a center for Jewish leadership. Has significant experience running training workshops in facilitation for teachers, counselors and IDF officers. Among the groups he has worked with at Beit Morasha is a forum from religious leaders from throughout Israel, including Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, and Bahai.

2022-23 Cohort

Rabbi David Ben Zazon – educator, former rabbi of Kibbutz Ein Tzurim, founder of the Yonatan Mechina, and a partner in a wide range of other educational initiatives. One of the authors of the Agreement for Mutual Respect, a legal, halakhic prenuptial agreement designed to prevent the use of the get as a bargaining chip in divorce.

Rabbi Menachem Bombach – founder and director of the Netzach Haredi educational network, which combines Torah and academic studies. Member of faculty at the Mandel Institute, he possesses a Master’s in Public Policy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Lectures widely in Israel and in the Diaspora on subjects related to society and education. Main areas of interest: education and intercultural dialogue.

Rabbanit Avital Cohen Brenner – rabbanit of the Tzahali pre-IDF preparatory program for religious young women and a doctoral student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, writing about women’s entry into the field of teaching and arbitering Jewish law. Research fellow in the Maskilot program at the Hartman Institute.

Rabbanit Racheli Fraenkel –  yoetzet halakha (advisor on matters of ritual family purity) and a teacher of Talmud and halakha at Nishmat, as well as head of the advanced halakha studies program at Matan. Amongst the founders of the Jerusalem Prize for Unity and the Israeli “Day of Unity,” which supports programs fostering unity across Israeli society.

Rabbi Shaul Judelman – co-head of Shorashim (literally: Roots), a network of Israeli-Palestinian centers fostering dialogue and connection throughout Judea and Samaria.

Rabbanit Chani Kleiman – ramit (senior Talmud instructor) at the Migdal Oz Beit Midrash for Women and a doctoral student in Jewish Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Currently researching the literature of the early kabbalists and the Book of the Zohar.

Rabbanit Yonat Lemberger – principal of Ohr Torah Stone’s Katz Oriya High School for Girls – a school renowned for providing high level Torah and academic studies that include opportunities to major in the creative arts, within a warm, supportive atmosphere. Instructor of young high school principals who are just starting out, and a lecturer in the “Avnei Rosha” program for training principals at the Jerusalem Michlala College. Member of the administrative committee of Herzog College.

Noa Mevorach – community social worker active in the central Israeli city of Lod, where she resides and where she and is active in programs fostering good neighborly relations between Arabs and Jews. Involved in a number of groups addressing national conflict through interfaith meetings.

Rabbi Elchanon Miller – founder and director of “People of the Book,” an initiative through which to teach Judaism to the Arab world. Teaches Torah at Machon Pardes. Research fellow at the Hartman Institute.

Rabbi Shay Nave – Director of Ohr Torah Stone’s Monique and Mordecai Katz Yachad Program for Jewish Identity, and a teacher of Talmud, Midrash, and Philosophy.

Rabbanit Vardit Rosenbaum – on the faculty of the Mandel Institute for Leadership and of the “Shluchei Tzibur” organization for the development of leadership within Haredi society, in cooperation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. An attorney and rabbinical court advocate, she is also the founder and director of Midreshet Otot,  which teaches Talmud and Jewish Thought to Haredi women, under the auspices of the Herzog College.

Rabbi Benayahu Tvila – Haredi educator in Jerusalem. Ordained by Yeshivat Slobodka as a rabbi and a dayan (rabbinical court judge). Teaches Torah and pedagogy in a number of Torani and academic frameworks, and has served a wide range of positions within the Ministry of Education. Published poems in a variety of publications.