Faculty

The following scholars and educators have taught for CMTL over the past several years:

Rabbi Hayyim Angel
taught at the 2008 and 2009 professional conferences. 
Rabbi Hayyim Angel is the National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals (jewishideas.org). He also teaches advanced Bible courses to undergraduate, graduate, and rabbinical students at Yeshiva University, and lectures widely. He also serves as the Rabbinic Scholar at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York.

Binyamin Appelbaum, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times, spoke to the 2009 SBM fellows about journalism and ethics.

Dr. Shani Bechhofer
taught at the 2009 conference.
 She earned her Ph.D. in educational processes from Northwestern University. Shani consults independently to Jewish day schools across the country, coaching principals and lay leaders who wish to engage in systemic school improvement.

Rabbi Shalom Berger
 taught at the 2010 professional conference and participated in the public dialogue on Modern Jewish Education. He directs educational programs at the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education, part of the School of Education at Bar-Ilan University, including the Lookjed listserv and the Jim Joseph Foundation Fellowship. 

Rabbi Yaakov Bieler
taught at the 2010 professional conference and participated in the public dialogue on Modern Jewish Education. Rabbi Bieler was the rabbi of the Kemp Mill Synagogue in Silver Spring, Md until he retired in 2015. He 
has been a mentor in the Bar Ilan University Lookstein Center Principals' Program, and has written extensively on the philosophy of Modern Orthodox education.

Rabbi Chaim Brovender
, Rosh Yeshiva of WebYeshiva and President of ATID —The Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions in Jewish Education, in Jerusalem. He was the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hamivtar and Michlelet Bruria (today, Midreshet Lindenbaum). He 
Rabbi Brovender taught the 2011 Summer Beit Midrash Fellows about the religious value of looking at art, as well as partipated in a public forum about Modern Orthodoxy. 

Shelley Cohen is Founder and Director of the Jewish Inclusion Project which develops disability inclusion training programs for rabbinical students and Jewish leaders. She spoke with the 2014 Summer Beit Midrash fellows..

Rabbi Daniel Feldman taught at the 2008 professional conference.  Rabbi Feldman is a Rosh Yeshiva and Director of Rabbinic Resources at RIETS.

Rabbi Aharon Frazer has taught for the Campus Yom Iyyun program.  He is founder of Orach Mishor and previosuly served as JLI Fellow at Brandeis University.  He is founder of Orach Mishor and previosuly served as JLI Fellow at Brandeis University.

Mrs. Adena Frazer
has taught for the Campus Yom Iyyun program. She served as JLI Fellow at Brandeis University.

Professor Martin Gaynor is an economist at Carnegie Mellon. He taught the 2015 Summer Beit Midrash Fellows.

Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld has directed and taught for the Campus Yom Iyyun program.  Before makig aliyah, he was rabbi of Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh in Portland Maine and previously Orthodox Rabbinic Adviser at Harvard Hillel.


Rabbi Nati Helfgot has taught for the Summer Beit Midrash and presented at the 2008 professional conference. He is the Rabbi of Netivot Shalom as well as the Chair of the Department 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.

Rabbi Avi Heller
has taught often for the Campus Yom Iyyun Program.  He was Director of Education and JLI Fellow at Boston University Hillel, and is now Director of Education at the Manhattan Jewish Experience.

Rabbi Chaim Dov (Howard) Jachter taught at the 2007 professional conference and has given shiurim at the Summer Beit Midrash for many years. Rabbi Jachter is a member of the Beit Din of Elizabeth and a prominent mesader gittin.  He is the author of Gray Matter, Gray Matter 2, and Gray Matter 3, compilations of his articles on contemporary halakhic issues that present rigorous scholarship and sound judgement in highly accessible form.  Rabbi Jachter is also a very successful rebbe at the Torah Academy of Bergen County and a popular lecturer on a wide range of subjects.  More of his scholarship can be found at www.koltorah.org.

Rabbi David Jaffe administered the 2007 professional conference, and taught in the 2007 Summer Beit Midrash.  Rabbi Jaffe is the founder of the Kirva Institute and Freshman Class Dean and Instructor of Rabbinics at Gann Academy.
The Kirva Institute co-sponsored the 2009 conference, and Rabbi Jaffe taught at the 2010 conference.

Mark Jurkowitz,
Associate Director, The Project for Excellence in Journalism, spoke to the 2009 SBM fellows and a public forum about
The Ethical Responsibilities of News Consumers. He was the first Public Ombudsman for the Boston Globe.

Rabbi Ysoscher Katz
has taught for The Summer Beit Midrash and The Campus Yom Iyyun program.  He is Chair of the Department of Talmud and Director of the Lindenbaum Center for Halakhic Studies at Yeshivat Chovevi Torah as well as Rabbi of the Prospect Heights Shul.

Mrs. Deborah Klapper
has learned in the Summer Beit Midrash for many years and has taught several times for the Campus Yom Iyyun program. Mrs. Klapper has served as Instructor of Rabbinics at Gann Academy and Limudei Kodesh Principal at the Binah School.

Rabbi Dov Linzer
has taught for the Summer Beit Midrash program and the Campus Yom Iyyun program,  He is Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School.

Rabbi Nachman Levine has taught for the Summer Beit Midrash for many years. He teaches and writes about new (and ancient) literary approaches to studying Tanach and Midrash.

Rabbi Joseph Polak is Av Beit Din of the Boston Beit Din and Director of Boston University Hillel.  Rabbi Polak has taught shiurim for the Summer Beit Midrash for many years, has also taught for the Campus Yom Iyyun program, and presented at the 2009 Professional Conference.   

Rabbi Avi Poupko
taught for the Campus Yom Iyyun program.  He served as Orthodox Rabbinic Adviser at Harvard Hillel.

Rabbi Yona Reiss
taught at the 2007 professional conference.  Rabbi Reiss is Dean of RIETS and former Menahel of the Beit Din of America.

Jeffrey Rosen is a Professor of Law at
George Washington University and 
Legal Affairs Editor, The New Republic. His books include The Unwanted Gaze, a compelling argument for restoring the legal significance of personal privacy in American law, whose title was drawn from the opening conversation of Talmud Tractate Bava Batra.  His most recent book is The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America.  Prof. Rosen spoke to the 2009 SBM fellows and to a public forum.

Dr. Ted Rosenbaum taught the 2015 Summer Beit Midrash Fellows. He is an economist at the Federal Trade Commission.

Gary Rosenblatt
, editor and publisher of The Jewish Week of New York, spoke to the 2009 SBM fellows abuot Journalism and Ethics. 

Professor Chaim Saiman 
spoke to the 2015 Summer Beit Midrash. He is a scholar of Jewish law and private law at Villanova University's School of Law.
 
Rabbi Benjamin Samuels
has taught for the Summer Beit Midrash and the Campus Yom Iyyun Program and presented at the 2008 professional conference.  Rabbi Samuels is rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton and a doctoral candidate in Science and Religion at Boston University.  He is a sought after lecturer for a wide variety of community education programs.

Prof. Michael A. Stein
 is Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disabilities. Prof. Stein participated in the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He spoke to the 2014 Summer Beit Midrash fellows.

Shira Schoenberg, reporter at the Concord Monitor, spoke to the 2009 SBM fellows about journalism and ethics.

Rabbi Meir Sendor
has been the rabbi of the Young Israel of Sharon, MA for over two decades. He teaches Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, Hasidism, the philosophy of Jewish law, Jewish history, Jewish ethics and medical ethics all over the greater Boston area, and has presented at the 2009 and 2010 conferences.

Rabbi Jeremy Wieder presented on a CMTL panel on rabbinic authority over rabbinic law in 2015. Rabbi Wieder is a rosh yeshiva at RIETS. He holds the Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Chair in Talmud.