Our dedicated faculty and administration work with each student to help them develop their unique vision and voice.

Administration and Staff

  • Dr. Ora Horn Prouser
    CEO and Academic Dean
  • Cantor Michael Kasper
    Dean of Cantorial Studies and Student Life
  • Rabbi Dr. Matthew Goldstone
    Assistant Academic Dean
  • Rabbi Dr. Jill Hammer
    Director of Spiritual Education
  • Cantor Lisa Klinger-Kantor
    Dean of Admissions
  • Rabbi Beth Kramer-Mazer
    Assistant Dean of Student Life and Director of Placement
  • Rabbi Rob Scheinberg, PhD
    Interim Rabbi-in-Residence
  • Rabbi Jef Segelman
    Director of Fieldwork
  • Suli A. Fassler
    Senior Director of Administration

    Suli’s professional experience is in Jewish communal service with a focus in administration and operations management.  Most recently, Suli worked as the executive director of a synagogue in Westchester, New York. Having previously been part of the AJR administration, Suli returned as our Senior Director of Administration and oversees office administration and operations. Suli is delighted to be part of our team, and has an integral role in the Academy’s administration, continued growth, and service to our students and AJR community.

  • Rabbi David Cavill M.Div.
    Director of Financial Aid and Operations

    David has a professional background in non-profit finance, operations, management, and fundraising. Prior to joining the AJR staff he was the Controller of the NYC Audubon Society. Cavill was ordained as a rabbi at AJR in 2017. He is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s undergraduate joint program with Columbia University, and attended Yale Divinity School where he earned the degree of Master of Divinity. He is the Treasurer at the Forest Hills Jewish Center where he is a member and teaches in the religious school at the Reform Temple of Forest Hills. In 2014 Cavill completed a certificate in mixology from the Columbia School of Bartending.

  • Rabbi Daniel Price
    Controller

    Danny learned his accounting skills serving in a similar capacity for Price Financial Group for over thirty years. After nearly two decades as a Rabbi, Educator, and Song Leader in Southwest Fairfield County, CT, Danny retired from Congregational life in 2018. He spends most of his time at his new found home, Tucson Arizona, where he is involved at Congregation Or Chadash-Kol Ami. For the past six years he has led high Holy Day Services as Rabbi and Cantor on Block Island. He continues to play music while leading worship services, and over the years he has truly found his voice in synagogue work. His Tifilla Group R-DAF plays and leads services in congregations from Pennsylvania to Rhode Island. Before being ordained as a rabbi, Danny enjoyed a 21 year career as a television producer/director in New York.

  • Linda Ripps
    Registrar and Bursar

    Linda comes to the Academy for Jewish Religion with many years of experience in both non-profit administration and Jewish education. Prior to joining AJR, Linda designed and implemented programmatic initiatives and systems at several communal institutions, including The American Friends of the Ghetto Fighters Museum, United Synagogue Youth (USY), Behrman House Publishing, and PJ Library.

  • Marisa Smith
    Media and Communications Director

    Marisa comes to AJR with a BA in Communications from Rutgers College and 20 + years of marketing experience. Her areas of expertise include social media, brand management, strategic planning, agency management, media planning, public relations and promotions. Marisa volunteers as the social media manager for her synagogue in New Jersey and for her local Hadassah Chapter, where she serves as President. She is excited to be a part of our AJR community, joining the staff to expand our social media presence and to provide zoom support for our students, faculty and staff.

  • Rabbi Ellie Shemtov
    Librarian

    Ellie holds a BA in Music and an AMLS in Library Science from the University of Michigan, and she received rabbinic ordination from AJR in 2014. In 1996, Ellie created and designed the first-of-its-kind website Ellie’s Torah Trope Tutor, a teaching tool for chanting Torah, Haftorah, and the Megillot.  She has worked for many years as a film librarian/archivist at a variety of institutions in the Washington, DC area, including the University of Maryland at College Park, the National Archives and Records Administration, and as Head of Film Cataloging at the Library of Congress. Ellie is the founder of Beit Yosef, a faith-based recovery community helping those who are battling the disease of addiction and she is currently the rabbi at Rutland Jewish Center in Rutland, Vermont. Ellie plays piano and flute in her congregation’s interfaith klezmer band and enjoys spending time hiking around Vermont and talking shop with her handsome rescue pooch, Ba’al “Bali” Shemtov.

  • Rosemarie Bodur
    Executive Assistant

    Rosemarie comes to AJR with many years of administrative experience in non-profit, as well as private sector event and trade show management, and real estate and property management.  For the past three and a half years, Rosemarie worked as the executive assistant at a synagogue in Westchester, New York.  Rosemarie helped to support the clergy and executive director and assisted in maintaining the administration of the synagogue office, including the congregation’s membership, programs and activity, and the religious school and early childhood programs. Rosemarie is a dedicated volunteer with Paws Crossed Animal Rescue in Elmsford, New York. She is delighted to be on the AJR staff & looks forward to being part of the school’s continued growth and success.

Our vision of learning and living in a pluralistic Mekom Torah is reflected in our faculty who represent the full spectrum of the modern Jewish world. The diversity among our faculty and our students leads to an enriching environment in which all questions are embraced, all struggles are valued, and all ideas are respected.

Part-Time Faculty

  • Rabbi David Almog (Liturgy, Codes)

    Rabbi David Almog (Liturgy, Codes)

    Lecturer

    PhD Candidate, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Rabbi, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah; B.A., Columbia University/The Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Melton Lead Educators’ Program, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Campus Rabbi, Columbia/Barnard Hillel; Teaching Assistant, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

  • Ilana Davidov (Hebrew Language)

    Ilana Davidov (Hebrew Language)

    Associate Professor

    Honorary Doctorate in Pedagogy, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America; MA, Applied Linguistics, Columbia University; BA, Hebrew Language and Literature, Tel Aviv University; Teaching Certificate and Teaching License, Tel Aviv University.

  • Rabbi Jeffrey Hoffman, DHL (Liturgy, Rabbinics)

    Rabbi Jeffrey Hoffman, DHL (Liturgy, Rabbinics)

    Professor

    DHL in Liturgy, Rabbi, MA, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America; BA, The State University of New York at Albany; Author of Karov L’Chol Korav, For All Who Call: A Manual For Enhancing the Teaching of Prayer (2000) and Weaving Prayer: An Analytical and Spiritual Commentary on the Jewish Prayerbook (forthcoming).

  • Dr. Job Jindo (Bible)

    Dr. Job Jindo (Bible)

    Associate Professor

    PhD, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America; M.A., Harvard University; B.A., The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Berkowitz Fellow at NYU Law School. He is the editor of Yehezkel Kaufmann and the Reinvention of Jewish Biblical Scholarship (2017), as well as the author of Biblical Metaphor Reconsidered: A Cognitive Approach to Poetic Prophecy in Jeremiah 1–24 (2010) and numerous articles.

  • Rabbi Dr. Leonard Levin (Philosophy, Personal Theology)

    Rabbi Dr. Leonard Levin (Philosophy, Personal Theology)

    Professor

    Rabbi, PhD, Jewish Theological Seminary; PhD, Brandeis University; BA, University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Seeing With Both Eyes: Ephraim Luntshitz and the Polish-Jewish Renaissance (2008) and Why God Is Subject To Murphy’s Law (1992); translator of Eliezer Schweid: The Classic Jewish Philosophers and Philosophy of the Bible (2009) and Isaac Heinemann: The Reasons for the Commandments (2008); collaborated with Gordon Tucker on A.J. Heschel’s Heavenly Torah (2006).

  • Cantor Sol Zim (Nusah)

    Cantor Sol Zim (Nusah)

    Professor

    Cantorial study at The Jewish Theological Seminary; M.A., New York University; B.A., Brooklyn College; Cantor, Hollis Hills Jewish Center (since 1964, life tenure); master-cantor, master coach, educator, concert performer, international recording artist of twenty cassettes and cd’s featuring all original music; Zimray Ent., Publisher, eleven books of original music used by rabbis, cantors and educators, The Cantors Assembly has endorsed Cantor Zim’s Musical Siddur: Shabbat as the standard synagogue music of Conservative congregations throughout America.

Adjunct Faculty

The faculty below have taught at AJR in the last 2 years.

  • Medical Doctor, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • PhD & MA, Religion, Princeton University; BA, Hebrew Bible, Hebrew University; Associate Professor, Adjunct

  • Rabbi and MA, Hebrew College, BA, Harvard; Director of Innovation Training and Curriculum, Clal; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Studied Sociology and Advertising at Haifa University; Certified Nurse Aid, Manchester Community College; Hebrew Instructor at University of Hartford; Hebrew Teacher at Congregation Kol-Haverim in Glastonbury, CT. Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbi and MA, American Jewish University; BA, Economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst; National Director of Innovation, Clal; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal; MFA, Bennington College; MA and BA, Williams College; Co-founder, Bayit: Building Jewish; Rabbi, Congregation Beth Israel; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • D.Th. in Clinical Pastoral Counseling, University of Theology and Spirituality; Rabbi, Schechter Institute, Jerusalem; BA, International Relations, Harvard University; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • PhD, University College London; JD, Harvard Law School; BA, Yale College; Rahel Varnhagen Professor of International Affairs, Law, and Modern Culture, Brown University

  • Cantor, Rabbi, MA, MSM, Jewish Theological Seminary; Rabbi, AJRCA, BA, Political Economy, Tulane University; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • PhD in Talmud and Rabbinics and Rabbinic Ordination, Jewish Theological Seminary; MA, Rabbinics, JTS; BA, Philosophy, Yale; Publications include Yedid Nefesh bencher, “Storytelling at the Seder,” “Is Fixed Liturgy Consistent with Heartfelt Prayer?”, The Yedid Nefesh Haggadah (forthcoming); Assistant Professor, Adjunct.

  • Rabbi, Jewish Theological Seminary, Director of Education, Kehilat Romemu; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • MA, Arts and Culture Writing, Columbia University; BA, Queens College. Lecturer, Adjunct.

  • BA, New York University, MM (Master’s of Music), Mannes College of Music. Guitar studies with Alexander Bellow, Roselyn Dlugin, Eliot Fisk. Theory studies with Robert Cuckson, L. Poundie Burstein, David Loeb, Carl Schachter. Member, The Americas Vocal Ensemble. Chair, Guitar Department, Mannes Preparatory Division. Faculty, Mannes Extension Division. Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, Academy for Jewish Religion; MA, Jewish Education, Hebrew College; BA, University of Chicago; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Ph.D, Jewish Philosophy, Hebrew University; M.A, Jewish Thought, Hebrew University; B.A., Psychology, Hebrew University; Visiting Scholar in Jewish Studies Department, Rutgers University, Author of several books and articles on the topics of Gender and Sexuality, and the Middle East Conflict. Assistant Professor, Adjunct

  • PhD, Modern European History, CUNY; MPhil, History, CUNY; MPhil, Jewish History, Rabbi, and MA, Jewish Studies, Jewish Theological Seminary; BA, History, Wesleyan University; Senior Rabbi at Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center, Ridgewood, NJ; Adjunct Professor of Jewish Law, Zacharias Frankel and Abraham Geiger Colleges; Associate Professor, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, Private Ordination; PhD Candidate, Harvard University; MA, JTS; BA, MIT.

  • Rabbi, MA, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; BA, Hebrew, Queens College; Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Beth-El, NY, Lecturer, Adjunct

  • PhD, Ethics, Brandeis University, Director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution (CRDC) and James H. Laue Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia; Professor, Adjunct

  • PhD Candidate, Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity, Princeton University; MPhil, Political Thought and Intellectual History and MPhil, Hebrew and Aramaic Studies, University of Cambridge, Jesus College; BA, Philosophy and Religion, Columbia University

  • Rabbi, The Academy for Jewish Religion; M.A. in Judaic Studies, Gratz College; M.D., Johns Hopkins University; B.S., Tufts University; Certification, American Board of Pediatrics. Assistant Professor, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, Academy for Jewish Religion; MA, Jewish Studies, Gratz College; BA, Writing, Carnegie Mellon University; Rabbi, Beth Shalom vEmeth Reform Temple; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Cantor, The Academy for Jewish Religion; BA, Dramatic Literature, Purchase College of the State University of New York. Cantor Joseph has been associated with Temple Beth Shalom in Hastings, New York, for more than thirty years. She is also a professional songwriter and writes, directs, and acts in original plays with her husband, Albi Gorn. Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, AJR; MA in Jewish Education, HUC-JIR; Education Director, Kol Dorot Reform Community; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, The Academy for Jewish Religion; Doctoral study in Classics, NYU and City University of New York; M.A. in Classics, Columbia University; B.A. in Greek and Classics, Brooklyn College. Outreach Fellow, Union for Reform Judaism. Formerly: Adjunct Lecturer, Brooklyn College Department of Classics; Continuing Education Instructor, City University of New York, Foreign Language Institute. Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbi and MA, JTS; Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Cantor, Academy for Jewish Religion; Cantor, Congregation Sons of Israel, Nyack, NY; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, Private Ordination; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • PhD in Jewish Studies, Ohio State University; MA and BA, History and Religion, Brown University; Schusterman/Josey Chair of Jewish History and Director, Schusterman Center for Judaic and Israel Studies, University of Oklahoma; Publications include, Maurice Samuel: Life and Letters of a Secular Jewish Contrarian, Joseph: Portraits Through the Ages, The Making of the Modern Jewish Bible: How Scholars in Germany, Israel and America Transformed an Ancient Text, An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thinkers, and Between Philosemitism and Antisemitism: Defenses of Jews and Judaism in Modern Germany; Professor, Adjunct.
  • Rabbi, Academy for Jewish Religion, Cantor and MSM, Jewish Theological Seminary; Rabbi/Chazzan, East Midwood Jewish Center, Brooklyn, NY, Lecturer, Adjunct

  • M.A., Experiential Jewish Education, JTS; B.A., Sociology, Brandeis University; Founder & Head-T’fillahsopher, the Light Lab

  • PhD, Bible, Bar Ilan University; Rabbi and MHL, Jewish Theological Seminary; BA, Psychology and Hebrew, University of Minnesota and Hebrew University; Assistant Professor, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, ALEPH Ordination Program; Spiritual Director, ALEPH Ordination Program; J.D., Harvard Law School; M.P.P., Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; B.A., Williams College. Spiritual Leader of Congregation Shir Ami (Greenwich, CT), 2023-present; Rabbi of Temple Beth El of City Island (New York, NY), 2015-2023. Senior Builder, Bayit: Building Jewish. Faculty in Spiritual Direction, ALEPH Ordination Program. Rabbi Markus served as co-chair of the ALEPH Board, as instructor at universities in New York. Rabbi Markus presides as judicial referee in New York Supreme Court, Ninth Judicial District, as North America’s only pulpit rabbi also to maintain a full-time oath of office. Senior Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Professional Musician; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • DSW. Candidate, NYU; MSW, Columbia University; M.A., JTS; Lecturer, Adjunct.

  • Rabbi and MAHL, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion; BA, Religion and Jewish Studies, Princeton; Founding Director, Sinai and Synapses; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, Academy for Jewish Religion & Aleph Ordination Program; BA, New York University, Gallatin; Rabbi, Temple Beth-El, Jersey City, former Adjunct Lecturer, Aleph Ordination Program; Rabbinic Fellow, CLAL Rabbis Without Borders; Lecturer, Adjunct.

  • MA, Urban Planning, Teaching Certificate, Hebrew University; BA, Educational Psychology and Geography, Hebrew University; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Cantor and MSM, Jewish Theological Seminary; MM and BA, Composition, Manhattan School of Music; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbinic Ordination, M.A., The Jewish Theological Seminary of America; B.H.L., The University of Judaism; A.B., Princeton University. Certificate in Positive Psychology, Whole Being Institute; Certification in Interpersonal Communication and Parenting, Pepperdine Center on the Family; Mediation Training, Pepperdine Law School – Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution; Synagogue Administration Course Certification, Hebrew Union College. Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel, Emerson, NJ. Publications include Lifecycles 1: Jewish Women on Life Passages and Personal Milestones; Lifecycles 2: Jewish Women on Biblical Themes in Contemporary Life; Lifecycles 3: Jewish Women on Holy Days and Communal CelebrationsLecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbinic Ordination and MA in Hebrew Letters, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, OH; BA, Oakland University; Rabbi, Beth Am Temple, Pearl River, NY; Lecturer, Adjunct.
  • M.A., Film and Media Studies, Columbia University; B.A., Clark University. Awards including, Go! Emerging Artists Commissioning Program; Jason Michael Simpkins Endowment for Screen Studies.”  Presenter at several conferences including Popular Culture & American Culture Association Conference, Circus and Its Others 2 (Prague); American Men’s Studies Association. Publication: “Under the Bi(g) Top: An Investigation of the ‘Bisexual Vantage’ in Circus Cinema,” in Circus Space: The Big Top on the Big ScreenLecturer, Adjunct

  • PhD in Jewish Studies, University of California, Berkeley; BA, Philosophy, Yeshiva University; Assistant Professor, Adjunct.

  • PhD, Talmud, Jewish Theological Seminary; BA, University of Pennsylvania; Assistant Professor, Adjunct

  • Rabbi, MA, Academy for Jewish Religion; MPA, Columbia University; Director of Community Engagement & Lifelong Learning, Bet Torah, NY. Lecturer, Adjunct

  • Rabbi & MAHL, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; Blended Track Faculty and Associate Dean, Cincinnati Campus, ACPE Certified Educator; Lecturer, Adjuct.

  • PhD and Rabbi, Jewish Theological Seminary; Rabbi, Private Ordination; EdM, Harvard, BA, Education, Dartmouth; Assistant Professor, Adjunct

  • Doctorate, Voice Performance, University of Texas at Austin; Cantor, Shirat HaNefesh; Professor, Adjunct

  • BA in Woodwind performance and Jazz Composition, Berklee College of Music. PhD in Ethnomusicology, City University of NY. A multi-instrumentalist (saxophone, clarinet, flute, nay, oud, frame drums, and piano) and educator for many years in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary school settings focusing on jazz, Arab and Jewish musical traditions, and improvisation and composition. Lecturer, Adjunct

  • PhD, Human Services Psychology, University of Maryland Baltimore County; MA, Developmental Psychology, Johns Hopkins University; BA, English, Towson State University; Clinical Director, The Resource Group Counseling and Education Center; Associate Professor, Adjunct

  • Rabbi and MA, Jewish Theological Seminary; BA, Applied Arts, Ryerson Polytechnic University; Senior Rabbi, Hollis Hills Jewish Center, Flushing, NY; Lecturer, Adjunct

  • PhD, University of Toronto; Rabbi, International Institute for Secular Humanist Judaism; PhD, MA, BA, Hebrew University.