Etzion News An English E-Newsletter for Yeshivat Har Etzion
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Tobi
Kahn '72
The Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA), located near Lincoln Center, NY, will
present Tobi Kahn: Sacred Spaces for the 21st Century,
an exhibition of 30 recent paintings, sculptures and objects by the noted
New York artist from October 16 - January 24. If any alumni/board
members/friends of the yeshiva are interested in a lecture at the museum
on the exhibit, he will be happy to arrange something. For more
information: www.mobia.org Rabbi
Michael Balinsky
'74, Executive Vice President of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, an organization
representing over 200 members of the Chicago
rabbinate. Prof.
Nathaniel Berman
'76 After
working as an international law professor for 20 years
(Northeastern Law School and Brooklyn Law School), he is starting a
new job this year as the "Rahel Varnhagen Professor of International
Affairs, Law, and Modern Culture" at the Watson Institute for
International Studies at Brown University. He is also currently
working on a doctorate at University College London in the Department of
Hebrew and Jewish Studies with a dissertation on the Zohar. He published a book last year
(in French), entitled, "Passions et Ambivalences: Le
Nationalisme, le Colonialisme et le Droit International." But, he
says, his real claim to fame is that he was a classmate of Rav Danny Wolf
in elementary school (Yeshiva
Dov Revel in Forest Hills, NY) and his roommate for one year at
Gush! Rabbi
Shalom Z. Berger, Ed.D.
'77 has been named director of the Jim Joseph Foundation Fellowship
program. A partnership between the Jim Joseph Foundation and Bar-Ilan
University's Lookstein Center, the program seeks to identify, train and
empower leading educators in both formal and informal Jewish education
settings to develop and lead virtual Communities of Practice in their
professional fields. Rabbi
Aron Hier
'82, Director of Campus Outreach, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles,
CA Dr.
Alan Jotkowitz
'82 has been named Director of the Lord Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits Center
for Jewish Medical Ethics at Ben-Gurion University,
Beer-Sheva. Rabbi
Yitzchak Blau
'86, Rosh Kollel at Yeshivat Shvilei Hatorah Simi
Chavel
'87 started a new position as assistant professor of Hebrew Bible at the
University of Chicago Divinity School Rabbi
Jeff Kobrin
'92 Principal
of North Shore Hebrew Academy High School, Great Neck,
NY Avi
Shmidman
'92 received his PhD (with highest distinction) from Bar-Ilan University.
His dissertation was entitled: The Poetic Versions of the Grace after
Meals from the Cairo Genizah. At the doctoral commencement, Avi delivered
the address on behalf of the students; his remarks can be found online at:
http://sites.google.com/site/shmidman/Home/CommencementAddress.pdf.
Upon receiving his degree Avi was granted a tenure-track position at
Bar-Ilan University in the Department of the Literature of the Jewish
People, sponsored by the Alon Fellowship of the Israeli Council for Higher
Education. Rabbi
Micah Gimpel
'92 While part of the Holliswood Community Kollel, he started a
program http://www.shemayisrael.com/smicha/smicha.htm
with the intent of leading a chaburah of people in a halacha program that
would culminate in their being tested for semicha. Recently, after a
fairly intensive weekend of informal oral exams and a final written exam,
Michah graduated and received semicha from the program, which afforded him
the flexibility to learn at his own pace and without disrupting his
professional pursuits. Richard
Hidary
'93 Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies at Yeshiva University, Stern
College for Women. Aaron
Koller
'95, Assistant Professor of Bible at Yeshiva University, received his
Ph.D. in Bible from Bernard Revel Graduate School (YU)
Benji
Shiller
'95 Mazal Tov on receiving Semicha Chaim
Saiman
'96, promoted Associate Professor of Law at Villanova Law School,
Philadelphia, PA Rabbi Aytan
Kadden
'96 PC Mazal Tov on receiving Israel's prestigious Teacher of the Year
Award. Aytan is the Rabbi and Jewish
Studies Coordinator in a Mamlachti-Dati school in Kfar Adumim, with both
religious and secular students. The award ceremony took place in the
presence of President Shimon Peres and Minister of Education Gideon Saar.
The competition was initiated by Yediot Ahronot, in cooperation with Mifal
Hapayis and the Histadrut Hamorim. Only five winners were chosen by a
special committee from thousands of recommendations which were sent in
from throughout the country. Aytan
views teaching as a shlichut and way of life. His colleagues praise him as
being an initiator, who is dedicated and modest, and successfully
transforms Jewish studies into a meaningful subject for all his students.
His vision is for students to assume responsibility and to act according
to Jewish values, also if they are not shomrei masoret. "I would like
these values to guide them in both their thoughts and actions on behalf of
society," he says. Through
his teaching, he has learned to be open and flexible in life and has come
to understand that, though there are different types of people who think
in different ways, everyone has the power to make a
contribution. Dr.
Marc Romain
'97, qualified as specialist physician, Johannesburg, South
Africa Yonah
Feldman '97 Mazal Tov on receiving semicha
this year. Yonah is in his second year of medical
residency Rabbi
Aaron Greenberg
'97 PC, beginning second year at the Self-Jewish Learning Initiative on
Campus at York University in Toronto, Canada, together with his wife,
Miriam Rael
Strous MD '98 PC, Professor of Psychiatry,
Tel Aviv University and Program Director of the New York State/American
Program of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv
University Rabbi
Tzvi Sinensky
'98 Moved to Einstein Medical School where he is serving as the AECOM
Synagogue Rabbi Abe
Mezrich
'98 PC would like to tell Gush alumni about TorahParsha.com, a website/e-mail list
of his short, poetic pieces on Parshat HaShavuah, updated weekly.
Everyone's welcome to visit—he is happy to count Gush alumni among his
growing numbers of regular readers. Hillel
Zukor
'99, completed his PhD in Neuroscience from McGill University and has
started medical school at McGill as well. Rabbi
Myles (Shlomo) Brody
'01 PC, Ram at Yeshivat Hakotel, recently started the Text and Texture
blog (text.rcarabbis.org) for the journal Tradition Jonathan
Moses
'03, teaching Limudei Kodesh at Stern Hebrew High School in
Philadelphia Jay
Reidler
'03, graduated from Harvard College this past June and is now
attending Harvard Medical School Lance
Blumenthal
'03, qualified as attorney, Johannesburg, South
Africa Zalman
Bassin
'04 Mazal Tov on receiving semicha, Victoria,
Australia Menachem
Freedman
'04 first came into contact with Sudanese refugees in Israel while serving
his tour of duty as a Machal soldier along with the Yeshivat Har Etzion
Machzor 39. This summer he decided to return to Israel in order to
volunteer with NGO's working to help the more than 20,000 African refugees
that live in Israel today. Sudanese and Eritreans make up the vast
majority of these asylum seekers. Menachem
volunteered for four months with the Hotline for Migrant Workers, one of
the most prominent NGO's dealing with refugees in Israel today. His duties
included interviewing refugees, translating documents and writing press
releases as well as doing in-depth research on Israeli and international
humanitarian law. A major focus of his work was directed against the
'Infiltrator's Law' proposed in Knesset last year, which would criminalize
refugees as well as threaten the volunteers who help them with
incarceration. Menachem was interviewed on this and other subjects in
Maisonneuve magazine, Yediot Achronot and the Israeli Chadashot 10 news
network. For more information, please contact Menachem at menachem.freedman@gmail.com
or visit www.hotline.org.il. [Pictured: Menachem Freedman and
Gabriel, a Sudanese refugee, on a visit to Yad Vashem.] Phil
Getz '08
PC, Assistant Editor of the Jewish Review of Books, a new
intellectual magazine scheduled to launch in early 2010, Cleveland, OH Steven
Exler
'98 Mazal Tov on receiving
Semicha Moshe
Tur-Paz
(Machzor 23) is principal
of the Shaked School at Sde
Eliyah, a regional religious school in the Emek Hama'ayanot area near Beit
She'an. The school came in first in the Combat Unit Competition of the IDF
and Education Ministry, with 87 per cent of its graduates serving in
combat units, commando units and volunteer units for soldiers lacking
combat qualifications. He
adds: "Service in a combat unit isn't just an existential need of the
State of Israel. It is also an expression of friendship, love of the land,
ambition, leadership, physical and mental stamina and an awareness of
collective duty. The Education Ministry should develop, encourage and
reward the teaching of values in schools, including volunteerism,
compassion, tolerance of the other, development of humanitarian values and
creativity as well as contributing to the state even if it means risking
one's life." Rabbi Mark
Smilowitz
'88 completed his 40th
episode of online "Classroom Teaching" podcasts, concluding his first
season. The podcasts are a project of the Lookstein Center at Bar Ilan
University. These podcasts aim to help newer teachers of Judaic
Studies cope with the challenges of the classroom, but there is also
a lot of material of interest to veteran teachers and administrators. Each
episode is a 15 to 20 minute thoughtful reflection on a particular issue
teachers grapple with, based on years of experience and study. The second
season will include a number of interviews with master teachers who will
share some of their secrets. All of the episodes can be downloaded from www.lookstein.org/podcasts .
Each new, bi-weekly episode can also be downloaded
automatically through a free subscription at the Itunes
Store. Mark
has been a teacher of limmudei kodesh for 12 years in middle
schools, high schools, and post-high school seminaries on both the East
and West Coasts of the United States and in Israel. He also has many years
of experience mentoring individual teachers in both in the US
and Israel, and he lectures in various Hebrew and English
speaking educational institutions to teachers and rabbis on the
art of teaching. He is currently pursuing an M.Ed. in Jewish Philosophy at
Herzog College. He resides in Beit Shemesh with his wife and four
children. Rabbi
Shmuel (Saul) Paves
'91 - Principal of Jewish Studies - Iavne Beith Chinuch - São Paulo –
Brazil Avi-Gil
Chaitovsky
'01, Business Information Analyst II at WellPoint, Inc. | |
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