Meet Our Staff

DAVID STEIN

Originally from Skokie, IL, David Stein has served as the William Fischman Rabbinic Intern at the Jewish Center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. After studying at Yeshivat Har Etzion for two years, David went on to study Pre- Engineering, Physics and Political Science at   Yeshiva University, graduating from The Jay and  Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program at Yeshiva College. In addition to his Rabbinic studies at Yeshiva University, David holds a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University and has worked as a researcher in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University.

David has also been extensively involved in Jewish education, as a program director at Camp Moshava of Wild Rose, WI, as the Youth Director of the Young Israel of East Brunswick, NJ, and most recently as the co-author of a Talmud and Bible curriculum for Jewish high schools. David’s wife, Talya, is working towards her Doctorate in clinical psychology at St. John’s University.David serves as the official Rabbi of  the  Rimon Center.

YAIR SHAHAK

Yair Shahak has devoted extensive study to Tanakh, Talmud, and numerous other works in the corpus of Judaic literature. At the age of 22, he was appointed a full-time Instructor of Hebrew at Yeshiva University, one of the  youngest full-time faculty members in the history   of the institution. After his first year of teaching he  was nominated by the student body for the Lillian F. and William L. Silber Professor of the Year Award. Also a cantor, composer and classically trained violinist, Yair is conversationally fluent in a large number of Semitic and Indo-European languages, both ancient and modern. His poetry has been published in Hador: The Hebrew Annual of America and his first book on Hebrew grammar is slated to be published in early 2012. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Bible, Music, and Hebrew Language & Literature, as well as an M.A. in Biblical and Semitic Studies, both from Yeshiva University. Yair comes to Rimon regularly to lead services in prayer and Torah-reading, and thoroughly enjoys all that Rimon and its congregants have to offer. He can be reached at linguisticharmony@gmail.com.

DOV LERNER

has recently graduated from Yeshiva University with a degree in English Literature; Upon graduation he was awarded the ‘Rose Rachel and Lewis Siegel Award for Excellence in Talmud’ and the ‘Ilan Tokayer award for the Most Outstanding Student in English Literature’.

Prior to this he studied for three years in Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel under the tutelage of Rabbi Aharon Lichtnestein.

Dov hails from London, and is currently enrolled in the rabbinical program at Yeshiva. Dov will be spearheading our Rimon salon programming, run our Yom Kippur services and develop our Beit Midrash at Rimon. He is also a Rabbinic intern at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan.

WILLIAM HERLANDS

is a senior at Princeton University pursuing a major in electrical engineering. He grew up in New York City, and attended SAR High School, a modern Orthodox yeshiva high school located in Riverdale, New York. Before matriculating to Princeton, he studied at Yeshivat Maale Gilboa, an Israeli religious seminary located in the Gilboa mountain range, which utilizes modern, academic scholarship to illuminate traditional yeshiva disciplines. At Princeton, Will is the Religious Life Chair of Yavneh. Will teaches along with Julie Meyer our Teen learning initiatives.

HANA SNOW

a Princeton University sophomore hails from Newton Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Maimonides (a Modern Orthodox Jewish school in Boston). She is on the board for Yavneh at the Center for Jewish life. Upon graduating high school she spent a year studying in Israel at Machon Maayan, a seminary based in Beit Shemesh. “I am looking forward to a great semester of lively discussion and good learning with the Rimon teen program. I have heard such wonderful things about it”

 

JORDAN ROSENBERG

Recently ordained with semicha from Yeshiva University, Jordan Rosenberg currently coordinates a research and consultancy project with six day schools on spiritual education on behalf of the Azrieli Graduate School of Education. Jordan was included in the Jewish Week’s inaugural cohort of “36 under 36: The Next Wave of Jewish Innovators” for his work with Traveling on the Path (T.O.P.) and wilderness Jewish education.

Jordan is a trained Leave No Trace educator, a Student Conservation Association (SCA) trail-crew leader, and a certified Wilderness First Responder. Originally from Pittsburgh, Jordan completed the Wexner Graduate Fellowship while teaching Talmud and Shakespeare at Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB and MTA), serving as an associate rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom in Lawrence, NY, and working for the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC). He is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania. Jordan will lead our wilderness programs with teens .