Board and Staff

Board                 

 

Founder & President: Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz

Rabbi_Shmuly@utzedek.org

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Founder and President of Uri L’Tzedek. He also serves as the President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash & as the Founder & CEO of The Shamayim  V’Aretz Institute. In 2012 and 2013, Newsweek rated Rav Shmuly one of the top 50 rabbis in America. In 2016, the Forward acknowledged Rav Shmuly as one of the 50 most influential Jews. Also, in 2016, the Forward named Rabbi Shmuly one of “The Most Inspiring Rabbis in America.” Rav Shmuly is the author of 14 books on Jewish Ethics. He studied at the University of Texas as an undergraduate and Harvard University for a Masters in Leadership and Psychology, and he completed a second Masters degree in Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva University. He completed his doctorate at Columbia University in Moral Development and Epistemology, and has taught as an instructor of moral philosophy at Barnard College and at the UCLA Law School. Shmuly was ordained by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah while he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow.

Rabbi Avram Mlotek

Rabbi Avram Mlotek is the co-founder of Base Hillel and serves as rabbi of its Manhattan site. Base Hillel is a growing movement of pluralistic rabbinic couples who use their homes as convening points for Jewish life centered upon hospitality, learning and service. A scion of Yiddish cultural activists, his own Yiddish cultural work has brought him to Sweden, Romania, China, Australia, Ethiopia and Israel. Mlotek’s writing has appeared in The Forward, Tablet, Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, The Jewish Week, The Huffington Post and Kveller among other blogs. In 2012, the New York Jewish Week selected him as a “leading innovator in Jewish life today” as part of their “36 Under 36” section and in May 2016, Mlotek was listed as one of America’s “Most Inspiring Rabbis” by The Forward. Mlotek received his BA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University and studied clinical pastoral education at The Jewish Theological Seminary. He received rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He is blessedly married to Yael Kornfeld, a social worker, and proud Tati to Revaya and Hillel Yosl.

Rosh Kehilah Dina Najman

Rosh Kehilah Dina Najman is the Marta d’Atra and Senior Rabbi of The Kehilah in Riverdale. From 2006-2013, RK Najman was the Marta d’Atrah at Kehilat Orach Eliezer in Manhattan (the first Orthodox synagogue to appoint a woman as senior Rabbi of a shul). She is head of the Gemara department at SAR Academy in Riverdale, NY. RK Najman has extensive experience teaching and speaking in the Jewish community on topics ranging from bioethics to environmental law. Rosh Kehilah Najman has served on the board of the Halakhic Organ Donor Society (HODS) for more than a decade and presently serves on the YCT and JOFA Advisory Boards as well. She participated in JOFA’s Agunah Task Force where she was the Education Committee chair.

Rosh Kehilah Najman studied at Michlalah in Jerusalem where she earned a teaching certificate. She went on to Yeshiva University, where she majored in Biology and minored in Judaic Studies, Music and Speech/Drama. Upon graduation, Rosh Kehilah Najman studied as a Drisha fellow and then went on to study at Nishmat, where she learned in their Machon Gavoha/Niddah learning program. She received her Rabbinic Ordination from Rabbi Professor Daniel Sperber. Rosh Kehilah Najman was a Torat Miriam Fellow and earned her certification in Bioethics and Medical Humanities from NYU/Einstein Bioethics and Medical Humanities Certificate Program. She compiled Jewish legal source material for HODS and has developed and taught halakhic curricula for the Drisha Institute as well as Ma’ayanot and SAR Yeshivot. RK Najman is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

Evan Farber 

Evan is currently an Associate in the Commercial Litigation Group at Reed Smith LLP.  He graduated in 1999 from Yale University with Distinction in Religious Studies, and in 2003 from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.  Evan has also clerked for Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York and for Judge Robert S. Smith of the New York Court of Appeals.

Evan has provided pro bono counsel to several synagogues and other Jewish institutions.  He has served on the Board of Directors of Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, where he had previously completed a year-long fellowship, and of his shul, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.  Evan has also volunteered for other organizations, including the Unemployment Action Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, and the Anti-Defamation League.

 

Current Staff                 

Operations Manager: AJ Frost

AJ Frost is the operations manager for Uri L’Tzedek. A Phoenix native, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Arizona State University with a Bachelors of Science in Political Science and a double minor in History (American) & Religious Studies and went on to earn a Masters at Columbia University in American Politics and Religion. In his spare time, AJ is an active member of Moishe House Phoenix, a board member for NowGen, an editorial consultant for Avalanche Comics Entertainment, and a freelance writer and editor.

Communications Manager: Davina Bookbinder

Davina Bookbinder is in her last year of rabbinic studies at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California. She has been passionate about social justice for as long as she can remember and helped to create and run Uri L’Tzedek’s Amos Fellowship from 2011 to 2014. She also finds passion in web design and anything tech related. Currently, Davina is the Rabbinic Intern at Shir Tikvah, an independent congregation in Portland, Oregon. Davina is an advocate for social justice, both generally and for matters relating to gender and sexuality. In what little free time she has, she runs her own web design company and takes care of her adorable beagle, Cali.

Program Manager: Amanda Graff

Amanda Graff is completing her Master of Arts in Human Rights Studies at Columbia University, where her academic and professional interests intersect at fighting for the right to healthcare in the United States. In her spare time, she can be found reading Russian literature, attending classes at her local JCC, and participating in the Avodah Social Justice Fellowship. 
  

 

 

Past Board Members           

Co-Founder, Executive Board Member: Rabbi Ari Hart

Adam Block

David Gebler

Shira Hecht-Koller

Dr. Emilie S. Passow

Ellen Rosen Singer

David P. Stone

Jeffrey M. Wice

Ivan Wolkind

J. David Jacobs 

Karin Fleisch

Dyonna Ginsburg

 

Past Staff Members               

Senior Educator: Rabbi Mike Moskowitz

Program Fellow: Adina Lichtman

Director of Programming: Yael Keller

Director of Operations: Hillary Levison

Executive Director: Steven Kraus

Executive Director: Rabbi Ari Weiss

Program Director: Raizel Druxman

Associate Director of Programming: Na’amit Sturm Nagel