Rabbi Mark Dratch - Program Rabbi
Rabbi Mark Dratch is the founder of JSafe. ( The Jewish Institute Supporting an Abuse-Free Environment).
Rabbi Dratch served as Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America.
He was a member of the RCA Executive Board and a member of the Orthodox Caucus.
He served as a congregational Rabbi for 22 years. Congregations include: Congregation Agudath Sholom, Stamford, Connecticut; Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, Toronto, Ontario; Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, New York, New York, Boca Raton Synagogue, Boca Raton, Florida ( Rabbi Dratch was the founding Rabbi); Congregation Beth Israel, Schenectady, New York. He also served as the Webbe Rebbe - answering "Ask the rabbi" questions addressed to the Orthodox Union on its web site.
PROFESSOR MARC B. SHAPIRO
Marc B. Shapiro holds the Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies at the University of Scranton. A graduate of Brandeis (BA) and Harvard (PhD), he is the author of numerous books, articles, and reviews and is a popular scholar in residence at synagogues around the world. He has written Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy and The Limits of Orthodox Theology, both of which were National Jewish Book Award Finalists. Other books of his include Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox, Studies in Maimonides and His Interpreters, and Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History. He is currently writing a book on the thought of Rav Kook and regularly publishes widely-read scholarly articles on the Seforim Blog.
Nechama Price
Nechama Price is the Director of Yeshiva University’s Graduate Program for Advanced Talmud Studies (GPATS), from which she earned certification in 2003. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Bible and Judaic Studies departments at Stern College, where she has been teaching since 2004. Nechama earned a Masters Degree in Jewish Education from Azrieli Graduate School, and an MA in Bible from the Bernard Revel Graduate School. She is also a graduate of the inaugural class of the American branch of Nishmat’s Yoetzet Halacha Program, and currently serves as a Yoetzet Halacha (Halakhic Advisor) to the communities of Teaneck, Englewood, Tenafly, Livingston, West Orange, and Long Branch NJ. Nechama recently published her first book, Tribal Blueprints, analyzing the lives and personalities of the twelve tribes. She is a community scholar and speaks all over North America. She lives in Bergenfield, NJ with her husband & four children.
Rachel Roth
Rachel Roth serves as a Senior Director in the AIPAC Northeast Region where she oversees the AIPAC Real Estate, New Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Sephardic Divisions. She is honored to have the opportunity to partner with AIPAC activists and leadership who lead efforts to encourage and persuade the U.S. government to enact policies that create a strong, enduring and mutually beneficial relationship between the United States and Israel.
With over 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector, Rachel began her career as a social worker and then shifted into non-profit management. Given her passion for the Jewish community and Israel, Rachel has worked in different Jewish days schools, as a Hillel Director and in the arena of pro-Israel politics. Rachel especially enjoys her current role at AIPAC, where she empowers activists to lead the pro-Israel movement locally in the Greater New York area, as well as in Washington D.C.
As a staunch Zionist, Rachel believes that her work at AIPAC is not merely about politics. It is about ensuring continuity of the values shared by the U.S. and Israel, such as democracy and human rights. Rachel lives in Teaneck, New Jersey with her husband Avi and their six children.
Rachel Levitt Klein Dratch
Rachel is currently Director of Education Innovation at Prizmah, the center for Jewish day schools. She is a leadership coach, teacher trainer and scholar.
Previously, Rachel served as Director of Student Life and Israel Guidance at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community High School in Baltimore, Maryland. She brought her experience from her time at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Maryland, where she served first as the Assistant Principal of the Lower School and then as the Dean of Students of the High School.
Rachel's authentic care for people, contagious curiosity and deep knowledge have made her a sought after speaker, consultant and coach.
Dr. Edward Shapiro
Edward Shapiro grew up in Washington, D. C. and graduated from Georgetown University. He attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University and received his Ph.D. from Harvard. He taught at the University of Maryland, St. John's University (Minnesota), and Seton Hall University. He has lectured on American and American Jewish history throughout the United States and in Israel and Europe. He is the author of over two hundred essay and reviews in American and American Jewish history, and has written several books, including "Crown Heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot" and "A Time for Healing: American Jewry Since World War II." He has received research grants from the American Philosophical Society, the Lucius Littauer Foundation, and other organizations and has been as fellow of the Oxford Center for Jewish Studies in England.
DR. JOSEPH SHATZKES
Joseph Shatzkes is a Board Certified Physician in Cardiovascular Diseases, Internal Medicine, Echocardiography, and Nuclear Cardiology. He is a member of Englewood Cardiology Consultants in New Jersey and is an attending physician at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. His interests include preventative and consultative cardiology and medicine, critical care cardiology, and medical ethics. After graduating summa cum laude from the prestigious Brooklyn College BAMD program, he completed medical school at Downstate University Medical Center. There, as well, he graduated summa cum laude and was honored as president of the exclusive Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, and was nominated by his peers as an inaugural member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center where he was recognized with an award for Excellence in Clinical Medicine. He subsequently completed his cardiovascular fellowship training at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.