Article Authors

Janet Dolgin is an anthropologist and a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University. She and her family reside in West Hempstead, NY

Sara Breger is a senior at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, Maryland. Next year she will be studying at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem, after which she will attend the University of Pennsylvania.

Shira Breuer is principal of the Pelech School in Jerusalem, and is one of the founders of Kolech, the Religious Women’s Forum.

Zvi Grumet is a Jewish educator with many years of Jewish day school experience in the US. He currently resides in Jerusalem.

Stephanie Newman Samuels teaches Tanakh to middle and high school students at the Maimonides School in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Chana Kehat is one of the founders and the chair of Kolech, a women’s organization which is the ideological counterpart of JOFA in Israel.

At 83, Ray Walker was the oldest, but perhaps the most energetic participant in the JOFA mission to Israel. Ray composed and recited – from memory – the above poem at se’udah shelishit on our final night in Israel:

Ariel Hurwich Braun lives in Jerusalem. Formerly a curator of Judaica, she is now working for the Adi Foundation that is dedicated to bridging the gap between art and Judaism.

Paula Gribetz Gottlieb is a family therapist and consultant in Westchester

Rabbi Yonah Reiss, Esq. is the Director of the Beth Din of America, which is affiliated with the Rabbinical Council of America. This article has been excerpted from the recent RCA convention program binder with the permission of the RCA.