Department Chairs
Department Chairs serve on the VAAD, developing and supervising the curriculum relevant to their content area. They maintain relationships with core teachers and adjunct teachers in the content area, and advise the Dean of Faculty regarding both scheduling of courses and appropriate teachers for the program. Department Chairs are members of the Education Circle, the locus of coordination between their roster of courses and those comprising the larger curriculum for all programs.
Chair of the Jewish History Department
Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Ph.D., D.Min. h.c.
Chair of the Jewish History Department, Director of Studies, Member of the Academic VA’AD
(she/her)
Chair of the Jewish Mysticism Department
Rabbi Dr. Elliot Ginsberg Ph.D.
Chair of the Jewish Mysticism Department, Program Director of the AOP Beloved Land: Israel and Palestine Program, Director of Studies, and a Member of the Academic VA’AD
(he/הוא)
Chair of the Jewish Thought Department
Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer, Ph.D.
Chair of the Jewish Thought Department, Director of Studies, and Member of the Academic VA’AD
Chair of the Hazzanut Department
Hazzan Jack Kessler, z"l
(1944-2024)
Founding Director of the Cantorial Program, Chair of the Hazzanut Department, Director of Studies, and Member of the Academic VA’AD
Chair of the Rabbinic Texts Department
Rabbi Natan Margalit, Ph.D.
Interim Dean of Faculty, Chair of the Rabbinic Texts Department, Director of the Earth-Based Judaism Program, Director of Studies, and a Member of the Academic VA’AD
(he/him)
Chair of the Liturgy Department
Hazzan Abbe Lyons
Acting Program Director of the Cantorial Program, Director of Studies, Chair of the Liturgy Department, and Member of the Academic VA’AD
(she/her)