2017 BARISH SHABBAT LIMMUD SCHOLARS February 17-19, 2017

Mrs. Aliza Bulow, hosted by Meyerland Minyan

Aliza Bulow is the national director of Ner Le Elef’s North American Women’s Program, and the Senior Educator for The Jewish Experience in Denver Colorado. She teaches ongoing classes in Jewish philosophy, basic Judaism and textual learning skills, as well as lecturing on a broad range of topics in venues across the country and around the world. A 13th generation American born to Protestant parents in the 1960s, her upbringing was intensely impacted by her parents’ deep commitment to the civil rights movement. After a spiritual search that began in early adolescence, Aliza converted to Judaism at the age of 16. She went to Israel shortly thereafter where she lived for four years while she studied at Michelet Bruria and the Hebrew University, and served in the Nachal division of the Israeli Defense Forces. In 1985, while completing her BA in Hebrew and Jewish Social Studies at Hunter College, she married Ephraim Bulow and moved to Long Beach, . Aliza has been a Jewish Educator for over thirty years and she now mentors women who work in Jewish Adult Education and Outreach, and provides consulting for Jewish Outreach organizations across the country. Mother, foster mother and mother-in-law of ten emerging adults, and a growing grandmother, Aliza’s passion is helping the Jewish community grow. Now empty nested and able to invest even more time, Aliza works to strengthen Jews and their connections to their heritage, to their mission and to each other. More information is available on her website: ABiteOfTorah.com.

• Friday Evening: “Becoming Extraordinary” • Shabbat Day: “Masterplan: The Goal of the Torah and the Jewish People” • Saturday Evening: “The Seasons of Marriage” • Yom Limmud: “Converts in Jewish History: Controversy, Conundrums and Contributions”

Rabbi Mel Gottlieb, PhD hosted by Temple Beth Torah

Rabbi Mel Gottlieb, PhD, is President Emeritus of the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, and the former Dean of its Rabbinical and Chaplaincy programs. He specializes in teaching Kabbala, Hassidic Commentaries on the Torah, Spiritual Dimensions of Biblical Texts, Rav Kook, and the Mussar Psychoethical Masters. Rabbi Gottlieb is co-founder of Claremont Lincoln University in California, which offers Masters Degrees in Ethical Leadership and Interfaith Action. His rabbinical ordination is from Yeshiva University; he holds Masters Degrees in Social Work and Jewish Philosophy and a PhD in Mythology/Depth Psychology. Rabbi Gottlieb has also served as a congregational rabbi, Hillel director and clinical social worker.

• Friday Evening: “Shema and the Ten Commandments: What Does It Really Mean to ‘Hear’?” • Shabbat Morning: “Moses and Mussar” • Shabbat Evening: “What is Jewish Pluralism?” • Yom Limmud: “Means and Ends, Enemies and Friends”

Dr. Shnayer Leiman, hosted by Congregation Beth Rambam

Dr. Shnayer Z. (Sid) Leiman is Professor of Jewish History and Literature in the Department of Judaic Studies at College of the City University of New York and also teaches at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University. He has served as Visiting Professor of Jewish History at Harvard University, Skirball Fellow in Judaic Studies at Oxford University, and as Lady Davis Fellow and Visiting Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University. Prior to his arrival at Brooklyn College and Yeshiva University, he served as Professor of Jewish History and Literature at Yale University, where he administered graduate and undergraduate programs in Judaic studies. Dr. Leiman served as Visiting Scholar in Jewish Law and Ethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Rabbinic Responses to Modernity (2007) and The Canonization of Hebrew Scripture (second edition, 1991); the editor of The Canon and Masorah of the Hebrew Bible (1974); and has contributed entries to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Encyclopedia Judaica, and the Encyclopedia Miqra’it. He is an Associate Editor of Tradition, where he contributes the column entitled “From the Pages of Tradition,” and served as Editor of the Yale Judaica Series (Yale University Press) from 1988- 1996. Dr. Leiman earned his doctorate from the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

• Kabbalat Shabbat: “The Impact of Kabbalah on the Jewish Liturgy: The Case of Kabbalat Shabbat” • Shabbat Day: “The Golom of Prague: Truth or Fiction?” • Seudat Shlisihit: “The Portrait of Moses Controversy: A Study in Jewish Ethics” • Yom Limmud: “The Rabbi's Daughter: New Evidence on Spiritual Resistance in the Holocaust”

Rabbi Naomi Levy, hosted by Congregation Emanu El

Rabbi Naomi Levy, founder and spiritual leader of Nashuva, a groundbreaking Jewish outreach organization based in , is a unique and passionate voice in the contemporary Jewish world. Through Nashuva, Naomi has been involved in drawing hundreds of unaffiliated Jews back to a Judaism that is soulful, committed to social justice, meaningful, relevant and fun. The Jewish Forward listed Rabbi Levy as one of the 50 most influential Jewish leaders in the nation. Newsweek Magazine named Rabbi Levy in its “Top 50 in America” list. A nationally famous author and speaker, Rabbi Levy attended Cornell University and was in the first class of women to enter The Jewish Theological Seminary’s rabbinical school. She became the first female Conservative rabbi to head a pulpit on the West Coast. Rabbi Levy’s first book, To Begin Again, became a national bestseller. She has appeared on NBC’s Today Show and on Oprah, and has been featured in Parade, Redbook, Self, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe and Los Angeles magazines. Rabbi Levy lectures widely on topics of revitalizing faith, spirituality, healing and prayer. Her second book, Talking to God (Knopf) teaches us how reclaiming personal prayer can transform our lives. She lives in Venice Beach, California with her husband Robert Eshman, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, and their children Adi and Noa.

• Kabbalat Shabbat: “From the Bima to the Beach: How a Change of Location Can Change Our Theology” • Shabbat Morning Torah Study: “Images of God and Images of Ourselves: Conceptualizing Prayer Wherever We Are” • Yom Limmud: “From Your Mouth to God's Ear”

2017 BARISH SHABBAT LIMMUD SCHOLARS February 17-19, 2017

Rabbi Chaim Rapoport, hosted by United Orthodox Synagogues

Rabbi Chaim Rapoport, born in Manchester, England, attended the Yeshiva of Manchester, Gateshead, Torat Emet in Jerusalem and the central Lubavitch Yeshivah in New York. He is the author of the widely acclaimed 2004 book Judaism and Homosexuality: An Authentic Orthodox View. He has been the rav of synagogues in Birmingham and Ilford and was a member of the Chief Rabbi’s cabinet and advisor to then Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on issues of medical ethics. Rabbi Rapoport is consulted globally on issues related to Orthodoxy and LGBT. In 2005, Rabbi Rapoport established 'Machon Mayim Chaim', an institution through which he promotes Jewish learning and disseminates his own teachings and perspectives on a broad range of subjects.

• Erev Shabbat: “The Role of Human Psychology in the Rabbinic Decision-Making Process” • Shabbat Morning: “Thou Shalt Not Bear a Grudge: Is This a Realistic Commandment?” • Shabbat Afternoon: “Judaism and Homosexuality: An Authentic Orthodox View” • Yom Limmud: “Whose Body Is It Anyway? Reflections on Euthanasia and Suicide; Patients, Doctors and Families”

2017 SHIRLEY BARISH EDUCATION ENRICHMENT SCHOLAR

Karina Zilberman founded Shababa - Jewish family experiences with music, play and soul - in the lobby of 92Y in 2007. She has been leading Shababa until the summer of 2015 when she passed the torch to the amazing Rebecca Schoffer. Karina is now the Director of the 92Y Shababa Network, which engages over 40 Jewish organizations around the world. Her passion for inspiring educators and clergy to find their magic is what motivates her to spread the Shababa joy beyond 92Y’s walls. Karina has been educating though the creative arts since her earliest days as a singer in her native Buenos Aires, Argentina. Prior to joining 92Y, Karina served as cantorial soloist & clergy at Temple Israel of Greater Miami; she sings in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Ladino, Hebrew and Yiddish. She has released six CDs including Sera Una Noche (1998), Karina Zilberman(2000), Drawing Close (2005), and three Shababa recordings – 92Y Shababa ™ with Karina (2008), Shababaland (2012), Shababa of the Heart (2015) featuring favorites from Shababa.

• Yom Limmud: “The Art of Engaging Families” “Shababa Family Musical Experience”