Faculty
Rabbi Chen served as Executive Director of Hebrew Seminary from 2020 until 2023 when she stepped into her current role of Dean of Students at Hebrew Seminary, where she continues teaching and working closely with students, alumni, and faculty. Prior to that, she served as the Director of the Congregation Bene Shalom Religious School for over 15 years. She was ordained at Hebrew Seminary in 2005 and since then until his passing worked closely with Rabbi Goldhamer as Associate Rabbi of Congregation Bene Shalom. She continues to perform life cycle events, participate in healing prayer and serve as a Hebrew Seminary Faculty member. She has served as a hospice chaplain and continues to provide pastoral care and lead services at Sedgebrook Retirement Community. Rabbi Chen has lectured throughout the Chicagoland area and has led workshops at CAJE and at the Chicago Association for Young Children’s Education. She was an inclusion specialist and worked in the field of Jewish Education for over 40 years. Rabbi Chen taught B’nai Mitzvah students and adult Hebrew classes at Bene Shalom, alongside a variety of other classes and webinars. She has been on the faculty at Hebrew Seminary since 2013.
Rabbi Dr. Michael Gold is a native of Los Angeles, CA. He assumed the pulpit of Temple Beth Shalom in Boca Raton, FL in July, 2022. He is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Torah Sha’aray Tzedek in Tamarac, FL, having served the congregation 32 years. Previously he served congregations in Nyack, NY and Pittsburgh, PA.
Rabbi Gold received his PhD from Florida Atlantic University with a dissertation on process philosophy and Jewish mysticism. He is an adjunct professor of philosophy, religion, and Jewish studies at three colleges, teaching at Broward College, Miami-Dade College, and Charter Oak State College. He is also the author of seven books, most recently a novel The Rabbi’s Sex Class, published by ShelteringTree.Earth LLC. Rabbi Michael and Evelyn Gold are the parents of three children and grandparents of one grandson.
After retiring from her professional life as a non-profit executive and educator, Rabbi Tirtzah Israel decided to pursue her dream of becoming a rabbi. One of her biggest concerns was the need for accommodation for her hearing loss in the classroom. However, Rabbi Carla Cenker, a dear friend who was studying at Hebrew Seminary at the time, encouraged Rabbi Israel to apply. Rabbi Cenker shared with Rabbi Israel her training in Tanach, Talmud and Hebrew but it was that Hebrew Seminary also taught American Sign Language (ASL) that convinced Rabbi Israel to submit her application. Rabbi Israel was granted entry into the Seminary to begin her work as a rabbinic student which led to earning her Smicha in 2017. Currently, Rabbi Israel is working to expand the Kindness Project, teaches Meditation (online in the U.S. and Canada), and studies the Zohar and the Kabbalah.
Born and raised in New York City, Rabbi Dr. Kensky is a graduate of Queens College and received an MA in Politics from New York University. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he specialized in the study of rabbinic texts at JTS’ Herbert Lehman Institute of Talmudic Ethics. He received a Ph.D. from JTS in Aggadic Literature in 1990.
Rabbi Kensky was rabbi of Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor, Michigan for seventeen years, prior to his joining the faculty of JTS, where he served as faculty member and Associate Dean and Dean of the Rabbinical School for 13 years. He then moved to Chicago, where he was rabbi of Beth Hillel Bnai Emunah in Wilmette for 11 years. He is now Rabbi Emeritus of the congregation. Since his retirement from the pulpit, he has taught Jewish Studies at the Rochelle Zell Jewish High School and in other settings in the Chicago area.
Dr. Hannah Roussel recently received her PhD (2023) from the University of Michigan’s History Department, where she studied cultural constructions of disability and madness in the Babylonian Talmud. She has a certificate of Judaic Studies from the University of Michigan’s Frankel Center for Judaic Studies (2022), a MA in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary (2015), and a BA in Judaic Studies from the University of Michigan (2012). In her free time, Hannah enjoys reading or watching fantasy and sci-fi stories while curled up on the couch with her two cats.
Rabbi Lauren Tuchman is a sought after speaker, spiritual leader and educator. Ordained by The Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018, she is the first blind woman in the world to enter the rabbinate. She provides consulting to individuals and organizations across the Jewish community on a variety of matters pertinent to disability access and inclusion. She has taught in numerous synagogues and other organizations across North America. She was named to the New York Jewish Week’s 36 To Watch for her innovative leadership concerning inclusion of Jews with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life. In 2017, she delivered an ELI Talk, entitled “We All Were at Sinai: The Transformative Power of Inclusive Torah.” In addition to her work in the disability inclusion space, Rabbi Tuchman passionately believes in the power of spiritual and contemplative practice as a path of transformational personal and collective change for the Jewish world and beyond. She has trained and continues to teach Mussar with Rabbi David Jaffe and the Inside Out Wisdom and Action Project. She has contributed to the Mussar Institute’s weekly Torah commentary and Elul programming. She is an alum of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Clergy Leadership Program. In 2022, she completed Flourish: an immersive in mindfulness practices under the direction of expert mindfulness teacher, Yael Shy. She is a SVARA fellow, completing the SVARA Kolel in 2019. She continues to be a regular teacher with SVARA.
Learn With Us
All classes are currently held virtually and are open to Rabbinic and Pararabbinic students, as well as auditing students from around the world.
Contact Us
We would love to speak with you.
Feel free to reach out using the below details.