“I want you to teach me how to teach like you do. You know, so it works.”
~ Teen Student, fourteen years old.
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The faculty of TAL TORAH is a group of outstanding, motivated and learned women. They reflect our values and our vision to educate with dignity, equity, openness and respect, and to encourage an emotional intelligence, a moral sensibility, and an intellectual acuity within their students. We believe that these qualities are vehicles that will carry us onward as an enlightened and informed Jewish people, anchored in our past, embracing our present, and aspiring toward our future. |
“A teacher is a gardener in the garden of God, assigned to cultivate it and guard it from harm. Even if some of the children seem rebellious, or flawed in their character, the teacher must know that the nature of soul-seeds, of unripe angels, is to taste bitter as they are ripening and to be filled with nectar in their maturity.”
TAL TORAH is about being Jewish and, most importantly, it’s about Torah. It’s about a greater and a growing awareness of the roots and the inheritance in which our people are grounded.
The Teachers of TAL TORAH:
Ariel Lester Ben Moshe, M.A., is TAL TORAH’s founder and executive director. Ariel has pursued advanced Jewish studies in New York and Jerusalem, studying with Rabbi/Dr. Isaac Mann, Rabbi Bernard Zlotowitz and Rabbi/Dr. Aryeh Strikovsky. She brings thirty-five years of teaching experience to her vision of Torah education and many years as a Jungian therapist working with dream interpretation, movement and art therapy, skills she now integrates with Torah. Ariel taught for many years at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, as well as at Livnot U’lehibanot, the National Hillel Foundation and the Brandeis Bardin Summer Institute. Ariel has taught throughout the United States in synagogues and community centers, sharing her integrated approach and expertise in Torah education. At TAL TORAH, Ariel has pioneered a model of intergenerational Torah learning for women and girls, and has developed a unique Bat Mitzvah program that is built upon the potential for transformation and maturation during the Bat Mitzvah process. Ariel and her husband live in Jerusalem with children and grandchildren in both Israel and the United States.
Nili Arbel grew up in Jerusalem. She studied in Midreshet Lindenbaum, Migdal Oz Beit Midrash, and has a B.A. in Humanities from the Open University as well as a teacher's certificate from Herzog College. In the past, Nili worked as a teacher and coordinator in "Livnot U'Lehibanot," an educational-experiential program for young adults from abroad who have minimal Jewish background. She also taught Mishna and Halacha in a religious high school for girls in Beit Shemesh and presently teaches Talmud on a part-time basis at a girls’ high school in Jerusalem. Nili is one of the central forces behind the development of TAL TORAH’s unique curriculum for intergenerational Torah study for women and girls. She has been part of the TAL TORAH educational staff since 2002, teaching classes in Hebrew and English and coordinating TAL TORAH’s special events and projects. See Bat Mitzvah, Bar Mitzvah , Adult Program , Pregnancy and Birth, and Teen Program. Nili, her husband and their daughter live in Rosh Tzurim, Gush Etzion.
Hadas Melmed was born in Israel and spent eleven years in the United States before returning to Israel in 2001. She received a B.A. in psychology from UCLA and an M.A. in Tanach from Haifa University. She has studied at Nishmat and Matan. Her teaching experience ranges from preadolescents to adults. Currently Hadas teaches at Nishmat, working with students from English-speaking countries and with Ethiopians. At TAL TORAH, Hadas teaches in the Bar / Bat Mitzvah Program, the Teen Program, and the Pregnancy and Birth Series, as well as joining the staff in team-teaching special classes and projects. Hadas, her husband and their two children live in Jerusalem.
Elisheva Bollag was born in Israel and is a graduate of Midreshet Ein Hanatziv, Beit Midrash Uri and Beit Midrash Elul. She studied Tanach and Jewish Philosophy at Hebrew University, where she received an M.A. Since that time, Elisheva has taught in schools throughout the Jerusalem area and has been involved in educational programming for new immigrants, Israeli youth and adults. A former Hebrew teacher for the Hebrew University ulpan, Elisheva has facilitated seminars on Jewish-Israeli identity for Gesher and guided tours of Jerusalem for Yad Ben Tzvi. Elisheva is the coordinator for TAL TORAH’s Bar / Bat Mitzvah and Teen Programs and one of the primary Bar/Bat Mitzvah teachers. She lives with her husband and their two daughters in Jerusalem.
Ahuva Batz was born in Israel and completed army service in 1981. In 1986 Ahuva completed her degree in acting at the Beit Tzvi School for Theatre Arts and worked in the theatre for a number of years before moving into the field of psychodrama and therapy. Ahuva studied Torah and Gemara at various batei midrash for women, including JGS and Kolot and learned with Zalman Schachter for several years while living in Boulder, Colorado. After two years of studies at TAL TORAH, Ahuva joined the staff in 2005 and teaches cantillation in the Bar / Bat Mitzvah Program. Ahuva frequently leads our tefillot and is a regular reader of the megillot. She has three children and lives in Jerusalem.
Tziporah Levine was born in Toronto and moved to Israel after university. She received a B.A. in Judaic Studies with a concentration in Tanach from Yeshiva University. After making aliya, she studied for two years in the Matan Graduate Program in Bible Exegesis and received an M.A. in Bible. Tziporah has taught in seminaries throughout Jerusalem, most notably Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim (MMY). Tziporah has also coordinated the Matan summer program for women. At Tal Torah, Tziporah teaches in the Bar / Bat Mitzvah Program. Tziporah, her husband and their daughter live in Jerusalem.
Miriam Rachaman grew up in the city of Charkov in the Ukraine and made aliya in 2004. While still living in the Ukraine, Miriam studied Judaism and History at various universities and voice at the Academy of Music. In Israel, Miriam continued her Jewish studies at Pardes, MaTaN and Tal Torah. Her experience in Jewish education includes work with women and teenagers in the Ukraine, teaching in Hebrew and conversion ulpanim in Israel and work with immigrants from the FSU. Miriam studied for three years at TAL TORAH, and in 2007 she joined our staff, teaching Cantillation and Torah studies to Bnei Mitzvah of all ages in addition to teen classes. As part of her work at TAL TORAH Miriam has initiated and developed a relationship with organizations that work with immigrants from the FSU, as well as teaching students from the FSU herself, thus expanding the population with which TAL TORAH works. Miriam has a daughter and lives in Jerusalem.
The Staff of TAL TORAH:
Devorah Roytenberg Charash grew up in Canada and made aliyah in 1988. She has a BA in Psychology and Applied Social Sciences from Concordia University and an MSW from the University of Toronto. Having spent seven years in Community Development in Montreal and Jerusalem, Devorah then worked for nine years in Human Resources in the high-tech industry in Jerusalem and Europe. Devorah joined the TAL TORAH staff in 2003 as administrative director. She lives in Jerusalem with her husband and three children.