PARDES EXPANDS ITS EDUCATIONAL PRESENCE IN NORTH AMERICA WITH APPOINTMENT OF FIRST US-BASED EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR
(MAY 4, 2015 – NEW YORK) The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies is proud to announce the appointment of Yaffa Epstein as its first-ever Director of Education in North America. Epstein, who has been teaching Talmud, Jewish law, and liturgy at Pardes since 2005 and who currently serves as its Director of Strategic Partnerships, will officially take up the position in the fall. She will be receiving ordination from Yeshivat Maharat in June 2015.
Michael Rosenzweig, Pardes President and CEO commented, “We are delighted that Pardes has taken the next step in realizing its North American vision. A full-time faculty member on the ground will serve our over 5,000 North American alumni, including 1,000 Jewish professionals, and also means we can work more holistically with our strategic partners to bring Pardes’s educational methodology to the US and Canada. Yaffa is an outstanding Jewish educator and there is no doubt that she will do great things for Pardes and the greater North American Jewish community in her new role.”
Epstein added, “I am thrilled at the prospect of working with Pardes’s greatest asset – our alumni – on a daily basis, leveraging their enthusiasm and love for learning to bring the magic of the Pardes beit midrash to North America. I also look forward to teaching in diverse communities, at conferences and on college campuses, and expanding our networks to bring meaningful and empowering Jewish learning to new audiences.”
In addition to her work at Pardes, Yaffa Epstein is currently teaching Talmud at Yeshivat Maharat. She holds a Law Degree from Bar-Ilan University and has been a member of the Israeli Bar since 2003. Yaffa is a former student of the Pardes Kollel and was a member of the Advanced Talmud Institute at Matan. She has studied at the Talmud Department at Hebrew University.
Yaffa has also served as the Director of the Beit Midrash at the Dorot Fellowship in Israel, and has taught at the Drisha Institute June Kollel, Kayam Farm Kollel, the Lookstein Center, Ta Shma and Young Judaea Year Course. She has built an international following through her teaching on the global Limmud circuit and at Hillel campuses and Moishe Houses throughout North America. She has recently written curriculum for the Global Day of Jewish Learning, and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. Yaffa was also an inaugural member of the Reshut Harabim Beit Midrash, a think tank on Modern Orthodoxy in Israel, at the Yaakov Herzog Center.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT LOUISE SZCZERB at louise@pardes.org.il or +972 52 32 32 544.
