Haim Shalom is a proud Alumnus of the Pardes year program (03-04) who was inspired by Pardes to continue his journey with Jewish texts and therefore went to study in the Israeli Rabbinic Program of HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. He has served as a congregational rabbi in Manchester, UK, and Yerushalayim and also worked for his alma mater, HUC-JIR. As well as rabbinic ordination, Haim holds degrees in Jewish History, Middle Eastern Studies and Jewish Education. Haim is studying to be a tour guide and lives in Yerushalayim with his partner and three children. His work in Jewish Education in the past has taken him around the globe, from Poughkeepsie to Perth, but he is delighted to find his way back to Pardes. As well as teaching within his position as Director of Israel Studies, Haim likes to teach Aggadata (Rabbinic Folklore and non-halachic material), and in particular the revolutionary power of the story to create an alternative discourse to the legal mainstream.