Hazzan Dr. Matthew Austerklein is the Cantor of Congregation Anshai Torah in Plano, Texas. A 2011 graduate of the H.L Miller Cantorial School, he recently defended his doctoral dissertation in Jewish Studies (magna cum laude) at Halle-Wittenberg University, entitled “The Professionalization of the Ashkenazic Cantor in East-Central Europe, 1500-1750.” Hazzan Dr. Austerklein has served on the faculty for several cantorial programs and has lectured on Jewish music for over forty synagogues, universities, seminaries, and Jewish institutions. He writes weekly at Beyond the Music (mattausterklein.substack.com), where he has published over 150 essays on Jewish music, arts, and culture.
Tom Baker is the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. He is also the former president of the Lower Merion Synagogue, the largest Orthodox congregation in Pennsylvania.
Lynda Barness is CEO, LB Literary Projects, with varying roles of author, editor, researcher, and project manager. She and Rabbi Lance Sussman have been writing partners since 2022.
Yisroel Benporat, PhD serves as the Senior Associate for Faculty Engagement in New York at the Academic Engagement Network.
Jessica S. Cooperman, PhD is Doris and Simon Konover Chair in Judaic Studies and Director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut.
Elliot Dorff, PhD serves as the rector and Sol and Anne Dorff Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy at American Jewish University. His most recent book is Ethics at the Center: Jewish Theory and Practice for Living a Moral Life (Jewish Publication Society/University of Nebraska Press, 2024).
Zev Eleff, PhD is president of Gratz College and professor of American Jewish history. He is the author or editor of 15 books in the field of American Judaism.
Adam S. Ferziger, PhD is Professor in the Israel & Golda Koschitzky Department of Jewish History & Contemporary Jewry and Rabbi S.R. Hirsch Chair for Research of the Torah with Derekh Erez Movement at Bar-Ilan University. His book, Beyond Sectarianism: The Realignment of American Orthodox Judaism (Wayne State University Press, 2015), received a National Jewish Book Award. His most recent monograph, Agents of Change: American Jews and the Transformation of Israeli Judaism (New York University Press, 2025), was chosen by the Association for Israel Studies (AIS) as co-winner of the Shapiro Prize for Best Book in Israel Studies.
Jeffrey S. Gurock, PhD is the Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University.
Rabbi Nicole Guzik, AMFT, is Co-Senior Rabbi, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, California.
Michael Hoberman, PhD is Professor of English Studies at Fitchburg State University and an adjunct professor of history at Yeshiva University. His most recent book is Imagining Early American Jews (Oxford University Press, 2025). The John Muir Trail’s Jewish Founder: The Uplifted World of Theodore Solomons is to be published by the University of California Press.
Eli Lederhendler, PhD is Professor Emeritus and Stephen S. Wise Chair in American Jewish History and Institutions in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Rabbi Juan Mejia was born in Bogota, Colombia to a Catholic family. After discovering the Jewish roots of his family and the beauty of Judaism, he converted to Judaism. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2001) and a Master’s Degree in Jewish Culture from the Hebrew University (2004). Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2009, Rabbi Mejia has been creating free web-based, accessible Jewish content in Spanish and reaching out to individuals and communities interested in living a Jewish life. His free, translated and transliterated siddurim (Kol Tuv Sefarad—Sephardi, Minchat Refael—Ashkenazi) are used in scores of synagogues and chavurot around the world (www.toraparatodos.com). His YouTube channel (@toraparatodos) reaches over 18,000 people across the Spanish-speaking world. He lives in Oklahoma City with his wife, Rabbi Abby Jacobson.
Deborah Dash Moore, PhD is the Jonathan Freedman Distinguished University Professor of History and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. She is Editor in Chief of the Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization. Her most recent book is Walkers in the City: Jewish Street Photographers of Midcentury New York (Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2023).
Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the Editor-in-Chief of Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.
Rabbi Jonah Rank is President & Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary: A Rabbinical School for Deaf & Hearing.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, PhD is President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies, Gratz College; Associate, University of Pennsylvania, 2025-2027; and Associate Editor, Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.
Jonathan D. Sarna, PhD is University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History Emeritus at Brandeis University. He is also Chief Historian of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, PA; Chair of the Academic Advisory & Editorial Board of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, OH; and Past President of the Association for Jewish Studies.
Earl Schwartz is retired from the Hamline University religion department, where he also directed the social justice studies program. He is the author of Moral Development: A Practical Guide for Jewish Teachers (Alternatives in Religious Education, Inc., 1983) and Arc of the Covenant: Jewish Educational Success on the Upper Mississippi (Lexington Books, 2019), and co-author with Rabbi Barry Cytron of When Life is in the Balance (United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, 1986) and Who Renews Creation (United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, 1993).
Shuly Rubin Schwartz, PhD is Chancellor Emerita and Irving Lehrman Research Professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Rabbi Erez Sherman is the Senior Rabbi, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, California. He directs the Flesh Family Sinai Temple Israel Center and founded the Sinai Temple Israel Center Rabbinical School Fellowship.
Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, PhD is Senior Rabbi Emeritus, Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, and the former chair of Judaic Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York. Rabbi Sussman and Lynda Barness have been writing partners since 2022.
Rabbi Mike Uram became the ninth Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary on July 1, 2026.