The core strength of Tikvah’s educational programs is the exceptional collection of participants that we assemble for each seminar we run. We look for people of exceptional intelligence and accomplishment who care deeply about the fate of the Jewish people. Beyond that, we are open to accepting applicants of varying backgrounds – religiously, geographically, and professionally. We have hosted rabbis and journalists, soldiers and students, policy professionals and businessmen, lawyers and academics, and many others besides. These are individuals who believe that ideas matter and that charting a course forward in the world of action requires occasionally putting the rush of affairs aside and taking on the rigorous discipline of a student.

We invite you to explore a selection of biographies from past participants in the following fields: US Public Policy | Israeli Public Policy | European Public Policy | The Rabbinate | Academia | Journalism | Jewish Education | Law | Business and Philanthropy

Michael Makovsky, United States
A New Pro-Israel Foreign Policy

Michael Makovsky has been CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs since 2013. He previously served as foreign policy director at the Bipartisan Policy Center, special assistant in the Office of Secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush administration, and served as an energy analyst for various financial firms. He has written for, and been quoted by, various publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, and the Washington Post. He is author of Churchill’s Promised Land (Yale University Press), a history of Winston Churchill’s complex relationship with Zionism. He has a PhD in diplomatic history from Harvard University, an MBA in finance from Columbia Business School, and a BA in history from the University of Chicago.

Arthur Milikh, United States
American Grand Strategy

Arthur Milikh is a national security analyst living in Washington, D.C. He has conducted research for scholars at the Hudson Institute and the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Milikh, who is a native speaker of Russian, has published articles in World Affairs. He earned a B.A. in political science and philosophy, summa cum laude, from Emory University and an M.A. in political science from the University of Chicago.

Michael Needham, United States
Jews and Christians: Morality, Theology, Politics

Mr. Needham is the Chief Executive Officer for Heritage Action for America, a conservative grassroots activism and government relations organization in Washington, D.C.. He is responsible for setting the strategy and vision of Heritage Action, ensuring that the organization’s efforts to hold members of Congress accountable advance the mission of The Heritage Foundation. He appears regularly on television, including Fox News, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC and CBS, and his writing has appeared in the pages of publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and National Affairs. Prior to his role at Heritage Action, Mr. Needham served in four different roles at The Heritage Foundation, including Chief of Staff, advisor to the President, and a director in The Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies.

Gabriel Scheinmann, United States
A New Pro-Israel Foreign Policy

Gabriel Scheinmann is the director of policy at the Jewish Policy Center. He is also a PhD candidate in International Relations at Georgetown University, where his dissertation focuses on alliances. He is a contributing analyst at Wikistrat and, for the past five years, was a research associate to the Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is a Rumsfeld Graduate Fellow and was a visiting fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. His publications have appeared in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, American Interest, Washington Quarterly, Time.com, Jerusalem Post, and many other forums. He holds an AB from Harvard University and an MA from Georgetown University.

Katherine Havard, United States
The Biblical View of Human Nature

Kate Havard researches economic warfare at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. She has had bylines in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Weekly Standard. After graduating with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Maryland, she began a successful career in journalism, .

Meydan Ben Barak, Israel
Israeli National Defense: Security Doctrine and the Balance of Forces

Meydan Ben Barak is working in the Situation Room of the Israeli National Security Council where he formulates on a daily basis an integrative and updated National Situation Report for the Prime Minister and Cabinet members. Meydan has earned his B.A in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies in 2013 from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Meydan is currently working as Assistant Researcher under Dr. Eitan Alimi and is studying for his M.A in Political studies, focusing on Terror and Political Radicalization.

Eran Ben-Ari, Israel
Israeli National Defense: Security Doctrine and the Balance of Forces

Eran Ben-Ari is a lawyer in the Civil Division of Israel’s State Attorney’s Office, where he represents the government in civil cases before the Supreme Court. Eran serves as a Military Advocate in the Israeli Defense Forces Reserves, where he investigates Israeli soldiers for alleged violations and reviews complaints filed by human rights organizations. Mr. Ben-Ari served as Secretary of Justice of the Edmund Levy (RIP) Committee, which in 2012 published the Report on the Legal Status of Building in Judea and Samaria. In 2011 he was elected to the National Council of the Israeli Bar Association. Eran is the head of Institute of Continuing Legal Education in the Jerusalem District of the Israeli Bar Association. In 2013 he was elected to the executive municipal committee of his town Neve-Ilan.

Eyal Gabbai, Israel
The Israeli Economy: A Strategy for the Future

Eyal Gabbai currently acts as a trustee for the implementation of debt restructuring at IDB Holding, the largest holding company in Israel. He previously acted as the court-appointed economic expert in the debt’s restructuring formation process. He is chairman of the Teachers Advanced Studies Fund, with $4.25 billion dollars in assets under management, and served as director general of the Prime Minister’s Office under Binyamin Netanyahu for two-and-a-half years. Mr. Gabbai headed the Israeli branch of the international investment firm Babcock & Brown, building the office and recruiting the local team. He initiated deals in the telecommunications, finance, infrastructure, energy, and media sector. From 2002 to 2007 Mr. Gabbai was director of the Government Companies Authority, which privatized El-Al; Zim, the Israeli shipping company; Bezeq, the Israeli telecommunications company; the Ashdod Oil Refinery; the Haifa Oil Refineries; and Loram Housing and sold 16.5 billion NIS in shares in capital markets around the world. Mr. Gabbai holds an M.B.A., cum laude (specialization: finance), from the Hebrew University; an LL.B., cum laude, from the Hebrew University; and a Bachelor’s degree in economics, magna cum laude, from the Hebrew University.

Emmanuel Navon, Israel
The Ethics of Modern War

Emmanuel Navon is the director of the Political Science and Communication Department of the Jerusalem Orthodox College, a lecturer in international relations at Tel Aviv University and the Interdisciplinary Center-Herzliya, a senior fellow of the Kohelet Policy Forum, and an analyst and commentator for I24News, a trilingual (English, Arabic, and French) Israeli cable TV network. He also has experience in promoting Israeli business interests in the European Union and sub-Saharan Africa. He was elected to Likud’s Central Committee in 2012. Born and raised in France, Dr. Navon moved to Israel in 1993 and earned his Ph.D. in international relations in 2000 from Hebrew University, where he wrote a dissertation on Israel’s foreign policy from 1973 to 1993. Author of numerous articles, policy papers, book chapters, and editorials, Dr. Navon has also published two books, From Israel, with Hope: Why and How Israel will Continue to Thrive and A Plight among the Nations: Israel’s Foreign Policy between Nationalism and Realism.

Ohad Reifen, Israel
Tikvah Fellowship 2012-2013

Ohad Reifen is the policy director at Start-Up Nation Central, a new initiative elaborating on the bestselling book, Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle (2011). He spent seven years working in the budget department of Israel’s Ministry of Finance, where he was involved in a variety of fields including trade and industry, tourism, social security, welfare, immigrant absorption, and strategic planning and oversight. A native of Rehovot, he completed his high-school education in Hong Kong. Following his service in the IDF, he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he completed a dual B.A. in economics and the Amirim honors program. He subsequently received an M.A. in the politics of the world economy at the London School of Economics. Reifen spent a year as a Tikvah Fellow in 2012-2013.

Benjamin Haddad, France
Moments of Decision, Great Debates: Judaism in the 20th Century

Benjamin Haddad lectures in international affairs at Sciences Po Paris in the government Masters. He previously worked for the European diplomatic service. He is a member of the Political Bureau of UMP, France’s center-right party. He created the youth organization of Generation France, a policy think tank created by Jean-François Copé, current opposition leader. In 2011 Mr. Haddad earned a master’s degree in financial economics from HEC Paris; he subsequently worked as an analyst for a private equity fund. He hopes to be part of a future generation of European political actors more open to the challenges and opportunities of globalization and receptive to creative ideas from universities, think tanks, and the private sector.

Simone Hartmann, Austria
American Grand Strategy

Simone Dinah Hartmann was born and raised in Vienna, Austria and holds an M.Sc. in Information Technology and Politics from the Vienna University of Technology. She served in the Austrian student parliament where she became engaged against the Austrian far right and anti-Semitism. During the second intifada, she initiated pro-Israel events throughout German-speaking countries. In response to Iran’s nuclear program she started the European-wide coalition “Stop the Bomb,” and serves as its spokesperson and director in Austria. Hartmann has lectured and written extensively on matters related to the security of Israel, anti-Semitism and the Iranian threat in the German-speaking and international press, and is co-publisher of two anthologies on Iran and its European supporters.

Yitzchok Adlerstein, United States
Jews and Christians: Morality, Theology, Politics

Rabbi Adlerstein is the Director of Interfaith Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), the Los Angeles-bases human rights organization and global NGO. He holds the Sydney M. Irmas Adjunct Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics at Loyola Law School. Rabbi Adlerstein is a contributing editor to the quarterly Jewish Action, and the founding senior editor of Cross-Currents, a popular Orthodox blog of Torah and current affairs. As interfaith director for the SWC, Rabbi Adlerstein has traversed a good part of America’s Christian landscape. As an Orthodox Jew, Rabbi Adlerstein has a particular interest in sharing aspects of rabbinic thought that are of interest to Christians.

Chaim Navon, Israel
Liberalism, Conservatism, and the Jews

Chaim Navon is the rav of Kehilat Shimshoni (Modi’in). He teaches Gemara and Jewish thought in Midreshet Lindenbaum and the Herzog College (Yeshivat Har Etzion). He writes a weekly column for Mekor Rishon and has written six books on Jewish topics and two novels. His books include Caught in the Thicket: An Introduction to the Thought of Rav Soloveitchik; Genesis and Jewish Thought (English); A Bridge for Jacob’s Daughters: The Status of Women in Jewish Law; Between Past and Future; and Eve Did Not Eat an Apple: 101 Common Mistakes in Judaism. Rav Navon studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion from 1992 to 2004 and received his rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein. He received a master’s degree in Jewish thought from the Hebrew University.

Ido Rechnitz, Israel
Israeli National Defense: Security Doctrine and the Balance of Forces

Rabbi Ido Rechnitz is the director of research at Mishpetei Eretz Institute and a rabbinical judge at “Eretz Hemdah Ð Gazit” rabbinical courts. He holds rabbinical ordination and rabbinical judge certification from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. In addition he holds an M.A. in Political Science from Bar Ilan University. His publications include the book Jewish Military Ethics (2013), co-authored with Rabbi Elazar Goldstein. He has also written and edited books and articles in Jewish law.

Chaim Strauchler, United States
The Future of the Family

Chaim Strauchler is the rabbi of Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in Toronto. A native of West Orange, New Jersey, Rabbi Strauchler received his ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University. He served as rabbi of Beit Chaverim Synagogue in Westport, Connecticut from 2005 to 2008 before joining Shaarei Shomayim in August, 2008,. He trained under Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt at the Riverdale (New York) Jewish Center from 2003 to 2005. Rabbi Strauchler believes that the role of a rabbi is to care for people. This entails the need to be there for them in their times of need, shepherd them through the ups and downs of life, and at the same time inspire them to be catalysts for personal spiritual growth.

Jeffrey R. Woolf, United States, Israel
The Case for Nationalism

Jeffrey R. Woolf was born in Boston in 1954 and moved to Israel in 1993. He serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Talmud Department at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, where he specializes in the History of Halakhah, Medieval and Renaissance Jewish History, and the interaction between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. He is the director of Bar-Ilan’s Institute for the Study of PostTalmudic Halakhah. Dr. Woolf received his B.A. in History (summa cum laude with distinction) from Boston University in 1976, alongside a B.H.L. (cum laude) in Talmud and Midrash from Boston Hebrew College. He received his M.A. (1981) and Ph.D. (1991) in Medieval Jewish History and Literature at Harvard University, under the guidance of the late Professor Isadore Twersky. While at Harvard, he spent a year at the Hebrew University as a Lady Davis Graduate Fellow (1983-1984). He spent two years in the Department of Religion at Yale University, as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and Visiting Lecturer. Woolf has served as a visiting professor at Yale University, Yeshiva University, and New York University. He has delivered guest lectures at Harvard University, Boston University, Yeshiva University, Drew University, Washington University, University of Leiden (NL), Potsdam University (Berlin), and the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO; Paris).

Laurence Cooper, United States
Is Judaism a Religion?

Laurence Cooper is a professor of political science at Carleton College, where he has taught ancient and modern political philosophy since 1997. Most of his research has addressed the question of human flourishing—what it is, how we can know what it is (if indeed we can know), what it requires from education and politics, and the risks that arise from misunderstanding it. In addition to numerous scholarly articles, as well as a few pieces on contemporary culture and politics, he has published two books: Rousseau, Nature, and the Problem of the Good Life (1999) and Eros in Plato, Rousseau, and Nietzsche: The Politics of Infinity (2008). His current research is an inquiry into the possibility of popular enlightenment. Professor Cooper also serves as director of Ethical Inquiry at Carleton (EthIC).

Kenneth Hart Green, Canada
Tradition and Freedom: Philosophy, Theology, Literature

Kenneth Hart Green received his Ph.D. in 1989 from Brandeis University, in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, specializing in modern Jewish thought and philosophy. He has taught Judaism and Jewish thought since 1987 in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. His published books are: (1) Jew and Philosopher: The Return to Maimonides in the Jewish Thought of Leo Strauss; (2) Jewish Philosophy and the Crisis of Modernity: Essays and Lectures in Modern Jewish Thought by Leo Strauss; (3) Leo Strauss and the Rediscovery of Maimonides; (4) Leo Strauss on Maimonides: The Complete Writings. He has also completed a book on the thought of Emil L. Fackenheim, Emil Fackenheim’s Search for Revelation: Divine Presence and Diabolical History, which is currently being considered for publication. He has published numerous articles on Jewish thinkers from Yehuda Halevi to Gershom Scholem. He edits a series for the State University of New York Press on “The Thought and Legacy of Leo Strauss.” At present he is working on a new book tentatively entitled What Moses Saw: Maimonidean Meditations, or, On the Speculative Teaching of the Torah.

Yagil Henkin, Israel
War and Human Nature

Yagil Henkin teaches military history at the Israel Defense Forces Command and Staff College. He was a fellow of the Adelson Institute of Strategic Studies and the Shalem Center and worked as a business intelligence specialist for a security consulting company. Dr. Henkin has published articles in academic and military journals, both open and classified, as well as writing op-eds for newspapers including the New York Times and the Jerusalem Post. He is the author of Either We Win or We Perish: A History of the First Chechen War, 1994-1996 (Hebrew, 2007) and the forthcoming Exodus in Reverse: Military History of the Sinai-Suez Campaign, 1956 and Like Fish in the Bush: Rhodesia at War, 1965-1980 (Hebrew). He also co-authored two hiking guides with Jaacob Saar: Israel National Trail and the Jerusalem Trail and Long-Distance Hikes in Israel (2011) and is working on subsequent editions. He is also working on a guide to Omaha Beach in Normandy.

Odelia Minnes, Israel
The Israeli Economy: A Strategy for the Future

Odelia Minnes is a researcher in the fields of bankruptcy, corporate, and contract law. She holds a Ph.D. and has recently completed post-doctoral research at the Hebrew University Law Faculty. Dr. Minnes lived in the U.S. for four years, until 2012, during which time she was a visiting researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She has written several articles that were published in American and Israeli law reviews and was editor of the Bar-Ilan Law Review. She is currently a teaching assistant at several academic institutions in Israel and will be an adjunct lecturer on the Hebrew University Law Faculty starting in fall, 2014. She is married to Refael, who has Ph.D. in physics; they have six children.

Emily Amrousi, Israel
Tradition and Freedom: Philosophy, Theology, Literature

Emily Amrousi is an Israeli writer and journalist. Married and a mother of four, she lives the Samarian community of Talmon. Since 2009 she has published an opinion column in the weekend supplement of the newspaper Israel Hayom. She also publishes magazine articles and personal interviews in the newspaper. Recently she started hosting the Friday morning television show on Channel 10, a program that deals with current affairs and politics as well as recreation and culture. During the Disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Mrs. Amrousi was appointed to be the spokesperson of the Yesha Council and served in that capacity for three year. In 2009, she published her first book, a bestseller Tris Shutter. In 2010, she published a children’s book about the first haircut. She is now writing a series of children’s books to be published in Israel’s largest publishing house.

Haviv Gur, United States, Israel
Leadership in Crisis: Lincoln and Churchill at War

Haviv Gur is a political correspondent and analyst for the Times of Israel and a commentator and lecturer on Jewish history and identity. He was a diplomatic and Jewish world correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and director of communications for the Jewish Agency for Israel. From 2010 to 2012 Mr. Gur also acted, on a volunteer basis, as the vice president for government relations of SpaceIL, the Israeli team competing in Google’s Lunar X-Prize competition to land the first civilian spacecraft on the moon. He served for three years as an infantry combat medic in the Israel Defense Forces, a role in which he continues to serve in a reserve capacity.

Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, Sweden
Religious Freedom in America

Annika Hernroth-Rothstein is a political advisor and writer, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Annika has a B.A.-degree in Media and Communication as well as in Middle Eastern Studies, and she currently works as an advisor for the ruling conservative coalition in Sweden. Annika Hernroth-Rothstein has contributed to various international publications, such as Commentary Magazine and Mosaic Magazine, and she is a permanent contributor to the Jerusalem Post and Ricochet. Ms. Rothstein also teaches Jewish youth-groups and does public speaking engagements on the topic of European Jewry and religious rights for such groups as Bnei Akiva and Limmud, and she is a board member of her synagogue, Adat Jeschurun, in Stockholm, Sweden. A year ago, Ms. Rothstein made international headlines when she filed for asylum in her own country on the basis of religious persecution, in order to force her government to protect the Jewish minority and acknowledge the growing anti-Semitism in the country.

Rotem Sella, Israel
Capitalism and the Future of Democracy

Rotem Sella is the founder, owner, and Editor-in-Chief of Sella Meir Publishing, a new Israeli publishing house. Sella Meir has published three books, all of which been national best sellers. Its most recent book, Catch the Jew!,The Marker (Haaretz Group’s daily business newspaper) and as a political economy reporter and columnist at Ma’ariv. During the previous election cycle he worked as an economic policy advisor and speech writer for Naftali Bennett. Mr. Sella holds a B.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Pacam program in politics, philosophy, and economics.

Shraga Bar-On, Israel
Liberalism, Conservatism, and the Jews

Dr. Shraga Bar-On is a research fellow and a faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute and is currently Gruss Scholar-in-Residence at the Tikvah Center, New York University School of Law. His research and public involvement focus on two major issues: Talmudic and halachic thought and contemporary Jewish identity. He received his Ph.D. in Jewish thought from the Hebrew University. His doctoral dissertation is titled, “Lot-casting, God, and Man in Jewish Literature from the Bible to the Renaissance;” it will be published by the Bar-Ilan university press. During his postdoctoral studies at Hebrew University he has developed a new methodology for teaching Jewish law: halacha as a realm of moral dilemmas. He is deeply involved in “The Jewish Renaissance” in Israel. With other members of the Hartman institute, he has founded and coordinated programs in this field, such as the Hadarim Beit Midrash program for outstanding students in the humanities and, in collaboration with Israel Defense Forces education units, the Cathedra program of Jewish identity for senior IDF officers. He was an associate moderator in the Gevanim program for the advancement of pluralistic Jewish leadership of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco; and he has chaired Ne’emani Torah v’Avodah, the modern Orthodox movement in Israel. Dr. BarOn has won several prizes and scholarships in academic and educational fields, among them the Ephraim E. Urbach Post-Doctoral Fellowship and the Max and Bella Guggenheim Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Jewish Ethics. He is married to Vered and has three children.

Tova Ganzel, Israel
Tikvah Fellowship 2012-2013

Tova Ganzel received her doctoral degree in Bible from Bar-Ilan University in 2005 and is a certified halakhic counselor on family purity. She divides her time between serving as assistant director of the Midrasha for Women at Bar-Ilan and teaching Bible at Bar-Ilan and Herzog College. As a halakhic adviser, she has participated in the process of institutionalizing halakhic decision-making by women. In Bible, her main fields are the prophetic books and nineteenth-century biblical criticism. More recently, she has translated her practical experience as a halakhic counselor into research on women and halakha.

Avital Hazony, United States, Israel
Tradition and Freedom: Philosophy, Theology, Literature

Avital Hazony is a doctoral student in philosophy at Ben Gurion University, writing on moral obligation in the thought of Hume and Plato. She is also working on a teacher’s certificate in Tanach, and hopes to merge her interests in Judaic studies and philosophy. Ms. Hazony graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in philosophy, where she co-founded the Jewish Theater and was president of the Orthodox community. She is an alumnus of the Jewish Statesmanship Center’s Identity and Policy Program and of the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies Seminar.

Dovid Margolin, United States
Liberalism, Conservatism, and the Jews

Dovid Margolin is director of the Hebrew Literacy Initiative at the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, which seeks to connect Jews from all backgrounds to their heritage by providing them with the key of Hebrew reading. Rabbi Margolin is the editor and publisher of the Jewish Russian Telegraph, an online magazine that focuses on issues of interest and concern to the Russian-Jewish community. He is a contributing writer at Hamodia and Chabad.org and has published in Ami Magazine and the Jewish Advocate. Rabbi Margolin has worked extensively in Russian-Jewish outreach in Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Sweden, Germany, and Israel and is a former educational coordinator at the Jewish Children’s Museum. He received his rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Yitzchok Yehuda Yaroslavsky.

Tehila Gimpel, United States, Israel
The Hebrew Bible and Jewish Excellence

Tehila Gimpel holds Bachelor’s degrees in both Law and Jewish Philosophy, and is a practicing attorney specializing in the field of family law. Ms. Gimpel is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Jewish Law at the Hebrew University, and was recently awarded the Herzog Prize for excellence in the study of Jewish law. Ms. Gimpel’s experience as a family law attorney, and particularly her work in the religious court systems, have led to her current focus on the fascinating interplay in Israel between civil and Jewish law.

David Schizer, United States
Israeli Grand Strategy

David M. Schizer is Dean Emeritus and the Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law and Economics; Co-director of the Richard P. Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy; Co-director of the Charles Evans Gerber Transactional Studies Center; and Co-director of the Center for Israeli Legal Studies at Columbia Law School. A leading expert in tax and energy law, he worked at Davis Polk & Wardwell before joining the Columbia Law School faculty in 1998. Dean Schizer is a graduate of Yale University, where he earned his B.A, M.A., and J.D. He clerked for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. Dean Schizer has authored numerous books and articles on taxation and governance, including works on financial instruments, executive compensation, gas taxes, the charitable deduction, and press subsidies. Students awarded him the Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2002.

Yahli Shereshevsky, Israel
The Ethics of Modern War

Yahli Shereshevsky is a Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Law at Hebrew University, where he earned a LL.B. in 2008 and where he is a tutor in public international law. He has a particular interest in the application of international law to asymmetric warfare. In 2008-9 Mr. Shereshevsky clerked for Eliezer Rivlin, Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel. In the summer of 2012 he was a preceptor in the Tikvah Summer Institute on the Jewish State: Democracy, Freedom, and Virtue. Before enrolling in Hebrew University Mr. Shereshevsky served for three years as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces.

Nati Birenboim, Israel
The Israeli Economy: A Strategy for the Future

Nati Birenboim served as senior policy advisor to Dr. Uzi Landau, the former Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water. In that capacity he was responsible for planning, developing, and implementing ministerial policy in the energy, water, and natural resources sectors in Israel. Most recently, Mr. Birenboim served as staff director of the inter-ministerial committee for the examination of natural gas policy. He holds an LL.B. degree from Bar-Ilan University and an M.B.A. with honors from the Peres Academic Center. He is a ranking Commander of an artillery battery command unit in the reserves of the Israel Defenses Forces. Mr. Birenboim was selected in 2012 by the prominent Israeli business magazine The Marker as one of the most promising individuals in the Israeli business community under the age of 40. He is the co-CEO and owner of Tamuz Group, which specializes in strategic and political consulting, business development, and project promotion for companies and organizations operating in the Israeli market.

Daniel Goldman, United Kingdom
Jews and Power: Literature, Philosophy, Politics

Daniel Goldman is the founding partner of Goldrock Capital, a family office. He is a regular speaker and panelist at family office conferences. Born and raised in the U.K., Mr. Goldman has been living in Israel since 1992 and is active in several social and educational initiatives. Living in Beit Shemesh with Debra-lee and five children he is very involved in the community and active in local politics. As Chairman of Gesher, Mr. Goldman is closely involved in creating dialogue between religious and non-religious groups, and is also focused on adding value to the challenge and opportunity of the integration of Haredim into mainstream Israeli society. Mr. Goldman is a member of the Public Council of Beit Hillel, the Board of the Jewish Agency and the Council of Newcastle University. Mr. Goldman contributes opinion pieces in both English and Hebrew on issues affecting Israeli society.

Michael Lustig, United States
Jews and Power: Literature, Philosophy, Politics

Retired from Wall Street in 2012 as a Managing Director at BlackRock, Inc., Michael Lustig has been primarily devoting his time & energies toward non-profit enterprises and Jewish communal work, most notably as the President of the Board of the Columbia/Barnard Hillel, on a number of UJA-Federation of NY task forces, boards, and cabinets (COJP, JCNC, SYNERGY, Hillels/NY, PG&E, ACE), as well as acting as a MAP Consultant to a variety of Agencies. Michael is a Board Member of the Baron de Hirsch Fund and the Jewish Communal Fund, as well as serving as a Trustee and Segan for Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, among other non-profit affiliations. He is a member of the Annual Conference Committee of the CFA Institute and lectures in two classes at Columbia University Business School. Michael serves on a number of corporate Boards and lives in NYC. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a concentration in Art History from Columbia University.

Robert Nicholson, United States
Jews and Christians: Morality, Theology, Politics

Robert Nicholson is a recent Tikvah Fellow and former Marine who researches law, religion, and the relationship between Christians and Jews at the Paul E. Singer Foundation. He holds a JD and MA in history from Syracuse University and a BA in Hebrew Studies from SUNY-Binghamton, and has published articles in, among other places, Mosaic Magazine, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel. He is currently working on a book entitled The New Christian Zionism: A Handbook for the Next Generation. Robert lives with his wife Lyndsey and daughter Brooke in New York City.

Dov Zigler, Canada
The Israeli Economy: A Strategy for the Future

Dov Zigler is a financial markets economist in Scotiabank’s Global Fixed Income group in Toronto. Before joining Scotiabank, Mr. Zigler was an associate covering global macro and special situations investing at a Canadian fund management company and held a teaching fellowship at McGill University in the department of North American studies. He has also held a research fellowship at the Shalem Center and worked as an analyst at the Canadian Department of National Defence. He holds an M.A. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, a B.A. (Hons.) from McGill University, and a B.E.I. certificate from Sciences-Po in Paris and has been an Asper Fellow at the Hebrew University. He is vice chairman of the Montreal Bach Festival.