The Tikvah Scholars Program is anchored by a world-class faculty, selected for its breadth of scholarship and passion for seminar-style teaching. Our faculty is comprised of leading college professors, rabbis, journalists, public intellectuals, and key policy figures. Here is a selection of distinguished members from our 2026 summer faculty.
Dr. Emily Davis teaches political theory at Louisiana State University, where she focuses on ancient and early modern perceptions of leadership. Her current research interests include charismatic leadership in Weber, strategic decision-making in Thucydides, and portraits of political ambition in Plutarch, Machiavelli, and Stendhal. Her work has appeared in journals such as Political Theory, Political Research Quarterly, and Political Science Reviewer.
Miriam Zami Edeson serves as the Community Scholar at Young Israel Ohab Zedek of North Riverdale/Yonkers. She is a doctoral candidate in Talmud and Ancient Judaism at Yeshiva University (Revel), where she is writing on humor in rabbinic literature. Miriam also serves as adjunct faculty at Yeshiva College, and teaches adult education widely. A graduate of Stern College for Women, Miriam lives with her husband and daughter in Riverdale, NY.
Gila Fine is a teacher of Aggada at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, exploring the tales of the Talmud through philosophy, literary criticism, psychoanalysis, and pop-culture. She is also a faculty member of the London School of Jewish studies, the Nachshon Project, and Amudim Seminary, and has taught thousands of students at conferences and communities across the Jewish world. Haaretz has called her “a young woman on her way to becoming one of the more outstanding Jewish thinkers of the next generation.”
Dr. Hugh Liebert is a professor of political science in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, where he teaches courses in political philosophy, American politics, and civil-military relations. He also serves as director of West Point’s Dawkins Scholars Program and co-directs the American Foundations program. Liebert is the author or editor of seven books, including Plutarch’s Politics: Between City and Empire. He holds a PhD and MA from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago and a BA from Harvard University.
Dr. Liebert’s publication/interview/lecture/course was privately produced and is not the product of an official of the United States Army acting in an official capacity. The contents of this publication, including words, images, and opinions, are unofficial and not to be considered as the official views of the United States Military Academy, United States Army, or Department of Defense. Neither this publication nor its content are endorsed by the United States Military Academy, United States Army, or Department of Defense.
Daniel Polisar is the co-founder and executive vice president of Shalem College in Jerusalem, Israel’s first liberal arts college. He previously served as the president of the Shalem Center from 2002-2013 and also as its director of research, academic director, and editor-in-chief of its journal, Azure. From 2006 to 2009, he served as the founding chairman, within the Office of the Israeli Prime Minister, of the National Council for the Commemoration of the Legacy of Theodor Herzl. He received his B.A. in politics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in government from Harvard University, where he was the recipient of Truman and Fulbright scholarships, as well as of a Mellon Fellowship. His research interests include Zionist history and thought, Israeli constitutional development, and the history and philosophy of higher education.
Mitchell Rocklin is Director of the Jewish Classical Education Concentration track at the University of Dallas and the academic director and dean of the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education. His prior work on Jewish Classical Education as a research fellow with Tikvah was featured in the Wall Street Journal. He received his Ph.D. in history from the CUNY Graduate Center, held postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and Yeshiva University, and taught at both CUNY and Princeton. He is also a chaplain in the Army National Guard with the rank of Major. Rabbi Rocklin is also the president of the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, as well as a member of the Rabbinical Council of America’s Executive Committee and Military Chaplaincy Committee. Prior to his work at Tikvah, he served as a congregational rabbi in Connecticut. His writings have been featured in publications including The Los Angeles Times, National Review Online, The Daily Wire, The Forward, The Public Discourse, and Mosaic.
Itamar Rosensweig is a maggid shiur (professor of Jewish law and jurisprudence) at Yeshiva University, a dayan (rabbinic judge) and chaver beit din at the Beth Din of America, and the rav of the Shtiebel of Lower Merion. He holds a secondary appointment as an assistant professor of philosophy at Yeshiva College and serves as the chair of Jewish studies at the Sy Syms School of Business. He received his semikha, Yoreh Yoreh and Yadin Yadin, from RIETS, where he was a fellow of the Wexner Kollel Elyon and editor-in-chief of the Beit Yitzchak Journal of Talmudic and Halakhic Studies.
He received his B.A., with honors, in physics and philosophy from Yeshiva University and an M.A. and Ph.D in medieval Jewish history from YU’s Bernard Revel Graduate School. He also holds an M.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.
Rabbi Gamliel Shmalo has taught Jewish philosophy and law at Yeshiva University. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA from Hebrew University in Jerusalem in Jewish Philosophy. He has also studied at Machon Shlomo, Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, Heichal HaTorah B’Tzion, and Beit Ariel Jerusalem. He has published widely on Jewish themes and lectures internationally. He was the Director of Education for Meor NYU, and before returning to the U.S. he was on the faculty of Michlalah Jerusalem College and Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalyim for ten years. His book Learning to Grow is published by Kodesh Press.
R.J. Snell is Editor-in-Chief of Public Discourse and Director of Academic Programs at the Witherspoon Institute. Previously, he was for many years Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Philosophy Program at Eastern University and the Templeton Honors College, where he founded and directed the Agora Institute for Civic Virtue and the Common Good. He earned his M.A. in philosophy at Boston College, and his Ph.D. in philosophy at Marquette University. His research interests include the liberal arts, ethics, natural law theory, Thomas Aquinas, the Catholic intellectual tradition, and the work of Bernard Lonergan.
