Nechama Price
Director, Graduate Program in Advanced Talmud and Tanach Studies (GPATS)
Senior Lecturer of Bible and Jewish Law, Stern College for Women
Dr. Nechama Price is the Director of Yeshiva University’s Graduate Program for Advanced Talmud and Tanach Studies (GPATS) and teaches Tanach and Halacha at Stern College. Nechama received certification from GPATS, earned masters degrees from Azrieli Graduate School and Bernard Revel Graduate School, and an Ed.D from Azrieli Graduate School focusing her research on the impact of female Torah scholar role models on high school students. She is a certified Yoetzet Halacha, and currently serves as a Yoetzet Halacha (Halakhic Advisor) for the communities of Teaneck, Englewood, Tenafly, Livingston, West Orange, and Long Branch NJ. Nechama is the author of Tribal Blueprints, which analyzes the lives and personalities of the twelve tribes. Nechama lectures broadly on topics in Tanach, Halacha, and women’s religious life. She lives in Bergenfield, NJ with her husband & four children.
Shoshana Schechter, Dean
Shoshana Schechter is the Associate Dean of Torah and Spiritual Life at Stern College for Women and the founding director of the Mechina Program there. A graduate of Stern College, with a B.S. in both Judaic Studies and English Literature, Shoshana has also taught Tanach and English at various high schools in the New York area. She holds master's degrees from Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies and Columbia University School of Journalism. She is a frequent lecturer on topics in Tanach and has been involved in Jewish outreach programs on four continents
Haviva Chernigoff, Program Coordinator
Haviva Chernigoff is the Program Coordinator for The Office of Torah and Spiritual Life at Stern College for Women, Yeshiva University. As part of this role, she is also the program coordinator for GPATS. Haviva holds a Bachelors of Science in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business. Outside of Stern, Haviva is a community happiness coordinator for Daily Giving.
Talmud Faculty
Rabbi David Nachbar
Rabbi David Nachbar received his semicha from RIETS and continued his studies as a member of the Bella and Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon of Yeshiva University. He also holds a master’s degree in medieval Jewish history from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. Rabbi Nachbar currently serves as a maggid shiur for GPATS and as a Judaic Studies faculty member at TABC in Teaneck.
Tanach Faculty
Dr. Michelle Levine
Dr. Michelle Levine is Associate Professor of Bible at Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University, where she has taught since 2001. She holds a BA, summa cum laude with honors, from Brooklyn College, an MS in Bible from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, and a PhD in medieval biblical exegesis from New York University; her dissertation was awarded doctoral fellowships from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Dr. Levine also studied for two years at Michlalah Teacher’s College in Israel. Dr. Levine is the author of Nahmanides on Genesis: The Art of Biblical Portraiture, which is based on her dissertation, published by Brown University Press (2010). She has published numerous articles and delivered academic papers on topics in Tanach and medieval biblical exegesis. Dr. Levine lectures widely across the United States and in Israel on various topics of the Bible and biblical commentaries.
Rabbi Allen Schwartz
Rabbi Allen Schwartz is an alumnus of Yeshiva College and received his Master of Arts degree in Bible, Rabbinics and Halacha from Yeshiva University's Bernard Revel Graduate School. Rabbi Schwartz was granted Smicha from the University's affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He currently holds the Raymond J. Greenwald Chair in Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University, where he has taught since 1983, and since 2020 has been teaching in the Tanach Track at GPATS. Rabbi Schwartz has served as the spiritual leader of Congregation Ohab Zedek on Manhattan's Upper West Side since 1988.
Rabbi Schwartz authored a scholarly edition of the Commentary of the Rokeach to Sefer Mishlei (The Book of Proverbs), as well as his Passover Haggadah - The 4 Sons Haggadah, and he has recently published Conflict Resolutions in the Early Prophets (2020). He has also contributed numerous chapters and articles to books and scholarly journals.
Dr. Erica Brown
Dr. Erica Brown is the Vice Provost for Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University and the founding director of its Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership. She was both a faculty member and a student of Rabbi Sacks’ at Jews’ College, where Rabbi Sacks served as her Masters’ thesis advisor. Erica previously served as the director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership and an associate professor of curriculum and pedagogy at The George Washington University. Erica is the author of twelve books on leadership, the Hebrew Bible and spirituality. Erica has a daily podcast, “Take Your Soul to Work.” Her latest book Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile (Maggid) was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.
Dr. Brown has Master’s degrees from the Institute of Education (University of London), Jews’ College (University of London) and Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Baltimore Hebrew University. Erica was a Jerusalem Fellow, is a faculty member of the Wexner Foundation, an Avi Chai Fellow and the recipient of the 2009 Covenant Award for her work in education. She was the scholar-in-residence at both The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston and as the community scholar for The Jewish Center of New York City. She currently serves as a community scholar for Congregation Etz Chaim in Livingston, NJ.
Professor Smadar Rosenweig
Ms. Smadar Rosensweig is a professor of Bible at Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University, as well as a professor of biblical studies at Allegra Franco Sephardic Women’s Teachers College. Previously, she was a professor of Judaic studies and history at Touro College. Ms. Rosensweig received a master’s degree in philosophy and a master’s degree in arts from Columbia University. She gives shiurim and lectures throughout the metropolitan area and across the country.
Halacha Faculty
Rabbi Gedalyah Berger
Rabbi Gedalyah Berger serves as a Ra"M in the Graduate Program for Women in Advanced Talmud/Tanach Studies at Yeshiva University, and as a maggid shi'ur at the Yo`etzet Halakhah program of Nishmat's Miriam Glaubach Center. He is part of the Orthodox Union's Department of Synagogue Services in the role of Adult Education Coordinator; before joining the OU, he served for 15 years as Rabbi of Fleetwood Synagogue in Mount Vernon, NY. Rabbi Berger graduated from Yeshiva College in 1994 with a B.A. in physics, studied for three years at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel under the tutelage of HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein zt"l, received his semikhah from RIETS in 1998, and was a fellow of RIETS's Bella and Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon. He was Northeast Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America from 2013-2015, and currently serves on the RCA’s Executive Committee.
Rabbi Ezra Schwartz
Rabbi Ezra Schwartz is a Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS and the Associate Director of its Semikha Program. He holds five degrees from Yeshiva University including Yadin Yadin. Rabbi Schwartz served as Rabbi of Mt Sinai Jewish Center of Washington Heights from 2009-2019.