Our Sacks Writing Scholars

Ori Bach is pursuing a master’s degree in Jewish studies at Revel Graduate School and rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He has written for Yeshiva University's philosophy journal, the Symposium, and the Lehrhaus. He has also served as an editor for various publications. 

 Sarah Baird is pursuing a master's degree in modern Jewish history at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. She currently serves as the Dean of the Tikvah Solomon Fellowship and the Dean of Faculty of the Tikvah Scholars Summer Programs, and her essays have been published in The Public Discourse, The Jewish Review of Books, and The Wall Street Journal.

Alex Benedyk is pursuing semikha (rabbinical ordination) at RIETS, Yeshiva University. Before relocating to New York, he worked for the UK Civil Service in London as an economist and policy advisor for seven years. As a former research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, he published several essays on the Israeli economy in The Jerusalem Post. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Bristol, UK.

Aviva Farkas is pursuing a PhD in Jewish Philosophy at Bernard Revel Graduate School. She has published articles in a variety of peer-reviewed and popular venues, including Hakirah, Religions, Comitatus, Chabad.org, and Hevria. 

Marc Fishkind is currently pursuing Yoreh Yoreh semikha at RIETS. He received a BA in Cognitive Science from University of Pennsylvania, and has previously participated as a Nachshon Project Fellow as well as Maimonides School Fellow, and has served as a copy editor for Beis Yitzchak.

Peninah Taragin Gershman holds a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology and previously worked as a speech-language pathologist and Medicare Policy Analyst for the Federal Government, writing for trade journals, producing web content, and drafting manuals and federal regulations respectively. She is currently pursuing an MA at the Yeshiva University Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and her most recent piece, "Holocaust Humor, Ethics, and Theological Protest," was published in The Lehrhaus.

Yitzy Tanner is pursuing Yoreh Yoreh rabbinic ordination at RIETS, while serving as the Rabbinic Intern at Shaare Tefillah in Teaneck, NJ. He earned his MS in Physics, as well as a BA with a double major in Physics and Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania, following his 3 years of study at Yeshivat Har Etzion.     

Rivka Werner is pursuing an MA in Biblical and Talmudic Interpretation at GPATS and has extensive research experience including positions at the Institute for Advanced Study and editing a Princeton University Press Neuroscience textbook. Her writing has appeared in The Commentator and The Canadian Jewish News, and as a Beren Summer Fellow at the Tikvah Fund.  

Miriam Zami is pursuing her PhD at Revel in Talmud and Ancient Judaism and teaches widely across academic and communal settings. She is a member of the Sefaria Word-by-Word Fellowship and has previously published at the Lehrhaus, where she was also an editor, and writes on midrash and meaning at her Substack.