Faculty

Tzvi Gumnitzky

Tzvi Gumintzky is thrilled to teach at Tzohar. He grew up in Baltimore and lived many years in Israel, where he was a Legacy Heritage Fellow and practiced high-tech law at a Tel Aviv firm. Tzvi is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law and is a member of the Maryland and Israel Bars. He enjoys learning texts with (and from) students, especially examining contemporary issues through the lens of Jewish sources. In his free time, he loves to explore nature and follow Baltimore sports.

Rabbi Batya Glazer

Batya Glazer was ordained as a Conservative rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1998 where she also studied at the Davidson School of Jewish Education. She is committed to listening deeply and developing an understanding of the concerns and the cultural context of diverse communities and working closely with lay leaders to bring together representatives and diverse perspectives of the Jewish community. Rabbi Glazer has a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University, a Master of Hebrew Letters degree from The University of Judaism, and a Master’s degree and Rabbinic Ordination from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Batya is the proud mother of Elana, Noah, and Meirav.

Rabbi David Wolkenfeld

Rabbi David Wolkenfeld has served as the rabbi of Ohev Sholom Congregation since July 2023. He has a B.A. in History from Harvard University and has completed graduate coursework in Medieval Jewish History at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Wolkenfeld studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut. He has semikhah (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg z’l, and Rabbi She’ar Yashuv Kohen z’l in Israel, and from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School. In his spare time, Rabbi Wolkenfeld enjoys hiking, making tomato sauce from local ingredients, and writing whimsical poems about synagogue life. The Wolkenfelds are the proud parents of five children: Noam, Akiva, Hillel, Sophie, and Yonatan.

Rabbanit Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld

Rabbanit Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld is an experienced educator and speaker.  Rabbanit Sara is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Hartman Institute of North American, an alumna of the David Hartman Center Fellowship, and is a member of Class Six of the Wexner Field Fellowship. Her previous experience includes serving as Director of Education at the Center for Jewish Life - Hillel at Princeton University as part of the OU’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus and serving on faculty at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. Rabbanit Sara especially loves learning Torah with her children, Noam, Akiva, Hillel, Sophie, and Yonatan. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, drinking tea, and reading modern Hebrew novels.

Rabbi Tracy Nathan

Rabbi Tracy Nathan is the Director of Lifelong Learning at Tifereth Israel. She recently moved here from St. Louis, where she was on the Judaics faculty at the Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School. She was the Senior Jewish Educator at the Center for Jewish Learning and director of Melton-St. Louis at Jewish Federation of St. Louis and served congregations in Waltham, MA and San Francisco, CA.

Ruti Kadish; Tovanot

Ruti was born in Israel, where she spent most of her childhood. After completing her military service, Ruti left Israel to study in the United States. She received a BA in Women’s Studies and a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from UC Berkeley. Before a postdoc in Israel Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, Ruti was a Fellow at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership in Jerusalem, where she designed progressive Israel curricula for informal Jewish education. Through the early aughts, Ruti worked as a consultant in diversity education, primarily assisting primary schools in becoming more welcoming environments for all different kinds of families, including LGBT-headed families. For much of the past 15 years, Ruti has worked in the Jewish not-for-profit in education and resource development.

University of Maryland Faculty  

Select members of the University of Maryland, College Park faculty will present special lectures and presentations throughout the academic year. 

The University of Maryland Coordinator is Professor Maxine Grossman, Director and Associate Professor of the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies. 

Participating faculty includes:

• Mikol Bailey, a Ph.D. candidate in early modern Jewish history, with a focus on Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• Bernard Cooperman, who served as Director of the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies from 1991 to 1997.
• Maxine Grossman, whose research interests the study of ancient Judaism and the Dead Sea Scrolls; methods and theories in the study of religion; gender studies; and articulations of lived religious experience in contemporary society.
• Avital Karpman, director of the Hebrew program at the University of Maryland.
• Lauren Kotkin, director of educational programs at Exponent Philanthropy, the nation’s largest philanthropy membership association.
• Ilai Saltzman, Director of the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies at the University of Maryland.
• Matthew Suriano, who specializes in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, ancient Near Eastern religions, Northwest Semitic epigraphy, and the archaeology of the Levant.
• Eric Zakim, whose research and teaching focus primarily on modern Hebrew literature and Israeli culture.