Faculty and Program

A hallmark of the retreat is its ability to intrigue and delight. . And we have a special program planned exploring the theme of leadership and mentorship from a personal perspective. Creative workshops, meditative walks - we could tell you more, but we'd rather surprise you!

Faculty as of today- Please visit site regularly for updates!

Many of the teachers you enjoyed last year will be back, and there are some exciting new additions to our staff, including:

Rabbi Manis Friedman
S. Paul, Minnesota

Our keynote speaker, Rabbi Manis Friedman, is a world-renowned author, lecturer, and social commentator whose provocative and incisive wit has garnered much media attention.

Mrs. Shimona Tzukernik
Brooklyn, New York

A native of South Africa, Mrs. Tzukernik, a corporate trainer, personal mentor, artist, and lecturer, creates innovative curricula designed to help people achieve maximum performance by disrupting their conventional ways of thinking. Her corporate training workshops offer business training solutions that allow for lasting change from the inside out. Mrs. Tzukernik is a course author for JLI and the creator of the Jewish Learning Safari.

Rabbi Chaim Block
San Antonio, Texas

Director of the South Texas Chabad-Lubavitch branch since 1985, and is a founding member of the JLI executive board.

Rebbetzin Rivkie Block
San Antonio, Texas

Mrs. Rivkie Block serves as the Education Director of Chabad-Lubavitch of South Texas. Mrs. Block also directs the Chabad Hebrew School and the Gan Gani Preschool in San Antonio. She has been teaching and lecturing on a wide range of Jewish topics for adult audiences for the past 22 years.

Rabbi Moshe Bryski
Agoura Hills, California

Founder of the Conejo Jewish Academy, one of the largest institutes of adult Jewish education in the US. And a master teacher who has inspired thousands with his weekly classes.

Rebbetzin Matty Bryski
Agoura Hills, California

Rebbetzin Matty Bryski has been an educator for over two decades. Thousands of day school, hebrew school and pre-school students have enjoyed her enthusiastic approach to Judaic teaching over the years. She also leads a series of weekly study groups and courses for adults at the Conejo Jewish Academy and has worked with her husband in building a vibrant and thriving Jewish community in Agoura Hills, California.

Rabbi  David Eliezrie
Yorba Linda, CA

Rabbi Eliezrie, the spiritual leader of the Chabad Center in Yorba Linda, California, is active in local and national Jewish affairs, including the Rabbinical Council of Orange County and Long Beach, the Renaissance and Renewal Pillar of the United Jewish Communities, and the Advisory Committee of the JLI.

Mrs. Chana Epstein
Cedarhurst, New York

Mrs. Epstein (with the full cooperation of her special and supportive husband) is a worldwide speaker on their relationship. She shares very personally about the dynamics of a marriage of many decades. This is an interactive workshop and questions from the participants are encouraged. Although there are 2 parts to the workshop you are not required to attend both and the only pre-requisite is that you are a MARRIED WOMAN.

 

Rabbi Hesh Epstein
Columbia, South Carolina

Director of Chabad Lubavitch of South Carolina. He serves on the Board of the Columbia Jewish Day School. Columbia Jewish Federation, the Mikveh Committee, and the Jewish Arts and Cultural committee. Rabbi Epstein is also the chairman of executive committee of the JLI.

 

Mrs. Molly Resnick
New York, New York

Molly Resnick a veteran newswoman, graduate of Hebrew University in Jerusalem  who worked for Israeli TV, PBS, NBC News and The Jewish Press, has interviewed VIPs such as, Menachem Begin, Yizhak Rabin, Moshe Dayan and Henry Kissinger and has produced documentaries on the Middle East , Jews and Judaism.

An international speaker, fluent in five languages, Mrs. Resnick is the founder and director of the grassroots organization MATCKH ( Mothers Against Teaching Children to Kill) an organization that has drawn focus to the dangers of teaching bigotry and violence to Arab children.

Rabbi Eli Silberstein
Ithaca, New York

Rabbi Silberstein is director of Chabad at Cornell University, and a Talmudic scholar with particular interests in the intersection of the legal and mystical dimensions of Jewish law. He has authored a number of courses for the JLI, including Biblical Reflections, the Kabbalah of Time, and Talmudic Ethics (with Rabbi Moshe Miller).

Dr. Chana Silberstein, PhD
Ithaca New York

Chana Silberstein, a developmental psychologist and educational consultant, is curriculum specialist for the JLI.

Last Year's Program

Rabbi Manis Friedman:

• Dealing Successfully with family and friends who are becoming more religious
• Four Jewish Ideas that Have Changed the World
• Understanding Your (grand)Children

Rabbi Asher Crispe:

• Globalization and the End of Work: Technology in the Messianic Era and the Economies of the Future.
• The Power of Networks: Jewish Ideas on Being Connected in Today’s World
• Kabbalah and Film Theory: Inner Dimensions of Jewish Hollywood
• Medical Utopias of the Future: Jewish Reflections on Stem Cell Research, Biogenetic Engineering and Radical Life Extension

Mrs. Sara Esther Crispe:

• Did You Hear What I Meant to Say? A Kabbalistic Understanding of Communication
• Mind Control: Understanding Ourselves from the Inside Out
• Transforming Darkness Into Light: Learn how the Torah teaches us to maintain our faith and not only endure hard times, but transform them.
• Turning Your Other Half Into Your Other Whole - A Kabbalistic Understanding of Relationships, Marriage and Our Individual Role Within Them
• From Slavery to Redemption - How a Woman’s Cycle is the Microcosm for our Development as Individuals and as a Collective Whole

Mrs. Shimona Tzukernik:

• "Gender Blender" - shalom bayis looking at the different modalities of men and women
• Healing workouts that involves stretches geared to invigorate and align the body, as well as strengthening positions.  The session includes self-massage techniques and Qi Gong to encourage energy flow.
• "Beauty of the Beast" - A fabulous scenic hike includes learning about the natural environment and doing a meditation and teaching at the peak.
• "The Creators" - A session on the challenges and rewards of the unique relationships that are shared between parents and children.

Rabbi Moshe Bryski

• Hear O' Israel - The Art of Listening
• Know From Where You Come... and Where You Are Going
• Divine Providence - Looking for the Hand of G-d in Your Life
• The Courage to Change
• The Journeys of Our Lives
• Faith and Suffering: Where is G-d When It Hurts?
• The Golden Calf - How Could They?
• The Broken Tablets - How Could He?

Rebbetzin Matty Bryski:

• "Feminine energy" and the power of the woman
• "Loving your neighbor as yourself" - Chapter 32 of the Tanya
• "Life is a test" - chapter 27 of the Tanya

Mrs. Chana Epstein

• Part 1: Leap Ahead - Taking our marriage relationship to a new level! A workshop for MARRIED WOMEN
• Part 2: And now - Bringing it up a notch!

Rabbi Dov Greenberg:

• The Four Most Important Questions G-d Will Ask You.
• Prozac for the Soul: Applying the Kabbalah to the Challenges of Every Day Life.
• Life After Death: The Jewish Perspective on Soul, Afterlife and Immortality
• Human Rights or Human Obligations? Jewish law’s alternative vision on human rights

Rabbi Lazer Gurkow

• Ethics of the Spoken Word: Irreversible Damage - incalculable Reward
• The power of a Love
• Friday Light: Illuminating family and home with the light of Shabbat
• Crossing the Gender Barrier: Men and Women in Prayer
• Charity: When Giving is receiving
• Prayer Across the Generations: Historical Overview of the Development of Prayer
• So What Really Happens on the Other Side: The Afterlife - A Torah perspective
• Exploring the Theme of our Generation: If it Feels Good - Do it

Rabbi Eli Silberstein

The Talmud: A Blueprint for Jewish Thinking.
This class will demonstrate how the Talmud serves as the most
basic framework which inspired Jewish and universal values in life.

• The Kabbalah of Physics
  A mystical understanding of the natural world and how some of the most advanced concepts in physics were discussed centuries ago by Judaism's greatest mystics.
• Is Coca Cola Kosher? A fascinating look at one of the earliest kashrut endeavors in the US.
• "Problematic" Ideas in Judaism: How to Respond?
  Judaism is full of ideas that don't resonate with modern sensibilities. As members of a progressive society, how do we reconcile our devotion to Judaism's ancient value system and modern sensibilities?

Dr. Chana Silberstein, PhD

• The Bread and Fire Book Club - Using this new book as source material for addressing the themes of male and female in Jewish thought, parenting, prayer, women's Torah study, Mikvah, Transitions: birth and death,  tzedakah
• Battle of Kings: Mashiach ben Yosef vs. Mashiach ben David
  (contrasts working for change "within the system" vs. defying the existing)
• A Candle-lighting workshop