About Our FACULTY

RETURN TO HOME PAGE   ::  RETURN TO CAJL PAGE    ::  RETURN TO MELTON PAGE

Robert A. Cohn, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the St. Louis Jewish Light and leader of the National Jewish Press is a highly respected writer and commentator on a wide span of topics of Jewish interests This year for the first time Bob will also be offering his very popular Current Events course on Monday evenings in addition to Thursday mornings.

Back to top

Rabbi Ryan Dulkin is an advanced doctoral candidate in the field of Midrash at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Rabbi Dulkin is focusing his academic research on the development of Rabbinic Judaism in the context of the Christianization of the eastern Roman Empire. Rabbi Dulkin has served as an educator in a variety of settings.

Back to top

Rabbi Seth Gordon serves as rabbi at Traditional Congregation. His class on the prophets last year proved to be an informative and thought provoking course. In addition to his class on the Prophets, this year he has developed a course that will delve into the content of the great Midrash. He is also one of our Melton faculty members.

Back to top

Dr. Ari Hendin is currently involved as an Interfaith Youth Leader and Mentor at Greater St. Louis’ multi-faith community, Prayer leader/shlichat tzibbur at Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community, teacher in the Center for Adult Jewish Education and JOLT: Jewish Opportunities and Learning for Teens at CAJE St. Louis.  Rabbi Ari was a Rabbinic Intern at The Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia, a teacher at Congregation Beth Or and a student at Gratz College.

Dr. Naomi Jacobs is an internationally recognized expert on the Book of Tobit, about which she has a forthcoming book. Dr. Jacobs is an accomplished educator and has recently been on the faculty of Washington University.

Back to top

Aura Kavadlo grew up in New York City, where she developed a taste for fabulous food. Arriving in St. Louis in 2004, she has become an active member of the Jewish community, regularly teaching cooking classes at Shaare Emeth, and the JCC. Aura was the 2008 recipient of the Howard M. Graber Creative Teacher Award and writes the monthly column Jewish Lite: Healthy Jewish Eating for www.jewishinstlouis.org. She strives to make Jewish cooking healthy and fun.

Cyndee Levy is the Director of Adult Jewish Education at CAJE and a veteran Melton faculty member. Her students enjoy the breadth of her Jewish knowledge and her personable style.

Back to top

Ophira Melnick was born and raised in Jerusalem. She graduated from Hebrew University with a degree in Jewish History and Geography and a teaching certificate in Hebrew as a Second Language. A long-time educator, she has taught Hebrew and Judaic studies to American children and adults for 20 years. Ophira's love of Judaism, Hebrew and Israel infuses all her classes.

Back to top

Marcia Moskowitz spent 25 years teaching Advanced Placement English at Parkway West High School. Since retiring, she has led numerous classes about Jewish literature at Congregation Shaare Emeth and CAJE. Marcia once again brings her expertise to the classroom this year with her extremely popular Contemporary Jewish Writers course she developed. She will also be offering an evening class, Contemporary Jewish Short Stories.

Back to top

Miryam Ronen has been teaching Biblical Hebrew at CAJE for many years. The poet Bialik called Hebrew a “fixture of the Jewish soul.” As all who have learned this sublime language from Mrs. Ronen will attest, she’s made it a fixture of countless Jewish souls throughout St. Louis.

Back to top

Howard Schwartz is a Professor of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis for 34 years and is an award winning writer and poet.  His latest book Tree of Souls is a culmination of 12 years of research.

Back to top

Rabbi Lane Steinger is spiritual leader of Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community and a Florence Melton Adult Mini-school faculty member.  A native of St. Louis, he formerly served as Regional Director of the Midwest Council, Union for Reform Judaism, and as a congregational rabbi in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Back to top

Maxine Goldman Weil is the Director of CAJE’s Commission on Conservative Jewish Education and the Director of the Special Needs Program. As a veteran educator in our community, she has worked with students and teachers from Early Childhood Education to Elementary and Middle School as well as High School. Maxine has a Masters Degree in Education with emphasis in Jewish Education and School Administration.

Back to top

Rabbi Max Weiman has studied Judaism in Israel and the U.S. since 1983. He spent time in a variety of traditional yeshivot, and received ordination from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem through Yeshivat Aish HaTorah in 1992. At that point he began teaching for Aish, an international Jewish education movement. As of 2004 he has made his own organization Kabbalah Made Easy, Inc.  In 1999 he formed the Kabbalah Club which became the organization Kabbalah Made Easy, and has been teaching via classes, email, newspaper articles, and a website www.kabbalahmadeeasy.com.  His articles have appeared in the Jewish Press, Intermountain Jewish News, St. Louis Jewish Light, Pathfinder, Bulletin of the Astrological Association of St. Louis, and Today’s Astrologer and various websites.

Back to top