Our Experts

Meet our exceptional army of influencers, artists, writers, researchers, and educators. Bring us to your community to experience inspiring, cutting-edge, and unique perspectives on Jewish identity. We offer speaking, teaching, press appearances, writing, and consulting.

Hen Mazzig, Senior Fellow

A globally-recognized speaker, educator, and digital influencer. Historians credit him as the founder of "Mizrahi Hertiage Month," and he has written for NBC News, Newsweek, and the LA Times. He has appeared as an expert on Jewish issues on four continents, over 500 college campuses, BBC, SkyNews, TEDx, and countless Shabbat dinners. He was named in Algemeiner's top 100 people positively influencing Jewish life, the top 50 online pro-Israel Influencers, Top 50 LGBTQ+ Influencers, and won CAMERA’s Portrait in Courage Award.

Daniella Rabbani, Community Manager

Following our 2022 Lab in Tel Aviv, Daniella joined our team officially as a Community Manager. An actress known for her roles as Rabbi Zoe on CBS’ God Friended Me, Jane in HBO’s Scenes from a Marriage, and extensive stage work with The National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene. She hosts the podcast Mom Curious, a safe space to ask moms of all stripes what the real deal is. BFA: NYU Tisch. She sheps nachas over her two kids Ness and Paz + advocates for a better world.

Yseult Polfliet Mukantabana, Research Fellow

Yseult Polfliet Mukantabana is Rwandan, Jewish and a queer woman. She is an author, creative director and social and art advocate. Mukantabana is the Co-founder of Kinswomen, sits on the Board Committee of POWarts, an organization meant to uplift professional womxn in the art industry, Ted Speaker and designer/ co-founder of YOAH, a gender-free children’s’ brand created with her brother Noah Polfliet. Her unique approaches to matters of race issues are global, located mainly in New York, she speaks four languages, lives and travels between Kigali, Paris and Tel Aviv.

Mukantabana has done consulting in anti-racism for small and large groups, her clients have ranged from corporate America, high profile art institutions and prestigious American universities such as Columbia and Yale. She has a distinct way of intersecting spaces and people. Her work aims at making the conversation possible and practical. She makes it available for people to build a realistic plan of action to be impactful and empowered in their advocacy.

Dr. Olga Kirschbaum-Shirazki, Visiting Fellow

Dr. Olga Kirschbaum-Shirazki is a historian and co-founder of the Tel Aviv Review of Books. She has a PhD in modern European history from NYU. As a researcher and translator she has collaborated with numerous  authors and organizations on the topics of Jewish history, inter-religious encounters and the universal in Judaism.  She is also the co founder and editor of Tel Aviv Review of Books, an online review that presents the entire spectrum of views from and about Israeli culture, religion, and politics to an international audience.

Dr. Matthias J. Becker, Visiting Fellow

A linguist whose research focuses on discrimination in mainstream society and the construction of implicit hate speech. Since 2020, Dr. Becker leads the international research project “Decoding Antisemitism”. In this 3-year pilot project, 9 researchers analyze antisemitism on mainstream news websites and social media platforms in Germany, France, and in the UK based on a mixed-methods approach, also integrating AI technology. who analyze antisemitism on news sites and social media using AI.

Advisory Board

Yossi Klein Halevi

An award-winning journalist and NY Times Bestselling author. His book, Like Dreamers, won the Jewish Book Council's Everett Book of the Year Award. His latest book, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, is a New York Times bestseller. He writes for leading op-ed pages in the US, including the Times and the Wall Street Journal, and is a former contributing editor to the New Republic. A senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, he co-directs the Institute's Muslim Leadership Initiative, which teaches Muslim American leaders about Judaism.

Rev. Dr. Nigel A. Pearce

Senior Pastor of Grace Congregational Church of Harlem. Pastor Pearce has served on the Board of Directors for The Lighthouse, the Samaritan Health Services, Make-A-Wish Foundation and now currently serves on the board of HCCI and Chairperson of the real estate committee.
Before joining the ministry, Reverend Pearce was a successful investment banker. Here, he serviced and invested money for urban economic developments and helped entrepreneurs raise start-up funding, write business plans and organize.

Lahav Harkov

The Senior Contributing Editor and Diplomatic Correspondent of The Jerusalem Post. She reports on and analyzes Israel's relations with the world, the Prime Minister's office, the National Security Council, the Foreign Ministry, and more. She interviews major figures across the Israeli political spectrum and is well-connected to the country's top lawmakers and diplomats.

She is often invited to lecture on Israeli government and politics, and international news outlets, such as the BBC, France 24 and Sky News have sought her insights.

Lyn Julius

The daughter of Iraqi-Jewish refugees, Lyn Julius founded Harif, the UK Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa. This organization raises awareness of the history and culture of the vanishing Jews from Arab and Muslim lands. She has organized over 200 events - talks, film screenings, concerts, debates, and book launches on subjects ranging from Judeo-Arabic to the Iranian revolution. Her book Uprooted: How 3,000 years of Jewish Civilisation in the Arab World vanished overnight was published in 2017.

Jake Cohen

The New York Times bestselling author of Jew-ish. Jake studied at the Culinary Institute of America. At SAVEUR magazine, where Jake led up recipe testing in the publication’s test kitchen. After SAVEUR, his career led him to write and contribute to dozens of food publications, as well as serving as the Food Editor of TastingTable.com and the food critic for Time Out New York. He's appeared in the Huffington Post, Food and Wine, Food52, Taste Cooking, Real Simple, Everyday with Rachel Ray, Extra Crispy, Genius Kitchen, and PureWow.

Associates & Digital Producers

Jenny Abrams, Associate

Formerly Shayna Batya, an editorial and commercial photographer, she is originally from Manchester, England. Her work focuses on the likeness of people, identity, and subcultures. Jenny has worked with clients including Google, Mercedes, Art Basel, Adidas, LVMH, Redbull, AT&T, Philips, Stella Artois, Soho House, San Pellegrino, SPG, Royal Caribbean, Ted Baker, and Rent The Runway. She has been published by Travel + Leisure, The Guardian, Instagram, NBC, Vice, Soccer Bible, and Stones Throw.

Jess Burke, Associate

(she/her, they/them) is an activist who focuses on anti-oppression and the inclusion of antisemitism in anti-racism practices. She has worked extensively with interreligious, queer, and equity-seeking communities across North America. Jess advocates for women and gender non-conforming representation in politics, combatting antisemitism in progressive spaces, intersectional frameworks when addressing oppression, and both digital and published communications. She is formerly a Director at CIJA (Toronto, Canada) and is Zioness’ incoming National Vice President of Advocacy.
Load More

Our Education in Action