Yeshivat Hadar, the first full-time egalitarian yeshiva in North America, is animated by three central goals:
- To foster a community of students who engage in intensive Torah study, prayer and social action.
- To offer a passionate vision of traditional Jewish life as a spiritual path.
- To empower students to build and contribute to vibrant Jewish communities.
Our Faculty for the Weekend
Our teachers for the weekend are the co-founders of Mechon Hadar. Along with Avital Campbell Hochstein, they are the Rashei Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hadar.
Rabbi Ethan Tucker is chair in Jewish Law at Mechon Hadar. He was a faculty member at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, where he taught in the Scholars Circle. Ethan was ordained by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and earned a PhD in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Rabbi Tucker was a co-founder of Kehilat Hadar and a winner of the first Grinspoon Foundation Social Entrepreneur Fellowship.
Rabbi Shai Held is co-founder and rosh yeshiva at Mechon Hadar and chair in Jewish Thought. He served as scholar-in-residence at Kehilat Hadar, taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and is completing his dcotorate at Harvard University. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, Shai was director of education at Harvard Hillel. A graduate of Harvard College, he has taught for institutions such as the Drisha Institute, Hebrew College, Meah, UJACJP, and the Rabbinic Training Institute.
Rabbi Elie Kaunfer is the executive director of Mechon Hadar. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he also completed an MA and is pursuing a doctorate in liturgy. Elie is a co-founder of Kehilat Hadar and in 2009 Newsweek named him one of the top 50 rabbis in America.
Rabbi Kaunfer was selected as an inaugural AVI CHAI Fellow, and is the author of Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us About Building Vibrant Jewish Communities (Jewish Lights, 2010).
