Meet the outstanding Jewish educators we've selected to develop the curriculum for the Shapiro Family Fellowship program. This team's programs and materials will be designed to cultivate the fellows' relationships to Israel, to the Jewish community in New York, and to each other.

Rabbi Dara Z. Klarfeld

Dara Klarfeld is currently project director for the Shapiro Family Fellowship. Prior to this, Dara was executive director of JEXNET (formerly the North American Alliance for Jewish Youth), program director for the Panim Seminar in Washington, D.C., and a field worker for Koach College Outreach. Dara has extensive experience as a Jewish educator in both formal and informal settings. She has been a teacher at the Solomon Schechter High School in Long Island, at the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, and for many years in conjunction with United Synagogue Youth and Camp Ramah in the Berkshires.

Dara holds a master's degree and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and is the author of the revised edition of the sourcebook Community Responsibility in the Jewish Tradition.

Dara and her husband, Simon, are the proud parents of Harry, Isaac and Sophie.

David Bryfman (Educator, Class One)

David Bryfman is an Australian-born Jewish educator who has worked in formal and informal Jewish educational institutions in Australia, Israel, and North America. He completed his undergraduate degree and Master of Education in Melbourne, and graduated from the Melton Senior Educators Program at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Pardes Institute of Jewish Study. In Australia, David was the director of informal Jewish education at a large Jewish day school, a Hillel, birthright israel in Australia, and several other Israel experience programs. David lived in St. Louis, Missouri, for two years, where he was director of the Central Agency's Community Supplementary High School and Teen Initiative programs.

David is a graduate of Brandeis University's Informal Jewish Education Leadership Seminar and a doctoral student in Jewish education at New York University, focusing on Jewish adolescent identity development and experiential Jewish education. David is also a fellow in New York University's Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program. He has most recently worked for JEXNET and Makom as an Israel educator.

Jeremy Leigh (Educator, Class Two)

Jeremy Leigh was born in London, UK and emigrated to Israel in 1992, having completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in Jewish History at University College London and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Over the years, Jeremy has lectured at numerous academic institutions in Jerusalem. He is currently a lecturer in Jewish History and Israel Studies at the Hebrew Union College Jerusalem and The Institute for Youth Leaders from Abroad. Until recently, he taught Israeli Cinema at the Rothberg School of the Hebrew University.

In 2002, Jeremy founded "Jewish Journeys", a project concerned with developing innovative educational travel to Jewish sites in Europe, North Africa and North America.  Parallel to this, he has authored many Jewish travel books, the latest being ‘Jewish Journeys’ (Haus Publ., London 2006). His latest project is entitled ‘Jews Must Go: Reflections on the Jewish Grand Tour’ due to be completed in summer 2010.

Jeremy lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three daughters.