Ari Bergmann received a BA in Talmudic Law from Ner Israel Rabbinical College (1981) and an MA in Jewish Studies from Columbia University (2006), and is presently pursuing his PhD in Judaism at Columbia. His areas of interest include classical rabbinic literature and history, with a focus in the development and the formation of the Talmud. Specifically his current research interests include contrasting the theories of Y.I. Halevy in Dorot Harishonim with the current ideas of contemporary scholars.

Josh Eisen

Josh is Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, where he specializes in Talmud and other aspects of Jewish Law. His dissertation research centers on the manner in which individuals relate to the authority of halachic texts and the mechanisms through which authority is expressed in those texts. Josh earned a B.A. in Classics from Queens College, an M.A. from N.Y.U. in Semitic Philology and Minoan Art, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Ricky Hidary

Ricky Hidary is currently completing a PhD in rabbinic literature at New York University and is an adjunct lecturer at Brooklyn College. His dissertation is on tolerance for diversity of halakhic practice in the Talmud. He holds a BA in computer science from Yeshiva University and is an assistant rabbi at Sephardic Synagogue in Brooklyn.

Lynn Kaye

Lynn Kaye is a doctoral student at New York University in the field of Rabbinics, specializing in Talmud. Lynn holds a degree in Hebrew Literature with honors from University of Cambridge, UK. She received her Master's degree in the Hebrew Bible and modern literary theory from the University of Cambridge in 2004. Lynn also completed Yeshiva University's Graduate Program for Women in Advanced Talmudic Studies.

Alexander Kaye

Alexander Kaye is a Ph.D. candidate in Jewish History and a Richard Hofstadter Fellow at Columbia University. He holds a BA in historyand an MPhil. in Historical Studies from the University of Cambridge, Peterhouse, where he wrote about the political thought of Isaac Abravanel and the reinstitution of rabbinical ordination in 16th century Safed. He has been an Adjunct Professor at Stern College, Yeshiva University, and a fellow of the British Arts and Humanities Research Board. His current interest is in modern Jewish intellectual history and political thought and he is researching the role played by the creation of Israeli law in Zionist discourse.

Elana Stein

After receiving her BA in History at Columbia College ('04), Elana is pursuing a doctorate in Religion at Columbia's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Her focus is the use of contemporary legal theory to shed light on issues in traditional Jewish Law.

Uriel Simonsohn

Uriel Simonsohn earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Tel Aviv University in Jewish and Islamic History. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton. His main interest is the social history of Jewish and Christian communities in the Middle Ages. His dissertation focuses on the history of Jewish and Christian elites in the early medieval Muslim world.