What makes Drisha special is our people.

Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of the Drisha Institute. He is a recipient of the Covenant Award, for excellence in innovative Jewish education, and is the author of A Passover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn (Jewish Publication Society 2011) and For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther (Koren Publishers 2017). He is also a nationally acclaimed lecturer on the Bible. Rabbi Silber received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

Dr. R. Jon Kelsen is the Chief Education Officer at Drisha. He previously served as Dean at YCT Rabbinical School and taught Talmud and Pedagogy, and has taught and lectured around the world for nearly two decades.  He earned a doctorate in Education and Jewish Studies from New York University, where he studied as a Wexner Graduate Fellow, and was ordained by Rabbis Daniel Landes and Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg.

Rabbanit Hanna Godinger (Dreyfuss) is the Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshivat Drisha. Previously, she taught Gemara iyun at Matan Jerusalem and headed the Metivta program there. She served as the Rosh Beit Midrash at Midreshet Lindenbaum for five years and as Rabbanit Beit Sefer at Pelech High School in Jerusalem for close to a decade. She studied at Migdal Oz for three years, for four years in Matan’s Advanced Talmud Institute, and for one year in the halacha program at Beit Morasha. She holds a BA in Philosophy and Psychology from the Open University, and an MA in Talmud from Bar Ilan University. She is recognized in the Torah world as a talmidat chachamim, who has expertise in learning, teaching, and writing. She is a sought-after lecturer in different frameworks, and publishes Torah articles and halachic teshuvot on different platforms.

Director of Teen programs Rabbanit Victoria Sutton is on the Judaic studies faculty at the Heschel School. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Education and Community Engagement at Congregation Beth Israel, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Berkeley. She was ordained through Yeshivat Maharat in 2014. A graduate of Barnard College, with a BA in Biological Sciences, she also holds a Grand Diploma in Pastry Arts from the French Culinary Institute. Victoria sat on the board of Jewish Family and Community Services East Bay and was involved with community organizations in New York City focusing on homelessness, literacy, sexual assault and domestic violence.

Rabbanit Leah Sarna is the Faculty Advisor to the Teen Programs at Drisha and a former Director of Teen Programs. She previously served as Director of Religious Engagement at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation in Chicago, a leading urban Orthodox congregation.

She was ordained at Yeshivat Maharat in 2018, holds a BA from Yale University in Philosophy & Psychology, and also trained at the SKA Beit Midrash for Women at Migdal Oz, Drisha and the Center for Modern Torah Leadership. Rabbanit Sarna’s published works have appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Lehrhaus and MyJewishLearning.

She has lectured in Orthodox synagogues and Jewish communal settings around the world and loves spreading her warm, energetic love for Torah and Mitzvot with Jews in all stages of life.

Rabbanit Nechama Porat is the Ramit Shiur Alef at Drisha. Outside Drisha, she teaches at Midreshet Zohar in Bat Ayin and is completing an MA in Jewish History at Hebrew University. She taught Gemara at Beit Midrash Havruta in Har Hatzofim and served as a ramit at Midreshet Lindenbaum for six years. She headed Midreshet Zion in Washington D.C. which involved teaching Gemara to the upper grades in the high school as well as teaching Gemara, Tanach, and Machshava in the community. She studied in Nishmat and Migdal Oz for Shana Alef, Bet, and Gimmel, after which she studied for three years in the Institute for Halachic Leadership at Midreshet Lindenbaum. She holds a B.Ed in Jewish Thought and Toshba.

Rabbanit Yael Shimoni is the Assistant Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshivat Drisha. Rabbanit Yael Shimoni founded and previously directed the “Meshivat Nefesh” initiative – the online halachic and spiritual responsa program of the rabbaniyot of Beit Hillel. She taught at Pelech High School in Jerusalem for a decade and served as a ramit for Shana Bet at Migdal Oz for two years. Over the years she has taught in various other institutions – Midreshet Emuna v’Omanut, Midreshet Lindenbaum, and Herzog College. She is a plastic artist and member of “A Studio of Her Own”, and exhibits her works around the country. She studied for three years at the Institute for Halakhic Leadership at Midreshet Lindenbaum, for six years at Migdal Oz, and for two years in Matan’s Advanced Talmud Institute. She holds a BFA from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and a B. Ed in Torah Shebe’al Peh and Jewish Thought from Herzog College. She is currently completing her MA in Jewish Thought Education at Herzog College. 

Mr. Michael Bernstein is Drisha’s Lead Administrator. Michael’s studies prior to earning his MSW at Wurzweiler School of Social Work focused on peshat-based Biblical interpretation & translation as well as Biblical intertextuality.
In addition to contributing editorial work to publications by scholars including Dr. Malka Z. Simkovich, Dr. James A. Redfield, & Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier, Michael has published his own scholarship in the area of Karaite law codes, including a digital critical edition of the late-1400s Adderet Eliyahu produced for the Karaite Press / Karaite Jews of America online learning center.
Michael lives in Riverdale, Bronx with his wife Dr. Jade Gormady and their two children.

Kayla Blum is Drisha’s acting Office Manager and community point of contact.