Program in Judaic Studies - Faculty

Rabbi Ely Allen was born in Jersey City, NJ in 1970.  Rabbi Allen attended Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck from 1988-1992, graduating with a BA in Psychology.  He attended rabbinical seminary at Yeshiva University and completed his Rabbinic Ordination in 2001.  Rabbi Allen is currently the Director of Hillel and Teen Connections for UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey, which entails being the Hillel Director and Chaplain at Ramapo College, William Patterson State University, Fairleigh Dickinson University Metropolitan Campus and Bergen Community College.  He also arranges social and educational activities for all Bergen County Teens and College students. In addition to being an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, he is a long standing faculty member at Bergen County's two largest Hebrew High Schools, the Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies and the Bergen Academy of Reform Judaism. He currently teaches Adult Education courses at the Jewish Community Center on the Palisades as well.  Rabbi Allen serves as the spiritual leader of Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck, NJ.  His main interests are Jewish spirituality, mysticism, self-development, history and social action.

Dr. Leonard Grob received his B.A. degree (magna cum laude) from Yale University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University.  Dr. Grob has published extensively in the areas of the philosophy of dialogue and peace studies, focusing in particular on the philosophy of Martin Buber. He is the co-editor of two anthologies based in Buber’s philosophy: Education for Peace: Testimonies from World Religions   and Women’s and Men’s Liberation: Testimonies of Spirit.  In the area of Holocaust Studies, Dr. Grob has authored articles and book chapters on topics such as post-Holocaust education, ethics after the Holocaust, post-Holocaust theodicy, and philosophical reflections on rescuers.  Since 1996 he has served as co-organizer of the biennial Pastora Goldner Holocaust Symposium at Fairleigh Dickinson’s British Campus in Oxfordshire.  Dr. Grob also has an extensive background in Jewish Studies. He is fluent in Hebrew and has spent considerable periods of time in Israel. In 1983 he served as an observer and participant in an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue project in southern Israel. In the 1990s Dr. Grob was appointed (Stateside) Director of Fairleigh Dickinson’s branch campus in Tel Aviv. During the last several years Dr. Grob has given papers and has published work on the relationship between memory of the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is currently co-editing an anthology entitled Holocaust Scholars Address the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. He is Co-President of the Global Oral History Project, Inc., a non-profit organization devoted to promoting greater mutual understanding among the children of the Middle East. 

Dr. Tzvee Zahavy attended Yeshiva College and graduated with a B.A. in mathematics as a member of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honor society. He received a Masters degree in Jewish History and rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University, where he studied for four years with Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Zahavy studied subsequently with Jacob Neusner in the History of Judaism in late antiquity program of the religious studies department at Brown University. After receiving his Ph.D. from Brown University, Zahavy was appointed to the faculty of the University of Minnesota where he was promoted to full professor in 1988.  His published books are The Traditions of Eleazar Ben Azariah, Scholars Press for Brown University Judaic Studies, The Mishnaic Law of Blessings and Prayers: Tractate Berakhot, Brown Judaic Studies, 1987, The Talmud of the Land of Israel: Tractate Berakhot, University of Chicago Press, 1989, Studies in Jewish Prayer, University Press of America, 1990, The Talmud of Babylonia: An American Translation: Tractate Hullin, 3 volumes, Brown Judaic Studies, 1992-4. He has received major grants and recognition from the IBM Advanced Education Project, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Minnesota Humanities Commission, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Wexner Foundation and the Tisch Foundation.  

Prof. Benjamin Nelson received both his B.A. degree (magna cum laude) and his M.F.A. from Columbia University, and took additional graduate courses at New York University.  He is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University, from which he received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching.  He has taught a vast array of courses, including American Jewish Literature, Israeli Literature, Literature of the Holocaust, and Ethnic Literature in America.  Prof. Nelson is the author of critical biographies of two leading American dramatists: Tennessee Williams: the Man & His Work and Arthur Miller: Portrait of a Playwright.  He has also published articles on theatre and film, and is currently completing an essay for publication on Hollywood’s treatment of the Holocaust.  Prof. Nelson has spoken extensively in the tri-state area and beyond on American Jewish literature, Israeli literature and the literature of the Holocaust, as well as on film, theatre, and current events.  He is also a past president of Temple Emanu-el of Closter, NJ, for whom he has delivered guest sermons.  This past year (2005), he was a recipient of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Educators Award.  His wife, Miriam, a Barnard and Jewish Theological Seminary graduate with an M.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University, has taught for the past 25 years at the Frisch Yeshiva in Paramus, NJ. 

Dr. Wallace Greene received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Yeshiva University and has taught courses in Ancient and Medieval Jewish History, Rabbinics, Talmud and other Judaica at Yeshiva University, Queens College, Upsala College, and Columbia University.  He has served as principal or director of numerous Jewish education programs, including Hebrew Youth Academy of Essex County, the Ohr Torah Institute, and the MIDRASHA Institute of Jewish Studies, and he presently is Director of Jewish Educational Services for the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Northern New Jersey.  Dr. Greene has given hundreds of lectures across North America on a wide range of topics and for a broad spectrum of groups and is author of dozens of articles on topics related to Jewish education in publications such as Journal of Jewish Education, Jewish Book World, Jewish Education News, The Jewish Week,  and the Journal of Jewish Communal Service. 

Prof. William G. Zimmerle is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in the study of ancient Mesopotamian and Israelite rituals in their archaeological contexts. His current research interests include the study of Assyriology and the Hebrew Bible, ancient Egyptian and Semitic languages, the social and religious history of Jerusalem, and the intersection of text and artifact in the ancient Near East. He completed a Master of Divinity degree in Biblical Studies from Harvard University and has excavated extensively at Bronze and Iron Age archaeological sites in Jordan and Israel.

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