2023 RABBIS & LECTURERS
BEN SHAPIRO
Ben Shapiro is founding editor-in-chief and editor emeritus of The Daily Wire and host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” the top conservative podcast in the nation. Shapiro is the author of numerous nonfiction books, including The New York Times #1 Bestseller The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Courage Made the West Great (HarperCollins, 2019), New York Times Bestsellers Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America (Simon & Schuster, 2013), and How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps (HarperCollins, 2020), and national bestsellers Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth (WND Books, May 2004), Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future (Regnery, June 2005), Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House (Thomas Nelson, 2007), Primetime Propaganda: The True Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV (HarperCollins, 2012), and The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against the Obama Administration (Simon & Schuster, 2014). Shapiro was hired by Creators Syndicate at age 17 to become the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the U.S. He earned a BA in Political Science from UCLA in 2004 and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2007. After working as an attorney for Goodwin Procter LLP, Shapiro began his own legal consulting firm, Benjamin Shapiro Legal Consulting (Los Angeles).
Ben Shapiro’s columns are printed in major newspapers and websites including Townhall, ABCNews, WorldNet Daily, Human Events, FrontPage Mag, Family Security Matters, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Conservative Chronicle. His columns have also appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Sun-Times, Orlando Sentinel, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, RealClearPolitics.com, Arizona Republic, and Claremont Review of Books, among others. He has been the subject of articles in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Associated Press, and Christian Science Monitor, and quoted on “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” “The Dr. Laura Show,” at CBS News, in the New York Press, in the The Washington Times, and in The American Conservative magazine, among many others. Shapiro has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows around the nation, including “The O’Reilly Factor” (Fox News), “Fox and Friends” (Fox News), “In the Money” (CNN Financial), “DaySide with Linda Vester” (Fox News), “Scarborough Country” (MSNBC), “The Dennis Miller Show” (CNBC), “Fox News Live” (Fox News Channel), “Glenn Beck Show” (CNN), “Your World with Neil Cavuto” (Fox News) and “700 Club” (Christian Broadcasting Network), “The Laura Ingraham Show,” “The Michael Medved Show,” “The G. Gordon Liddy Show,” “The Rusty Humphries Show,” “The Lars Larson Show” (nationally syndicated), “The Larry Elder Show,” The Hugh Hewitt Show,” “The Dennis Prager Show,” among others.
Since he began writing his first book, Brainwashed (2004), Shapiro has frequently addressed the issue of the Left’s ideological stranglehold on academia and has worked to push back against that trend through fact and logic-based speeches and debates. “Facts don’t care about your feelings,” has become one of Ben Shapiro’s trademark lines. He has appeared as the featured speaker at many conservative events on campuses nationwide, several of those appearances targeted by progressive and “Antifa” activists. Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, has also worked to expose the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic motivations behind the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.”
RABBI DR. GIL S. PERL
Rabbi Dr. Gil S. Perl is the incoming CEO of the Ades Family Foundation and the Founding Head of School of the Jewish Leadership Academy, a selective Jewish Middle and High School opening in the Miami area for the Fall of 2023. For the past seven years Rabbi Perl has served as the Head of School at Kohelet Yeshiva, a Modern Orthodox K-12 in suburban Philadelphia, and as Chief Academic Officer of the Kohelet Foundation. In his capacity as CAO of the Kohelet Foundation, Rabbi Perl led the team that designed and launched Yeshiva Lab School, a highly innovative elementary school intended to re-imagine what Jewish Day School can and ought to be. A nationally sought after speaker, teacher, and thinker known for challenging the status quo, Rabbi Perl earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s Degree and Ph.D. from Harvard, and rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University. As a Teaching Fellow at Harvard, Dr. Perl was twice awarded the university’s prestigious Certificate of Distinction in Teaching and as an instructor of Modern Jewish History at Yeshiva College he was named Yeshiva University’s Lillian F. and William L. Silber Professor of the Year.
Rabbi Perl writes and lectures widely on topics relating to the history of Modern Jewry, contemporary Jewish education, and Modern Orthodoxy. He is the author of the book The Pillar of Volozhin: Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin and the World of Nineteenth-Century Lithuanian Torah Scholarship, published by Academic Studies Press.
Follow Rabbi Perl on his blog gilperl.com and on Twitter @gperl
RABBI MARVIN HIER
In 1977, Rabbi Marvin Hier founded the Simon Wiesenthal Center, named in honor of famed Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal. Under his leadership, the Center and its museum have become one of the foremost Jewish human rights agencies in the world, with a constituency of more than 400,000 families and offices throughout the United States, in Canada, Europe, Israel and Argentina. The Los Angeles Times Magazine wrote that Rabbi Hier had made the Wiesenthal Center, “the most visible Jewish organization in the world.” In 2007 and 2008, Newsweek magazine named him the “Most Influential Rabbi in America.” The Center is now building a $200 million Museum of Tolerance in the heart of Jerusalem scheduled to open late 2017.Rabbi Hier is the only rabbi who is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and he is the recipient of two Academy Awards® for Genocide and The Long Way Home. The Center’s film division, Moriah Films, has produced fifteen documentaries, which have been viewed by tens of millions of people around the world. Noted for his powerful oratory, his views on the issues of the day are regularly sought by the international media. He meets regularly with world leaders to discuss the Center’s agenda.
GABRIEL GROISMAN
Gabriel Groisman is a Jewish community leader and a strong voice supporting the Jewish
community, with a focus on fighting against antisemitism, strengthening the community, and
building bridges between Israel and the US. Groisman served as Mayor of Bal Harbour for six
years through November 2022. He wrote and passed the nation’s first municipal anti-BDS
ordinance and was the first in the nation to codify a uniform definition of anti-Semitism in
December 2017.
Groisman has presented around the world including at the United Nations, the Italian
Parliament, the Israeli Knesset and for groups across the country and abroad. Groisman is also
a columnist and a regular commentator on Spanish language TV and radio on various issues
pertaining to Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish community.
Groisman is also a practicing attorney and government affairs consultant as a partner at LSN
Partners. He also often advises on legal cases around the world related to protecting the Jewish
community from discriminatory conduct by governments and private individuals alike, including
recently filing a Title VI Complaint against University of Berkeley Law School, and fighting
discriminatory labeling practices by the European Union.
At the end, he is most proud of being the father to 5 daughters and a husband to his wife Lisa
for almost 20 years.
RABBI DAVID PARDO
Rabbi David Pardo is the Director of the Orthodox Union's Torah Initiatives - dedicated to increasing access to and quality of Torah learning available to Orthodox adults in North America. With products like All Daf, OU Torah, Semichas Chaver, Torah NY, and Chag at Home, Torah Initiatives is making Torah central for hundreds of thousands of Jews.
He left a career in finance at Merrill Lynch in Beverly Hills to pursue his passion of community building. He was previously the Executive Director of Bring Israel Home (the largest post-Birthright program in the US), the Co-Director of JLIC at Brandeis University, Rabbi of Sephardic Congregation of Paramus, and an educator and organizer at a number of college and post-college level program in Israel, Canada, and America.
Rabbi Pardo has rabbinic ordination from YU, an MBA in Social Impact from Brandeis, and a BA in Economics from UCLA, and lives in New Jersey with his wife — a talented local educator — and their four awesome kids.
ARIEL PARDO
Ariel Pardo is an educator based in Northern New Jersey. Mrs. Pardo gained her BA in Anthropology from UCLA and a Master’s in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University, where she served as the co-director of the Orthodox Union’s JLIC program, helping college students strengthen their connection to Torah. Her Master’s thesis focused on the Iggeret HaKodesh (The Holy Letter) and Rabbi Jacob Emden's (1697-1776) use of it in his siddur. An alumna of the Alisa Flatow program at Nishmat in Jerusalem, Mrs. Pardo’s fluency in both Sephardic and Ashkenazic halacha was a feature of her success as a popular kallah teacher at Brandeis University and later as rebbitzin of the Sephardic Congregation of Paramus, New Jersey, as well as a volunteer Mikvah attendant at multiple Mikvaot. She currently teaches Tanach and Ivrit to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, including special needs children, at Yeshivat He’Atid in Teaneck, New Jersey. When she’s at home, Mrs. Pardo enjoys movies, yoga, Agatha Christie mysteries, Broadway musicals, and arts & crafts projects with her children. A native of Los Angeles, she lives with her husband and four children in Fair Lawn, NJ.
DAVID SACKS
Born and raised in New York City, David Sacks attended Harvard College, graduating with a degree in Government. While there he began his comedy writing career for the school’s humor magazine, The Harvard Lampoon. Upon graduating, David moved to Los Angeles and began writing for television.
Among the shows he’s worked for are “The Simpsons”, where he won an Emmy Award, and “Third Rock from the Sun” for which he won a Golden Globe Award, “Malcolm in the Middle”, “Murphy Brown”, and “Final Space” on Adult Swim. David is the co-founder and Senior Lecturer of The Happy Minyan of Los Angeles. David is married and raises his family in Beverly Hills, CA.
David Sacks gives the weekly Torah podcast “Spiritual Tools for an Outrageous World” and has spoken to enthusiastic crowds, opening the hearts of people across the US, Europe, Israel, and South Africa. His topics range from the meaning of life, to Hollywood’s impact on the world, to achieving happiness.
ABBY ROTH
Abby Roth is the creator of Classically Abby, a YouTube channel, podcast, and lifestyle brand that teaches about classic living and traditional values.
Abby is a classically trained opera singer with a Masters Degree and Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music.
Abby transitioned to YouTube from opera when she realized the importance of sharing how to live a conservative life. With 110k subscribers on YouTube, 81k followers on Instagram, and 82k followers on Twitter, Abby is spreading her message to young men and women everywhere. You can find her on YouTube, Substack, and listen to her podcast, The Classically Abby Podcast, anywhere you listen to podcasts.
MORRIS A. SUTTON
Morris A. Sutton is the founder of LT Capital Partners Real Estate Firm, husband, father of six (including special needs children), philanthropist, and respected speaker.
After unsuccessfully finding a local Jewish special needs school to service their children, Morris, and his wife Shari, decided to open the Special Ed Academy of Deal, a school dedicated to educating children with learning challenges and developmental delays. This led to the establishment of Bridge Links, a not-for-profit therapy center offering high quality speech, occupational, physical, and behavioral services at a discounted rate, making it affordable to all.
In his role as the founder and managing partner of LT Capital Partners LLC, Morris syndicates multifamily real estate opportunities, and commercial real estate debt investments. Previously, Morris served as Chief Operating Officer in his family’s business LT Apparel Group, a national privately held clothing manufacturer, where he worked for 30 years. Morris has taught Real Estate Finance at NYU Stern, where he holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance, and earned the position of Adjunct Professor of Finance.
Morris is a proud 4-time Full Ironman finisher – 2 of which he completed together with his son Jackie. Morris credits the triathlon process with shaping him both mentally and physically.
Morris regularly shares his experiences about his life’s journey in leading a balanced life as a husband, father, businessman and philanthropist, who has firsthand experience in dealing with the blessings and challenges of raising and educating children including those with special needs.
DR. DARREN BRYK
Dr. Darren J. Bryk is currently completing the Urologic Andrology Fellowship at the University of Virginia, graduating in June 2023. He graduated from NYU School of Medicine in 2016 and Cleveland Clinic Urology Residency Training Program in 2022. Following fellowship, Dr. Bryk plans to move to Hollywood, Florida and will be joining Urology Medical Specialists (https://urologyfl.com/) in September 2023. Dr. Bryk is a medical Advisor for Belibaby (Beli, Inc.).
Dr. Bryk’s clinical and academic interests include male factor infertility, erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction, Peyronie’s disease, hypogonadism, male voiding dysfunction, prosthetic urology, urethral reconstruction and vasectomies.
Dr. Bryk has been married to his amazing wife, Amanda, for over 10 years and they have two adorable children, Sadie (5 years old) and Liam (3 years old).
Follow Dr. Bryk on Twitter and Instagram @DarrenBrykMD
RABBI AVROHOM BRASHEVITSKY
Rabbi Brashevitsky has resided in Doral for the past 12 years. Together with his family they serve as the founders and directors of the Chabad Jewish Center of Doral which provides a multitude of services to the Jewish population in the extended area. Prior to this post, Rabbi Brashevitzky served as Rabbi of several congregations in Miami Beach and Massachusetts. In addition, Rabbi Brashevitzky has served as a religious day school educator and principal for the past 17 years. Prior to that, as a Rabbinical student, Rabbi Brashevitzky traveled to the Ukraine in the former Soviet Union to help establish the Jewish communities in Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk. Rabbi Brashevitzky and his wife Zelda and children continuously look for creative means and ways to further serve the community at large.
MORRIS ASHEAR
Morris S Ashear is an accomplished, knowledgeable and well known individual in the Syrian Sephardic Jewish Community for organizing and leading Minyanim. He served in this capacity on the Magen David Passover trip for over 30 years. Additionally, Ashear has given easy to follow classes on informative and relevant subjects that we all on incorporate in our daily lives. He has served as Baal Koreh ( reading the Sefer Torah) in Brooklyn and Deal New Jersey for many years. We are pleased to have Morris and his family joining us this Passover primarily leading our Sephardic Minyan.
MRS. MELISSA PERL, M.A.
Melissa Perl is the Director of Limudei Kodesh at Kohelet Yeshiva High School outside of Philadelphia where she is responsible for all elements of Judaic Studies at the school including teacher supervision, curriculum development, and cultivating the religious development of the students. A dynamic and much beloved teacher, Mrs. Perl has been teaching Tanach as well as AP Psychology in high schools for 20 years, first at Maimonides High School in Boston, then at the Frisch Yeshiva High School in New Jersey, and then at the Margolin Hebrew Academy/Feinstone Yeshiva of the South in Memphis, TN. She earned her Bachelor's degree from Stern College for Women in both Judaic Studies and Psychology. She holds a Master’s Degree in Bible from Yeshiva University, certificates in Teacher Mentoring, Student Support, Differentiated Instruction, and Educational Technology, and has completed all but her dissertation for her Doctorate of Education.
For the 2021-2022 school year, Mrs. Perl will be assuming the position of Assistant Principal at Katz Yeshiva High School in Boca Raton, Florida.
ROCHEL HOLZKENNER
Rochel is a mother of four children and the co-director of Chabad of Las Olas, Fla., serving the community of young professionals. She is a high-school teacher and a freelance writer—and a frequent contributor to Chabad.org. She lectures extensively on topics of Kabbalah and feminism, and their application to everyday life. Rochel holds an MS in Brain Based Learning from Nova SE University.