Staff
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz
Founder & President
Rabbi Yanklowitz has twice been named one of America’s Top Rabbis by Newsweek and has been named by The Forward as one of the 50 most influential Jews and one of The Most Inspiring Rabbis in America. Rabbi Yanklowitz is the author of 23 books on Jewish ethics and his writings have appeared in outlets as diverse as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and the Atlantic among many other secular and religious publications. He has served as speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and a Rothschild Fellow in Cambridge, UK.
Rav Shmuly received a Masters from Harvard University, a Masters from Yeshiva University, and his Doctorate from Columbia University. He was ordained as a rabbi by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, along with 2 private ordinations in Israel. He serves as the Founder & President of Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy. His wife Shoshana, and their four children live in Scottsdale, Arizona. They are also foster parents.
Email me: RavShmuly@shamayimvaretz.org
Emma Goldblatt
Program Manager
Emma Goldblatt is the owner of Emma’s Pet & Home Care LLC and has been a proud animal advocate for as long as she can remember. Starting young she dedicated her Bat Mitzvah project to Southwest Wildlife Sanctuary. She stopped eating meat in high school and became vegan as an adult. She resides in Scottsdale, Arizona where she runs her business and works with Shamayim to advocate for a better life for all animals, big and small.
Email me: emma@shamayim.us
Founding Board Members
Mayim Bialik, Phd.
Founding Member & Senior Leadership Consultant
Mayim Hoya Bialik is best known for her lead role in the 1990’s NBC sitcom Blossom, as well as for her portrayal of the young Bette Midler in “Beaches.” She has also appeared in Woody Allen’s “Don’t Drink the Water” and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Bialik was born to first-generation American teachers and documentary filmmakers and was raised in Los Angeles, attending both public and religious school. Bialik has guest starred on some of the most beloved TV shows of the 1980s and 1990s including MacGyver, The Facts of Life, and Webster. She has appeared numerous times on The Tonight Show, the Arsenio Hall Show, and on Conan O’Brien and Jon Stewart’s early forays into late-night.
Bialik received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Hebrew and Jewish Studies from UCLA in 2000 and earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2007 from UCLA, specializing in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in adolescents with Prader-Willi syndrome. She is the celebrity spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network, a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting holistic and green parenting and living.
Matisyahu
Founding Member
When Matisyahu emerged in 2004 with his debut album, Shake Off the Dust…Arise, his musical persona seemed to some a novelty. Here was a Hasidic Jew — dressed in a black suit with a broad-brimmed black hat worn over a yarmulke, and sporting a full, untrimmed beard — who nevertheless performed toasting raps about the glories of traditional Judaism over reggae beats in a dancehall style directly from Jamaica. Moreover, he punctuated his performances with stage diving. It may have seemed like a joke at first, but Matisyahu was serious about his craft, and his diverse style soon garnered Grammy nominations, gold record certifications, and a broad audience.
Known for blending traditional Jewish themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu’s single “King Without a Crown” was a Top 40 hit in the United States. In 2006 he was named as Top Reggae Artist by Billboard.
Rabbinic Advisory Committee
Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner
Rabbi Alison Abrams
Rabbi Penina Alexander, New Jewish Community High School
Rabbi Will Berkovitz
Rabbi Yisroel Bernath, Chabad, Concordia University
Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin, Israel Center of Conservative Judaism
Joshua Boydstun, Student, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Rabbi Rick Brody
Rabbi Sharon Brous
Rabbi Nadav Caine
Rabbi Mychal Copeland
Rabbi Boris Dolin, Rabbi at Congregation Dorshei Emet in Montreal, Quebec
Rabbi Adam Frank, Rabbi of Congregation Moreshet Yisrael in Jerusalem
Rabbi Stephen Lewis Fuchs, World Union for Progressive Judaism, President
Reb Yonassan Gershom
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg
Rabbi Andy Kastner
Rabbi Jonathan Klein, Executive Director, CLUE-LA
Rabbi Sandra Lawson
Rabbi Aaron Levy
Rabbi Robin Nafshi, Rabbi of Temple Beth Jacob, Concord, NH
Rabbi Hillel Norry
Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner
Rabbi Daniel Sperber
Rabbi Michelle Robinson
Rabbi David Rosen, Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Director of the AJC’s Department of Interreligious Affairs
Rabbi Adam Stein
Rabbi David Wolpe
Rabbi Lina Zerbarin
Advisory Committee Members
Jamie Arfin “Oy Vegan”
Dr. Roy Artal
Joshua Avedon
Suzanne Barnard, Director, Jewish Vegetarian Society
Daniel Bloom
Rich Bloom
Sarah Brammer-Shlay
Linda Bronfman
Professor Geoffrey Claussen
Jeffrey Cohan, The Beet-Eating Heeb
Beth Cousens
William Daroff
Beth DeRicco
Sara Fredman
Lori Goldman
Dr. Aaron Gross
Miriam Gross
Daniel Inlender
Dr. Roberta Kalechofsky
Lisa Karlan
Robin Kellner-Friedman
Aviva Kraus
Jacob Labendz
Abby Lodmer
Isaac Mamaysky
Karen Meppen
Noam Mohr, Vice President, Jewish Vegetarians of North America
Nina Natelson
Esther Oakley, ABC Vegan
Sasha Perry
Matthue Roth, co-founder, G-dcast.com
Matthew Readdick, Orange County Hillel, UC Irvine
Aaron Relyea
Philip Schein, PETA
Roberta Schiff
Richard H.Schwartz, Ph.D, President, Jewish Vegetarians of North America
Rachel Shapiro
Dr. Heather Shenkman
Alexandra Sipos-Kocsis
Katharine Skupsky
Lisa Stein
Lauren Trexler
Aharon Varady
Wilhelmina Waldman, ASPCA
Eli Winkelman, Founder, Challah for Hunger
Yossi Wolfson, Ginger – the Vegetarian Community Center, Israel
Brian Wendel
Rabbi Jonathan Crane
Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy 