Leadership

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

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