Mechon Hadar Guest

Talya Bock

Talya Bock is a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Washington, DC. She holds an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and is a 2006 graduate of Barnard and JTS's Double Degree Program. Talya completed the Summer 2010 fellowship at Mechon Hadar, and served as Gabbai at Kehilat Hadar from 2008 - 2010. She is an active member of DC Minyan.

Debbi Bohnen

Debbi Bohnen works as a Nurse Midwife at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital. She was a gabbai at Kehilat Hadar from 2002 to 2004 before she moved to Teaneck, NJ, where she now lives with her husband and two children. She is a founder of Minyan Koleinu in Teaneck, and is a member of the leadership team there.

Alisa Doctoroff

Alisa Doctoroff is chair of the board of the UJA-Federation of New York. Ms. Doctoroff is the immediate past president of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School and was instrumental in founding its high school division in 2001. She is active on the boards of a wide spectrum of organizations that promote engagement with Jewish life and identity through education, culture, and religious life, including Moving Traditions and the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she chairs the Governance Committee. She is also past president of Congregation Or Zarua, co-founder of the Jewish Lens, and a board member of the Jewish Funders Network.

Ariela Dubler

Ariela Dubler (president) is a professor at Columbia Law School with a specialty in family law and legal history. She lives on the Upper West Side with her husband and three children. She is also on the boards of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School and Moving Traditions, and was on the founding board of Natan.

Eric Fisher

Eric Fisher is a partner in Dickstein Shapiro’s Financial Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Mr. Fisher represents companies, partnerships, investment funds, and individuals in bankruptcy, securities, and other commercial litigation matters. He is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former law clerk to the Supreme Court of Israel. Eric is a graduate of Yale University (B.A., Religious Studies) and Columbia Law School, and has studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel. Eric has been active as a teacher in the adult education program at the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale and taught at Yeshivat Hadar in 2008.

Amos Hochstein

Amos Hochstein is executive vice president for international operations at Cassidy & Associates in Washington, DC. Amos represents foreign and domestic clients on a wide variety of issues, ranging from general foreign policy to investments and business developments. Amos’s practice focuses primarily on the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Russia. He appears regularly on Middle East television and radio networks as a commentator. He served on the Steering Committee of the DC Minyan. Amos is Vice President of the Washington DCJCC board while serving on the boards of Impact Arts & Film Fund and the Ian Somerhalder Foundation. He is also a partner in the West End Cinema as well as two restaurants in Washington DC.

Jonathan Lopatin

Jonathan Lopatin, a former Partner at the Goldman Sachs Group, received an MA in Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary in May 2009. He is the founder of not-so-simple-productions and producer of Eyes Wide Open, a documentary film about the experience of American Jewish visitors to Israel. Jonathan serves on the boards of several institutions involved in Jewish and Israel education in the US and in Israel.

Dan Perla

Dan Perla is the former Managing Director of Iridian Asset Management and a student in the Beit Midrash Program at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He is the President of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and serves on the boards of the SAR Academy and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.