Scholar in Residence
Rabbi Chanan Atlas is the Rabbi of Ohel Ari in Ra’anana and works with Tzohar, Matan Hasharon, and Beit Midrash Shaarei Tzion at Yad Harav Nissim. He has served in rabbinic and educational roles in Israel, South Africa, and the UK. Rabbi Atlas studied at Har Etzion Yeshiva and holds an M.Sc. in International Banking and Finance from the University of Salford. A dedicated advocate of Modern Orthodoxy and Zionism, he integrates a strong commitment to Halacha with a broad humanistic vision and a deep love for Israel and its people. Rabbi Atlas lives in Ra’anana with his wife, Nechama, and their five children.
Edward L. Greenstein is Professor Emeritus of Bible at Bar-Ilan University. Prior to that he was professor of Bible at Tel Aviv University and at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He has also taught at Columbia, Yale, Princeton, and other institutions of higher learning and has lectured widely. An expert in ancient Semitic studies as well as Bible, Greenstein has edited the Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society since 1974 and has published hundreds of articles, essays, and reviews. He has been writing commentaries on Job, Lamentations, and Ruth, as well as other books. Bar-Ilan University awarded him a prize for innovative research. His much-acclaimed annotated English translation of the Book of Job was published in 2019 by Yale University Press and was awarded a prize by the Association for Jewish Studies. In 2020 Greenstein was awarded the EMET Prize (“Israel’s Nobel”) for the area of Humanities in the field of Biblical Studies.
Dr. Beverly Gribetz is the retired Principal of Evelina de Rothschild-Tehilla, the Jerusalem municipal secondary school for religious girls which she headed for 20 years. Between 1987 and 1996 she was Assistant Dean of the Ramaz Upper School, her alma mater, and first Headmistress of their Middle School. She has held positions at the Pelech Religious Girls' High School, at the Melton Centre for Jewish Education of the Hebrew University and at Machon Pardes. From 1996-1998 she served as executive director of Rav Adin Steinsalz’s Mekor Chaim Yeshiva High School.For her doctorate in Jewish Education, Beverly wrote a dissertation, entitled "On the Translation of Scholarship to Pedagogy: The Case of Talmud."Currently, Beverly serves on the Executive Board of the Lev Ha’Ir (central Jerusalem) Community Council where she chairs both the Committee on Education and Youth and the Committee for New Olim.Since November 2023 Beverly has been the Ministry of Education Coordinator for education in a Jerusalem hotel housing evacuees from the North.Beverly was honored as an Alumni Scholar and Educational Innovator at the 73rd Annual Dinner of Ramaz and received the Solomon Schechter Jewish Educators' Award from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2016. In 2019 she received a special citation from the Jerusalem Board of Education in recognition of her career as a principal and was also awarded the prestigious Bonei Zion prize in Education from Nefesh B’Nefesh.
Michael Dickson is Executive Director of StandWithUs Israel. Michael leads a dynamic team at StandWithUs in Jerusalem which includes pioneering innovative Israel educational initiatives, running campaigns to counter discriminatory BDS boycotts of Israel, oversight of digital operations and hosting delegations of politicians, diplomats, academics and other people of influence in Israel. Born in the UK, Michael made Aliyah to Israel in 2006 from London as the Second Lebanon War ended, together with his wife and two young children – they now have five children and live in central Israel. Michael regularly addresses audiences and broadcasts on issues pertaining to Israel and public diplomacy. He is an accomplished writer, with many published articles, TV appearances and is the author of the bestselling book: ISRESILIENCE — What Israelis Can Teach the World. Under Michael’s leadership, StandWithUs’s operation in Israel has grown exponentially, empowering people in Israel and internationally to be active advocates for Israel and countering efforts to impose commercial, academic and cultural boycotts on Israel. Michael oversaw the construction of the new StandWithUs Educational Center in Jerusalem, opposite the King David Hotel. The site hosts tens of thousands of students and tourists each year, participating in educational programs. Michael is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Communication (CIC) of Bar Ilan University, is an Honorary member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, and was appointed to the Spectrum Forum of leading Executive Directors in Israel under the age of 40. He was named by JTA as the 14th most influential Jew on Twitter/X and also one of the “30 Israelis Making a Difference” by Channel 13 TV at a ceremony at the President of Israel’s Residence. Michael was cited in the Top 30 of "The Aliyah 100 List" of British immigrants to Israel, as one of the "flag bearers who shaped the state of Israel and made a significant contribution". In 2019, he won the prestigious “Bonei Zion” (“Builders of Zion”) Prize. Michael continues to be an energetic, influential and active voice for Israel to the world.
