Spertus Institute. 100 Years of Jewish learning for a better world
Spertus Institute. 100 Years of Jewish learning for a better world

Rabbi Dr. Tali Zelkowicz

Spertus Institute Dean of Jewish Leadership

Education

  • PhD, Sociology of Education, New York University, New York City, NY
  • Rabbinical Ordination, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, CA
  • MAJE, Master of Arts in Jewish Education, Rhea Hirsch School of Education, HUC, Los Angeles, CA
  • MAHL, Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters, HUC, Los Angeles, CA
  • BA, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Bio

Rabbi Dr. Tali Zelkowicz is Spertus Institute’s Dean of Jewish Leadership.

Previously, she served as Director of Curriculum & Research at The Wexner Foundation and led Columbus Jewish Day School as Head of School.

In the decade prior, she taught education at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles to graduate students in the education, non-profit management, rabbinical, and DeLeT (Day School Leadership through Teaching) programs. She was selected as a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar, awarded a Young Scholar’s Award from the Network for Research in Jewish Education, and granted a Writing Dissertation Fellowship from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

In 2021, Rabbi Dr. Zelkowicz was invited to lead the Senior Fellows Program at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University, in which she also served as an inaugural participant.

Informed by her leadership experience across academic, camp, synagogue, and day school education in the United States and Canada, she has taught, studied, written about, designed and led leadership education for Jewish professional and lay leaders for over two decades.

Publications

  • Using Both/And Thinking to Lead Transformative and Enduring Learning in Jewish Communal Life. Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, Brandeis University, 2024.
  • “Claiming My Seat at the Table with You: How Adult Jewish Learners Navigate Boundaries of Difference,” co-written with Yaffa Epstein. In Portraits of Adult Jewish Learning: Making Meaning at Many Tables, edited by Diane Tickton Schuster, Wipf & Stock, 2022.
  • “Jewish Educators Don’t Make Jews: A Sociological Reality Check About Jewish Identity Work,” in Beyond Jewish Identity: Rethinking Concepts and Imagining Alternatives, edited by Jon A. Levisohn and Ari Y. Kelman, Academic Studies Press, 2019.
  • “Beyond Humpty Dumpty: Toward New Rhymes and Reasons” in The Study of Jewish Identity Formation. International Journal of Jewish Education Research and the Israel Association for Research in Jewish Education, (5-6), 21-46, 2013.

See all Spertus faculty