DEBORAH EISENBACH-BUDNER
has been facilitating people's exploration of Judaism for 18 years; teaching adults and children, creating family education and informal education programs, and directing synagogue education programs. Her education includes graduate degrees in Jewish Studies and in Jewish Education from Brandeis University, as well as studies at Pardes Institute (Jerusalem) and Oberlin College. She is currently Havurah Shalom's Education Director. This is her sixth year on the Melton faculty.

JONATHAN EMANUEL
Jonathan Emanuel has served as youth director, religious school teacher, Israel trip education specialist, summer camp director, and large-scale teen retreat and leadership council coordinator. From 2000 to 2005, Jonathan served as the Director of Teen Services for the Center for Jewish Living and Learning of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. In Portland, Jonathan has coordinated the MJCC Day Camp, been an instructor for Jewish elementary and high school students, as well as Jewish cultural studies classes for adults. Jonathan is the creator and director for the Portland Jewish Youth Initiative, a community High School Social Action program. In January 2009, Jonathan helped to supervise an interfaith group of Jewish and African American teens from Portland to do recovery work in New Orleans. Currently, Jonathan is an educator and Youth Director at Congregation Neveh Shalom.

SYLVIA FRANKEL
received her undergraduate degree from Bar-Ilan University, Israel and her doctoral degree from the University of Oregon. She served for 12 years as Executive Director of the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center and has taught at Lewis & Clark and other local colleges for the past ten years. She has been on the Melton faculty since its inception in 1999.

ERICA GOLDMAN
teaches music and directs the t'llah (prayer) program at the Portland Jewish Academy. Erica is one of the founders of the Portland Women's T'llah Group and coordinates its monthly services. She holds a Doctorate in Music Theory and History from the University of Oregon, an M.M. from the New England Conservatory of Music, and a B.A. from Stanford University. This is her eighth year teaching for the Melton Mini-School

LINDA MAIZELS
was born and raised in Portland. She is finishing her Doctorate at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has a bachelor's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a master's degree in history from Portland State University. She has also studied at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. She is currently teaching in the Judaic Studies department at Portland State University.

JAN RABINOWITCH
Before coming to Portland in 1987 to serve as Director of Education for Congregation Beth Israel, Jan Rabinowitch received a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and taught in Conservative and Reform synagogue and community day schools, wrote curricula for publication and national distribution, led teacher-training programs, and developed and facilitated interfaith dialogues for the Naitonal Conference of Christians and Jews. She served as the Spiritual Leader of Congregation Kol Ami in Vancouver, and is the founder of Binah, an interfaith education resource which offers offers lectures and workshops on Judaism and Judaica for interfaith and non-Jewish groups. She also serves as an education consultant and teacher and, when she finds the time to get to her art studio, works in fused and cast glass. She has been on Melton faculty in Portland since its first year.

RABBI JOSHUA STAMPFER
was born in Jerusalem. He received his M.S. from the University of Akron, his M.H.L. from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and his D.H.L. from the University of Judaism. He served as Rabbi at Congregation Neveh Shalom from 1953 to 1993. Rabbi Stampfer is board member of the National Peace Now Organization, an appointee to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, an Adjunct Associate Professor at PSU, and founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Judaic Studies. This is his sixth year on the Melton faculty.