Director: Rabbi Ari Weiss

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Rabbi Ari Weiss is the founding Director of Uri L’Tzedek.   A frequent scholar-in-residence, Rabbi Weiss has taught at foundations. synagogues, and on campuses nationwide.  Prior to Uri L’Tzedek, he was Co-Director of the Meorot University Fellowship at YCT Rabbinical School, served as the Rabbinic Fellow at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at NYU, and taught as part of the Judaic Studies Faculty at the Heschel School.  In the summer of 2006, Rabbi Weiss was a JCUA Rabbinical Student Fellow and interned at We The People Media, a Chicago-based public housing advocacy group.  He has served as a Jewish educator for American Jewish World Service, Bnei Akiva, and the Lauder Foundation on missions to Nicaragua, Ghana, Israel, and Hungary. 

Rabbi Weiss received his rabbinical ordination from YCT Rabbinical School in June 2007. He is completing a Master's degree in Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva University where received his B.A. in philosophy and religion. He has studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion and Beit Morasha of Jerusalem.

Associate Director of Operations: Hillary Levison 

Associate Director of Operations Hillary Levison is the newest addition to the Uri L’Tzedek leadership team. Prior to joining Uri L’Tzedek, Hillary served as a development assistant at AMIT, where she focused on fund-raising and event planning. Hillary received her bachelor's degree in Marketing from Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University and studied for a year at the Pratt Institute. As a student, she volunteered in Honduras with the American Jewish World Service and with Livnot U’Lihebanot in Israel.

Founder & President: Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz

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Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Founder and President of Uri L’Tzedek, a Wexner Graduate Fellow, and a Doctoral candidate. He studied at the University of Texas as an undergraduate and Harvard University for a Masters in Leadership and Psychology, and he completed a second Masters degree in Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva University. He is now a Doctoral candidate at Columbia University in Moral Development and Epistemology, and has taught as an instructor of Moral Philosophy at Barnard College. Shmuly was ordained as a Rabbi by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT Rabbinical School) in New York prior to which he studied Talmud and Jewish law at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel for two years. Shmuly also received a second rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the Chief Rabbi of Efrat. 

As a global social justice educator, Shmuly has volunteered, taught, and staffed missions in many countries including Israel, Ghana, India, France, Thailand, El Salvador, Senegal, Germany, Ukraine, and Haiti. For three years, Shmuly taught philosophy in the early mornings twice a week at an inner-city school in Harlem and served on the New York Department of Health’s Office of Minority Health Clergy Steering Committee. Shmuly worked in business consulting for a major top 10 firm, has written numerous articles on Jewish and social justice issues, has lectured and consulted across the world, and has a bi-weekly column in the Jewish Week called “Street Torah.” He has served as a rabbinic intern in four different congregations in Montreal, Connecticut, Boston, and Florida and taught as a scholar-in-residence for over 20 organizations. He served on the International Board of Hillel for two years and is the former Director of Panim’s Leadership and Activism training (JAM) in Washington D.C.

A film crew followed Shmuly for over a year to produce a PBS documentary (“The Calling”) about the training of religious leadership to be released in the winter of 2010. In 2008, the Jewish Week recognized Shmuly as one of “36 under 36” (one of 36 of the most influential Jewish leaders under the age of 36). In 2009, the UJC named Shmuly one of five “Jewish Community Heroes.” Shmuly will begin serving as UCLA’s Senior Jewish Educator in Los Angeles in the fall of 2010. Shmuly is a member of the International Rabbinic Fellowship and the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.

Co-Founder, Executive Board Member: Ari Hart

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Ari Hart is a co-founder of Uri L'Tzedek and rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. A leader of several initiatives that bring together Orthodoxy, the Jewish community, and the world at large to make positive change, Ari launched Or Tzedek, the Teen Institute for Social Justice, served on multiple community boards and social justice organizations, and has taught at schools, synagogues, and summer camps around the country. He also served as a Nadiv Social Justice Fellow for the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and as Court Appointed Special Advocate for neglected and abused children in Cook County. Ari was recently selected by the Jewish Week as one of the 36 under 36, a list of "forward-thinking young people who are helping to remake the Jewish community," and his work bringing the Hispanic and Jewish communities of Northern Manhattan together was profiled by the Jerusalem Post. Ari learned at Yeshivat HaKotel, Machon Pardes, and graduated from Grinnell College in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in music theory and composition.

Dr. Emilie S. Passow, having completed her BA from the City College of New York, magna cum laude, graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. She then received her MA and Ph.D. in English Literature with Honors at Columbia University. She has taught a wide range of literature and writing courses as well as workshops in many academic venues including Haverford College and Swarthmore College, where she taught for 12 years, and the University of Pennsylvania in the English Department of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Wharton School of Business, the Graduate School of Education, and the Annenberg Graduate School of Communication, and Gratz College, in both the Florence Melton Program and the Gratz Graduate Program i n Jewish Studies.

Most recently, Dr. Passow’ s professional interests focus on two areas: Medical Humanities and Jewish Studies. Through grants from The Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and the Templeton Foundation as well as support from the Dean of Jefferson Medical College, Dr. Passow has been a Visiting Scholar in Medical Humanities at Thomas Jefferson University, where she also has been on the Task Force on Professionalism and an observer on the Thomas Jefferson Hospital Ethics Committee. In addition, she has given Medical Humanities Grand Rounds at all the major medical institutions throughout the Philadelphia area.

Since September 2004, Dr. Passow is the Director of the Certificate Program in Medical Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences of Drexel University, where she is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of English and Philosophy and the Judaic Studies Program.

Dr. Passow also lectures widely on Medical Humanities as well as on Jewish bioethics, Biblical narrative, and American Jewish writers. She is a member of the Arts- Medicine Division at the College of Physicians and the Pennsylvania Medical Humanities Consortium, and is also  a Research Associate for the Transcending Trauma Project at the Penn Council for Relationships. This project explores patterns of resilience, communication, and Jewish continuity in Holocaust survivor testimonies.




Evan Farber is currently employed as a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he has represented major financial institutions and other corporations in a variety of complex litigation and white collar and regulatory investigations.  He graduated in 1999 from Yale University with Distinction in Religious Studies, and in 2003 from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.  Evan has also clerked for Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York and for Judge Robert S. Smith of the New York Court of Appeals.

Evan has provided pro bono counsel to several synagogues and other Jewish institutions.  He has served on the Board of Directors of Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, where he had previously completed a year-long fellowship, and of his shul, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan's Upper East Side.  Evan has also volunteered for other organizations, including the Unemployment Action Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, and the Anti-Defamation League.

Ellen Rosen Singer, a well-established management consultant, brings her expertise in operations, strategic planning, finance and business psychology to BizBuilding, the ultimate resource for business professionals. Singer has extensive experience managing companies and starting new businesses. Her specialization in corporate governance gives added value to the services she provides.   She is also a SixSigma black belt and a certified negotiations specialist. 

In her role,  Singer is responsible for managing the full scope of the firm's services both domestically and globally. She is also the founder of the non-profit WomenTeachingWomen.org, an international organization that provides training and consulting services to women who have been awarded micro loans to start small businesses.   

With advanced degrees in business and psychology added to her positive approach and energetic style, Singer has a proven track record in motivating business professionals to get actively involved in the process of revitalizing their businesses.

Adam Block practices law in San Antonio, Texas at the firm of Pulman, Capuccio, Pullen & Benson, LLP, where he represents businesses and individuals in commercial litigation, investment, and bankruptcy matters.  Before attending law school, Adam served as a campaign staffer and aide to elected officials, including former Houston Mayor Bill White.

Though he grew up in Houston, Texas, Adam is a fifth-generation member of Congregation Rodfei Sholom in San Antonio, where he serves on the board of directors.  Adam is an Eagle Scout.

Jeffrey M. Wice is a Special Counsel to the New York State Senate and serves “of counsel” to Sandler, Reiff & Young P.C. He has over 30 years of experience working in  redistricting, voting rights and census law. He is considered a national expert on redistricting and has been included by ROLL CALL in its list of the top 50 Washington policy insiders.

Mr. Wice has assisted state legislative leaders, Members of Congress, and other state and local government officials on redistricting and voting rights matters across the nation.  During the 1980s, Mr. Wice developed a national political party redistricting assistance program. During the 1990s, Mr. Wice served as a counsel to President Bill Clinton's appointees to the 2000 federal Census Monitoring Board. During the 2000 redistricting cycle. Mr. Wice served as counsel to the Democratic National Committee’s Redistricting Project.  He serves as counsel to the Foundation For The Future, the party’s redistricting planning project and as counsel to the non-partisan National Association of Jewish Legislators (NAJL).

Mr. Wice has been a contributor to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) “Redistricting Law Handbook” for the 1990, 2000, and 2010 editions. As a long time counsel to the New York State Legislature. Mr. Wice has served in several NCSL leadership positions, including service on the national Executive Committee and as a staff chair of the Elections and Redistricting Committee.

He is a Special Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School where he teaches election law. In the past, he has also taught election law at Touro Law School. Mr. Wice holds a B.A.  from The George Washington University (1974) and a J.D. from the Antioch Law School (1982).   Mr. Wice is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and has been admitted to practice the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia and the United States Supreme Court.

David P. Stone retired as a partner in the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, one of the largest New York-based international law firms, approximately six years ago.  At Weil Gotshal, Mr.  Stone

specialized in corporate, securities and mergers and acquisitions law.  During the last decade of Mr. Stone's 35 year career,  his practice focused almost exclusively on the Middle East.  At Weil Gotshal, he created and led the firm's Israel Practice Group and Middle East Practice Group.  During his tenure, the Israel Practice Group represented the issuers or underwriters of more than 90 public offerings by Israeli companies of equity and debt securities in the United States and Europe, and the Middle East Practice Group represented and advised governments and government agencies, as well as private enterprises and individuals, in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Since his retirement Mr. Stone has studied 15th Century Flemish painting at New York University and Jewish law and philosophy at Yeshivat Hadar and has taught International Securities and Capital Markets Law at the Law School of the College of Management in Rishon L'Tzion, Israel.  He also actively participated in the development, creation and administration, and served as Chairman of the Selection Committee, of the Avichai Foundation Fellowship Program, and actively participated in the development and creation, and current serves in the administration, and as Chairman of the Academic and Selection Committees, of the Russell Berrie Foundation  Program in Interreligious Studies at The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Acquinas in Rome, Italy.

Mr. Stone was a founding trustee of the Tikvah Fund, from whose board he recently retired.  In addition to serving as a trustee of Uri L' Tzedek, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Friends of the Israel College of Management, a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Friend of the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, a member of the Board of Trustees of Lincoln Square Synagogue and a member of the Finance Committee of J Street.  Mr. Stone is also a member of the Board of Directors of On-Track Innovations Ltd., a NASDAQ-listed high technology company headquartered in Rosh Pina, Israel.

Mr. Stone is a graduate of Columbia (A.B., 1967) and the Harvard Law School (J.D., 1970).