Profiles

Rabbi Joshua Brumbach is the Senior Rabbi of Simchat Yisrael in West Haven, CT and serves as adjunct faculty at Messianic Jewish Theological Institute (MJTI) and The King's University. 

Jamie Cowen, Rabbi, Tikvat Israel Congregation since 1990. Also president of Hope for Israel Relief Fund, a humanitarian outreach to Israel, and president of Russian Immigration Services, a legal and social service agency for Russian immigrants to the United States.

Born into a Conservative Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, Stuart Dauermann attended Manhattan School of Music (MSM), earning degrees in Music Theory (1966) and Music Education (1971). In 1962, while at MSM, and working as a professional musician, he attended an informal discussion group and became convinced that Yeshua of Nazareth is Israel's Messiah.  He's still convinced and enjoys convincing others.

 

Messianic Rabbi Tony Eaton is the Congregational Leader of Simchat Yisrael Messianic Congregation, a Messianic Jewish synagogue meeting in West Haven CT.   He received his rabbinical ordination from  the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations,  where he has served on the Steering Committee as Northeast Regional Director, and the Executive Board as the Union's Treasurer.

Thomas Esposito holds the position of Rabbi's Assistant and Events Coordinator at Congregation Simchat Yisrael Messianic Jewish Synagogue located in West Haven, CT. Tom has authored several web articles for online magazines and promotional material for Simchat Yisrael. He has designed and facilitated the teen program at Simchat Yisrael.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, John Fischer is part of a family who miraculously survived the Holocaust.  Married to Dr. Patrice Fischer, and a father of two grown children (Eve and Seth) and three grandchildren (Naomi, Gideon, and Jonas), he has six earned college and university degrees, two of them doctorates (a Ph.D. and a Th.D.).

Jason Forbes is the rabbi of Beit HaShofar Synagogue in Seattle, WA.  Born and raised in upstate NY, he graduated from SUNY Oswego with a double major in computer science and physics. Immediately after college, he began his software engineering career and rabbinical training almost in tandem.

Rabbi Dr. Vered Hillel is a Prof. of Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity. She currently serves as the Academic Dean of Messianic Jewish Theological Institute. Her areas of interest are Messianic Jewish Theology, Second Temple Judaism and Literature, as well as the Backgrounds to Early Christianity and Jewish/Christian Relations. She and her husband are the co-founders of Aleinu, a Messianic Jewish organization devoted to Jewish life renewed in Yeshua.

Rabbi Nathan Joiner has served as Senior Rabbi of Congregation Ruach Israel since 2020. Prior to this he served as Associate Rabbi for eight years. In addition to being a member of the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (MJRC) he is the co-founder and Director of Camp Or L’Dor, a Messianic Jewish summer youth camp, and he has formally served the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations as the Young Adult Rabbinic Advisor. He speaks and presents about Messianic Judaism in a variety of congregations, conferences and venues around the country.

I live in Austin, a happily married man with three adult children and five grandchildren. My educational background is in philosophy (Queens College), Jewish Studies (Spertus College), and Early Rabbinic Judaism (University of South Africa).

Dr. Mark Kinzer is the Rabbi of Congregation Zera Avraham in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Born in Detroit in 1952, Mark was raised in a Conservative Jewish home and became an adherent of Messiah Yeshua in 1971. He attended the University of Michigan (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.), and remains forever a loyal Wolverine. Mark is Senior Scholar and President Emeritus of Messianic Jewish Theological Institute, Chair of the Hashivenu Board, and author of Postmissionary Messianic Judaism (Brazos 2005), Israel's Messiah and the People of God (Cascade 2011), and Searching Her Own Mystery (Cascade 2015).

Rabbi Yahnatan Lasko is a second-generation Messianic Jew from the Washington, D.C. area. He grew up at Beth Messiah Congregation, a synagogue he now helps to lead, and attended Ets Chaiyim, a Messianic Jewish day school, from preschool through high school. 

I was born and raised in Virginia and never left.  In 1972, I married my high school sweetheart, who eventually gave me two sons (five grandsons and one granddaughter as of 2017).  In 1975, I took a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Virginia, with a major in mathematics.  I began attending Ohev Yisrael Messianic Jewish congregation in 1981 and here I remain.  From 1992 to 2006, I served as the Congregational Leader, and now I continue as a Pastoral Elder  

Rabbi Dr. Richard C. Nichol has served as Senior Rabbi of Congregation Ruach Israel since 1981. He is currently the president of the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute (MJTI) and formerly has served as president of both the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (MJRC) and Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, as well as vice president of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance (IMJA).

Russ Resnik is a veteran rabbi, teacher, counselor, and writer, currently serving as Rabbinic Counsel of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC). In this role, Russ speaks regularly within the UMJC community, particularly in areas of pastoral care and congregational life; provides consultation and counseling services; and functions as a rabbi to rabbis within the community. He has taught and lectured on similar topics as well as biblical studies throughout the USA and in Israel, Canada, Mexico, South America, South Africa, and Russia.

Hannah Roussel (born in 1990) is an active member of Congregation Zera Avraham in Ann Arbor, MI. She is currently a doctoral candidate in the History Department at the University of Michigan, working on a dissertation on mental disability and illness in rabbinic literature. 

Rabbi Isaac Roussel is the Congregational Leader of Congregation Zera Avraham. He was ordained to the rabbinate in 2014 by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, after completing his studies at Messianic Jewish Theological Institute and Netzer David. He is also received Smikhah (rabbinical ordination) at the MJRC in 2018.

 

Rabbi Paul L. Saal (MA, Theological Studies) is the founding spiritual leader of Congregation Shuvah Yisrael. He received smicha (ordination) through the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations and served over a decade on its Steering Committee.  He is the current president of the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council.

Allen Singer, semi-retired, formerly the Assistant Congregational Leader of Congregation Zera Avraham in Ann Arbor, MI. currently serves as Vice-President and member of the Governing Board of the synagogue.  

Robin Van Riper has been an active participant in the Messianic Jewish world for more than three decades.  Originally from Washington, D.C., she grew up in a Reform Jewish home and synagogue and earned a B.A. in interdisciplinary studies from a progressive liberal arts college in California.  A lifelong learner, she recently completed the requirements for M.J.S. with a focus on rabbinic writings at the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute (degree pending) and is pleased to be part of the institution's first graduating class.