On any travel experience, the educator's rapport with the group is a key ingredient for success. Melton travel educators are among the finest in the Jewish world and will help make sites and texts come alive and relevant to your ongoing dialogue with the past and future of Israel and the Jewish story.
Dr. Sara Aroeste, PhD
Sara has an extensive academic background in Fine Arts, having studied extensively in the US and in Mexico, where she obtained her MFA and completed her PhD. She has also been engaged in both academic and pedagogic work, developing curricula for post graduate studies in the Arts, and has curated exhibitions in the US and in Mexico. In addition, Sara is an art critic, gives international conferences, and has published articles and texts for art related books. In 2018, Ambar Diseño published her most recent book, El taller del artista, that presents 25 of the most renowned artist studios in Mexico. Sara has devised and conducted numerous art tours since 2005, exploring Pre-Columbian art, colonial art, the Mexican muralists, and the Mexican contemporary art scene. She has led many encounters with museum and gallery directors, curators, and art collectors, and has visited more than four hundred studios of renowned contemporary artists. Since 2016, Sara has served as an Associate Scholar for the company Mexico Cultural Travel. She has also served as the Regional Director for Art Quest International since 2015, and guided tours with a focus on Mexican Judaism, whether for groups like The American Friends of The Israel Museum or various missions for Jewish Federations from the US; Moishe House’s On the Road trip to Mexico City; and the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Dr. Katherine Aron-Beller
Originally from London, Katherine is Senior lecturer of Jewish History in the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University and currently Visiting Scholar of the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University. Her areas of expertise include the history of antisemitism, contemporary antisemitism, medieval Jewish history, early modern Jewish-Christian relations and the early modern Papal Inquisition. She is the author of Jews on Trial: The Papal Inquisition in Modena 1598-1638 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011), the co-editor of The Roman Inquisition: Centre versus Peripheries (Leiden: Brill, 2018) and more recently Christian Images and their Jewish Desecrators: The History of an Allegation (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024) as well as articles on the Catholic Inquisition, antisemitism and the Jews of Italy. She is a keen traveller to places of Jewish interest and has led Jewish Historical tours to Alsace, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, Provence and the United Kingdom.
Avi Ben-Hur
A Brooklyn native, Avi moved to Israel in 1983. From 2003-2008 Avi was Director of the Archaeological Seminars School for Israeli Tour Guides. In 2008 Avi participated in re-writing the curriculum of the National Guiding courses for the Israel Ministry of Tourism. As a "Scholar in Residence", Avi has lectured, taught, and facilitated workshops in Pittsburgh, New Jersey, New York, Warsaw, Prague, Berlin, and Greece. From 1996-2000, Avi taught in the International School for Holocaust Studies – Yad Vashem. As a guide, Avi has specialized in working with organizations focusing on political issues, inter-faith programs, and Holocaust studies. At present, Avi is on the faculty of the University of Haifa Tourism School, is an examiner for the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, and is the scholar in residence of Classrooms Without Borders.
Professor Marc Epstein
Winner of the 2015 Jewish Book Award in Visual Arts for Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts, Marc is the product of a mixed marriage between the scions of Slonimer and Lubavitcher Hassidim and Romanian socialists, and grew up, rather confused, but happy, in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently Professor of Religion at Vassar College, where he has been teaching since 1992, and was the first Director of Jewish Studies. At Vassar, he teaches courses on medieval Christianity, religion, arts and politics, and Jewish texts and sources. He is a graduate of Oberlin College, received the PhD at Yale University, and did much of his graduate research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has written numerous articles and four books on various topics in visual and material culture produced by, for, and about Jews. A long-time student of Italian Jewish culture, he is the Director of Beit Venezia, the home for International Jewish Studies in Venice, Italy.
Daniella Gefen
Miriam Levinson
Miriam's passion for history was sparked by her father's captivating discussions from her earliest memories. Since her teenage years, Miriam has extensively explored Jewish history and culture in various countries. Over the past eighteen years, she has orchestrated and led numerous trips to her native Cuba. Miriam's expertise in Jewish Latin America, particularly Cuba, adds a distinctive dimension to her portrayal of these communities. Her unique personal insights and experiences from life in Cuba contribute to a fresh perspective. Currently, Miriam is actively working on a book recounting her memories of life in Cuba.
Prof. Richard Mendelsohn
Professor Richard Mendelsohn is Emeritus Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town, where he taught for many years in the history department. A former Head of the Department of Historical Studies and Deputy Dean for Undergraduate Affairs in the Faculty of Humanities, his research focuses on South African Jewish history and film and history. He is also a highly regarded Melton educator, specializing in Jewish history.
Prof. Nissim Otmazgin
A professor at the Department of Asian Studies, Prof. Otmazgin is formerly the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Before that, he was the Chair of the Institute for Asian and African Studies, the Director of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, and the Chair of the Department of Asian Studies. He was also a member of the Israeli Young Academy of Science and Humanities. Otmazgin's research interests include Japanese and Korean media industries, popular culture and regionalization in East Asia, Japan-Southeast Asian Relations, and cultural diplomacy in East Asia. His PhD dissertation (Kyoto University, 2007), which examines the export of Japan’s popular culture to Asia, won the Iue Asia Pacific Research Prize in October 2007 for outstanding dissertation on society and culture in Asia. As a part of this research, he conducted extensive fieldwork in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok, Taipei, and Seoul. The author and co-editor of 8 books on contemporary culture and society in Asia, he has published articles in a number of international academic journals including International Relations of the Asia Pacific, Media, Culture & Society, Global Policy, Inter-Asia Cultural studies, Pacific Affairs, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Asia-Pacific Review, Kritika Kultura, Asian Perspective, Cross-Currents, Situations, International Journal of Taiwan Studies, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Japan Focus, and Contemporary Japan.
Rabbi Ernesto Yattah
Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Rabbi Ernesto Yattah completed his undergraduate studies at Columbia University in New York City, earning a BA in Comparative Religions. He furthered his education at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA), obtaining another BA in Bible and being ordained as a rabbi in 1989. Following his ordination, Rabbi Yattah served as Assistant and Associate Rabbi at Congregation Beth Yeshurun in Houston, Texas. Upon returning to Argentina, he became actively involved in various interreligious dialogue initiatives in Buenos Aires. Rabbi Yattah currently holds the position of Dean at the Abraham Joshua Heschel Rabbinical School, a role he recently resumed. Additionally, he serves as the Director of the Latin American Center for the Dialogue and Encounter between Judaism and Islam (CELAJI) and holds the position of Vice-Rector at the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano Marshall T. Meyer.
Joellyn Wallen Zollman
Joellyn holds a PhD in Jewish History from Brandeis University. Her areas of specialization include religious material culture and American Jewish History. She has worked with exhibits and collections at the Smithsonian Institution, the Skirball Museum, and the San Diego History Center. Dr. Zollman has been teaching in the Melton Program since 2011. She teaches the Crossroads/History year for the Core Curriculum annually. In addition, she has taught From Sinai to Seinfeld (a student favorite!), Jewish Denominations, Jews in America, and We Are What We Remember. Dr. Zollman is the author of the new Melton course We The People, The American Jewish Experience.
