Talmud Department - Faculty List

Rabbi Donny Besser teaches Talmud and Halakha, serves as our Mashgiach Ruchani,and leads the ParshaClub and Mishmar Program. He earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School, received his semicha from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and has been involved in informal Jewish education for teens and adults throughout his career. He came to Ma’ayanot in 2005, after six years practicing law. Rabbi Besser was involved in editing the Masoret HaRav Yom Kippur Machzor, whose commentary incorporates insights of Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik. Currently, he is preparing a birkon with the Rav’s commentary.

Mrs. Dena Block (nee Katz) teaches Talmud, History, Jewish History, and serves as a ninth-grade Mehanekhet. She graduated from Ma'ayanot in 2004. She studied at Migdal Oz in Israel before attending Barnard College, from which she received a BA in History in 2009. She completed the Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies at Stern College while concurrently pursuing a Masters Degree in Medieval Jewish History at the Bernard Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University. Last year, Mrs. Block was the Resident Scholar at Congregation BIAV in Kansas City, Kansas for one Shabbat each month, which involved teaching members of the community and learning with high school students.

Ms. Sarah Gordon teaches Talmud, Jewish History, and Jewish Philosophy, and serves as a ninth-grade mehanekhet and the director of student activities. After graduating from Stern College with a B.A. in Judaic Studies, Ms. Gordon spent two years studying at Yeshiva University's Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies. She holds an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Azrieli Graduate School, and is currently working toward another M.A. in Modern Jewish History at the Revel Graduate School. She has spent time studying at Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim, and was a Fellow in the Midreshet Lindenbaum Educators Program. Ms. Gordon has extensive experience in informal Jewish education, serving in a number of leadership positions at Camp Stone, including Educational Director, as well as working as a Program Head for Bnei Akiva's MachHach Ba'Aretz Israel trip.

Rabbi Zev Prince is a Talmud and Halakha teacher at Ma’ayanot. For Rabbi Prince, teaching at Ma’ayanot is a homecoming of sorts. A Teaneck native, he, along with his wife, Gila, and son recently moved back from Boca Raton, Florida, where he worked in adult education as a member of the Boca Raton Community Kollel. Prior to that, the Princes lived in Jerusalem. A graduate of Yeshiva University with a degree in Psychology, Rabbi Prince learned in the RIETS semicha program, an affiliate of Yeshiva University and its Israel Kollel in Jerusalem.

Mrs. Tova Warburg Sinensky teaches Talmud and Jewish Philosophy at Ma’ayanot. She also facilitates religious programming, including Why-aanot Live, our religious guidance program, and co-manages Why-aanot, our Judaic Studies Faculty Blog.  After earning her B.A. in Philosophy from Stern College and completing its S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program, Mrs. Sinensky studied Talmud and Halakha for two years in Yeshiva University’s Advanced Talmudic Studies Program for Women.  Upon completing the program, she joined the Ma’ayanot faculty.  She holds an M.A in Secondary Jewish Education from the Azrieli Graduate School. She served as a community Scholar-in-Residence in Englewood for three years, and has lectured in communities throughout North America.  She and her husband are currently the Rabbi and Rebbetzin for the Jewish community at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Ms. Devorah Wolf teaches Talmud, and is a mehanekhet for grade eleven, as well as a Special Services Assistant at Ma’ayanot.  She has a B.A. from Barnard College, is a graduate of the Stern Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies, and is pursuing a Master's Degree in English Literature at Hunter College.  Ms. Wolf has also studied at Drisha Institute, Bernard Revel Graduate School, and Pardes Institute.  She has taught for The Princeton Review, and tutored students in writing at Stern, Barnard, and Lander Colleges.