Meet the Team

Jonah Mac Gelfand (he/him) is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College. He got his Master's in Jewish Studies from the Graduate Theological Union, where his research focused on neo-Hasidic leadership, and his writing has been published in both popular and academic journals. He loves working at Gashmius and is excited to be part of the team!

Eva Sturm-Gross is an artist and woodworker originally from Vermont and based in Brooklyn. She graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in studio art and religion. She has studied and worked at multiple craft schools around the country and her prints and sculptures have been exhibited nationally most recently at the Kent Museum in Vermont and the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus. Eva is interested in art as a form of creative exegesis by which to reinterpret traditional texts. Along with being the art director Eva has created all of the art for this website and the Gashmius covers! You can see more of her work at evasturmgross.com

Sam Langstein is a social worker and Jewish educator based in Boston, MA. He has been a social worker and psychotherapist working in various settings with a focus on peer-led services, crisis response, and integrating religion and spirituality into mental health care. 

Gwyneth Hernandez is a scientist and Torah learner from the Inland Empire. She received her B.S. in Earth Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is currently a Master's student at UC Santa Barbara where she researches the origin and evolution of early microbial life. Gwyneth is an alumna of the Pardes Institute of Jewish studies and continues to make time for Torah and Hasidus in her everyday life.

Daniel Kraft is a writer, translator, and educator living in Richmond, Virginia. He holds a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School, where he was a resident at the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions. Daniel has taught at conferences, synagogues, and museums in North America and Poland, and his work has been supported by residencies, fellowships, and scholarships from institutions including the Yiddish Book Center, the Community of Writers, and the Glen Workshop. His poems, essays, and translations appear in a number of publications, and he shares translations of Yiddish poetry in his newsletter at danielkraft.substack.com.

Avidan Halivni is the Associate Director of the Jewish Learning Collaborative, a new platform for Jewish professional development that offers customized, one-on-one Jewish learning for professionals and lay leaders at Jewish organizations. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University in 2019 and holds an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School in the History of Judaism. He is descended from the Vizhnitzer Rebbe on one side of the family and is a fourth generation Chicagoan on the other.

You can look forward to reading his work on Gashmius for the following nine holidays in 5785: Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur, Sukkot/Simchat Torah, Hanukkah, Tu B'shvat, Purim, Passover, the Omer, Shavuot, Tu B’Av.