Meet the team behind Engaging Texts

Jennifer Glaser, PhD.
Founder and Director of Engaging Texts.
Jennifer Glaser

Rabbi Dr. Howard Deitcher
Senior Bible consultant to Engaging Texts Network
Dr. Deitcher works on the development of curriculum, leads professional development seminars, and engages in strategic thinking around the development of the Engaging Texts network. Dr. Deitcher is a senior lecturer at the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University and its former director. He is the current educational director of the Revivim Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, training students to teach Bible in Israeli national secondary schools. Dr Deitcher spent a sabbatical year working with Professor Gareth Matthews in schools and has been active in the field of Philosophy for Children for over 25 years.

Professor Maughn Rollins Gregory, J.D., Ph.D.
Senior consultant to the Engaging Texts Network 
Maughn Gregory is a senior consultant to Engaging Texts, collaborating around the articulation its theoretical conceptualization, developing evaluation tools, and taking part in professional development workshops. He succeeded Matthew Lipman as the director of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children at Montclair State University – the world’s oldest organization devoted to young people’s philosophical practice. Gregory is a Professor of Educational Foundations at Montclair. He publishes and teaches in the areas of philosophy of education, Philosophy for Children, pragmatism, political philosophy, gender, Socratic pedagogy and contemplative pedagogy.

Benjamin Barnett
Web developer and Webmaster, Engaging Texts
Benjamin Barnett is co-owner of media schmedia LLC. He and his wife / business partner, Halle, provide branding, marketing, and web design services for small businesses, non-profits, educators, artisans, and other small-but-beautiful ventures throughout greater Cleveland, across the US, and around the world. Benjamin is also a volunteer educator trained in Philosophical Inquiry. He facilitates a group of 5th-7th grade students in an ongoing Philosophical Inquiry with Parshat Hashavuah on shabbat mornings at Kol HaLev, Cleveland’s Reconstructionist Jewish Community.

Meet Engaging Text’s Partnerships

Jewish Education Center of Cleveland
Judith Schiller
Coordinator of Philosophical Inquiry in Jewish Education at the JECC, 

Shoolman Graduate School of Education, Hebrew College
Rabbi Alvan H. Kaunfer
Coordinator of Philosophical Inquiry in Jewish Education at the Shoolman Graduate School of Education, Hebrew College.
Rabbi Kaunfer is Director of the Congregational Education Initiative at Hebrew College and is working in close partnership with Engaging Texts in developing Boston as a regional hub for advancing Philosophical Inquiry in Jewish education. Rabbi Kaunfer served as a Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El, Providence for 25 years. He was also the founding Director of the Alperin Schechter Day School in Providence, which he headed for 13 years. He is a graduate of Brandeis University, Teachers’ College of Columbia University, and was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, from which he also holds a Doctoral degree in Education. 

Over 70 Leading Educators and Jewish Professionals

Students of all ages