Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education

Eric Cohen has been the chief executive of Tikvah since 2007. Under his leadership, Tikvah has grown to be one of American Jewry’s preeminent think tanks and educational organizations. He has been a leader in the world of ideas on America and Jewish thought for almost two decades. Eric was the founder and remains editor-at-large of the New Atlantis, served as the publisher of the Jewish Review of Books and is the publisher of Mosaic. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Witherspoon Institute, and National Affairs, and on the Editorial Advisory Board of First Things. Eric has published in numerous academic and popular journals, magazines, and newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, Commentary, The New Republic, First Things, and numerous others. He is the author of In the Shadow of Progress: Being Human in the Age of Technology (2008) and co-editor of The Future is Now: America Confronts the New Genetics (2002). He was previously managing editor of the Public Interest and served as a senior consultant to the President’s Council on Bioethics.

Sean Clifford is the Chief Strategy Officer of Tikvah, a role he assumed to advance the organization’s educational vision. Sean joined Tikvah after many years in startups. He was the founder and CEO of Canopy, a tech company that leveraged AI to protect children from harmful online content. He previously served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Learn Capital and as the Head of Growth at Skills Fund, a fintech venture in the education sector. Prior to that, Sean spent eight years in Washington, DC as Vice President of Baron Public Affairs. While there, he advised leading tech companies, nonprofits, and Fortune 500 corporations operating at the intersection of politics, business, and culture. Sean earned his BA from Williams College, an MA in the Great Books from St. John’s College, and an MBA from Wharton. He is the father of four and lives in Austin, TX.

Rabbi Mark Gottlieb is chief education officer of Tikvah and founding dean of the Tikvah Scholars Program. Prior to joining Tikvah, Rabbi Gottlieb served as head of school at Yeshiva University High School for Boys and principal of the Maimonides School in Brookline, MA, and has taught at The Frisch School, Ida Crown Jewish Academy, Hebrew Theological College, Loyola University in Chicago, and the University of Chicago. He received his BA from Yeshiva College, rabbinical ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, where his doctoral studies focused on the moral and political thought of Alasdair MacIntyre. Rabbi Gottlieb’s work has been featured twice in the Wall Street Journal and his writing has appeared in First Things, Public Discourse, SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review, The University Bookman, Tradition Online, the Algemeiner, From Within the Tent: Essays on the Weekly Parsha from Rabbis and Professors of Yeshiva University, and, most recently, Strauss, Spinoza & Sinai: Orthodox Judaism and Modern Questions of Faith. He is a trustee of the Hildebrand Project and serves on the Editorial Committee of Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought. He lives in Teaneck, NJ with his wife and family.

Rabbi Mitchell Rocklin is the academic director and dean of the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education. His prior work on Jewish Classical Education as a research fellow with Tikvah was featured in the Wall Street Journal. He received his PhD in history from the CUNY Graduate Center, held postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and Yeshiva University, and taught at both CUNY and Princeton. He is also a chaplain in the Army National Guard with the rank of Major. Rabbi Rocklin is also the president of the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, as well as a member of the Rabbinical Council of America’s Executive Committee and Military Chaplaincy Committee. Prior to his work at Tikvah, he served as a congregational rabbi in Connecticut. His writings have been featured in publications including The Los Angeles Times, National Review Online, The Daily Wire, The Forward, The Public Discourse, and Mosaic.

Rabbi Alec Goldstein is the managing director of the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education, an affiliate of Tikvah. He received a B.A. in French Language & Literature from Yeshiva University, and earned his rabbinic ordination from RIETS. He has worked in rabbinical and educational capacities for the Manhattan Jewish Experience, Congregation Shearith Israel, Mount Kisco Hebrew Congregation, and Yorkville Synagogue. He holds a Masters in Accountancy from Baruch College, is a licensed CPA in New York, and previously worked as a tax accountant at KPMG.

Alec is also the founder of Kodesh Press, a Jewish publishing house dedicated to bringing rigorous scholarly and inspirational titles to light, with roughly 75 titles to date. He is the author of A Theology of Holiness, Maimonides on the Book of Exodus, and is a co-editor of Strauss, Spinoza & Sinai: Orthodox Judaism and Modern Questions of Faith. His articles have appeared in Jewish Press, First Things, Torah Musings, and elsewhere. He lives in Teaneck, New Jersey, with his wife and daughters.

Amy Gabriel is the associate director of faculty for the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education and Tikvah. She has worked in education for many years, including teaching at one of Canada’s first classical schools (Westminster Classical Christian Academy). She has also served at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Center for Hebraic Thought, Wycliffe College (University of Toronto), and Shalem College. Amy holds an M.A. in Theological Studies from Wycliffe College, where her research focused on post-Holocaust theology. She also has an M.A. in Political Theory (University of Toronto) and a B.A. in English and Philosophy (Tyndale University College). Her writing appears in publications such as Providence, The Biblical Mind, Faith Today, and The Canadian Jewish News.

Daniel Kane is the associate director of curricular development at the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education. Before making aliyah to Jerusalem in 2021, Daniel was working in Washington D.C. as an editor for National Affairs. Before that, he worked as a research associate at the American Enterprise Institute and the Texas Legislative Council. Daniel has held academic fellowships with the Tikvah Fund, the Public Interest Fellowship, and the Claremont Institute. He is a graduate of Yeshivat Ohr Somayach and the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied political philosophy.

Meirav Kravetz is the director of Hebrew immersion programs at the Lobel Center for Jewish Classical Education. She is an educational consultant with vast experience in coaching, facilitation, and teaching. Meirav holds a M.S. in Education from Nova Southeastern University and studied Judaic Studies at the Nishmat Center in Israel. She has mentored teachers in many schools in the U.S. and around the world. Meirav was born and raised in Israel and now lives in Hollywood, FL. She is fluent in Hebrew, English, and Spanish, and speaks some French and Italian.

Rachel Gottlieb is the program associate at the Lobel Center for Classical Jewish Education. Before making aliyah to Jerusalem in August 2024, Rachel taught a variety of subjects at the high school level, including the Lobel Center’s blended history-literature course. She is a graduate of Yeshiva University Stern College for Women, where she earned a BA in graphic design, a field she worked in full time for two years before pivoting into the world of education. Since then, Rachel graduated from Mercy College School of Liberal Arts with an MA in English, and she now studies Humanities and Classical Education at the joint program between Tikvah and the University of Dallas.