Mushka Steinmetz couldn’t decide on a topic for her master’s thesis at Touro University’s Graduate School of Jewish Studies (GSJS), but there was one element that she knew she was not interested in exploring: tragedy.

Aggadic stories in the Talmud offer profound insights into the lives of some of Judaism’s greatest sages – Hillel, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, Rav Sheshet, Rav Yannai, and many others – as they grapple with moral and existential dilemmas that resonate through the ages. In A Mysterious Guest for Dinner, Rabbi Dr. Moshe Sokol, the dean of Touro University’s Graduate School of Jewish Studies, delves into these timeless tales, asking thought-provoking questions: Should one sacrifice everything for a life of extreme holiness? Who truly deserves charity in a time of poverty, and how should one respond when a seemingly affluent individual begs for food? When a marriage falters because a wife attends a Torah lecture, who bears responsibility? And, most intriguingly, is it ever possible to encounter the Messiah?

If cloning Chani Gotlieb was possible, high school history students everywhere would rejoice: No more dull lectures, unpronounceable names and endless memorization of long-ago dates.

Dr. Moshe Sokol was appointed as the new dean of the Touro University Graduate School of Jewish Studies (GSJS), Touro President Dr. Alan Kadish announced today. Dr. Sokol is the founding dean of Touro’s Lander College for Men (LCM), which he led for the last 25 years.

Danielle Guterman, Elementary School Teacher and Legacy MidCareer Fellow earning her masters in Jewish History, shares the challenges and rewards of teaching and why educators need to learn history.

Professor Monty Noam Penkower, a professor emeritus of Jewish history at the Machon Lander Graduate School of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, was one of four recipients of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Asia (ASMEA) 2023 Bernard Lewis book prize for “After the Holocaust,” published by Touro University Press. He was presented with the award on November 5 at the ASMEA’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.

The only constant in Rabbi Gidon Shoshan’s career is change. And his instrument for innovation is developing hands-on connections with students, young adults and fellow educators.

A few hundred people, online and in person, visited Touro’s Lander College for Women in Manhattan in November for a two-day Touro University conference, “Jewish Leadership in the Past Millennium.”

Rabbi Aharon Friedler will do most anything to reach and teach his students at Hebrew Academy of Nassau County. Just recently, Friedler, who teaches Judaic Studies and AP Computer Science to high school students, had been looking for a way to engage a young man who seemed shy and seldom spoke up in class. He discovered the boy was a hockey goalie. “Well, in high school I was a hockey captain,” Friedler says proudly. “So, I challenged him to a shootout, took the whole class with us and I didn’t score a single point. That smile I got after was priceless to me.”

It was at Touro’s Graduate School of Jewish Studies (GSJS) that Benny Berlin honed his mind and found his voice. Now considered one of the modern Orthodox world’s most educated and dynamic young spiritual leaders, Rabbi Berlin credits GSJS with honoring his calling and refining his oratory gifts. “Without the loving guidance and the level of brilliance of the professors,” Berlin says, “I wouldn’t have the skills or the open heart to be where I am today.”