Scholars & Tour Leaders

Abby Ashkenazi is a seasoned tour manager and accomplished facilitator in the world of Jewish education. A curious, history-loving traveler herself, as a guide, she collaborates closely with other travel professionals to create memorable experiences for tour participants. Abby is a graduate of Hebrew University in Jerusalem with degrees in Jewish History and African Studies and currently consults for the Consortium for Teaching Hebrew at Brandeis University. As the JCC Chicago Jewish Educator, Abby developed, designed and implemented Jewish-focused programming and travel. When not traveling, Abby splits her time between Chicago and Israel.

Dr. David I. Bernstein has led more than 60 Jewish heritage trips to Europe. He brings a wide-angle lens to the story of Jewish life in Europe by illuminating the big picture of European history, while zooming in to intimate stories of the dynamics of Jewish life. The son of refugees who came to the U.S. after the Second World War, he brings a personal sense of mission to his work as he shares the story of these famous Jewish communities. David earned a BA, MA, and PhD from New York University and was a visiting graduate fellow at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He served for more than a decade as the Director of Midreshet Lindenbaum and for 25 years as the Dean of the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, where he currently serves as Dean Emeritus.

Brian Calvert, trip leader, is a Chicago native and holds a degree in political science from the University of Iowa. He is a veteran traveler who has lived and worked in China, New Zealand and Ireland. A former employee of Stanford University’s renowned Travel/Study program, Brian has personally managed group tours across Europe, Cuba, Africa (including Morocco multiple times), and through a vast part of Asia — Japan, Mongolia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, China, as well as a hike to Mount Everest Base Camp. He lives with his wife and child in Chicago and Thailand.

Tamara Chavez has been guiding specialized tours in the four corner states, including New Mexico, since 2000 and Jewish group tours since 2016. She has served as a volunteer for the National Park Service at Chaco Canyon and at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center as a museum docent. As a tour guide, Tamara loves to showcase authentic local history, cuisine, scenic beauty, art, and culture.

Dr. Maritza Corrales is a Cuban historian who has dedicated her life’s work to researching the history of Jews in Cuba. Born in 1948, she is a graduate of the University of Havana (1972) and lives in Havana. She has been a consulting scholar to numerous research and academic institutions in Cuba and has published numerous articles on the history of Cuban Jews. As the author of articles and books, including The Chosen Island, Corrales has lectured at universities in Israel, Spain, Mexico, and Cuba.

Lynne Feldman brings many years of experience and scholarly research to her work as a Holocaust education professional, coordinating with numerous museums and international organizations. She holds a master’s degree in Holocaust Studies from Haifa University and an undergraduate degree in history from the Open University of Israel, both of which she draws on to create meaningful educational experiences. Over the years, Lynne has accompanied many groups to significant cultural sites and she currently serves as the International Coordinator and Director of Scholarship for the Teach the Shoah Foundation.

Ariel Goldstein was born in Uruguay, studied Latin American history in Montevideo and tourism at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. CEO of Tiyul-Jewish Journeys, he has led more than 50 tours throughout Israel, Europe, Persian Gulf, Latin America, China, India, Africa, and the US. Ariel speaks Spanish, English, Hebrew, and Portuguese and is the author of From Moses to Moisesville (2024).

Dr. Ron Hart, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist with postdoctoral work in Jewish Studies and a career as a research director in South America, who currently serves as Executive Director of the Institute for Tolerance Studies in Santa Fe. Former President of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico, Dr. Hart is author of many award-winning books, including Crypto-Jews: The Long Journey (2020) and Fractured Faiths: Spanish Judaism, the Inquisition and New World Identities. He has received awards from the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, the National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Fulbright among others.

Miriam Levinson’s passion for travel and history was inspired by listening to her father talk about those subjects from her earliest recollections. Since her teens, Miriam has traveled extensively, focusing on Jewish history and culture of different countries. Miriam has presented on Latin American Jewish migration to numerous audiences and organizations throughout the United States. For the past eighteen years, Miriam has designed, organized, and led hundreds of trips to her native land, Cuba. Her knowledge and understanding of Jewish Latin America and, primarily, Cuba add a truly distinctive dimension to her portrayal of these communities. Levinson’s unique personal knowledge and experiences of life in Cuba bring a new perspective. She is presently writing a book on her recollections of life in Cuba.

Aryeh Maidenbaum, PhD, with a strong background in history, psychology, and Jewish studies, has over 28 years’ experience in organizing and leading educational programs, including psychology seminars and conferences and travel programs focusing on Jewish culture and history. Director of the New York Center for Jungian Studies, he earned his doctorate from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is a former faculty member at New York University. Dr. Maidenbaum is a contributing author to Current Theories of Psychoanalysis and editor and contributor to Lingering Shadows: Jungians, Freudians, and Anti-Semitism and Jung and the Shadow of Anti-Semitism. Some of his other publications include Psychological Type, Job Change, and Personal Growth; The Search for Spirit in Jungian Psychology; “The Jungian Dilemma,” a chapter in the recently published book Psychiatry and Anti-Semitism; and “The Golem of Prague: An Archetype,” forthcoming in the journal Psychological Perspectives.

Dan Oren, M.D. is president of the public charity Friends of Jewish Heritage in Poland. Founded in 2016, FJHP has supported cleanups and restorations at dozens of Polish Jewish cemeteries. Oren is Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Adjunct) at Yale University and author of The Wedding Photo (Rimmon Press), a book on how to research genealogy and turn it into active preservation of family memory. He received a 2023 “Medal of Honor” Award from the Polish Ministry of Culture for his work in protecting Polish Jewish heritage and the 2024 Dr. Richard Plotz Volunteer of the Year Award from JewishGen. He is program chair of the 2025 IAJGS Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Dr. Oren will do his best to support genealogical explorations of participants in the trip.

Raquel Orensztajn was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She studied Modern History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and dedicated her professional life to teaching the Holocaust and its significance in Jewish memory and identity. Raquel is the co-initiator and founder of ‘When Memory Meets Art’, a project that specializes in creating artistic content based on primary sources of the Holocaust. She is a scholar and educator of Jewish Journeys programs and has participated as a trip scholar throughout Jewish Europe. Raquel developed the study curriculum in Prague and Theresienstadt for the Jewish Agency and led the March of the Living in Poland. She also teaches Hebrew as a second language to participants of the Masa Israel Journey program. Raquel works in the International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, as a developer and writer of online teaching courses and content coordinator of seminars for educators from Israel, Europe, and Latin America. Raquel is fluent in English, Hebrew, Portuguese, and Spanish. She lives in Tel Aviv.

Lucy Rapoport, trip leader, has guided and accompanied many previous Jewish heritage tours, all to great acclaim. Born and schooled in England before moving to Italy as a young adult, Lucy is fluent in Italian, German, French, and Spanish and has been a tour manager for over twenty years. Specializing in Europe, she has accompanied previous Jewish groups to such places as Lithuania, Krakow, Prague, Berlin, Croatia, Spain, Romania, Serbia, France, northern and southern Italy, and Sicily. With Lucy’s attention to detail, knowledge of history, and considerable expertise in guiding groups, participants will be well served on this trip.

Marta Nunez Sarmiento is a retired professor in the Department of Sociology and a researcher at the Center for Studies of International Migrations (CEMI) at the University of Havana. Her research concentrated on transition projects for Cuba, women and employment in Cuba, gender studies in Cuba, images of women in Cuban mass media, and images of Cuba in Cuban and foreign mass media. At the University of Havana, she taught courses related to methodology and methods of sociological research, gender studies, and contemporary Cuba. She served as a consultant for several agencies of the UN (1988-2003), the Association of Caribbean States (1999), and several NGOs.

Raymond P. Scheindlin, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Medieval Hebrew Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary and a former Guggenheim Fellow. Dr. Scheindlin’s main field of research is the encounter of Hebrew and Arabic cultures in Spain, especially as embodied in the poetry of the two traditions. His books on medieval Hebrew poetry — Wine, Women, and Death: Medieval Hebrew Poems on the Good Life, dealing with secular poetry; and The Gazelle: Medieval Hebrew Poems on God, Israel, and the Soul — reflect both the academic and the literary aspects of his career. He is the author of a widely-used textbook, A Short History of the Jewish People, and co-editor of The Literature of Al-Andalus and The Song of the Distant Dove: Judah Halevi’s Pilgrimage. His most recent book is Vulture in a Cage: Poems by Solomon Ibn Gabirol.

Sebastian Schulman is a scholar, writer, editor, and literary translator in and from Yiddish, Esperanto, French, Russian, and other languages. His original writing, scholarship, and translations have appeared in several anthologies and more than a dozen journals, including Two Lines, Words Without Borders, and Electric Literature. Seb has led and designed immersive educational experiences across North America and Eastern Europe and has also held leadership positions in several Jewish cultural organizations, including as the executive director of KlezKanada, and, currently, as the director of special projects and partnerships at the Yiddish Book Center. He divides his time between western Massachusetts and Montréal, Québec.

Chaim Seidler-Feller recently celebrated his 40th year of working with students and faculty as the executive director of the Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA. Currently director emeritus, he also serves as director of the Hartman Fellowship for Campus Professionals. An ordained rabbi, he also completed a master’s degree in rabbinic literature. Chaim has been a lecturer in the Departments of Sociology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA and in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He is also a faculty member of the Shalom Hartman Institute, North America, and of the Wexner Heritage Foundation and was rabbinic consultant to Barbra Streisand during the making of the film Yentl. The International Hillel Center has granted Chaim the Hillel Professional Recognition Award “for blending the love of Jewish tradition with the modern intellectual approach of the university.”

Therkel Straede is professor of contemporary history at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense and one of the world’s leading experts on the October 1943 rescue (and deportation) of the Jews from Denmark. His newest book, about the networks and motives of Jewish and non-Jewish rescuers, will be published in 2023, the 80th anniversary of the German assault on Denmark’s Jews. Recently, Professor Straede worked with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City on an exhibition designed for children and their families about the Danish rescue. He operates a website about the Danish deportees in the Theresienstadt ghetto (www.danske joe deri theresienstadt.org) and has received a congressional citation of honor by the U.S. House of Representatives for his achievements in Holocaust research and education.

Jola Wojciechowska is a highly experienced and qualified city guide, holding an official government guide license (2003) and a tour leader license (2005). She is a certified guide for several prestigious Warsaw museums, including the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Emmanuel Ringelblum Archive Exhibition at the Jewish Historical Institute. She actively volunteers in documenting architectural details of historic tenement houses and contributes to the preservation efforts of the historical Jewish cemetery.

Jola has worked for international corporations and organizations such as Erasmus+ Program, Polish Tourist Organization, Polin Travel (focused on genealogical and heritage tours), Humanus Network (specializing in Holocaust and Human Rights Education Consulting), and Jewish Community Relations Council of MN and the Dakotas (JCRC) as well as for numerous private tourists from around the world.

She’s energetic, passionate about Warsaw’s history and culture. She offers informative and engaging tours that incorporate diverse perspectives on Polish history and cultural heritage.