Staff

Head of School: Hakham R’Elie Abadie, M.D. comes from a long and distinguished rabbinical lineage dating back to fifteenth century Spain and Provence. Rabbi Dr. Abadie was born in Beirut, Lebanon and grew-up in Mexico City before settling in the United States. Following in the footsteps of the greatest Jewish scholar and philosopher Moses Maimonides (the RAMBAM), he is both a rabbi and a physician. Rabbi Dr. Abadie maintains a practice in Gastroenterology and is fluent in English, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, French, as well as conversant in Italian and Portuguese. He serves on the Board of the American Sephardi Federation, as the Director of the Jacob E. Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva University, Head of School of the Sephardic Academy of Manhattan, and Founder and Leader of the Manhattan East Synagogue – Congregation Shaare Mizrah. Hakham Rabbi Dr. Abadie is a recipient of the Jerusalem Medal, Orden Del Merito Civil (the highest civil decoration by His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain), and many other commendations. Rabbi Dr. Abadie is the Senior Rabbi of the Jewish Community of the Emirates.  

 ASF IJE Director: Drora Arussy, EdD, is an educational consultant who specializes in integrating Jewish and secular studies, the arts and education, as well as cultivating creativity and excellence. A former lecturer at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women, Drew University, and Ramapo College, she has coordinated and created curricula while training teachers in California, Ohio, New Jersey, and Israel. Drora was one of the inaugurators of Hebrew in Motion as the Coordinator for Hebrew in America of the UJA-NNJ. She has taught students from pre-school through adults, published several curricula and conducted workshops for teachers on incorporating the arts into curricula around the world. She directed several plays in the US and Israel, and has worked on many formal and informal education projects, and believes that flexibility and variety are keys to success. She is fluent in Hebrew and has a working knowledge of written Arabic and French. Her passion for pride in one’s identity and heritage brought her to the ASF and the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience.

  Advisor/Educator: Aryeh Tepper, Ph.D, teaches at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, is a Senior Research Fellow at BGU’s Azrieli Center for Israel Studies, Academic Coordinator for the Schechter Institute's M.A. Ofaqim Program in “Jews of Spain and Islamic Lands,” and serves as ASF's Director of Publications/Editor of The Sephardi Report, Sephardi World Weekly, and Sephardi Ideas Monthly. Dr. Tepper’s book, Progressive Minds, Conservative Politics: Leo Strauss’ Later Writings on Maimonides, was published by SUNY Press, and his articles, in English and Hebrew, have appeared in many publications, including The Jewish Review of Books, The Literary Review, Jewish Ideas Daily, Mosaic Magazine, The Madison Review, Nomos Journal, Midnight East, Akdamot, Makor Rishon, and The Tower Magazine. In honor of Jazz Appreciation Month, Dr. Tepper presented “The Story of Israeli Jazz” at the US Embassy Jerusalem.

 ASF IJE Event Coordinator: Dalya Arussy is a writer, video editor, and social media copywriter. She has her M.Sc. in Urban Planning from the Technion with a focus on shared urban spaces and encounters within them. She earned her B.A. in Art History with a minor in Arabic and Business & Liberal Arts from Macaulay Honors College at Queens College, where she was involved with the Center for Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Understanding. Dalya’s focus is bridging gaps through YaLa Young Leaders (a MENA network of young leaders), volunteering, and soccer.