Get to know the rabbis and cantors who work at the Nathan Peter Levinson Foundation’s seminaries. The leading experts in the field of rabbinic and cantorial education from Germany and abroad ensure the highest quality of our programs.
Professor Amir is a reform rabbi, theologian, and author of several monographs. He is a Professor emeritus of Jewish Thought at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. Professor Amir greatly impacted the education of reform rabbis in Israel. 2000-2009 he led and built the Israel Rabbinic Program of HUC-JIR. Between 2014 and 2018, he was the president of MARAM (The Israel Council of Reform Rabbis).
His research concentrates on Jewish philosophers, primarily Franz Rosenzweig, and the development of Jewish theology after the Holocaust. Among his most significant works are Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics (1998), and Da’at Ma’amina (Reason out of Faith: The Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig; 2004)
Since 2024, Prof. Amir is the Rabbinical Director of the Regina Jonas Seminary.
Professor Artson is a Conservative (Masorti) rabbi, a scholar and author. He is a Vice President and professor of philosophy at the American Jewish University, and he holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean’s Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles, California. Prof. Artson is the author of 11 books, including Renewing the Process of Creation: A Jewish Integration of Science and Spirit (2015) and God of Becoming & Relationship: The Dynamic Nature of Process Theology (2015).
Since 2024, Professor Artson is the Rabbinical Director of the Abraham J. Heschel Seminary.
Anita Kántor is a rabbi of the Independent Synagogue Community in Berlin Bet Haskala e.V. She comes from Budapest, where she studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary – University of Jewish Studies. After getting a degree in religious pedagogy, she came to study Jewish Theology and rabbinical studies in Potsdam in 2014 and became a rabbi in 2020. She is a co-founder and dayan of the Progressive Central European Beit Din (CEBD), officially launched in January 2021.
Rabbi Anita Kántor is a research fellow at the Regina Jonas Seminary.
Dr. Ulrike Offenberg is a rabbi, historian and research assistant at the Regina Jonas Seminar. She serves as a rabbi at the Jewish community of Hameln and the Liberal Group of the IRGW Stuttgart. She also works as a journalist, writes for radio, print and online media, and is involved in interfaith dialog. At the “Netzwerk Niedersachsen,” she coordinates educational programs and initiatives for Christian-Jewish conversation. As a board member of the European Rabbinic Assembly (ERA), the European umbrella organization of liberal rabbis, she promotes collegial cooperation and further education across national borders. She is currently working on a monograph about Rabbi Regina Jonas.
Netanel Olhoeft is a rabbi in the Jewish community of Oldenburg (Germany) and a research fellow at the School of Jewish Theology and at the Abraham J. Heschel Seminary, Potsdam. He is currently working on his PhD thesis in the field of Halakhah. Other research interests of his include Jewish religious and intellectual history, medieval and modern Parshanut and interfaith dialogue.
Cheryl Peretz is a rabbi and a dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. She has served as a pulpit rabbi in Conservative (Masorti) synagogues in Los Angeles and as a guest rabbi in other parts of the US. Rabbi Peretz works as a consultant and advisor for Jewish communities and synagogues, as well as individuals, helping their professional and spiritual growth. She is a teacher and author of articles and chapters about different aspects of Jewish life.
Rabbi Cheryl Peretz is a Deputy Rabbinical Director of the Abraham J. Heschel Seminary.
Amnon Seelig is the cantor of the Jewish community in Mannheim. He studied singing and music theory at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (each with a B. Mus) and at the Karlsruhe Musikhochschule (M. Mus). He also studied Jewish Studies at the University of Potsdam and wrote his master’s thesis in 2015 on Cantor Hirsch Goldberg and synagogue music in Braunschweig in the 19th century. In the same year, he graduated from the Cantorial Seminary at the Abraham Geiger Kolleg.
Before becoming the cantor of the Jewish community in Mannheim in 2017, Amnon Seelig served as cantor for the Jewish community in Berlin and the Jewish community in Düsseldorf. He has performed as a guest cantor and soloist in many synagogues in Germany and Israel. He is a member of several vocal ensembles and was a founding member and baritone of the trio “Die Drei Kantoren” from 2013 to 2021, which performs in Jewish communities throughout Germany. Since 2022, he has been the first chairman of the Association of Jewish Cantors.
Cantor Amnon Seelig is a guest lecturer at the Louis Lewandowski Cantorial Seminary.