Bentzi Brook was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. A graduate of Chabad yeshivas in Manchester and Cholon, R. Bentzi has more than a decade of experience teaching Hasidic texts in both traditional and academic contexts. Having taught Talmud at Yeshivas Lubavitch in Detroit, since 2015 he and his wife Chaya have served as directors of graduate education at the Chabad of Princeton University. In addition to being a passionate pedagogue, R. Bentzi has wide intellectual interests in modern philosophy, psychology, and politics. 

Eli Scharlatt is a PhD candidate in Political Philosophy at Princeton, writing his dissertation on Theodor Adorno’s Negative Dialectics. In addition to wide-ranging interests in modern philosophy and social theory, Eli has a great passion for Hasidic thought. While deeply committed to learning Chassidus in its traditional context, he is equally fascinated by its untapped potential to contribute to broader, “secular” discourses on modernity, rationalism, and reenchantment.

Jacob Unger graduated from Princeton in 2025 with a degree in History. His research interests include Early Modern European Jewish History and Twentieth-Century American Political History. He has produced original research about Jacob Frank's conversion to Islam, as well as Henry Kissinger's Jewish identity. Before arriving at Princeton, Jacob spent a year studying at Yeshivat Ma'ale Gilboa in Israel, where he developed an interest in Hasidic thought.  

Tali Pelts is a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at George Washington University and spearheads development for Chabad of Princeton University. She enjoyed a first career in endowment investing, serving as an investment analyst at PRINCO. Prior to that, Tali studied religions of the ancient mediterranean at Princeton, graduating in 2020. Tali’s interests are in psychoanalytic approaches to psychotherapy, psychosis, and couples therapy. She is passionate about using Jewish texts to understand the human psyche.

Mendel Brawer was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. After studying in Chabad Yeshivot in Canada and the UK, he received rabbinical ordination in Israel. He currently serves as the Director of the Rennert Fellowship, an immersive Jewish learning summer program. Mendel is passionate about Jewish and Hasidic thought and teaches classes on Hasidic philosophy, Biblical commentary, and Jewish liturgy. He lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with his wife Frumie and their son Yisrael.

Adina Goldman is a doctoral student at Princeton University specializing in rabbinic literature and ancient Christianity. She hails from White Plains, New York, and has lived in many places since. When she’s not procrastinating on her dissertation with Institute projects, she loves music, elaborate cooking schemes, and early morning walks.