Part teacher, part mentor, part bro, all in on your success!

After years of teaching middle school Jewish studies and prepping kids for their b’nai mitzvah, I’m about as locked in on how to connect with this age group: the humor, the sarcasm, the big questions and, probably most importantly, the difference it makes when an adult takes their interests seriously.

Most of my teaching has been with kids right around b’nei mitzvah age and what I’ve learned is that the relationship matters before any real learning can happen. Parents regularly tell me this is the first time their child has looked forward to Jewish learning of any kind—and more often than not, they actually want to keep learning after the ceremony. The vast majority of my tutoring business has grown through word of mouth. Parents share my name with other parents and that’s by far the kind of recommendation I value most.

Athletes and science kids, Pokémon card collectors, musicians, actors, video gamers, skater dudes, bookworms—I love getting to know what makes each kid tick. I can talk ball with the best of them, then go on for hours about quantum entanglement and where we might find echoes of those ideas in the Torah. I also love baseball, rock music, and skateboarding. And if your kid wants to ask whether Jewish texts leave room for extraterrestrial life, I’m absolutely having that conversation. Whatever your child’s interests, we’ll look for connections that help them make their Torah portion their own.

I’ve had a lot of success with kids who are athletes. I’ve played sports for most of my life at various levels of competitiveness, and I’m also a certified personal trainer. I understand what it means to love a sport, work at it, and find the balance between practices, games, school, and Jewish commitments. We can explore the Jewish ideas in the sports we play—fairness, discipline, teamwork, and how we respond when things don’t go our way.

I’m also a husband and dad of two. Outside teaching, I work full time in government relations and also run a personal training business. I’m based in Baltimore, Maryland and tutor kids across the country!