About
Dreaming Bigger is the first initiative of its kind – an interactive, non-denominational platform for conversations and resources on Jewish leadership for teens and those who work with them.
Join the journey. Enjoy the ride.
The Dreaming Bigger initiative was generously funded by the Zalik Foundation, the Maimonides Fund, the Leven Foundation, Martine and Stanley Fleishman, the Goodman Foundation and Gary and Carol Berman.
The Creators
Rabbi Dr. Benji Levy
‘Rabbi Dr. Benji Levy is a founder of Keshev: providing mental health support, therapy, and education, Tanna: an AI StartUp that takes notes for you and Israel Impact Partners: working with funders to accelerate the growth of nonprofits.
Rabbi Benji served as CEO of Mosaic United, a historic joint venture partnership between Israel and global Jewry to strengthen Jewish identity and connections to Israel for youth around the world. Previously he served as the dean of Moriah College in Sydney, Australia, one of the largest Jewish schools in the world.
Rabbi Benji was named as one of three top global changemakers working for Diaspora Jewry by the Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon, and awarded Educator of the Year by JNF for his service to the Australian Jewish community. He received an Australian Postgraduate Award for his research in Jewish identity; published Covenant and the Jewish Conversion Question: Extending the Thought of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Palgrave Macmillan) and An Oasis In Time: Seven Thoughts for the Seventh Day (Maggid), and shares many ideas through multiple mediums including www.RabbiBenji.com and @RabbiBenji. He serves as a reservist in the Spokesperson Unit of the Israel Defense Forces.
Rabbi Benji has a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Sydney and received rabbinic ordination following his study at Yeshivat Har Etzion. He was awarded first-class honors in Jewish civilization thought and culture; he has a BA in media and communications from the University of Sydney and an education degree from Herzog College, and he completed the Lookstein Center Principals’ Program at Bar-Ilan University.
Dr. Erica Brown
Dr. Erica Brown is the Vice Provost for Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University and the founding director of its Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership. She previously served as the director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership and an associate professor of curriculum and pedagogy at The George Washington University. Erica is the author or co-author of 15 books on leadership, the Hebrew Bible and spirituality. Erica has a daily podcast, “Take Your Soul to Work.” Her forthcoming book Kohelet and the Search for Meaning (Maggid) will be available this year. Her last book Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile (Maggid) was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.
Erica has been published in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, First Things, and The Jewish Review of Books and wrote a monthly column for the New York Jewish Week. She has blogged for Psychology Today, Newsweek/Washington Post’s “On Faith” and JTA and tweeted on one page of Talmud study a day at DrEricaBrown. She has master’s degrees from the Institute of Education (University of London), Jews’ College (University of London) and Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Baltimore Hebrew University. Erica was a Jerusalem Fellow, is a faculty member of the Wexner Foundation, an Avi Chai Fellow and the recipient of the 2009 Covenant Award for her work in education. She was the scholar-in-residence at both The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston and as the community scholar for the Jewish Center of New York. She currently serves as a community scholar for Congregation Etz Chaim in Livingston, NJ.
Erica is contributing editor to Faith-Honoring: A Spiritual Pedagogy (Academic Studies Press). She wrote Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet, Take Your Soul to Work: 365 Meditations on Every Day Leadership and Happier Endings: A Meditation on Life and Death (Simon and Schuster), which won both the Wilbur and Nautilus awards for spiritual writing. Her previous books include Inspired Jewish Leadership, a National Jewish Book Award finalist, Spiritual Boredom, Confronting Scandal and co-authored The Case for Jewish Peoplehood (All Jewish Lights). She also wroteSeder Talk: A Conversational Haggada, Leadership in the Wilderness, In the Narrow Places and Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe (All OU/Koren).
