Meet The Rabbis
Rabbi Yehuda Sokoloff
ysokoloff@kckollel.org
The Community Kollel is pleased to welcome Rabbi Yehuda and Esther Sokoloff. As the new “Rosh Kollel,” Rabbi Sokoloff will set the morning curriculum and pace of study and give advanced classes to the Kollel rabbis, in addition to teaching classes throughout the community.
“Many people might not know that the Kollel rabbis spend each morning studying Talmud and commentaries,” said Elchanan Schulgasser, one of the Kollel’s original members. “Rabbi [Binyomin] Davis and I are ecstatic to have someone of Rabbi’s Sokoloff’s scholarship lead the morning studies.
Both originally from New York, the Sokoloffs come to Kansas City via Austin, Texas. For the last three years they have run TALK-Austin, a Jewish educational organization similar in mission to the Community Kollel.
“What impressed us about Kansas City,” says Rabbi Sokoloff, “was the sense of community and the buzz of Jewish activity.”
An experienced teacher with Masters degrees in both Education and Educational Leadership, Esther Sokoloff teaches first-grade Judaic Studies in the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. The Sokoloffs are parents to three sons.
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Rabbi Binyomin Davis
bdavis@kckollel.org
Binyomin Davis grew up in Brighton, England and majored in Political Science at the University of Manchester. He then spent six years studying in Israel, at both the Shappells and Mir Yeshivas. Before departing Israel for Kansas City, Binyomin received his Rabbinic Ordination Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.
Binyomin is the moving force behind the Kollel’s popular “Shabbat Live!” program, which regularly hosts Shabbat dinner for over fifty of the community’s young professionals, one of Binyomin’s favorite groups. He has also created many women’s events, especially around Yom Tov time.
Binyomin’s wife Gevura loves volunteering for different community organizations, including the Kollel. She enjoys speaking about and learning more about Judaism, while devoting most of her time and energy to raising their four young children.
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Rabbi Elchanan Schulgasser
eschulgasser@kckollel.org
Elchanan Schulgasser grew up in Monsey, New York. He spent 10 years studying under Rabbi Yochanan Zweig at the Talmudic University of Florida, where he received his Rabbinic ordination. In Florida, he also completed an MBA with a Management concentration from Florida International University.
Elchanan loves learning and teaching. His wide-ranging interests and reading lead to eclectic and varied classes, such as Hot Topics: Contemporary Concerns through Classic Torah Sources, The Florence Melton Adult Education Dramas and Ethics Series, weekly Parsha classes, and classes for the gifted students of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy.
Elchanan also serves the Kansas City community as a certified mohel (www.kcbris.com).
Bracha Schulgasser, who holds a Masters degree in Social Work, teaches kindergarten class at the Hebrew Academy. Together, they are the devoted parents of four children.
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Rabbi Avi Feigenbaum
Rabbi Avi Feigenbaum joined the KC Kollel in the summer of 2011. He was born in Israel, and his family moved to Toronto when he was six, where he lived during his childhood. He attended high school in Brooklyn NY, before moving back to Israel where he studied in the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem for nine years. He has tutored in both the Mir Yeshiva and Hebrew University and brings a love and passion for Jewish learning and teaching to Kansas City.
His wife, Devorah, was born in South Africa and moved to Denver with her family when she was 17. She taught in the Hillel Academy in Denver, and while in Israel was the webmaster of aish.com. She enjoys making fancy cakes, and together the Feigenbaums have three young daughters.