Rabbi Michael Paley is a senior scholar for the JDC and the founding director of the Tarbut Fellowship living in Budapest, Hungary. Previously he was the scholar in residence of the UJA-Federation of New York and prior to his arrival at UJA, he was a professor of Jewish Studies and Dean at Bard College, the Vice President of the Wexner Heritage Foundation and served as the University Chaplain at Columbia University and Associate University Chaplain at Dartmouth College. Additionally, he was the founding director of the Edgar M. Bronfman Youth Fellowship in Israel. Rabbi Paley earned his bachelor’s at Brandeis, graduate degrees in Jewish and Islamic Philosophy and Science at Temple University and received his rabbinic ordination from Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.