The Covenant Foundation doubled the number of annual Pomegranate Prizes given this year, honoring ten exceptional emerging Jewish educators in a milestone event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, in New York, on Tuesday morning.

The 2025 recipients are: Rabbi Tali Adler, Faculty Member at The Hadar Institute, New York, NY; Tali Cohen Carrus, Senior Director of Programs at Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, Sharon, MA; Sasha Kopp Hass, Senior Director of Education and Engagement at ElevatEd, Cambridge, MA; Menuchah Schuman Hirschman, Garden Educator at Grow Torah, Teaneck, NJ; Manashe Khaimov, Founder, CEO, and Lead Educator at SAMi: Sephardic American Mizrahi Initiative, Hollywood, FL; Lexi Kohanski, Director of Online Learning at The Torah Studio, New York, NY; Rabbi Kendell Pinkney, Rabbinic Educator, Artist-in-Residence, and Director of The Workshop at Reboot, Brooklyn, NY; Rebecca Schisler, Core Faculty Member and Director of Shevet Young Adult Programming at The Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Oakland, CA; Rabbi Yali Szulanski, Director of Youth and Family Engagement at Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, Bronx, NY; Rabbi Dave Yedid, Founding Rabbi of Base Denver at Mem Global, Denver, CO.

“Opening the Pomegranate Prize process to allow for direct applications was our way to widen the lens and infuse the network of educators with new ideas from a range of approaches to Jewish education,” said Deborah S. Meyer, Chair of the Board of The Covenant Foundation.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the results. The ten remarkable professionals selected for this year’s Prize represent ten distinctly unique settings in which high quality and exciting Jewish education and engagement is happening. It is thrilling to see how the field continues to grow and evolve with such bright promise.”

In addition to the Prize ceremony, the morning’s program featured musical guests, Sacred Sparks, and a panel conversation between Covenant Award recipient Rabbi Tamara Cohen, award-winning filmmaker and Covenant grantee Tiffany Shlain, and psychologist and author Dr. Betsy Stone, on how to best apply wisdom about Jewish tradition, neuroscience, and adolescent development to engage families more fully in the pivotal lifecycle event of b’mitzvah.

“We were amazed by the influx of applications we received this year,” said Joni Blinderman, Executive Director of The Covenant Foundation. “And given the stress on our educators during this acutely difficult moment in our collective lives, the Board and staff felt that doubling the number of Prize recipients was a meaningful way to provide support, community, and strength. We are thrilled to welcome so many additional emerging educators into the Pomegranate Prize network.”

Biographical snapshots of the 2025 Pomegranate Prize recipients:

Rabbi Tali Adler is a faculty member at The Hadar Institute, where she teaches Talmud, Tanach, and parshanut to college students and adult learners. She also mentors students in Hadar’s Advanced Kollel program and Summer Beit Midrash. Tali has taught at a number of institutions, including Harvard Hillel, Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim, Drisha, and BBYO. In addition, she served as a chaplain intern at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where she provided emotional and spiritual support for staff, patients, and families. She received S’michah (Rabbinic Ordination) from Yeshiva Maharat, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. At Yeshiva University, she earned her BA in Jewish Studies and Political Science from Stern College for Women’s S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program, completing the thesis, “Blood, Margins, and Danger: Menstrual Purity Laws and Spanish Crypto-Jewish Women in Early Modern Spain.”

Tali Cohen Carrus is a Jewish special educator dedicated to advancing accessible and inclusive Jewish education. Based in Sharon, Massachusetts, she is the senior director of programs at Gateways: Access to Jewish Education. Tali also oversees Gateways’ specialized Hebrew school and b’nei mitzvah program for students whose needs are not met in other Jewish educational environments. Tali holds an M.S.Ed. in General and Special Education from Bank Street Graduate School of Education and is a certified DIR/Floortime play therapist, a certified instructor of Youth Mental Health First Aid, and a Nonviolent Crisis Intervention instructor. Additionally, she earned a certificate in Advanced Jewish Studies and Day School Education from the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators and is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholarship.

Sasha Kopp Hass is a passionate Jewish educator dedicated to transforming Jewish communal life by supporting early childhood educators. As the senior director of education and engagement at ElevatEd, she strengthens the field of Jewish early childhood education nationally by empowering educators and mentors to create meaningful, play-based Jewish learning experiences. Sasha has served as a senior early childhood consultant at The Jewish Education Project and as the assistant director of the May Family Nursery School at Central Synagogue. Sasha frequently presents at national conferences and collaborates with educators to advance the field of Jewish early childhood education. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Education Studies from Brandeis University and holds master’s degrees in Jewish Education and Nonprofit Management from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Menuchah Schuman Hirschman is a garden educator at GrowTorah, where she develops creative lessons that intertwine Torah, environmental stewardship, and outdoor education to bring Jewish learning to life through hands-on experiences in nature. Menuchah also serves as a teacher at Zeman Religious School in South Orange, New Jersey. Before joining GrowTorah in 2022, she participated in the MafTEACH School Community Fellowship through the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education at Yeshiva University. Menuchah earned her master’s degrees from Yeshiva University’s Graduate Program in Advanced Talmud/Tanach Studies and the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education. She received her undergraduate degree in Jewish Studies and Education from Stern College for Women, where she was a Monique Katz Scholar and received the Rabbi Chaim Levine Memorial Award for Excellence in Jewish Studies.

Manashe Khaimov is the founder, CEO, and lead educator of SAMi: Sephardic American Mizrahi Initiative. He is also a lecturer specializing in Bukharian Jewish history and culture and the founding director of the Bukharian Jewish Union, a network for young professionals. Born in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Manashe’s Jewish identity is deeply rooted in Bukharian, Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Russian-speaking traditions. He has held leadership roles at Hillel International, JIMENA, and UJA-Federation of NY, and has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Queens Impact Award, The Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36,” the Bukharian Jewish Congress’s 2020 and 2021 Person of the Year, the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship, and the Wexner Field Fellowship. Based in Hollywood, Florida, Manashe holds an MSW from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College and a BA in Marketing and Corporate Communication from Baruch College.

Lexi Kohanski is a trans Jewish educator who focuses on empowering those who have not felt at home in Judaism. She is a thought leader in the realm of trans Torah and currently serves as director of online learning at The Torah Studio. Her first publication, Be Whole: A Halakhic Approach to Gender and Transition, laid out a pathbreaking halachic framework for relating to Jewish gender transition as a sacred undertaking. Lexi has given talks on the trans Jewish experience at synagogues across the United States and in Scotland, as well as on her podcast, Torah for Trans Lives. Lexi earned her BA in Communications and Slavic Studies from Northwestern University and has also studied at the Conservative Yeshiva, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, The Hadar Institute, Yeshivat Maharat, and Yashrut.

Rabbi Kendell Pinkney serves as the rabbinic educator and artist-in-residence at Reboot, a Jewish arts and culture nonprofit. Additionally, he is the founding artistic directorof The Workshop—an arts and culture fellowship for emerging creatives of BIPOC- Jewish heritage. A frequent keynote speaker, he was among the first rabbis honored to offer a multifaith invocation for the 110th First Lady’s Luncheon, honoring Dr. Jill Biden. He is the recipient of a 2023 IDEA Residency at Opera America and was selected for Theater J’s “Expanding the Canon” commission program. Kendell earned his Rabbinic Ordination and MA from The Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholar, his MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, and his BA in Religion and Jewish Studies from Oberlin College.

Rebecca Schisler is a full-time core faculty member at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, where she directs young adult programming and founded the Shevet Jewish Mindfulness Community. Rebecca also teaches mindfulness for Or HaLev and Stanford University’s School of Medicine. Previously, she served as an educator for Wilderness Torah, The Awakened Heart Project, EdenVillage Camp, Urban Adamah, and HaMakom. Rebecca also co-authored the Mahloket Matters curriculum while serving as a senior social/emotional learning consultant at the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators. A rabbinical student at ALEPH, Rebecca is passionate about integrating ancestral wisdom traditions with innovative approaches to personal and collective healing and liberation. She teaches Jewish spirituality as an embodied, transformational, and accessible path, with relevant and timely wisdom for all. Rebecca earned her BA in Studio Art from Wesleyan University.

Rabbi Yali Szulanski serves as the director of youth and family engagement at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, where she empowers teen leaders through innovative training programs that foster empathy and inclusive leadership, and offers guidance, care, and connection to families. Yali is also the social-emotional learning specialist and a guidance counselor at SAR Academy, where she integrates mindfulness and emotional wellness into student guidance. Yali founded The “I Am” Project and The Neshima Initiative, through which she brings emotional wellness and resilience practices to schools, camps, and community organizations nationwide and internationally. She earned her Rabbinic Ordination from Yeshivat Maharat. She also holds an MA in Psychology and Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College, where she earned a certificate in Spirituality-Mind-Body Integration in Education, and holds a BA in Psychology from NYU.

Rabbi Dave Yedid is the founding rabbi of Base Denver, a program of Mem Global. Base Denver is a home-based Jewish community for young adults, which he launched in 2022 with his husband, Daniel. During his rabbinic training, he worked at BaMidbar Therapy, NYU Bronfman Center, and as Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinic Intern at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. He also trained as a chaplain for caregivers and patients through The New Jewish Home. Dave discovered his passion for immersive and informal Jewish education during his summers on staff at Camp Ramah in the Rockies, where he led backpacking trips, developed lasting curricula and programs, and mentored Jewish youth. Dave earned his Rabbinic Ordination and MA in Jewish Gender and Women’s Studies from The Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, and received his BA from Middlebury College.