Dr. Elana Stein Hain is the Director of Faculty and Senior Fellow at the Shalom hartman Institute of North America. She is passionate about bringing rabbinic thought into conversation with contemporary life. To this end, she developed Talmud from the Balcony, an occasional learning seminar exposing the big ideas, questions, and issues motivating rabbinic discussions. Her upcoming book (based on her doctoral dissertation) analyzes legal loopholes in rabbinic law. She sits on the board of Sefaria, lives with her beloved family on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and previously served as clergy at both the Jewish Center and Lincoln Square Synagogue.