Rabbi Mordecai Finley, PhD is the spiritual leader of Ohr HaTorah Congregation, a traditional-progressive synagogue. He is former Provost and former President of the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, and serves there as professor of liturgy, mysticism, Jewish ethics and professional skills. Rabbi Finley received his rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College as well as a PhD in Religion-Social Ethics from the University of Southern California. For two decades, he has taught courses in spirituality, mysticism, Jewish thought and rabbinics in the Department of Continuing Education, American Jewish University. An incisive and deeply informed instructor, Rabbi has taught at HUC-JIR, Loyola Law School, the USC Law School, the Wexner Heritage Foundation, and the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.