Christopher Lewis Gibson

Treasurer

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Chris holds master’s degrees in English and Ancient and Medieval History. He is a writer with 14 books to his credit, including novels and collections of short stories and poetry. As an educator with more than 15 years’ experience, Chris has worked at both the K12 and collegiate levels, teaching and tutoring the history of religion, writing, and literature. Chris inherits Judaism from his grandmother, and he is proud to be the first in his family to embrace it since she revisited it shortly before her death.

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Dr. B. E. Bruning, PhD

Secretary

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Brandon earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Second Temple Judaism from the University of Notre Dame. Though not himself Jewish, Brandon has practiced Judaism in the area for nearly two decades, participating actively in many local Jewish organizations, as well as the St. Joseph County chapter of Faith in Indiana, an interfaith coalition working for racial and economic equality throughout the state. But for the courses he teaches at Anderson University, however, Brandon is in seclusion for the time being, not because of the pandemic, but because an adaptation of his dissertation, The Making of the Mishkan: The Old Greek Text of Exodus 35-40 and the Literary History of the Pentateuch, is forthcoming from Brill.

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Rabbi Joshua Ethan Rubin

Director

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Joshua is Senior Lecturer of English at Indiana University South Bend, where he has taught and supervised writing tutoring for 10 years, as well as where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His thesis in Creative Nonfiction was titled, Circumcision and Its Discontents: Constructions of Jewish Identity in Literary Memoir. On returning to South Bend in 2002, following stints as varied as actor, union organizer, and line cook, Joshua became involved in the local Jewish community first as singer and religious school teacher at Temple Beth-El and Sinai Synagogue, then as chazan for the autumn festivals at Temple Israel of Porter County, and most recently, as Jewish spiritual leader at Culver Academies, where he has served for 13 years. Joshua was ordained by an independent beit din in Manhattan, July 2021, after more than a decade of study. He lives with his son, Joseph, a high school freshman.

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