Our Community Scholar

Miriam Zami Edeson serves as YIOZ’s Terry Satinover Fagen Z"L Community Scholar. She is also a doctoral candidate in Talmud and Ancient Judaism at Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, where she is writing on humor in rabbinic literature. Miriam also serves as adjunct faculty at Yeshiva College. 

Miriam is a member of the Sefaria Word-by-Word Fellowship, which supports the writing of a book of Torah scholarship. She was also named a Sacks Research Scholar for the 2025-2026 academic year as part of YU’s Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership, through which she will write and teach Torah in engagement with the thought of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Miriam was additionally a member of the Adult Jewish Learning working group through Brandeis’ Center for Studies in Jewish Education. With the cohort, Miriam evaluated research on adult Jewish learning, and produced writing on the research conducted. She was named the inaugural Emerging Scholar Fellow at Ma’ayan in the greater Boston area, where she taught and received mentorship through the 2022-2023 academic year. During that time, her essay won runner-up for the 2022 Ateret Zvi Prize in Hiddushei Torah, and was published in the Lehrhaus, where she also served as an editor.

Miriam graduated summa cum laude from Stern College for Women with a BA in Psychology and Judaic Studies, before which she studied at Midreshet Lindenbaum. Since graduating, Miriam has taught widely across communal settings, beginning with her work at the Hillel at Baruch College where she served as the Springboard Jewish Education Fellow. While working towards her PhD, she has taught adult education in her home Sephardic Syrian community in Brooklyn, NY, as well as through Ma’ayan, Drisha, Torah in Motion, and Hadar, among other settings. She also teaches regularly for Tikvah, including the Tikvah Scholars Program for high school students. 

Miriam and Ian, with their daughter Helene, are so excited to be joining the YIOZ community. Miriam looks forward to developing relationships with congregants, and is grateful for the opportunity to bring her enthusiasm and passion for Torah learning and community building to YIOZ.