Two Visiting Scholars Appointed at Touro Law

Touro Law Center Dean Elena B. Langan is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Rachelle Alterman as Visiting Scholar and Rabbi Dr. Mark Goldfeder as Scholar-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor of Law for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Dr. Rachelle Alterman has joined Touro Law as a visiting scholar. She is an emeritus professor of urban planning and law at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, a senior researcher at the Neaman Institute for National Policy Research, and a visiting professor at Bar Ilan University where she heads a real-estate degree program. In 2022 she received the highest academic honor - Member of the Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities, which numbers 180 members.  She is the first female from the Technion to be elected to this prestigious body of scholars. 

Alterman holds a B.A. Honours degree in social science and a Master of City Planning from the University of Manitoba, Canada; a Ph.D. in urban planning from the Technion, and  an LL.B. from Tel Aviv University. She has been a visiting professor at several universities globally including University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, New York University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Miami, University of Florida, and Georgia State as well as overseas institutes including Wageningen and Radboud Universities in the Netherlands, Tsukuba University in Japan, and Xian University in China.   

In 2007, Alterman founded the International Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights – thus launching the interdisciplinary fields of planning and law. Her specialization is in cross-national comparative research on a variety of topics concerning land use, public and private property, housing tenure, and planning institutions and decisions.  For her leadership, she has received several international honors:  The Association of European Schools of Planning named her an Honorary Member (the only non-European); The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm awarded her the Athena Award recognizing ten globally leading academics in urban studies. She also won the Female Athena Award granted to 20 globally leading women in the field.  In Israel, she won the prestigious national Landau Academic Award and several other national awards. 

Alterman has published more than two hundred academic papers and books and has presented at 240 international conferences in 38 countries. Her advice (often pro bono) is sought by UN Habitat, the World Bank, the OECD, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Chinese government, and many Israeli public bodies and national media. Her publications have been cited scores of times by the Israeli courts.  

Rabbi Dr. Mark Goldfeder, Esq. was appointed scholar-in-residence and adjunct professor of law and will teach a new course titled Antisemitism and the Law. He is the CEO and Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, Inc. He has served as the founding Editor of the Cambridge University Press Series on Law and Judaism, a Trustee of the Center for Israel Education, and, by Presidential appointment, as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council.

Goldfeder has taught law across the country and around the world as Senior Lecturer at Emory University School of Law, Spruill Family Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Director of the Restoring Religious Freedom Project, and as a visiting professor at Georgia State University School of Law, Florida Southern College, University of Padua (Italy), Scuola Galileana (Italy), IDC’s Radzyner Law School (Israel) and Bar Ilan Law School (Israel). 

Goldfeder holds two rabbinic ordinations and two judicial ordinations. His work focuses on law and religion, constitutional law, and international law. He publishes widely in those areas, including both academically and in popular publications like CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Forbes, and other major media outlets. He is also co-author of the five-volume treatise Religious Organizations and the Law (Westlaw). Goldfeder handles cases involving antisemitism issues around the country, and lectures and writes widely on those topics. He has worked with local, state, and federal legislators on measures to support the Jewish community, and has defended students, professors, businesses, and nonprofits targeted for their support of the Jewish State. He has worked on cases at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, and has successfully represented clients including American and Israeli nonprofits in federal litigation. 

In 2017, he received the Opher Aviran Stand with Israel Award from Hillel, and in 2018, the Jon Barkan Israel Advocacy Award from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in recognition of his work. He received his S.J.D. and LL.M. degrees from Emory University and his J.D. degree from NYU School of Law. He received his B.A. at Yeshiva University in Journalism.

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Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center is located adjacent to both a state and a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York and has a branch campus in Manhattan. Touro Law’s proximity to the courthouses, coupled with programming developed to integrate the courtroom into the classroom, provide a one-of-a kind learning experience for law students, combining a rigorous curriculum taught by expert faculty with a practical courtroom experience. Touro Law is dedicated to providing hands-on learning that enables students to gain experience while offering much-needed legal services in the community.

 

Touro Law, which has an alumni base of more than 7,000, offers full- and part-time JD programs where students can earn a degree in 3 or 4 years. Additionally, Touro offers a hybrid, four-year FlexTime JD Program at both Long Island and Manhattan campuses, combining online and in-person learning. Touro Law offers several dual degree programs and graduate law programs for US and foreign law graduates. Touro Law Center is part of Touro University.

 

Touro University is a system of non-profit institutions of higher and professional education chartered in 1970. Touro was founded primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage and to serve the larger American and global community. Approximately 19,000 students are currently enrolled at Touro University’s various schools and divisions, which encompass 35 campuses and locations in New York, California, Nevada, Illinois, Berlin, Jerusalem and Moscow. New York Medical College; Touro University California and Touro University Nevada; Touro University Worldwide and its Touro College Los Angeles division; as well as Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois are separately accredited institutions within the Touro University system. For more information, visit www.touro.edu.

Patti Desrochers

Director of Communications

pattid@tourolaw.edu

(631) 761-7062