Dr. Erza Kopelowitz
Co-Director
Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education

Dr. Ezra Kopelowitz is a sociologist who studies Jewish education, Jewish Peoplehood, and relationships among Jews in Israel and around the world. He is CEO of Research Success Technologies (ReST) and Co-Director of the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education (CJPE).

At ReST, Ezra leads research, evaluation, and strategic learning for Jewish foundations, schools, and educational organizations in Israel and North America. He specializes in multi-method research, with particular expertise in experiential education and the ways educational experiences shape belonging, commitment, and Jewishly informed decision-making. At CJPE, he works with thought leaders, educators, and Jewish professionals to strengthen education for a diverse Jewish people.

Since October 7, 2023, much of Ezra’s work has examined how educators, communal leaders, and Jewish communities are responding to the attack, the ensuing war, rising antisemitism, and political polarization. His work combines empirical research with convening thought leaders and translating findings into publications, educational frameworks, and tools for communal practice. He has also co-led national survey research on American Jewish life in the post–October 7 period.

Across this work, Ezra is concerned with how Israel and Jewish peoplehood can become part of the everyday life of Jewish educational and communal institutions—not only subjects taught in designated programs—and how communities can sustain solidarity while making room for complexity, disagreement, and critical engagement.

Ezra has published books and articles on Jewish education, community, and collective Jewish life. Born in South Africa, he grew up in the United States and moved to Israel in 1990. He lives on Kibbutz Hannaton.