Born in Boston and raised in Hawaii, RABBI JEREMY KAGAN attended Yale University, graduating with a BA in philosophy. He first began studying Torah at Ohr Somayach while traveling in Israel during his college years. Following the completion of his degree at Yale, Rabbi Kagan returned to Israel to pursue talmudic studies, eventually becoming a student at Heichal HaTorah and the Mirrer Yeshiva. He received rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg and regularly attended the classes of Rabbi Moshe Shapiro. Rabbi Kagan is the principal of Midreshet Tehillah, a post high-school seminary under the auspices of Neve Yerushalayim. In 1998 Rabbi Kagan published The Jewish Self: Recovering Spirituality in the Modern World. In 2011 he published The Choice to Be: A Jewish Path to Self and Spirituality, which was awarded the National Jewish Book Award for Modern Jewish Thought. He lives with his family in Jerusalem.