Peter Geffen

Founder and President

Peter A. Geffen, President and Founder of The Kivunim Institute, is also the founder of The Park Avenue Synagogue High School (now known as the Rabbi Judah Nadich High School), founder of The Abraham Joshua Heschel School in NYC, and former Director of the Israel Experience Program for the CRB Foundation.  He is one of the most respected Israeli education specialists in the world. Peter has been a social activist since serving as a civil rights worker for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965-66 and has been deeply involved in Arab-Jewish co-existence work since the early 1960s. Peter served as Executive Director of The Center for Jewish History in NYC from 2003-05.  He has designed and conducted international travel programs for teenagers and adults since 1969, including the Kivunim summer teachers' programs, which have served over 1600 participants since 1999. Peter received the Covenant Award in 2012, the highest recognition given to a Jewish educator. He lives in New York City with his wife, Susie Kessler, and has three children, Rabbi Jonah (and Julia Mannes); Rabbi Daniel (and LuAnne Geffen), and Nessa Geffen and Micah Bookman, and six grandchildren, future Kivunim students Bina, Shula, Eva, Gabriel, Emet, and Malia.

EMAIL: pgeffen@kivunim.org
CELL: 917-930-3092