Rabbi Dr. Gil S. Perl is the CEO of the Gisela and Daniel Ades Foundation and the Founding Head of School of the Jewish Leadership Academy.
With a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA and PhD from Harvard University, rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University, and fifteen years of experience leading highly
regarded college preparatory K-12 Jewish Day Schools, Rabbi Dr. Perl is a nationally recognized leader in Jewish education.In his previous role as Head of School of Kohelet Yeshiva and Chief Academic Officer of the
Kohelet Foundation, Rabbi Perl led the team that designed and launched Yeshiva Lab School, a highly innovative elementary and middle school in suburban Philadelphia intended to re-imagine what Jewish Day School can and ought to be. Under his leadership, Yeshiva Lab School merged with Kohelet Yeshiva High School to create the Philadelphia area’s only Modern Orthodox K-12 Jewish day school. Known for his vision, creativity, and dynamism, Dr. Perl was twice awarded Harvard University’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching and, as an Instructor of Modern Jewish History at Yeshiva University, he was named Yeshiva University’s Lillian F. and William L. Silber Professor of the Year.
In May of 2020, Dr. Perl was named a National Health Hero by JetBlue Airlines for having led the effort to transform Kohelet Yeshiva High School’s Fab Lab into a major face shield production facility to mitigate the severe PPE shortages at local hospitals during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rabbi Perl is the author of the book The Pillar of Volozhin: Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin and the World of Nineteenth-Century Lithuanian Torah Scholarship, published by Academic Studies Press and numerous articles on topics relating to the history of Modern Jewry, contemporary Jewish education, and Modern Orthodoxy. He and his wife Melissa are the proud parents of four
children and two children-in-law, as well as the gushing grandparents of two adorably cute grandchildren.