Teen Judges
Judging will be performed by a panel of teen readers. In addition to the winning entries being published on Joseph’s Inkwell, entries that receive an excellent rating by the judges will also be posted on the site.
Maccabee Anderson
Nora Perez-Rubio
Reese Bashuk
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Maccabee is a rising 12th grader at the Galloway School in Atlanta, GA. He is a varsity swimmer and club water polo player. He is passionate about creative writing, story telling and Jewish learning. He is a Teen Fellow with the Shalom Hartman Institute and a Leaders for Tomorrow participant at the American Jewish Committee.
Maccabee was born in New York City, spent much of his childhood in Los Angeles, and is currently living in Atlanta with his family.
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Nora Perez-Rubio is a senior at the Galloway School. She's a member of both the debate and mock trial teams, and spends her free time reading and painting. Having grown up in a Jewish immigrant household, her connections to her faith are rooted in family, food, and reading, where she prioritizes learning about Jewish history.
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Reece Bashuk is from Dunwoody, Georgia and will be attending the University of Georgia this fall as a freshman. He will be majoring in psychology with an intent for medical school. Reece is very passionate about Judaism and ethical studies and loves playing piano and cooking. He was heavily involved in BBYO and served on the regional board. He is very grateful and excited to be a part of this amazing project.
Ezra Lee
Ezra Rosenbaum
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Ezra Lee is a Senior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge MA. He is a passionate writer, athlete, researcher, and reader. Ezra Lee's grandfather was a Rabbi at one of the nation's largest congregations for 25 years, and Ezra has grown up feeling a spiritual and religious connection to Judaism. He realized the need for hearing more Jewish voices while at a semester away in South Africa and also upon his arrival home to Cambridge where he noticed Jewish students feeling isolated and ostracized from many communities he was a part of. Ezra is very excited to be a part of the reading staff for fiction and poetry submissions.
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August Ziffer is an 18-year-old queer, transgender student who will be attending Columbia College Chicago in the Fall 2024, pursing a BFA in Film & TV Production. He is passionate about his Judaism, and he strives to make space for people like him in religious spaces. He has helped organize his synagogue to march in the Atlanta Pride Parade and he is also a 2021 Michael Jay Kinsler Rainmaker award recipient, acknowledging his contributions to the Atlanta Jewish and queer communities. He’s been involved in NFTY-SAR all four years of High School, and was on the programming committee during his Sophomore and Junior years. He can’t wait to read all of the awesome submissions for this program!
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Ezra Rosenbaum is a 19 year old student, currently attending Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He is pursuing a Concurrent Education degree while majoring in English and is currently working as a substitute elementary teacher. In addition, he attended the New York Times Summer Academy at Fordham University to study creative writing in the Summer of 2022. He shares a birthday with both of his parents and watches hockey in his free time (go Leafs!)