Yanklowitz, Shmuly: - Shmuly Yanklowitz is the president and dean of the Valley Beit Midrash (a national Jewish pluralistic adult learning and leadership center), the founder and president of Uri L'Tzedek (a Jewish social justice organization), the founder and president of Shamayim (a Jewish animal advocacy movement), the founder and president of YATOM (the Jewish foster and adoption network), and the author of twenty-four books on Jewish ethics. Newsweek named Shmuly one of the top fifty rabbis in America and the Forward named him one of the fifty most influential Jews.