Ariel Picard is Director of the Kogod Research Center for Contemporary Jewish Thought and a member of the Executive Committee of the institute. Ariel was for many years the educational director of the Institute's Be'eri program. Ariel has a Ph.D. in philosophy from Bar-Ilan University and conducts research in contemporary Jewish law. He was ordained as a rabbi by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and formerly served as the rabbi of Kibbutz Shluchot.