Ariel Picard is the Educational Director of Shalom Hartman Institute's Be'eri program. He has a doctorate 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.   His book, The Philosophy of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in an Age of Transition: Study of Halakha and Cultural Criticism, was published in 2007 by Bar-Ilan University Press.