Leadership Seminar Alumni

IJE Leadership Seminar Alumni

Scott Aaron -- Chicago, IL

Navah Kelman Becker -- Los Angeles, CA

Navah is currently the Director of Education at Congregation Ner Tamid in Palos Verdes, California.

David Beker -- Jerusalem, Israel

Jeff Bicher -- Montreal, Quebec
National Director of Leadership Development, United Israel Appeal.

Gayle Bloom -- Baltimore, MD
Meyerhoff Teen Initiative
Gayle is the Community Youth Professional Coordinator for the Meyerhoff Teen Initiative (MTI) in Baltimore. She provides ongoing consultation to youth professionals with MTI's partner agencies and professional development workshops and retreats. Gayle is conducting research into the integration of experiential education and informal Jewish education, continuing work begun with her Leadership Seminar project.

Laurie Katz Braun -- New York, NY
Laurie Katz Braun is a rabbi, playwright, and educator based in New York City. She currently leads several groups for adult Jewish learners at the UJA-Federation of New York, including a Grandmothers' Group, and a group for young women professionals. Her play "Eighty-Three Years," about intergenerational relationships within a Jewish family, will be presented as a workshop production at the Manhattan Theatre Club in June. This fall she will teach in the Doctor of Ministry program at Hebrew Union College.

David Bryfman -- St. Louis, MO
Central Agency for Jewish Education (CAJE)
After completing his two year term as Director of Secondary Education for CAJE in St. Louis, David will be moving to New York to start his Doctoral program in Jewish education at New York University. Specific interests include Israel education, teen programming, and of course informal Jewish education.

Jeff Eisenstat -- Elkins Park, PA
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Ariella Feldman
Jewish Agency for Israel -- Education Department
Ariella has been working with various Israeli groups and organizations to help bring Israel to as many communities in North America as possible in a variety of different ways. She has also been working with the Israeli Association in the fight with AIDS, helping them rise money for their programs and services, especially a summer camp for children living with HIV/AIDS.

Tova Garr -- Jerusalem, Israel
The Jewish Agency--Avi Chai Foundation Projects
Tova's professional interests include Jewish identity, Israeli identity, intercultural differences and camping. She is currently the Executive Assistant to the Director of the Education Department at the Jewish Agency, Alan Hoffmann.

Karen Gerson -- Overland Park, KS
Central Agency for Jewish Education (CAJE)
Karen is the Director of Informal Jewish Education for CAJE/Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. She has been working on "Rosh Hodesh: It's a Girl Thing!", a national program being used as a tool to engage the under-engaged. Through this program, they have reached out to 48 girls in the past two years with 25% of those being under-engaged (those who are members of a congregation only or are not affiliated with a congregation). She has been using a web-based tracking mechanism.

Howard Goldberg -- Albany, NY
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism/Empire Region
Howard is the Executive Director for the Empire Region of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The Empire Region encompasses all of New York State (except the immediate New York City Metropolitan area & Long Island), southern Vermont and extreme western Massachusetts. A 2001-2002 fellow of the IJE Leadership Seminar, Howard previously served as the Director of Youth Activities at the New City Jewish Center (New City, NY) from 1995-2004, and the Director of Education and Youth Services at Temple Israel in Albany, NY from 2004-2005. From his current office, Howard hopes to be able to guide synagogues toward developing strong organizational visions of integrating formal and informal education, a central theme of  his IJE "inquiry project."

Renee Goldfarb -- Philadelphia, PA
Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education

David Goldstein -- Boston, MA
Bureau of Jewish Education
David is an Educational Consultant for the BJE and the Coordinator of Combined Jewish Philanthropies' YESOD Youth Educator Initiative. David works with both professionals and lay leaders across the denominational spectrum in Boston. David will also be teaching in CJP's acclaimed Ikkarim Adult Education Program in 2007.

Lisa Greene -- Glencoe, IL
North Shore Congregation Israel
Lisa Greene is a congregational rabbi involved in informal education, particularly family education. Her current creative venture is Chai at NSCI, Celebrating Jewish Family Life Together: opportunities for families with young children created for and by families with young children. Just after completing the IJE Leadership seminar, she and her colleagues designed T.A.G., a sixth grade pre-Bar/Bat Mitzvah Shabbat based family informal education program aimed at engagin students and parents to create community, learn together, and deepen the meaning of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah experience.

Rachel Happel -- Wellesley, MA
Temple Beth Elohim

Miryam Kabakov -- New York, NY
Avodah

Adam Kaye -- London, UK
Union of Jewish Students
Adam's current professional interests are Informal Jewish & Zionist educational programming and mentoring "junior"colleagues in the field.

Karen Kollins -- Ontario, Canada
URJ Camp George
Karen is the senior assistant director of URJ Camp George. She recently completed her master's in education degree with a focus on Jewish camping and informal education.

Justin Korda -- Jerusalem, Israel

Justin received an MBA from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya in May 2006. He managed the inauguration of ROI120 – an international conference and forum for young Jewish social innovators.

Joshua Lake -- New York, NY
Outdoor Jewish Adventures
Josh has been leading Jewish environmental nature education (JENE) programming around the country for 10 years. Nature becomes a Jewish classroom with both spiritual and tangible lessons for all who shema.

Rachel Lasry -- Toronto, Ontario
Ve'ahavta

Naomi Less -- New York, NY
Foundation for Jewish Camping
Naomi is a singer/songwriter, educator, musician and actor who uses the performing arts to create powerful Jewish experiential educational opportunities for teens and adults. Her three current venues are the Foundation for Jewish Camping, Storahtelling: Jewish Ritual Theater Revived and her New York City-based blues-rock band LESS NESSMAN.

Melanie Levav

Melanie Levav is currently the Director of Volunteer Programs and Fellowships at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. She is responsible for placing volunteers in Jewish communities around the world to serve as informal Jewish educators. If you've ever thought of how you might spend a year living and working overseas, Melanie invites you to call her. She also continues her involvement with the Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst as a consultant on camp staff training and leadership development, which was the focus of her IJE project.

David Lewis -- Los Angeles, CA
Camp Hess Kramer

Jay Lewis -- Lawrence, KS
Kansas University Hillel

Alison Link -- New York, NY
Alison works full time in correctional facilities in New Jersey, and she also consults with other organizations on leisure education, such as the New York State Recreation and Parks society. She is an adjunct professor at Lehman College - CUNY (City University of New York). She is working on her dissertation on "One time use and Prisoner reentry into society".

Doug Lynn -- Malibu, CA
Doug is now the director of Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps in Malibu, CA.

Ira Miller -- Chevy Chase, MD
Ira Miller is the Director of Youth Programs at Washington Hebrew Congregation where he has been since the summer of 2002. In his role at this large Reform Congregation, Ira runs youth programs for students in grades 3-12 as well as an intense retreat program for 8th and 9th graders dealing with issues such as Self-Esteem, Prejudice and a Jewish view of Sexuality. In his spare time Ira has started Non Profit Promotions which helps promote emerging bands by distributing free CDs to non profit events. Over the last few years Non Profit Promotions has distributed well over 5,000 free CDs to youth groups, colleges, young adult fundraisers and other events throughout the country.

Mark Miller -- Los Angeles, CA
Hebrew Union College
Mark is currently in his second year at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, studying to become a rabbi. He is also involved in a number of youth education projects, where he continues to bring IJE concepts to the community.

Adam Minsky -- Toronto, Ontario
Israel and National Programs, United Israel Appeal of Canada
Adam is the senior professional in Canada responsible for the Canadian Jewish Federation's national informal Jewish educational programmatic initiatives. He oversees departments that operate Israel Experience programs, services to Jewish students on university and college campuses and that provide Israel education in Jewish overnight camps and Jewish day schools.

Valerie Mitrani -- Miami, FL
Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education
Valerie works with congregational schools in the Miami community and is the director of the community's congregational high school program. She is currently consulting with congregational educators on their youth education programs, designing professional development plans for congregational school teachers, and creating new curricula for the Judaica High School.

Robert Morais -- West Bloomfield, MI
Temple Israel
Rob is the Director of Education and Life Long Learning at Temple Israel. He tries to teach in everything that he does - in the formal classroom setting, during worship experiences, in meetings, through acts of Tikkun Olam, and through his own personal Jewish observances. He strives to create ways for people to engage themselves in Judaism, to enable them to find opportunities to make Judaism a vital and meaningful part of their lives.

Ruth Saragosti -- Jerusalem, Israel

Amy Schrager -- New York, NY
American Jewish World Service

Sharon Schwartzman -- Jerusalem, Israel
United Israel Appeal of Canada

Jamie Sentnor -- St. Louis, MO

Eliezer Sneiderman -- Newark, DE
University of Delaware Chabad
Eliezer Sneiderman is the Rabbi and Director of Chabad at the University of Delaware. In addition to working full time with college students, Eliezer is in charge of planning educational shabbatonim for Delaware Gratz Hebrew High School. He is particularly interested in the popular understanding of philosophy and its practical implications.

Bradley Solmsen -- Waltham, MA
Genesis at Brandeis University
Bradley is the director of Genesis at Brandeis University and the Associate Director of the IJE. He has extensive experience as an informal Jewish educator in Israel and the States working with teenagers and college students.

Alina Spaulding -- Greensboro, SC
Greensboro Jewish Federation
Alina is the director of outreach and education at the Greensboro Federation. She was recently awarded a Covenant fellowship. This spring, she and her husband went to Minsk to help start a Jewish Family and Children's Services program in the community. Alina worked on the informal Jewish education piece of the project, geared to attract Jewish teens.

Jodi Sperling -- Cleveland, OH
Camp Wise
Jodi is the Director of Camp Wise, the Jewish Community Center's overnight camp in Burton, Ohio. Her professional interests include creating innovative programs to reach teens, integrating informal Jewish education into daily camp life, and challenging 5th graders in ga-ga.

Karen Stein -- New York, NY
USY
Karen is the Assistant Director of the Department of Youth Activities for USCJ. Her responsibilties include directing the USY International Convention, running Outdoor Adventure-Pacific NW, supervising USY on Wheels and the department's educational programming, and hiring and training of all USY Summer program personnel.

Rachel L. Steinberg -- Philadelpha, PA
Pinemere Camp
Rachel is the associate director of Pinemere Camp, a JCC-affiliated camp. She is currently conducting an inquiry into her organization's Jewish identity (as part of her IJE project). She is on the executive board of the Jewish Communal Professionals Association of the Delaware Valley and active in the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Rachel Mersky Woda -- Bronx, NY
Rachel has spent the last year consulting to Jewish non-profit organizations, in the areas of fundraising, strategic planning, human resource development, and of course informal education. She was instrumental in the program at Central Synagogue in New York City, helping them to pilot an idea to allow them to hire full-time teachers for their supplementary school religious program, modeling comprehensive Jewish education with both formal and informal approaches.

Todd Zeff -- Jenkintown, PA
Camp Ramah in the Poconos
Todd is Director of Camp Ramah in the Poconos.

Jennifer Zwilling -- Washington, DC

Jen is the Associate Director of Human Resources for Professional Development at Hillel's Schusterman International Center.