Faculty Biographies A to K
Penina Adelman is a writer and social worker. She writes and speaks about women and spirituality, women in the Bible, and women as mythmakers and creators of ritual. Her first book, Miriam’s Well, helped launch the Rosh Hodesh (Jewish New Moon festival) movement which today involves thousands of Jewish women. As a social worker for over 20 years, she has run support and activity groups for Ethiopian Jews, single mothers, Jewish adults with psychiatric conditions, and the mothers of bat mitzvah girls. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts with her family.
Rabbi Lev Ba'esh was ordained by his grandfather Rabbi Aaron Ilson (may his memory be a blessing) and the Reform Movement in 1994 in Cincinnati, OH. Along with his rabbinic work with B’nai Or, Lev can also be found teaching Introduction to Judaism courses for the Outreach Division of the Reform movement, as well as working with many of the Jewish not-for-profits in the US and abroad who support inclusion of all those seeking Jewish connection. Lev is currently serving in a consulting role with InterfaithFamily.com. Previously, he served as rabbi for Temple Israel of Dover, NH from 1994-2006 and as interim rabbi for Congregation Beit Ahavah in Northampton, MA from 2006-2007. While serving the congregation in Dover, Lev was also the Jewish Chaplain at the University of NH and a member of several interfaith councils. His focus throughout his congregational work was welcoming all who wanted “Jewish” as part of their lives.
Rabbi Lauren Berkun is the Southeast Director of Educational Initiatives for the Shalom Hartman Institute in North America. She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University with a thesis on "The Cultural Poetics of Menstruation in Late Antique Judaism," and was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001. Rabbi Berkun was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, a CLAL Rabbinic intern, and a Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. She has served as the JTS Midwest KOLLOT Rabbinic Scholar, Director of Lifelong Learning at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan, and Scholar-in-Residence for the Women’s Department of Federation. Rabbi Berkun has written and taught extensively on the topics of mikveh, sexual ethics, and body image. She is also a certified Sivananda yoga instructor and teaches seminars on Jewish meditation and Jewish mysticism. She lives in Aventura with her husband, Rabbi Jonathan Berkun of the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, and their children, Jeremy (age 6) and Jonah (age 5), and Eliana (7 months).
Lisa Berman, Paula Brody & Family Education Center Director, has been a part of Mayyim Hayyim since its opening in May 2004, having trained as a volunteer mikveh guide and then served as liaison to area congregational religious schools and adult study groups. Since 2006, Lisa has directed the Paula Brody & Family Education Center, where she develops curricula for all ages and interest levels, and also organizes and supervises more than 100 programs annually. A convert, Lisa is especially sensitive to the challenges experienced by interfaith families around milestone events.
Rabbi Debra Reed Blank is a Visiting Scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University, where she is writing a book about the initiation rituals for infant girls, which began appearing in the US Jewish community in the early 1970s. Rabbi Blank holds a PhD in Liturgy and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary, as well as rabbinical ordination from there; she also did additional graduate study at the Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati). She earned an MS from Columbia University, and a BA from Indiana University. Rabbi Blank joined the JTS faculty in 1992 and remains a Visiting Scholar there. She has also taught at the Academy for Jewish Religion (New York) and the Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow). A lecturer and writer, she has published numerous articles about Jewish liturgy and rabbinics.
Carrie Bornstein is Mayyim Hayyim's Assistant Director. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Social Work, and studied at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. Prior to joining the staff in 2008, Carrie was trained as a volunteer Mikveh Guide and Mikveh Educator. Her responsibilities now include ensuring that all immersions at Mayyim Hayyim are conducted with respect and dignity, training and supervising volunteer Mikveh Guides, serving as liaison to clergy regarding conversions, assisting people planning to immerse at Mayyim Hayyim, and supporting fund raising efforts. Carrie has worked with children, teens, and adults from the entire Jewish denominational spectrum. She lives in Sharon, MA with her husband, Jamie, and their children Eliana and Dov.
Rachel Brodie is a co-founder and Executive Director of Jewish Milestones, a not-for-profit organization serving as a resource for authentic and meaningful Jewish lifecycle ceremonies related to birth, maturation, partnering and loss. Rachel teaches Jewish literature, history, and ethics in many Bay Area institutions, serves as a scholar-in-residence around the country, and facilitates non-synagogue-based Jewish lifecycle rituals. A Melton Senior Educator Fellow at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she holds a master's degree in Rabbinic Literature from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America and a B.A. in Literature and History from Brown University. She lives in Berkeley, CA with her de facto “bashert” and two daughters.
As a professional on the Northeast Council of the Union for Reform Judaism staff for the past 16 years,
Paula Brody has consulted to clergy, educators and lay leaders in Reform congregations on intermarriage and conversion. She currently coordinates Reform Judaism’s outreach initiatives in greater Boston, funded by a grant from Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Paula has developed and facilitated many programs though the Outreach Training Institute, including the “Reclaiming Mikveh” conference offered four years ago, in partnership with Mayyim Hayyim and 33 national and local organizations. Paula is a founding Mayyim Hayyim Board Member.
Erica Brown is the scholar-in-residence for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, consults for the Jewish Agency and other Jewish non-profits, and lectures widely. She is the author of
Inspired Jewish Leadership,
Spiritual Boredom, and the forthcoming
Confronting Scandal. She also co-authored
The Case for Jewish Peoplehood. A Jerusalem Fellow, an Avi Chai Fellow, and winner of the Ted Farber Professional Excellence Award, Erica received the 2009 Covenant Award for her work in education. She has degrees from Yeshiva University, University of London, Harvard University, and Baltimore Hebrew University, and serves on the faculty of the Wexner Foundation. Dr. Brown writes a weekly internet essay for the Newsweek/Washington Post’s “On Faith” website. She resides with her husband and four children in Silver Spring, MD.
Amy Chartock is Mayyim Hayyim’s National Programs Director, a role that includes oversight of the Gathering The Waters Mikveh Conference. Amy holds a BA from Brandeis University and a MSW from Columbia University. A trained Mikveh Guide, Amy ran the first national Mikveh Guide Training Seminar for 19 participants from 13 US communities in November of 2008. In spring 2009, she worked with Jewish Milestones and The Jewish Welcome Network to create a regional cohort of Mikveh Guides in the San Francisco Bay Area, with support from the Covenant Foundation and The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. Prior to Mayyim Hayyim, she worked with teens at the adolescent OB-GYN clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and with volunteers at the Jewish Big Brother and Big Sister Association of Greater Boston.
Tamar Cytryn
Rabbi Braham David was born in Paisley, Scotland, and grew up in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Rabbi David completed his undergraduate studies at Indiana University in 1991, received a Masters of Arts in Jewish Education from the Davidson School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary in May 1997, and was ordained from JTS in 2003. Since 2003, Rabbi David has served as the rabbi of Temple Shalom in Medford, MA: a small,
haimish congregation in the Greater Boston area. While there, Rabbi David has developed many programs, including
Dor Hadash , or "New Generations". Rabbi David is very active in the Mass Board of Rabbis, and is a member of keshest Rabbis. Rabbi David is also the director of the Jewish Discovery Institute (JDI) which offers programs and workshops focused on
keruv , the welcoming of interfaith families into Conservative congregations. The JDI also offers a program for those seeking conversion to Judaism (
germim).
Anita Diamant is a founder and president of the board of directors of Mayyim Hayyim. A journalist and lecturer, she is the author of six guides to contemporary Jewish life, including
The New Jewish Wedding and
Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Choosing Judaism and their Families and Friends. She has written four novels, including:
The Red Tent, and
Day After Night.
Shera Dubitsky, M.Ed., M.A., Sharsheret’s Clinical Supervisor, joined the organization as a volunteer in 2003 before becoming a staff member in 2005. An M.Ed./M.A. graduate of Columbia University and an M.A. graduate and doctoral candidate of Adelphi University Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Ms. Dubitsky served as a Psychology Resident and Fellow at the Bronx Psychiatric Center of the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, and an Associate Psychologist for the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. She has also worked as a Researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Judy Elkin is a certified personal and professional coach working with individuals, couples, and professional teams interested in staying motivated as they work through a personal or professional transition, crafting their life to have more balance, moving beyond stuck places, and living life proactively rather than reactively. Judy’s respect for and understanding of the wisdom in Jewish texts and life informs her work as a coach. As a Jewish educator for over 25 years, she worked with adolescents, parents, parent educators, teachers and graduate students.
Rachel Kohl Finegold is the Education & Ritual Director of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Chicago. As part of her work at the synagogue, she manages the Adam R. Straus Memorial Mikvah, training volunteer attendants and serving as a halchic resource. Finegold completed the Scholars Circle at the Drisha Institute in New York, and received her B.A. in Religion from Boston University. She is currently enrolled in the inaugural class of Yeshivat Maharat, a new institution training Orthodox women as spiritual leaders.
Amy Friedman
is a licensed psychologist in private practice in both Newton and
Brookline. She has been involved with Mayyim Hayyim since its
inception, assisting in both the creation and facilitation of the
Mikveh Guide program, and continues to serve as a guide and mentor to
new guides. As a local psychologist, she works with individuals,
couples, and families, and is affiliated with both the Boston Institute
for Psychotherapy (BIP) as well as the Massachusetts Institute for
Psychoanalysis (MIP). In her practice, Friedman specializes in religion
and spirituality, intimacy and relationships, trauma, fertility,
parenting, existential identity, and creativity.
Rabbi Ilana C. Garber was born in Toronto, Canada, and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts. She spent nine years at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Talmud (2000), a master’s degree in Jewish education (2003), and rabbinic ordination (2005). Rabbi Garber is the associate rabbi of Beth El Temple in West Hartford, Connecticut. She focuses on women’s programs, early childhood education, and teaching adults with all backgrounds. In 2008, Rabbi Garber was selected to be among 19 young rabbis across the country to participate in the STAR: Synagogue Transformation And Renewal PEER: Professional Education for Excellence in Rabbis program. She is currently a participant in a rabbinic cohort of Advancing Women Professionals and she serves on a professional advisory committee for the Hebrew Health Care Home Health and Hospice program. Rabbi Garber is married to Dr. Adam Berkowitz, a musician, and they have a son, Noam.
Rabbi Neal Gold has been the Senior Rabbi of Temple Shir Tikva since July, 2005. Ordained as a Rabbi from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1997 and a graduate of Colgate University with a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion, Rabbi Gold brings a wealth of experience after working for eight years as Associate Rabbi of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, NJ.
Judy Greene is Coordinator of Ramah Programs in Israel. She has served as Director of Teen Initiative for the Harold Grinspoon Foundation in Western MA and Coordinator of the Keruv (outreach) Program for United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in New England. Judy, who holds an MSW and a certification in Jewish Family Education, pioneered a unique curriculum on Jewish Sex Ethics at Gann Academy, Solomon Schechter Day School, Newton, and Camp Ramah in New England, leading workshops and seminars on the subject for youth groups and Hebrew High Schools throughout the Northeast. She is writer and editor of the Reform movement’s curriculum for middle and high school called “Sacred Choices.” Judy was one of the five founding board members of Mayyim Hayyim.
Rabbi Susan Grossman
was identified by the New York Jewish Week and The Forward
as one of the forty five Jewish leaders to watch in the next century and
honored as a Woman of the Year by Jewish Woman magazine in 2000. Rabbi Grossman serves on the Committee for
Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement; her
responsum (rabbinic decision) on women
serving as witnesses in Jewish law, the use of mikveh, and the permissibility
of “Partial Birth Abortion and the Beginning of Life” are accepted as official
positions of the Conservative Movement. Rabbi Grossman is perhaps best known for her work on the Conservative
Movement’s, Etz Hayim Torah and Commentary. She has a Doctorate in Ancient Judaism from Jewish
Theological Seminary and has served as spiritual leader of Beth Shalom
Congregation in Columbia, Maryland since 1997, where she currently
lives with her husband David Boder and their son Yoni.
Suzanne Hanser is the founding chair of the Music Therapy Department at Berklee College of Music. She is Past President of both the World Federation of Music Therapy and the National Association for Music Therapy.Dr. Hanser is music therapist at the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrated Therapies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She has served as Program Director of the Alzheimer's Association, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, and Chair of the Music Therapy Department at University of the Pacific. She received her music therapy training at The Florida State University and doctoral degree from Columbia University where she was a Fellow of the Center for the Behavioral Analysis of School Learning.Dr. Hanser is the author of
The New Music Therapist's Handbook.
Recently, she was named by the Boston Globe as one of eleven Bostonians Changing the World.
Rabba Sara Hurwitz is part of the the Rabbinic staff at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. She also serves as Dean of Yeshivat Maharat, the first orthodox school to confirm women as spiritual and Halakhic leaders. She graduated from Drisha's 3-year Scholars Cirlcle Program and studied under the supervision of Rabbi Avi Weiss. She received a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University. She also helped create JOFA's Gender and Orthodoxy Curriculum project. Sara was named as one of the Jewish Weeks 36 under 36, a "top pick" in the Forward 50 most influential Jewish leaders, Newsweek's 50 most influential rabbis and is a Bikkurim fellow.
Dr. Andrea Jacobs is director of education for Keshet, a Boston-based educational and advocacy organization working for the full inclusion of gay,lesbian, bisexual and transgender Jews as members of the larger Jewish community. Her doctorate is in linguistics with a focus on issues of language, gender and ideology. She has developed and led workshops on issues of gender, sexuality, Jewish identity, creating inclusive community, and pluralism for adults and teens in the U.S. and Israel. She directs Keshet’s Jewish Safe Schools project aimed at working with Jewish educators,youth group advisors and camp staff to increase awareness of GLBT issues in the Jewish community and foster safe environments for all Jews. She also coordinates the Hineini Film Education Project.
Aaron Katersky is a New York-based correspondent for ABC News Radio, who has traveled nationally and internationally for ABC News. Mr. Katersky previously worked for KTRH in Houston, WSYR in Syracuse and WATD in Marshfield. He graduated from Scituate High School in 1993 and then from Syracuse University in 1997 with a BA in Religious Studies and a BS in Broadcast Journalism. He lives in New York City.
Idit Klein has worked since 2001 as the Executive Director of Keshet, an organisation working for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews. Klein served as the Executive Producer of the documentary film, Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School. Prior to Keshet, Klein was an activist in the queer women’s community in Israel and played a role in early organizing around the creation of the Jerusalem Open House. She worked for social justice organizations in Jerusalem and in Boston including Shatil, the Israel/Palestine Center for Research & Information, and Community Work Services. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received a Master’s in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a focus on social justice and anti-oppression education. Idit was among eight recipients of the 2003-2005 Joshua Venture Fellowship for young Jewish social entrepreneurs.
Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein
was ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion in New
York where she won a liturgy award for her work on Reclaiming our Joy: A
Service that blends the joy of Sukkot with an ancient water ritual to help
support survivors of domestic abuse. Growing up in Michigan she was never far
from a natural mikveh—linking her spirituality to water. Margaret writes
creative liturgy and helps people find their own meaning in Jewish tradition.
She has trained as a mikveh guide and educator at Mayyim Hayyim.She has worked in
Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and unaffiliated settings and likes Mayyim
Hayyim’s commitment to non-judgmental Judaism. Margaret is the former president
of the Greater Lowell Interfaith Leadership Alliance, a founding member of the
Merrimack Valley Project and current Principal of Congregation Beth Israel in
Andover, MA.
Aliza Kline, Mayyim Hayyim Founding Executive Director, has led Mayyim Hayyim from its initial stages, overseeing fund raising, publicity, design, construction, staffing, recruiting volunteers, and board development. In May, 2009, Aliza was awarded an AVI CHAI Fellowship (best described as the "Jewish MacArthur Genius Grant) in recognition of her accomplishments, creativity and commitment to the Jewish people. Aliza earned her Bachelor’s degree in History and Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and her Masters in Public Administration from New York University. Her past work experience includes UJA-Federation of New York, Jerusalem Open House – Community Center of LGBTQ Israelis, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies – Regional Academic Program for Middle Eastern and North American Students, JNF On Campus, and Hillel.
Rabbi Jonathan Kraus has served as the rabbi of Beth El Temple Center in Belmont since 1994. He is a past rabbinic co-chair of the Reform movement's Northeast Council Regional Outreach Commission, where he continues to be active in Reform Outreach as a frequent instructor in its Introduction to Judaism and Taste of Judaism classes. He also works with a number of gerim (Jews-by-choice) every year. Among his other volunteer commitments, Rabbi Kraus has served as President of the Belmont Interfaith Religious Council and is on the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis. He is proud to serve as a Board Member of Mayyim Hayyim.
Rabbi Claudia Kreiman was born and raised in Santiago de Chile. After spending many years in Israel, during which she received her ordination from Machon Shechter, the Conservative movement's Rabbinical School, and served as the Rabbi of Camp Ramah Noam in Israel, she now lives in Boston, and serves as Assistant Rabbi at Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, MA.
Karen Kushner is Chief Education Officer of InterfaithFamily.com the leading web resource for interfaith couples and their families. Ms. Kushner, a noted Jewish educator and co-author of How to Raise a Jewish Child with Anita Diamant and Because Nothing Looks Like God with Lawrence Kushner will direct the development of InterfaithFamily.com’s “how to do Jewish” online content. Kushner also provides consultation, resources, and leadership trainings such as “Increasing the Warmth of Your Welcome” to synagogues and agencies in the Bay Area.
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Eshet
Hazon Matia Rania Angelou
is a poet, ritual artist, healer, and teacher of meditative chant. Matia is a graduate of the Indigo River
SpiritSong Teacher Training Program and is a certified practitioner of Applied
Resonance Therapy. She adapted these
techniques for use in Jewish settings by combining sound resonance with Jewish
healing practices. Matia uses music in
her healing work at hospitals and nursing homes, and has released a CD of
original songs,
The Indwelling
Presence, with the
trio Ashira. She is a member of B’nai Or
of Boston and served as their Director of Pastoral Care for the past four
years. In addition to her chaplaincy
work, Matia is also a
Mashpiah Ruchanit, a Spiritual Director. In 1990, Matia founded Nishmat
HaNashim/WomenSoul to deepen spirituality through Jewish study, meditation,
healing, and the creative arts.
Currently, she studies with the ALEPH Rabbinic Seminary and will receive
ordination as a Rabbinic Pastor in January, 2011. Matia is a
Madricha/Mikveh Guide at Mayyim Hayyim
Community Mikveh and Education
Center where, as a member
of the Ritual Creation Team, she writes ceremonies for use with immersions.
Rabbi Miriam Berkowitz is the author of
Taking the Plunge: A
Practical and Spiritual Guide to the Mikveh and various other articles and publications. She earned a BA magna cum laude in International Relations from Harvard
University in 1993 and an MA and Rabbinic Ordination from the Schechter Institute
in Jerusalem in 1998. Her teshuvah on
interpreting the laws of Family Purity in our times was accepted by the
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards and she currently serves on the
Committee. Rabbi Berkowitz lives in Jerusalem
where she does pastoral counseling at the French
Hospital/ Hospice, adult education at
the Fuchsberg Center, and lifecycle events for
Israelis and visitors. She is married to
Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz and the proud mother of Adir, Rachel and Shira.
Rachel Brodie is a co-founder and Executive Director of Jewish Milestones, a not-for-profit organization serving as a resource for authentic and meaningful Jewish lifecycle ceremonies related to birth, maturation, partnering and loss. Rachel teaches Jewish literature, history, and ethics in many Bay Area institutions, serves as a scholar-in-residence around the country, and facilitates non-synagogue-based Jewish lifecycle rituals. A Melton Senior Educator Fellow at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she holds a master's degree in Rabbinic Literature from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America and a B.A. in Literature and History from Brown University. She lives in Berkeley, CA with her de facto “bashert” and two daughters. As a professional on the Northeast Council of the Union for Reform Judaism staff for the past 16 years,
Paula Brody has consulted to clergy, educators and lay leaders in Reform congregations on intermarriage and conversion. She currently coordinates Reform Judaism’s outreach initiatives in greater Boston, funded by a grant from Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Paula has developed and facilitated many programs though the Outreach Training Institute, including the “Reclaiming Mikveh” conference offered four years ago, in partnership with Mayyim Hayyim and 33 national and local organizations. Paula is a founding Mayyim Hayyim Board Member.
Erica Brown is the scholar-in-residence for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, consults for the Jewish Agency and other Jewish non-profits, and lectures widely. She is the author of
Inspired Jewish Leadership,
Spiritual Boredom, and the forthcoming
Confronting Scandal. She also co-authored
The Case for Jewish Peoplehood. A Jerusalem Fellow, an Avi Chai Fellow, and winner of the Ted Farber Professional Excellence Award, Erica received the 2009 Covenant Award for her work in education. She has degrees from Yeshiva University, University of London, Harvard University, and Baltimore Hebrew University, and serves on the faculty of the Wexner Foundation. Dr. Brown writes a weekly internet essay for the Newsweek/Washington Post’s “On Faith” website. She resides with her husband and four children in Silver Spring, MD.
L. Lee Butler
is a middle school librarian in Randolph, MA. He first got involved with Mayyim Hayyim when he immersed for a life transition in 2006 (and wishes he'd had it for his many earlier ones). He trained with the fifth cohort of Mikveh guides, and continues to help Mayyim Hayyim strive to be more accessible to men and LGBT Jews. He is also an active board member of Tremont Street Shul in Cambridge, and was the chair of the planning committee for the National Havurah Committee Summer Institute 2010.
Amy Chartock is Mayyim Hayyim’s National Programs Director, a role that includes oversight of the Gathering The Waters Mikveh Conference. Amy holds a BA from Brandeis University and a MSW from Columbia University. A trained Mikveh Guide, Amy ran the first national Mikveh Guide Training Seminar for 19 participants from 13 US communities in November of 2008. In spring 2009, she worked with Jewish Milestones and The Jewish Welcome Network to create a regional cohort of Mikveh Guides in the San Francisco Bay Area, with support from the Covenant Foundation and The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. Prior to Mayyim Hayyim, she worked with teens at the adolescent OB-GYN clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and with volunteers at the Jewish Big Brother and Big Sister Association of Greater Boston.
Tamar Cytryn
is a seasoned experiential educator with a passion for bringing the sights, sounds, and tastes of Jewish life – in all its many incarnations – to North American adolescents. Tamar is currenly the Teen Program Manager at the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, where she oversees experiential programming and leadership development for hundreds of Boston area teens.
Prior to this Tamar spent seven years as a founding administrator of the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School in New York City, most recently, as Director of Student Life and Experiential Education. She spent many summers creating Jewish experiential programming at Camp Moshava in Pennsylvania and has supervised the professional development for the Community Educators at Genesis at Brandeis University, and at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. Tamar lives with her husband, Jacob, in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Rabbi Braham David was born in Paisley, Scotland, and grew up in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Rabbi David completed his undergraduate studies at Indiana University in 1991, received a Masters of Arts in Jewish Education from the Davidson School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary in May 1997, and was ordained from JTS in 2003. Since 2003, Rabbi David has served as the rabbi of Temple Shalom in Medford, MA: a small,
haimish congregation in the Greater Boston area. While there, Rabbi David has developed many programs, including
Dor Hadash , or "New Generations". Rabbi David is very active in the Mass Board of Rabbis, and is a member of keshest Rabbis. Rabbi David is also the director of the Jewish Discovery Institute (JDI) which offers programs and workshops focused on
keruv , the welcoming of interfaith families into Conservative congregations. The JDI also offers a program for those seeking conversion to Judaism (
germim).
Anita Diamant is a founder and president of the board of directors of Mayyim Hayyim. A journalist and lecturer, she is the author of six guides to contemporary Jewish life, including
The New Jewish Wedding and
Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Choosing Judaism and their Families and Friends. She has written four novels, including:
The Red Tent, and
Day After Night.
Shera Dubitsky, M.Ed., M.A., Sharsheret’s Clinical Supervisor, joined the organization as a volunteer in 2003 before becoming a staff member in 2005. An M.Ed./M.A. graduate of Columbia University and an M.A. graduate and doctoral candidate of Adelphi University Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Ms. Dubitsky served as a Psychology Resident and Fellow at the Bronx Psychiatric Center of the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, and an Associate Psychologist for the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. She has also worked as a Researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Judy Elkin is a certified personal and professional coach working with individuals, couples, and professional teams interested in staying motivated as they work through a personal or professional transition, crafting their life to have more balance, moving beyond stuck places, and living life proactively rather than reactively. Judy’s respect for and understanding of the wisdom in Jewish texts and life informs her work as a coach. As a Jewish educator for over 25 years, she worked with adolescents, parents, parent educators, teachers and graduate students.
Rachel Kohl Finegold is the Education & Ritual Director of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Chicago. As part of her work at the synagogue, she manages the Adam R. Straus Memorial Mikvah, training volunteer attendants and serving as a halchic resource. Finegold completed the Scholars Circle at the Drisha Institute in New York, and received her B.A. in Religion from Boston University. She is currently enrolled in the inaugural class of Yeshivat Maharat, a new institution training Orthodox women as spiritual leaders.
Amy Friedman
is a licensed psychologist in private practice in both Newton and
Brookline. She has been involved with Mayyim Hayyim since its
inception, assisting in both the creation and facilitation of the
Mikveh Guide program, and continues to serve as a guide and mentor to
new guides. As a local psychologist, she works with individuals,
couples, and families, and is affiliated with both the Boston Institute
for Psychotherapy (BIP) as well as the Massachusetts Institute for
Psychoanalysis (MIP). In her practice, Friedman specializes in religion
and spirituality, intimacy and relationships, trauma, fertility,
parenting, existential identity, and creativity.
Rabbi Ilana C. Garber was born in Toronto, Canada, and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts. She spent nine years at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Talmud (2000), a master’s degree in Jewish education (2003), and rabbinic ordination (2005). Rabbi Garber is the associate rabbi of Beth El Temple in West Hartford, Connecticut. She focuses on women’s programs, early childhood education, and teaching adults with all backgrounds. In 2008, Rabbi Garber was selected to be among 19 young rabbis across the country to participate in the STAR: Synagogue Transformation And Renewal PEER: Professional Education for Excellence in Rabbis program. She is currently a participant in a rabbinic cohort of Advancing Women Professionals and she serves on a professional advisory committee for the Hebrew Health Care Home Health and Hospice program. Rabbi Garber is married to Dr. Adam Berkowitz, a musician, and they have a son, Noam.
Rabbi Neal Gold has been the Senior Rabbi of Temple Shir Tikva since July, 2005. Ordained as a Rabbi from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1997 and a graduate of Colgate University with a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion, Rabbi Gold brings a wealth of experience after working for eight years as Associate Rabbi of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, NJ.
Rabbi Leslie Gordon
is looking forward to beginning her seventh year as an instructor with the
Jewish Discovery Institute. Much of her rabbinic work has been in various areas
of family life: an outreach worker to interfaith couples and families, an
instructor in community-wide classes for parents of young children, and family
education programming at synagogues throughout the
Judy Greene is Coordinator of Ramah Programs in Israel. She has served as Director of Teen Initiative for the Harold Grinspoon Foundation in Western MA and Coordinator of the Keruv (outreach) Program for United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in New England. Judy, who holds an MSW and a certification in Jewish Family Education, pioneered a unique curriculum on Jewish Sex Ethics at Gann Academy, Solomon Schechter Day School, Newton, and Camp Ramah in New England, leading workshops and seminars on the subject for youth groups and Hebrew High Schools throughout the Northeast. She is writer and editor of the Reform movement’s curriculum for middle and high school called “Sacred Choices.” Judy was one of the five founding board members of Mayyim Hayyim. Rabbi Susan Grossman
was identified by the New York Jewish Week and The Forward
as one of the forty five Jewish leaders to watch in the next century and
honored as a Woman of the Year by Jewish Woman magazine in 2000. Rabbi Grossman serves on the Committee for
Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement; her
responsum (rabbinic decision) on women
serving as witnesses in Jewish law, the use of mikveh, and the permissibility
of “Partial Birth Abortion and the Beginning of Life” are accepted as official
positions of the Conservative Movement. Rabbi Grossman is perhaps best known for her work on the Conservative
Movement’s, Etz Hayim Torah and Commentary. She has a Doctorate in Ancient Judaism from Jewish
Theological Seminary and has served as spiritual leader of Beth Shalom
Congregation in Columbia, Maryland since 1997, where she currently
lives with her husband David Boder and their son Yoni.
Rabbi William G. Hamilton
has served as rabbi of
Congregation Kehillath Israel
in Brookline, MA since 1995. Following his ordination from
the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, he served as rabbi of Temple Beth
Abraham in Canton, MA from 1990-95. Rabbi Hamilton’s communal
activities include serving as the President of the New England Rabbinical
Assembly, and a Chaplain
for the Massachusetts State Police. He has also chaired the Holocaust Remembrance
Committee of Greater Boston, the Religion Task Force of Boston Coalition and
the United Way’s
Faith in Action Committee. He has served
on numerous boards including the ADL, JCRC, Harvard University’s Board of Ministry, United Way’s
Community Impact Committee and the Rabbinical Assembly of America. Rabbi Hamilton was the recipient of Jewish
Federation’s (CJP) Rabbinic Leadership Award 2001 as well as the recipient of
Safe Havens (domestic violence prevention) Vision Award 2000.
Suzanne Hanser is the founding chair of the Music Therapy Department at Berklee College of Music. She is Past President of both the World Federation of Music Therapy and the National Association for Music Therapy.Dr. Hanser is music therapist at the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrated Therapies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She has served as Program Director of the Alzheimer's Association, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, and Chair of the Music Therapy Department at University of the Pacific. She received her music therapy training at The Florida State University and doctoral degree from Columbia University where she was a Fellow of the Center for the Behavioral Analysis of School Learning.Dr. Hanser is the author of
The New Music Therapist's Handbook.
Recently, she was named by the Boston Globe as one of eleven Bostonians Changing the World.Rabba Sara Hurwitz is part of the the Rabbinic staff at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. She also serves as Dean of Yeshivat Maharat, the first orthodox school to confirm women as spiritual and Halakhic leaders. She graduated from Drisha's 3-year Scholars Cirlcle Program and studied under the supervision of Rabbi Avi Weiss. She received a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University. She also helped create JOFA's Gender and Orthodoxy Curriculum project. Sara was named as one of the Jewish Weeks 36 under 36, a "top pick" in the Forward 50 most influential Jewish leaders, Newsweek's 50 most influential rabbis and is a Bikkurim fellow.Dr. Andrea Jacobs is director of education for Keshet, a Boston-based educational and advocacy organization working for the full inclusion of gay,lesbian, bisexual and transgender Jews as members of the larger Jewish community. Her doctorate is in linguistics with a focus on issues of language, gender and ideology. She has developed and led workshops on issues of gender, sexuality, Jewish identity, creating inclusive community, and pluralism for adults and teens in the U.S. and Israel. She directs Keshet’s Jewish Safe Schools project aimed at working with Jewish educators,youth group advisors and camp staff to increase awareness of GLBT issues in the Jewish community and foster safe environments for all Jews. She also coordinates the Hineini Film Education Project.Aaron Katersky is a New York-based correspondent for ABC News Radio, who has traveled nationally and internationally for ABC News. Mr. Katersky previously worked for KTRH in Houston, WSYR in Syracuse and WATD in Marshfield. He graduated from Scituate High School in 1993 and then from Syracuse University in 1997 with a BA in Religious Studies and a BS in Broadcast Journalism. He lives in New York City. Idit Klein has worked since 2001 as the Executive Director of Keshet, an organisation working for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews. Klein served as the Executive Producer of the documentary film, Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School. Prior to Keshet, Klein was an activist in the queer women’s community in Israel and played a role in early organizing around the creation of the Jerusalem Open House. She worked for social justice organizations in Jerusalem and in Boston including Shatil, the Israel/Palestine Center for Research & Information, and Community Work Services. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received a Master’s in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a focus on social justice and anti-oppression education. Idit was among eight recipients of the 2003-2005 Joshua Venture Fellowship for young Jewish social entrepreneurs.Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein
was ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion in New
York where she won a liturgy award for her work on Reclaiming our Joy: A
Service that blends the joy of Sukkot with an ancient water ritual to help
support survivors of domestic abuse. Growing up in Michigan she was never far
from a natural mikveh—linking her spirituality to water. Margaret writes
creative liturgy and helps people find their own meaning in Jewish tradition.
She has trained as a mikveh guide and educator at Mayyim Hayyim.She has worked in
Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and unaffiliated settings and likes Mayyim
Hayyim’s commitment to non-judgmental Judaism. Margaret is the former president
of the Greater Lowell Interfaith Leadership Alliance, a founding member of the
Merrimack Valley Project and current Principal of Congregation Beth Israel in
Andover, MA.
Aliza Kline, Mayyim Hayyim Founding Executive Director, has led Mayyim Hayyim from its initial stages, overseeing fund raising, publicity, design, construction, staffing, recruiting volunteers, and board development. In May, 2009, Aliza was awarded an AVI CHAI Fellowship (best described as the "Jewish MacArthur Genius Grant) in recognition of her accomplishments, creativity and commitment to the Jewish people. Aliza earned her Bachelor’s degree in History and Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and her Masters in Public Administration from New York University. Her past work experience includes UJA-Federation of New York, Jerusalem Open House – Community Center of LGBTQ Israelis, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies – Regional Academic Program for Middle Eastern and North American Students, JNF On Campus, and Hillel.Rabbi Jonathan Kraus has served as the rabbi of Beth El Temple Center in Belmont since 1994. He is a past rabbinic co-chair of the Reform movement's Northeast Council Regional Outreach Commission, where he continues to be active in Reform Outreach as a frequent instructor in its Introduction to Judaism and Taste of Judaism classes. He also works with a number of gerim (Jews-by-choice) every year. Among his other volunteer commitments, Rabbi Kraus has served as President of the Belmont Interfaith Religious Council and is on the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis. He is proud to serve as a Board Member of Mayyim Hayyim.Rabbi Claudia Kreiman was born and raised in Santiago de Chile. After spending many years in Israel, during which she received her ordination from Machon Shechter, the Conservative movement's Rabbinical School, and served as the Rabbi of Camp Ramah Noam in Israel, she now lives in Boston, and serves as Assistant Rabbi at Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, MA.Karen Kushner is Chief Education Officer of InterfaithFamily.com the leading web resource for interfaith couples and their families. Ms. Kushner, a noted Jewish educator and co-author of How to Raise a Jewish Child with Anita Diamant and Because Nothing Looks Like God with Lawrence Kushner will direct the development of InterfaithFamily.com’s “how to do Jewish” online content. Kushner also provides consultation, resources, and leadership trainings such as “Increasing the Warmth of Your Welcome” to synagogues and agencies in the Bay Area. 