Keynoters and Special Profiles
Shimon Peres, president of the State of Israel, was born in Poland in 1923 and immigrated to Israel with his family as a child. He studied at the Ben Shemen Agricultural School, and was one of the founders of Kibbutz Alumot in the Jordan Valley. In 1943, he was elected Secretary of the Hano'ar Ha'oved (Labor-Zionist) youth movement.
Peres’s service to Israel has been lifelong and he has held every position of note in Israel's government. Responsible for arms purchases and recruitment during Israel's War of Independence, in 1948 he was appointed head of the naval services and in 1949 he headed the Israel Defense Ministry's procurement delegation to the United States.
A member of the Knesset since 1959, Peres served as Deputy Minister of Defense from 1959-1965. After leaving the Mapai Labour Party with Ben-Gurion in 1965, he became Secretary-General of Rafi and in 1968, was instrumental in bringing Rafi back to Mapai to form the Israel Labour Party.
Among his wide range of ministerial posts, Peres headed the ministries of Immigrant Absorption (1969); Transport and Communications (1970-1974); Information (1974); and Defense (1974-1977). The highlight of his tenure as Defense Minister was the Entebbe rescue operation.
In 1977, Peres was elected chairman of the Labour Alignment and in 1984, when a National Unity Government was formed, he served first as its Prime Minister (1984-1986), and then as Vice Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1986-1988). During his term as Prime Minister, Israel withdrew from Lebanon and an economic stabilization plan was implemented.
In the National Unity government (1988-1990), Shimon Peres served as Vice Premier and Minister of Finance and in the years 1990-1992, he led the opposition in the Knesset. He began his second tenure as Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs on July 13, 1992 with the establishment of the new Labour-led government, during which he played a leading role in the Oslo Accords, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.
In 1996 he founded the Peres Center for Peace and on June 13, 2007, the Knesset elected Shimon Peres to serve as Ninth President of Israel.
Shimon Peres has authored the following books: The Next Step (1965); David's Sling (1970); And Now Tomorrow (1978); From These Men (1979): Entebbe Diary (1991); The New Middle East (1993); Battling for Peace (1995). He is married to Sonya (nee Gelman); they have two sons, a daughter, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Steven M. Bauman was elected chair of the World Union for Progressive Judaism at its 2005 international convention in Moscow.
A New York native, Steve moved to Silicon Valley over 20 years ago, excited by the entrepreneurial challenges of the local high-tech industry. He led a number of start-up ventures, and helped struggling companies get back on their feet. Among other things, he served as president and CEO of VINA Technologies, Inc., and was a principal of GeoPartners Research, Inc. as well as a top executive at Microsoft. He retired in 2002 to devote himself full-time to volunteer work.
Steve and his wife Ina are members of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, CA. Steve has served as president of the congregation, and continued to teach Torah and Talmud there. A visit to the former Soviet Union a few years ago kindled an interest in the rebirth of its Jewish community, and he became chair of the World Union’s FSU committee.
Steve is also president of the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto, CA and a member of the Union for Reform Judaism board of directors. When he is not working on behalf of the Jewish community, he enjoys sailing, skiing, scuba diving, music, biking, golf and spending time with his grandchildren.
Joan Garson is the current chair of ARZENU, the International Reform Zionist Organization, and the co-chair, with Lori Stark, of CONNECTIONS 2009. She has had various responsibilities in the Reform world and in her synagogue for many years.
A practicing lawyer, Joan is currently disengaging from private practice to work in the financial management company of her husband, David Baskin, and to expand her time for volunteer activities. She and her husband live in Toronto, where they are members of Holy Blossom Temple. They have two adult children, Jacob and Rebecca. Joan travels to Israel frequently and is studying Hebrew diligently.
Rabbi Gilad Kariv has been an active and committed member of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) for 11 years, the last four as associate director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC). He has also served as associate rabbi for Congregation Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv, where he and his family have been members for years. He became the IMPJ executive director in January of this year.
A former member of the Israeli Defense Forces’ special Talpiot project of the Intelligence Corps and now a practicing attorney, Rabbi Kariv joined the national staff of the IMP during his undergraduate years at Hebrew University. He founded the Young Adult Leadership Forum, which he headed for three years, and represented the Forum on the Board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. He then attended and received his ordination, in 2003, from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Rabbi Kariv first joined IRAC, the legal and public policy arm of the IMPJ, as director of the Public Policy and Social Action Department, and later became IRAC’s associate director, responsible for guiding the legal and public policy work, as well as the social action activity of the IMPJ.
Rabbi Kariv serves on the Israel Constitution Committee, which is working to formulate a constitution for the Jewish state; as a board member of the Joint Institute for Jewish Studies, established by the Jewish Agency Ne'eman Commission on conversion; as a board member of Hemdat: The Israel Association for the Promotion of Freedom of Science, Religion and Culture; and as a representative of the IMPJ at the Forum for Social Organizations in Israel.
Rabbi Kariv’s numerous articles and position papers on Judaism, religion and state, and community empowerment have been widely published, and made him a much sought-after expert on legal issues, public policy and social action. He lives in Tel Aviv with his wife, Noa, and their two daughters.
Mattan Klein has achieved worldwide acclaim as a creative and accomplished jazz flutist and composer. Born and raised in Jerusalem, he began his musical training at the age of seven, first on piano, then flute. His talent earned him many professional performances in Europe and North America, and by the age of 15, he recognized his ultimate expressive tool – jazz.
After his military service, Mattan established the Massa U’Mattan ensemble, which soon gained widespread popularity on the local jazz scene with performances on national television and major festivals. He pursued his musical studies at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, and then at Berklee College of Music in Boston when he moved to the U.S. There he gained recognition as an innovative improviser and proficient studio musician. He continues to perform extensively around the world, including North America (Carnegie Hall in New York, The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C., The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles) as well as internationally, on stage and in jazz festivals, from Brazil and Canada to Hong Kong and his native Israel.
Mattan is an artist in residence at the National JCC Maccabi Artsfest, and a faculty member at the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College in New York, where he now lives. His awards include the 2000 John Lennon Songwriting Contest and the 2003 USA Songwriting Contest. He will be performing at the Tel Aviv International Jazz Festival on February 27th.
Mattan introduces the contemporary Israeli blend of musical influences in his compositions and in his flute playing, while employing the musical language in which he has become so fluent. This combination makes his playing fresh and innovative, and presents a lively new dimension to the art of jazz flute.
Rabbi Michael Marmur is the dean of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. In July 2009, he will leave this position to become the College-Institute’s vice president for academic affairs. In recent years he has taught courses in Theology, Homiletics and Pluralistic Jewish Education.
Born and raised in England, Marmur completed a BA Degree in Modern History at the University of Oxford before moving to Israel in 1984. While studying for an MA in Ancient Jewish History at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he completed his studies in the Israel Rabbinic Program of HUC-JIR and was ordained in 1992. For some six years following his ordination, he served as congregational rabbi, high school teacher and member of the executive at the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa.
Rabbi Marmur earned his Ph.D. at Hebrew University; his dissertation topic was “Heschel's Rhetoric of Citation: The Use of Sources in God In Search of Man.” He has published several academic and popular articles, and is preparing a book for publication. He writes the "Reform Reflections" blog on the Jerusalem Post Web site. Rabbi Marmur has lectured and taught extensively in North America and Israel, and also in many parts of Western and Central Europe. He is married to Sarah Bernstein, and has three children - Miriam, Nadav and Gaby.
Baroness Julia Neuberger DBE was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge and Leo Baeck College, London, became a rabbi in 1977 and served the South London Liberal Synagogue for twelve years. She was at Harvard Medical School in 1991-1992, Chairman of Camden & Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust from 1993 until 1997 and then Chief Executive of the King’s Fund, an independent health charity until 2004. She has been a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the Medical Research Council and the General Medical Council, and has served as a trustee of the Runnymede Trust, the Imperial War Museum (until 2006), the British Council, Jewish Care and the Booker Prize Foundation.
She is a founding trustee of the Walter and Liesel Schwab Charitable Trust, in memory of her parents, and of New Philanthropy Capital, a charity that assesses the outcomes of charities’ work. Until spring 2008 she chaired the independent Commission on the Future of Volunteering, and was appointed last year the Prime Minister’s Champion for Volunteering. Baroness Neuberger has also recently been appointed Chair of the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board.
She is the author of several books on Judaism, women, healthcare ethics and on caring for dying people, was created a Life Peer (Liberal Democrat) in June 2004, and served as Bloomberg Professor of Divinity at Harvard University for the spring 2006 semester.
Peri Smilow is a nationally recognized singer/songwriter, educator and community organizer. Her music has been heard throughout the U.S., Canada, England, Singapore and Israel. In addition to her work as a contemporary Jewish composer and entertainer, Peri is an educational consultant specializing in non-profit management, curriculum design, community service learning and intergenerational programming. She holds a Masters Degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Peri has released three recordings of original contemporary Jewish music including Songs of Peace and Ashrey. Her most recent recording, Peri Smilow and The Freedom Music Project: The music of Passover and the Civil Rights Movement, features an electrifying 18-voice choir of young Black and Jewish singers celebrating the freedom music of their traditions. The Freedom Music Project is the subject of several feature stories broadcast nationally on NBC and ABC TV, National Public Radio's Weekend All Things Considered and internationally on Voice of America radio. Peri Smilow and The Freedom Music Project was nominated Best Gospel Album of the Year (2002) by the Just Plain Folks Music Awards and is now available for replication nationally as The Freedom Music Project: Concert-in-a-Box.™
These days Peri is at work combining all of her passions to create the Tikkun Olam Community Arts Project, a model for congregations to use the arts as a tool for social change. She recently completed a year as Artist-in-Residence at Temple Ner Tamid of Bloomfield, NJ. Peri is married to a terrific TV sports reporter who sings. They share their love with daughter Allie and C.C. the cat.
Lori Stark is serving her third term on the executive committee of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ), and as chair of the IMPJ Education Committee. She is co-chair, along with Joan Garson, of CONNECTIONS 2009 .
Lori is a founding member of Kibbutz Yahel, Israel’s first Reform kibbutz, where she’s lived exclusively since making aliyah almost 30 years ago, after being an active member in the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY). For more than 16 years, Lori served as director of the Ma’ayan B’Midbar Educational Seminar Center, designing informal educational programs for thousands of Reform Jewish teen and adult seminars. She is now finishing her second term as mazkira (general secretary) of Kibbutz Yahel.
Lori is married to Drew Stark, also a former NFTY-ite and member of Kibbutz Yahel. They have two boys: Nadav, who has completed his IDF army service and is currently a student in the School of Government at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzeliya (IDC); and Elan, who is volunteering full time for Magen David Adom during Shnat Sherut before he begins his IDF service in November.
Session Presenters & Speakers
Rabbi Grisha Abramovich (Belarus)
Rabbi Abramovich is the head rabbi of the Religious Union for Progressive Judaism in the Republic of Belarus. A native of Minsk, he started his Jewish journey 16 years ago as a member of the youth group of the Reform congregation Simcha, which today is widely considered the largest Jewish religious community organization in Belarus. Rabbi Abramovich, who received his rabbinical ordination at Leo Back College in London, is involved in 70 percent of all Bar mitzvah ceremonies in the country, conducted in eight Belarussian cities, for more than 70 children a year. He is also a musician, and co-founded the Minsk cantorial festival. He and his wife, Irina, who is the Minsk JCC educator, have two children.
Dov Abramson (Israel)
Dov Abramson is an artist and graphic designer who combines classic graphic design work for clients – such as Avi Chai Foundation, Gesher and PresenTense – with independent artistic work that deals with Jewish and Israeli identity. Dov's innovative projects have been recognized internationally and his art has been on exhibit at The Jewish Museum in New York as well as at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. He is the creator of Jewish-related Web sites such as pshita.co.il, cheftza.net and zimna.net. Having made "involuntary aliyah" at the age of eight from the U.S. in 1983, Dov currently lives with his wife and two daughters in Jerusalem, where the only thing he misses about the States is baseball.
Rabbi Nathan Alfred (Belgium)
Rabbi Nathan Alfred founded the virtual community "EuroJews" in 2003. He also co-created "The Facebook Shul" in 2007, and has worked on several projects for Jeneration, a British young adults' initiative. A graduate of Leo Baeck College, Nathan serves the International Jewish Center in Brussels, and now lives and works in Luxembourg.
Rabbi David Ariel-Yoel (USA)
Rabbi David Ariel-Joel is a rabbi at 'The Temple' in Louisville Kentucky, the largest and oldest (estab. 1841) Jewish congregation in the state. He also serves as professor of Jewish studies at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Rabbi Ariel-Joel received his MA degree in Jewish Studies and was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. He also received an MA in Jewish Philosophy and his undergraduate degree in Jewish philosophy from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Before coming to Louisville, Rabbi Ariel-Joel served as executive director of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, as well as on the boards of the Council of Reform Rabbis, the Joint Conversion Institute (where Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Rabbis teach together more than 2,000 people) and at the Israel Religious Action Center. Prior to that, Rabbi Ariel-Joel held positions as rabbi for Har-El Congregation, the first Reform congregation in Israel; director for the Progressive Beit Midrash; director of the Education and Culture Department at Beit Shmuel; and executive director and education director of Hamdat, the Association for the Freedom of Science, Religion and Culture in Israel. A founding member of Kibbutz Lotan, the second Reform Kibbutz in Israel, Rabbi Ariel-Joel has edited three books: Baruch She'assani Isha (Praised be the One Who Made Me a Woman) about the women in Judaism from biblical times to the present; The War of Gog and Magog: The Jewish Messianic Idea; and Who is a Jew – all for Yediot Achronot publishing house. Rabbi Ariel-Joel is married to Ya'ala Ariel-Joel. They have two sons, Haggai and Nadav, who were both born in Israel.
Rabbi Meir Azari (Israel)
Rabbi Meir Azari, prior to being ordained by Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, grew up in the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ). Born in Haifa in 1959, into a Sephardic family which has lived in the Holy Land for at least 600 years, Rabbi Azari was active in the IMPJ youth movement and graduated from its affiliated Leo Baeck High School. Upon completion of his national service in the Israeli Navy, he studied at Haifa University, where he earned a B.A. in Jewish history and political science. His Jewish history studies continued on the graduate level at
Hebrew University, after which entered the rabbinical program at HUC and also took supplementary courses at San Francisco University and at the Graduate Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. In 1986, Rabbi Azari became executive director of the IMPJ, where, together with ARZA (Association of Reform Zionists of America) he established the Israel Religious Action Center, and IMPJ’s education and outreach departments. Rabbi Azari was appointed congregation rabbi and executive director of Beit Daniel when it opened its doors in 1991. He now also directs Mishkenot Ruth Daniel, a guest house and education and community center located in Jaffa, which opened in May 2007. He is the current chair of the board of MARAM, the Israeli Council of Progressive Rabbis. Rabbi Azari also is a member of the administration of the School of Conversion to Judaism sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel and the State of Israel, and is on the board of governors of the Jewish Agency. Rabbi Azari has written numerous articles for the Israeli press and various religious journals. His wife, Anna, a career diplomat in Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is currently Israel’s ambassador to Russia. They have two children, Adam and Daphna.
Rabbi Reuven Bar Ephraim (Switzerland)
Born and raised in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Rabbi Bar-Ephraim made aliyah and lived as a member at Kibbutz Yahel from 1978 to 1988. He graduated from Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1992 with an MA in Bible studies, and from the Israeli rabbinical program at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem in 1993. He served as rabbi at Emet v'Shalom congregation in Nahariya from 1991 to 1995, at Bet Yehuda Congregation in The Hague, the Netherlands from 1995 to 2006, and has led Or Chadasch Congregation in Zurich, Switzerland since 2007.
Rabbi Dr. Tony Bayfield (UK)
was appointed the professional head of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain – now the Movement for Reform Judaism – in 1994, the first rabbi to hold that position. He is currently leading the development of its 2020 Vision, which aims to address the key challenges facing British Jewry in the 21st century.
He was born in Ilford, Essex, educated in Romford, went on to read law at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and earned his doctorate at the Cambridge Institute for Criminology before attending the Leo Baeck College to train as a rabbi. He received rabbinic ordination (smichah) in 1972 from Rabbis John Rayner z”l, Hugo Gryn z”l and Louis Jacobs z”l. After a decade as a congregational rabbi in Weybridge, Surrey he became the first director of the Sternberg Centre for Judaism, the largest Jewish religious, educational and cultural center in Europe.
Rabbi Bayfield teaches modern Jewish theology at the Leo Baeck College. He also specializes in Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim dialogue and has published widely in this area. Rabbi Bayfield is known to the public through pieces for national newspapers and broadcasts on the BBC; and he now has his own blog on The Guardian’s ‘Comment Is Free’ website. In November 2006 Rabbi Bayfield became only the third Jew in history to receive a Lambeth Degree, awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in recognition of his leadership in interfaith relations through lecturing, writing, teaching and in particular his work as a president of the Council of Christians and Jews.
Rabbi Bayfield, a widower, has three children and three grandchildren. His younger daughter, Miriam, was ordained in July 2006 and is currently serving at Finchley Reform Synagogue.
Rabbi Pauline Bebe (France)
Rabbi Pauline Bebe is the first woman rabbi of France. She created her own congregation in 1995 – Maayan – located in Paris near the Bastille, and has been serving it since then. She is the author of two books: What is Liberal Judaism? and Isha: A Dictionary of Women and Judaism, and has written numerous articles. She has a BA in English an American literature and civilization, and an MA and DEA in Hebrew literature.
Michelle Bernshaw (Australia)
Austin Beutel (Canada)
Austin Beutel was born in Montreal, and received his undergraduate degree in communications from McGill University and his MBA from Harvard. He has served as president of his synagogue, Temple Sinai of Toronto; as a member of the URJ Board since 1987; and as an active officer in the World Union since 1988, serving as its chairman (then called president) from 1995 to 2001. He is now an Honorary member of the World Union executive board. Austin also currently serves on the executive and board of the Toronto UJA Federation and on the executive of The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Previously, he has served as a board member and chairman of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, a leading Canadian teaching hospital. Austin retired in 1994 from the investment counseling business, which he co-founded in 1967, and divides his time between serving as a corporate director and in volunteer activities. He is married to Nani, a professional volunteer who remains active in the World Union and other non-profit organizations. They have three children and nine grandchildren.
Nani Beutel (Canada)
Nani Beutel has been actively involved with the World Union since 1988, and is an officer of its North American Council. She is a member of Temple Sinai in Toronto, where she initiated the FSU Committee and is a former foundation chair. She has also served on several nonprofit boards. She and her husband Austin, a former chair of the World Union, have three children and nine grandchildren.
Rabbi Leonid Bimbat
Rabbi Leonid Bimbat was born in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and ordained at the Leo Baeck College in London in 2007. He works as a rabbi at the Moscow Progressive Jewish Community "Le-Dor va-Dor," a World Union affiliate. He teaches liturgy and about Jewish year- and life-cycle events at the Machon Institute for Modern Jewish Studies in Moscow. Rabbi Bimbat is also involved in the work of the Reform beit din of the FSU.
Dr. David Bilchitz (SA)
Rabbi Stacey Blank (Israel)
Deborah Blausten (UK)
Deborah is currently on Shnat Netzer (Netzer Olami’s post-high school gap year program in Israel) and has been a member of RSY-Netzer since she was 11. She is a member of North Western Reform Synagogue (Alyth) in London. She has been a madricha (leader) for two summers with RSY and with her synagogue for several more. Since being in Israel she has spent four months at the Machon L'Madrichei Chul and studied at the Conservative Yeshiva. She plans to spend the rest of her year to volunteer in Tel Aviv. On returning to England, Deborah is going to study medicine at UCL.
Dr. Philip Bliss (Australia)
Dr. Philip Bliss is a vice chair of the World Union and serves on its management committee. He also chairs the World Union’s Global Social Action Network and advocacy committee, and co-chairs its constitutional task force. He has been the president of the Victorian Jewish roof body, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, and past president of the Union for Progressive Judaism (Australia, New Zealand and Asia). He is also treasurer of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews and the chair of the CCJ (Victoria) programs committee. Dr. Bliss is a dentist by profession; he and his wife, Andrea, have four children and nearly three grandchildren.
Gusti Yehushua Braverman (Israel)
The assistant director for the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism since 1993, Gusti oversees the organization’s growth through the development of new congregations and outreach programs, and is responsible for recruiting, training, mobilization and cultivation of lay leadership and for developing connections to the Jewish world. She was the founder and manager in 1992 of the Information Center for Social and Lifecycle Events, and the 1990-1992 director of the Tamar Jerusalem Dance Company. From 1984 to 1990, Gusti managed the Center for Training and Development of Manpower, Neighborhood Rehabilitation Project and the Center for Adult Training for the Amal network. She received her BA in social work and MA in communications from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She and her husband, Yoram, have three children – Niv (currently serving in the IDF), Ilay and Einav – who are 11th generation Israeli.
Steve Breslauer (USA)
Stephen Breslauer has served on the World Union executive board for the past decade, currently as secretary, and has been actively involved in developing its work in the former Soviet Union, Israel and Latin America. His record of community service includes roles as president of the North American Federation of Temple Brotherhoods (now, Men of Reform Judaism), vice president of ARZA, member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel, officer of the Houston Jewish Federation, and much more. As associate trustees of the Samuel and Helene Soref Foundation for the past 15 years, and, currently, as secretary and president, respectively, of the Soref-Breslauer Texas Foundation, Steve and his wife, Sandy, have been instrumental in providing funds for some of the World Union’s highest priority programs.
Jim Breslauer (USA)
The assistant director for the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism since 1993, Gusti oversees the organization’s growth through the development of new congregations and outreach programs, and is responsible for recruiting, training, mobilization and cultivation of lay leadership and for developing connections to the Jewish world. She was the founder and manager in 1992 of the Information Center for Social and Lifecycle Events, and the 1990-1992 director of the Tamar Jerusalem Dance Company. From 1984 to 1990, Gusti managed the Center for Training and Development of Manpower, Neighborhood Rehabilitation Project and the Center for Adult Training for the Amal network. She received her BA in social work and MA in communications from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She and her husband, Yoram, have three children – Niv (currently serving in the IDF), Ilay and Einav – who are 11th generation Israeli.
Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor (USA)
Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor is the vice president of philanthropy at the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Prior to this, he served as the director of the education division and director of interfaith affairs at the Anti-Defamation League. He has also been the director of interreligious affairs at the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now URJ), and the associate director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. He was senior rabbi at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in NYC for eight years, and has also served congregations in Mahopac, New York; San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Louis, Missouri; and Elizabeth, New Jersey. A graduate of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, he was on the faculty of the Religion and History Departments of Sarah Lawrence College, the HUC-JIR School of Education as Lecturer in Intertestamental Literature and Jewish Ethics, and a Lecturer at the NYU School of Continuing Education.
Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor is the editor and principal writer of SHALOM / SALAAM: A RESOURCE FOR JEWISH / MUSLIM DIALOGUE. His most recent book is called A Jewish View Of Cults.
Jim Cherney (USA)
James Cherney is a retired partner from the international law firm of Latham & Watkins, and now does mediation and arbitration work. He is a former president of Temple Sholom of Chicago, and currently serves as a board member for the Union of Reform Judaism and as chair of the URJ’s World Jewry Committee. He traveled on the URJ’s Eastern Europe Mission in the spring of 2008 to Warsaw, Bucharest and Berlin, and to Israel in the summer of 2008 with a group from his temple community. Elsewhere in the Jewish world, he is the chairman-elect of the board of the University of Chicago Hillel, and a member of the Illinois Hillel governing board.
Ruth Cohen (Israel)
Ruth Cohen was born in London and brought up in a traditional, observant family. With her husband, Harvey, and two sons she joined a Reform congregation in the early 1960s. Through involvement with the Women's Guild, she moved through the synagogue leadership to become chairman, and subsequently became chairman of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (now the Movement for Reform Judaism). From this role she became involved with World Union and eventually served as its president. From a committed Zionist background in the Diaspora, Ruth and Harvey made aliyah in 1999. They have one son living in Israel with his family, and one son in New York.
Resa Davids (USA/Israel)
Resa Davids received her BS in mathematics from Jackson College of Tufts University, and her MS in biostatistics from the University of Cincinnati. She served as assistant principal of Yeshiva Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, and was coordinator of the Florence Melton Mini School. Within the Jewish community, Resa has been a national board member of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) and Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ), chair of WRJ-Israel, and a madricha on the March of the Living. With her husband, Rabbi Stanley Davids, she made aliyah to Israel in February 2004. The Davids live in Jerusalem and Santa Monica, California, and are blessed with three children and seven grandchildren.
Rabbi Stanley Davids (USA/Israel)
Rabbi Davids is from Cleveland, Ohio, and received his BA from Case Western Reserve University, magna cum laude, PBK. He was ordained from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1965, and was subsequently awarded his Doctor of Divinity from HUC-JIR. Rabbi Davids' most significant commitments in the Jewish community have been to ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America, which he served as national president from 2004 to 2008. It was through ARZA that Rabbi Davids founded the Reform Zionist Think Tank, an endeavor that led to the historic adoption of the CCAR's Reform Zionist Platform (Miami, 1997), which among other issues embraced for the first time aliyah as a Reform mitzvah. He is honorary chairman of the State of Israel Bonds Rabbinic Cabinet, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel. In April 2008 he was elected to the executive committee of the World Zionist Organization. Long active with youth, Rabbi Davids was elected an honorary member of NFTY. He has also served as international president of Alpha Epsilon Pi, America's sole surviving Jewish undergraduate fraternity. Rabbi Davids and his wife, Resa, made aliyah in 2004 and recently celebrated their 45th anniversary. They have been blessed with three children and seven grandchildren.
Alex Dembitz
Alex Dembitz is the chairman of SOFGEN SA, and has over 28 years’ experience in banking, 15 of which were focused on the implementation of banking systems and related consultancy. He is the founder and past chairman and CEO of the IDOM Group, the largest specialized IT consulting firm in Central Europe, as well as a former board chairman and partner of Deloitte & Touche Central Europe. He is also a director of various companies in Switzerland, Hungary, UK, Croatia and Slovenia. He received his BS degree with honors from Manchester University and his MBA with distinction from INSEAD; he speaks English, French, German and Hungarian.
Steve Denenberg (Australia)
Steve Denenberg was born in England and educated in Israel at Hebrew University. He worked as a social worker in England before moving to Australia in 1986 to become CEO of Jewish Care (NSW). Since 2002 he ran an independent fund-raising organization for Israeli groups before becoming CEO of Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney. Since August 2008, he has been executive director of the Union for Progressive Judaism. He and his wife, Sue, have two daughters and two dogs; he enjoys exercise, golf, music, reading and voluntary work.
Micah Diamond (USA)
Micah Diamond is from Dallas, Texas, where he has been a member of Emanu-El Temple for the past eight years. A graduate of the Solomon Schechter Day School, Micah was a religious and cultural vice president and lead regional song leader in NFTY, before coming on Shnat Netzer. He was the captain of the Robotic Team of his school and on the Academic Decathlon team. In the past two years he has been teaching Hebrew writing and reading to pre- bnei mitzvah children. Micah participated twice in the NFTY convention, in the first U.S. Robotics Competition and in the Texas State Academic Decathlon. He arrived to the Shnat Netzer program six months ago and so far was in the Etgar program in Jerusalem, participated in Sar-El (army volunteering), continued his volunteering in Tel Aviv in several Tikkun Olam organizations; he recently started Shvil Israel.
Rabbi Alex Dukhovny (Ukraine)
Rabbi Dukhovny is the chief rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, and head of the Religious Union for Progressive Jewish Congregations of Ukraine (RUPJCU). He was the first Ukrainian-born Progressive rabbi, and restarted the Reform movement in Ukraine after Stalin’s oppression and World War II. He graduated from the Leo Baeck College-Centre of Jewish Education in 1999, and now serves over 40 Reform/Progressive congregations all over Ukraine. Also he chairs the Eastern European Council of Progressive Rabbis. His late wife, Rabbi Erlene Wahlhaus, served Reform congregations in the UK.
Paula V. Edelstein (Israel)
Paula Edelstein is the chairperson of the Steering Committee of the Israel Religious Action Committee of the IMPJ, and immediate past chairperson of the IMPJ. She is the former executive director of ARZENU and represents the Reform movement on the Executive of the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel, where she holds the portfolio of co-chair of the Aliyah and Klitah Committee. Paula and her family made aliyah in 1972 and have lived in Jerusalem ever since.
Leora Ezrachi-Vered (Israel)
A native of Jerusalem, Leora was a member of the Reform youth movement in Kol Haneshama. After a year of community service, she became an educational officer in a tank division of the I.D.F., and has been a counselor and volunteer coordinator in the Mechina since 2004. Most recently, Leora became the community coordinator for Noar Telem – the youth group of the Israeli Progressive movement. She is currently working on a master's degree in Jewish History at Tel Aviv University and a diploma in Jewish education from HUC.
Dani Fessler (Israel)
Dani Fesler is the headmaster and managing director of The Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa. A graduate of Leo Baeck High School, he is today a teacher, a public administrator and an expert in the fields of education, government and public service. Holding a BA in political science and history of the Jewish People and an MSc in Human Resources and Training, Dani has taught at high school and university levels. He sits on two national education committees of the Ministry of Education, is an active member of the Haifa Rotary Club and is on the steering committee of the Haifa-Boston Connection (P2K). Dani has been on the management team of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, headed school parents committees, and has been the leader of the Leo Baeck-based Israeli Scouts troop. Dani also has served as the head of the Haifa Municipality Department of Education, Welfare and Culture. He is a member at "Ohel Abraham" congregation in Haifa.
Reeva Forman (South Africa)
Reeva Forman is chairman of Temple Israel Hillbrow Mother Synagogue of Progressive Judaism in Johannesburg and of the Gauteng region of Arzenu. She serves on the S.A. Jewish Board of Deputies - Gauteng Council / National Executive Council, and is vice chairman and member of the MANCOM Board of the S.A. Zionist Federation. Reeva is the managing director of Reeva Forman (Pty) Ltd., one of South Africa’s leading cosmetic companies. Twice voted as S.A. Model of the Year in her teens, Reeva achieved an exceptional career as an International model. She holds a BA degree with honors in psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand, has earned several business achievement awards and is a well known guest speaker on management, marketing, motivation, self-development, human relations and success. In 2002, during the height of the second Intifada, Reeva initiated, and now chairs, the Israel Now Tour SAZF. To date more than 500 people have visited Israel through this program, culminating in an Israel Now Bar Mitzvah Tour of 80 participants for Israel 60th anniversary in 2008. A 14th tour is planned for May 2009.
Rabbi David Gelfand (USA)
Rabbi Gelfand is the senior rabbi of Temple Israel of the City of New York. He is known for creating cutting-edge models for synagogue life based on pluralism, inclusivity, outreach, excellence in education for all ages and the creation of a vibrant spiritual life for all. He has been involved in issues of Reform Jewish Outreach for the Union of Reform Judaism, including patrilineality, since the late 1970s. He began his career at Temple Beth-El, Great Neck, NY; was the rabbi of The Jewish Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton, NY, where he initiated the highly acclaimed "Hamptons Jewish Summer Institute;” and has also served synagogues New Jersey and Ohio. Today Rabbi Gelfand is national vice president of The Interfaith Alliance in Washington DC, which he co-founded; serves on the HUC-JIR’s Board of Governors and its President’s Rabbinic Council; is a member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism’s International Assembly, and vice chair of its North American Council and Rabbinic Council; and also served as chair of the CCAR’s committee on World Jewry in recent years. He and his wife, Kathy, and their family reside in New York City and East Hampton, NY.
Anna Gerrard (UK)
Raised in the UK Masorti movement, Anna joined a Liberal community while studying theology in Birmingham, and ran activities there for young people. After working in Jewish education in California, she returned to London to do young adult work for Liberal Judaism and to start the Rabbinical Programme at Leo Baeck College, where she is a student rabbi. Anna is now doing her Israel year at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem and running activities for the Jerusalem Open House.
Dennis Gilbert (USA)
A 1973 graduate of Syracuse University with a BA in Music Education, Dennis Gilbert taught high school music in Westchester County, New York from 1973 to 1979, and received his Masters degree in Humanities from Hofstra University in 1979. After a successful career in textiles and real estate from 1979 to 1997, he now spends most of his time in semi-retirement working in a volunteer capacity. A few of the many causes with which Gilbert has been actively involved are the White Plains Hospital Center; Business and Industry for the Arts in Education; the Zamir Choral Foundation; the Westchester Symphonic Winds; the Union for Reform Judaism; Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion; ARZA; North American Council of the World Union for Progressive Judaism; Kehilat Mevasseret Zion; and Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. He has been married for 33 years to Nancy, and has two sons - Shane, 21, and Lee, 18 - who all reside in Scarsdale, New York.
Rabbi Miri Gold (Israel)
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Miri Gold made aliyah to Kibbutz Gezer in 1977 with Garin "Tohu" of Habonim, and has been a member of the kibbutz ever since. She completed her rabbinic studies at HUC's Jerusalem campus in 1997, becoming the third woman ordained by the Reform movement in Israel, and recently completed pastoral counseling education through HUC’s Mezorim program. With the backing of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), Rabbi Gold has appealed to the Israel Supreme Court, demanding recognition as the rabbi of Gezer, and a salary. This test case is important for the future of both the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel. Rabbi Gold and her husband, David Leichman, have three children – Eliora, Arishai and Alon.
Rabbi Mark Goldsmith (UK)
Mark Goldsmith is Principal Rabbi of North Western Reform Synagogue in Alyth Gardens, Temple Fortune, London and a member of the executive committee of 3iG (The International Interfaith Investment Group) and of the Movement for Reform Judaism Assembly of Rabbis. He finds the intersection between Judaism and business and working life fascinating. He also loves to work with people who are embarking on their Jewish journey independently for the first time and runs a regular Bet Midrash for young adults in London with Jeneration. Rabbi Goldsmith was chairman of the Rabbinic Conference of Liberal Judaism from 2004-2006.
Rabbi Andrew Goldstein (UK)
For over 20 years, Rabbi Goldstein and his wife have organized and led annual tours to places of Jewish interest for adult members of their congregation and youth groups. They have visited most countries in Western and Central Europe as well as Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Morocco and even the southern states of America. Having developed particularly close ties with the Czech and Slovak Republics, Rabbi Goldstein has helped to establish Progressive Judaism in the former, and currently makes monthly rabbinic visits to Bratislava in the latter. As the current chairman of the European Region of World Union, he is in constant contact, and makes visits to, all of the countries in Europe that have established or developing Reform/Liberal communities, including the former Soviet Union. He is the Emeritus Rabbi of Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue on the outskirts of London, having retired last September after 43 years with the congregation.
Raul Gottlieb (Brazil)
Raul Cesar Gottlieb is director of Devarim magazine and council member of ARI – Associaçao Religiosa Israelita of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a former worship director at ARI, president of Eliezer Steinbarg Jewish day school and of Vaad Hachinuch of Rio de Janeiro, as well as boger of the Chazit Hanoar youth movement. Professionally, he is an engineer and technology entrepreneur.
Michael Grabiner (UK)
Rabbi Roberto D. Graetz
Rabbi Roberto D. Graetz has been the rabbi at Temple Isaiah since 1991. Prior to that he served for 18 years in Brazil and Argentina. He currently sits on the board of Rabbis for Human Rights–NA, and leads an Interfaith Coalition for Affordable Housing with Supportive Service. He is married to Evelyn and has three daughters.
Cherie Half (USA)
Cherie Half is currently on the board of the North American Council of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. She is the past president of the Pacific Region of the Women of Reform Judaism, a past board member of WRJ, co-chair of the World Union’s previous Pacific Central West region’s board, and chair of the Poltava "twinning" committee of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California. Cherie and her husband, Fred, have three grown married children, with three grandchildren and one on the way. Cherie migrated from Rhode Island with Fred to attend Stanford. A retired teacher, she has led a Rosh Chodesh group for 18 years at Beth Am and developed many other programs as part of its community building efforts.
Maoz Haviv (Israel)
Maoz Haviv is the executive director of Netzer Olami, the international youth movement of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Born in 1941 before the state of Israel was created, Haviv’s birth certificate indicates that he is a Palestinian. He grew up in a small village near the town of Rehovot and has been active in the Israel chalutznik (pioneer) movement since the age 10. After high school, Haviv moved with members of his youth movement to a kibbutz, served as a paratrooper in the army and then returned to Kibbutz Tzora where he has lived ever since. He has been a shaliach (emissary) to youth movements in Haifa and various parts of the United States, including Young Judea, and served as the central shaliach to NFTY in 1994. On kibbutz, Maoz was a teacher and headmaster of the Kibbutz school. He has established and run a tour company for visitors, worked as the sales and marketing manager of a furniture factory and started a kibbutz ulpan. Haviv also has participated in many conferences on Judaism and Zionism in the U.S. and throughout the world. A Zionist and pioneer in the truest sense, Haviv became mazkir (director) of Netzer Olami in 1996.
James Heeger (USA)
Jim Heeger is a member of the World Union’s executive board (vice chair for 2009-2011) and has co-led its strategic planning efforts over the past three years. He lives in California with his wife, Daryl Messinger, where he is an active leader in the Jewish community as a past president of Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills, a vice president of Hillel at Stanford University and the chair of the URJ's Camp Newman Facility Master Plan process. He is also the president and CEO of PayCycle, the leading provider of online payroll services for small businesses.
Judith Hertz (USA)
Judith Hertz is a current member of the Union for Reform Judaism board of directors, co-chair of the URJ’s Commission on Inter-religious Affairs, and a World Union non-governmental representative to the United Nations. She also is a past president of Women of Reform Judaism.
Rabbi Richard G. Hirsch (Israel)
Rabbi Richard Hirsch is Honorary Life President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and an active leader in the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization. He previously served as co-chairman of the Jewish Agency's Commission on the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, was elected president of the 33rd World Zionist congress, and is the current chairman of the Zionist General Council. Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1926, Rabbi Hirsch graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1947. He then studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and was ordained in 1951 at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute or Religion. Rabbi Hirsch served Temple Emanuel in Chicago from 1951-1953 and Temple Emanuel in Denver from 1953 to 1956. From 1956 until 1961 he was director of the Chicago Federation and Great Lakes Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. He was the founding Director of the Reform's movement's Religious Action Center in Washington, DC, which he served from 1962 to 1973, when he moved to Israel to become executive director of the World Union. Rabbi Hirsch contributes frequently to various publications in English and Hebrew, and has written five books on the application of Judaism to contemporary social problems. He and his wife, Bella, have a daughter, three sons and eleven grandchildren.
Anat Hoffman (Israel)
Anat Hoffman is a major leader for social justice in Israel, known for her commitment and tenacity. Anat was born and raised in Jerusalem and served in the Jerusalem City Council for 14 years, leading the opposition to the right wing and ultra-Orthodox administration. She was a founding member of Women of the Wall and continues to be a tireless advocate for freedom of religion and women’s rights. In 2002, Anat Hoffman became the executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the legal and advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel. IRAC’s goals are to promote the values of religious pluralism, human equality, social justice and religious tolerance in Israel, to strengthen the public standing of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (Reform), its congregations and institutions, and to protect their rights.
Rabbi Prof. Dr. Walter Homolka (Germany)
Michal Immerman (Israel)
Steve Israel (Israel)
Originally from England, Steve Israel made aliyah in 1975 and spent his first eight years on kibbutz. Leaving kibbutz in 1982, he came to Jerusalem, earned a masters degree in Jewish history and started to leave thoughts of milking cows behind. He reentered the field of informal Jewish education, in which he’d been involved in a youth movement before moving to Israel. He does a lot of teaching in various frameworks, trains educators in different skills and writes many educational materials. He and his wife, Dena (an ex-New Yorker) have four boys, and a very noisy house in Jerusalem.
Penny Jakobovits (Australia)
Penny Jakobovits is a past president of the Union for Progressive Judaism (Australia, New Zealand and Asia), serving from 2000 to 2004. She has also been a member of the World Union executive board (2001) and the board of Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne, Australia (1989 to 1999). She and her husband have three children and for children.
Rabbi Robert A. Jacobs
Robert A. Jacobs began his rabbinic studies with the first First-Year in Israel class and continued at the New York Campus, receiving his ordination in 1975. A native of New York, Rabbi Jacobs served congregations in Salinas, CA, Great Neck and Long Beach, NY from 1975 to 1989. For 10 years, while serving as part-time rabbi in Livingston Manor, NY and Centreville, VA, his primary work was in other fields, including over five years as executive director of the Leo Baeck Institute, Inc, the New York City center for advanced research in the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry, and as community relations and bereavement specialist at Danzanksy Goldberg Memorial Chapels, Inc. in Rockville, MD. He served the Harford Jewish Center, Temple Adas Shalom in Havre de Grace MD, from 1998 to 2007, when was called to serve as rabbi of Bet David in Johannesburg, South Africa. Rabbi Jacobs received certification in clinical pastoral counseling from the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, and has published several papers, including a chapter in a volume on Moses Mendelssohn, and represented the proceedings of a Round Table at the 6th International Conference of 18th Century Studies (ISECS), and presented at the World Congress of Jewish Studies, and the Joseph Roth Centenary Conference in Lvov, Ukraine. He has voluntarily served as a faculty member for the Union of Progresiver Juden Deutschland, Oesterreich und der Schweiz at their annual conferences 2000-2008.
Alex Kagan (Israel)
Alex Kagan is the FSU (former Soviet Union) director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. He was born in Vitebsk, Belarus and, prior to making aliyah in 1994, was active in the Jewish Agency and the Reform movement. He has bachelors and masters degrees in clinical criminology, and is currently working on his PhD in criminology. Kagan began working for the World Union in 2001 as Netzer coordinator, and was appointed FSU director for the World Union in 2005.
Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins (Australia)
Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins has led the congregation at Emanuel Synagogue for 20 years, the last ten as senior rabbi. He is committed to principles of egalitarianism, inclusion and diversity within the synagogue and the broader community. He sees text-based education as a means for understanding the wisdom of our ancestors and being better able to implement Torah values in contemporary times. Accordingly, he is committed to justice for all and exploring spiritual paths. He serves on the board of the Shalom Institute, and as one of the rabbinic consultants to Emanuel School, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the executive council of Australian Jewry.
Avivit Katzil (UK)
Born in Jerusalem and raised in a traditional Sefardi Jewish family, Avivit now lives in London and serves as the Young Adults Worker for Liberal Judaism. In this role, she coordinates groups of young Jewish adults around the country, runs Friday night 'tent' services and organizes residential and cultural Jewish activities for today’s young Jews.
Rabbi Katalin Kelemen (Hungary)
In her early years, Rabbi Kelemen was a teacher of languages and literature. In the late 1980s, as the Communist system in Eastern Europe was breaking down, she was a leader in a group of intellectuals, who – with the assistance of members and organizations of British Reform Jewry – were seeking to learn about their Jewish roots. In 1992, she was a founding member of the Sim Shalom Association in Budapest, whose purpose was to promote the study of Judaism and to celebrate the Jewish holidays. She graduated in 1998 from the Leo Baeck College in London. Since then she has been serving the Sim Shalom Synagogue, now a full-fledged religious community, as its spiritual leader. The first and only Reform and woman rabbi in Hungary, Rabbi Kelemen is married to Dr. Jesse L. Weil and has a 21 year-old daughter, Julia.
Rabbi Naamah Kelman (Israel)
Rabbi Naamah Kelman is a descendent of 10 generations of rabbis, becoming the first woman to be ordained by the Hebrew Union College in 1992. Born and raised in New York, she has lived in Israel since 1976, where she has worked in community organizing and Jewish education. Rabbi Kelman has been intensely involved in the emerging education system of the Israeli Movement for Progressive (Reform) Judaism. Among the founders of the first Progressive Day school, she has overseen the development of curricular materials, teacher training programs and family education. As the director of Educational Initiatives, she is involved in teacher training and enrichment and the professional development of Israeli rabbinic students. She is currently associate dean at Hebrew Union College after serving as its director of the Year in Israel program and educational initiatives. She is a board member of Rabbis for Human Rights, MELITZ and the Tali Education Fund.
Rabbi Rich Kirschen (Israel)
Rabbi Kirschen is the director of the World Union’s Anita Saltz International Education Center in Jerusalem. He was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1996. Before making aliyah to Israel, he served as associate director of the University of Michigan Hillel in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and as executive director of the Hillel at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Kirschen’s instructional area of expertise - understanding public culture, sovereignty and religion in the Jewish State – is a part of the wide-ranging curriculum being taught at the Saltz Education Center. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Cara Saposnik, a documentary filmmaker, and their three children.
Susan Klau (USA)
Sue Klau, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, holds a Master’s Degree in English from the University of Puerto Rico. A longtime board member of the Union for Reform Judaism, she is a member of the North American Council of the World Union. A founding member and past president of Temple Beth Shalom in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she is currently serving as chair of its Ritual/Spiritual Coverage Committee. Her synagogue has a lot of ruach!
Rabbi Elliott Kleinman (USA)
Rabbi Elliott A. Kleinman, RJE, is the chief program officer for the Union for Reform Judaism in North America, coordinating the work of the departments of Outreach and Synagogue Community, Jewish Family Concerns, Worship, Music and Religious Living and Social Action. He is responsible for the Biennial conventions of the Union – North America’s largest Jewish gathering – which brings together more than 5,000 synagogue volunteer leaders and professionals for five days of worship, music and study. Rabbi Kleinman is also the executive editor of Reform Judaism magazine. Rabbi Kleinman, RJE (Reform Jewish Educator), received his rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Before coming to New York, he was the regional director for the Northeast Lakes Council/Detroit Federation of the Union. Before that, he served as a rabbi at Temple Sholom of Chicago. Rabbi Kleinman serves on the boards of the Interfaith Broadcast Commission and Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, on the Advisory Council of Myriam’s Dream Foundation and on the Member Council of Faith and Values Media. An author and editor, he has taught teachers and students in both Jewish and secular schools and universities. A native of Chicago, Kleinman was steeped in Chicago politics for more than ten years. He has two children: Shira and Avi.
Rabbi Maya Leibovich (Israel)
Rabbi Leibovich is vice chair of Keren Kayemet l’Israel (JNF), and has been with the Mevasseret Zion congregation since her ordination in 1993 at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. Under her leadership, Kehilat Mevasseret Zion has grown from a minimal nucleus of six families to a thriving congregation of 200 families. She has created a much sought-after educational program and an active chapter of Time Bank – a flagship social action program of the congregation. Rabbi Maya and her husband, Menachem, have four children.
Evgeniy Leshenko (Russia)
Born in 1982 in Borisov to a Jewish father and a Christian mother, Evgeniy grew up with no religious or national identity. His initial exposure to Judaism was at a Netzer summer camp in Kyiv in 1999, where he first heard a Shma Israel niggun, which inspired him to develop his interest in music and to participate in various Netzer activities. He visited Israel for the first time in 2003 for the Netzer veida (conference), and the following year was accepted at the Machon – the Institute for Modern Jewish Studies in Moscow – where he began intensive studies in Judaism. During this time, he continued to work in the Netzer camps, participated in leadership seminars and in different film festivals. His film about Jewish youth and establishing Jewish identity in the FSU was awarded best film of the year in 2006.
In 2005 Evgeniy performed at the World Union's convention in Moscow with a special reggae rendition of Mode Ani. For the past two years, he has been working as the coordinator for Netzer Russia in Moscow, and is currently involved in a project of recording Reform niggunim created in the FSU.
Dalya Levy (Israel)
Dalya Levy made aliyah to Israel as a student in 1968. Before joining ARZENU in 1999, she had a business and banking career that spanned over 25 years. In 2006 she was named to the position of executive director of ARZENU, which is a member of the WZO (World Zionist Organization) representing the political interests of Reform and Progressive Zionists worldwide. She is a member of the WZO Committee for Budget and Finance and chairs the Subcommittee for Control. She currently serves on the board of IRAC, the Israel Religious Action Center, and was the first chair of its Keren B’Kavod Fund, a subcommittee for social action and tikkun olam.
Shelley Lindauer (USA)
As executive director of Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ), Shelley Lindauer oversees the activities of one of the world's largest Jewish women's organizations. WRJ is the women's affiliate of the Union for Reform Judaism, with 65,000 members in 500 sisterhoods throughout North America and around the world. Appointed in January 2004, Shelley Lindauer is the fourth woman to hold the position of executive director since the agency's founding in 1913. Prior to her professional affiliation with WRJ, she served as a development executive for UJA-Federation of New York in Syosset, NY. Before dedicating her professional life to Jewish service, Lindauer was the president of Media Alternatives Group, Inc., a direct marketing media consulting firm that planned and developed marketing strategies and promotional campaigns for national direct marketers. A summa cum laude graduate of Hunter College in New York, Lindauer is a certified public accountant. Before establishing Media Alternatives Group, Inc., she worked for an international accounting firm and later maintained a private accounting practice.
Paul Liptz (Israel)
Professor Paul Liptz is a social historian who lectures in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University, and in Israel Studies at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. He is the education director of the World Union’s Anita Saltz International Education Center, has published many articles on contemporary Jewry and Jewish history, and has lectured and conducted workshops in 12 countries. In addition, he has traveled throughout Europe with numerous groups and is recognized as an outstanding Scholar in Residence, who is capable of translating complex issues and realities into language we can all understand. Over the years Professor Liptz has moved from "straight" history to incorporating sociology and political science into his teaching.
Diane Marcus (USA)
Diane Marcus lives in San Mateo, California, and is a member of congregations Peninsula Temple Beth El (past president) and Congregation Beth Am. She is a member of the North American Board of Trustees of the Union for Reform Judaism, a vice president of the North American Council of the World Union and a member of its executive board. Diane also serves as Capital Projects chair of San Francisco Hillel.
Rabbi Dow Marmur (Israel/Canada)
Rabbi Dow Marmur is Rabbi Emeritus at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, Canada. He has served as interim executive director of the World Union (2000-2001) and chairman of Arzenu. He has published widely as the author of six books, the editor of two, and has also written monographs, chapters in books and many articles, as well as being a columnist for The Toronto Star, The Canadian Jewish News and The San Diego Jewish World.
Lenore Mass (USA)
Lenore Mass is the president of the Chicago Federation/Great Lakes Region of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), and co-chair of the Domestic Affairs Commission for the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Chicago Federation. She is also an executive committee member of the World Union’s North American Council and an ARZA national board member, as well as past president of K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Congregation, Chicago, IL and on the board of Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute Camp, Oconomowoc, WI. Lenore is also a private cello instructor and a member of the cello section in the Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest.
Ania Mazgal (Poland)
Rabbi Ofek Meir (Israel)
Rabbi Ofek Meir is the rabbi of the Leo Baeck Education Center, principal of its Elementary School and a teacher of Jewish philosophy and history at its Senior High School. Rabbi Meir joined the Leo Baeck Education Center in 1989, and worked as a community youth leader at the Leo Baeck Community Center as assistant rabbi at Leo Baeck's Ohel Avraham Progressive Synagogue. He also served as the shaliach to Liberal Judaism in the United Kingdom. Rabbi Meir was the founder and the first director of the Lokey International Academy of Jewish Studies until 2006, responsible for initiating and developing programming from its inception. He earned a BA in Jewish history and thought from Oranim Teachers Seminary of the University of Haifa, and an MA in Jewish Education from HUC-JIR New York. Rabbi Meir also holds a degree in classical guitar from the Royal College of Music in London. As a musician in the IDF orchestra, he performs at army bases and national ceremonies throughout Israel. Rabbi Meir was ordained in November 2006. He lives in Haifa with his wife, Yifat, and their three children: Noam, Ziv and Hadar.
Kathryn Michael (UK)
Kathryn Michael was born into the UK Progressive movement, and has remained an active member throughout her life. Today she is an executive member and Honorary Secretary of Hendon Reform Synagogue in London. Professionally, she has worked as a dispensing optician for the past 25 years. Following her attendance at the Beutel Leadership Seminar at the Saltz Center in Jerusalem, her life took a new turn, and last year she added to her job in optics the role of Project Development Manager of the European Region and National Coordinator of Exodus 2000, working with the communities in the FSU. Kathryn is also the administrator of RIST (Rabbinic In Service Training) at Leo Baeck College, London.
In her spare time Kathryn runs a craft business, designing and creating greetings cards and invitations as well as supplying Judaica crafts for people (adults and children) to create their own works of art.
Anne Molloy (USA)
Anne Molloy, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a member of the executive board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, where she chairs the Former Soviet Union Committee. For the past decade Anne and her husband, Henry Posner III, have been involved with various efforts of the World Union and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee supporting Jewish communities throughout the FSU. Professionally, Anne serves as executive director of the Posner Fine Arts Foundation and librarian at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh. She is immediate past president of Rodef Shalom, and also serves as a board member of the Union for Reform Judaism. She holds an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh, an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS from Simmons College.
Rabbi Ian Morris
Rabbi Ian Morris has been the rabbi of Sinai Synagogue in Leeds, UK since 1996. He was born and grew up in Melbourne, Australia and trained for the rabbinate at HUC-JIR New York. After ordination in 1984, he served Temple David in Perth, Western Australia and Beit Shalom Synagogue in Adelaide, South Australia. His wife, Carey Glass, is an organizational psychologist, and his daughters, Eliora, Hadas and Gavriella, are all beautiful, brilliant and deeply committed to Netzer. The only other male in the house is a neutered cat. He feels very outnumbered.
Jeremy Morrison (USA)
Félix Mosbacher (France)
Félix Mosbacher was educated in Paris and received his MBA from Harvard. He has been the longtime general manager of the French affiliate of a U.S. pharmaceutical company, and continually involved with Jewish institutions, such as UJA, CRIF and the Scouts. He is a former chair of the Paris congregation, MJLF.
Stephen D. Moss CBE (UK)
Stephen Moss, a barrister and MBA from the London Business School, has had a successful career in the property, restaurant and travel industries. He now has a portfolio of non-executive directorships, and continues to chair Springboard, a charity he set up to promote careers in hospitality and tourism. In 1992 he was awarded an MBE for services to the restaurant industry and, in 2002, a CBE for his contribution towards education and training. Stephen has been a lifelong member of West London Synagogue, where he served as warden and then as chairman. He joined the board of the Movement for Reform Judaism in 2005 as joint treasurer, before becoming chairman in 2008. Stephen is also Treasurer of Jewish Child’s Day, which is chaired by his wife, Joy.
Lea Mühlstein (Germany)
Lea is a student rabbi in her second year at Leo Baeck College in London. Born and raised in Germany, she studied natural sciences at Cambridge University and then went on to work on her PhD in chemistry at Munich University. She is currently working with a number of British congregations and has been involved in organizing activities for young Jewish adults for many years. She was a board member of TaMaR Germany and is currently coordinating activities for TaMaR in Europe. As the youth and young adult representative on the executive board of the World Union, she works with a group of people to encourage participation of young adults in the work of the organization.
Yuval Namirovsky (Israel)
Yuval Namirovsky was born in 1984 in Peru. He worked as a youth madrich in South and Central America, made aliyah in 2004, and began working in Maccabi as a madrich. He served in the army in special forces. After three years in the army, Yuval started his sociology studies at Hebrew university. For the past year, he has been working as the coordinator of the Spanish desk for Netzer and TaMaR.
Stephen Olson (USA)
Stephen Olson has served in a variety of congregational leadership positions and as UAHC (now URJ) regional vice president and MUM chair. He is currently a co-chair of the World Union and ARZA regional boards and is a member of the ARZA national board. With his wife, Laura, he enthusiastically participates on the World Union's North American Council and International Assembly. Born in Akron, Ohio, and a graduate of the Wharton Business School, Steve has been a San Francisco Bay Area resident since 1968. He has been leader of a manufacturers' representative firm and a financial consultant. He takes great delight in the accomplishments of his four adult children, in the potential of his four grandchildren, and in the opportunity for regular visits with his parents (95 and 89!) Other personal interests include world travel (with an emphasis on visiting Progressive communities), collecting historic books on Reform Judaism and the World Union, collecting and exhibiting philatelic Judaica and cooking Chinese banquets.
Rabbi Joel Oseran (Israel)
Rabbi Oseran, the World Union’s vice president for international development, is a lifelong educator and religious leader. He has an undergraduate degree in History from the University of California/Los Angeles, and a Masters in education from the University of Southern California. He was ordained in 1976 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (NY), and after his ordination, served as the director of student affairs at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. He returned to the United States in 1981, where he served as Rabbi-Educator at University Synagogue in Los Angeles, California. Rabbi Oseran made aliyah to Israel in 1986, and first began working for the World Union as its director of education. He received his divinity doctorate from HUC-JIR, Jerusalem, in 2001. As head of the World Union’s international development, Rabbi Oseran oversees the Progressive movement’s educational and religious programs in the former Soviet Union, traveling extensively to various parts of that region. He has also played a leading role in directing Progressive Judaism’s support for emerging Progressive Jewish communities in Eastern Europe and facilitating the revitalization of Progressive Judaism in Latin America. Rabbi Oseran lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Rachelle, and their three sons: Shai, Ilan and Ariel.
Anat Perelman (Israel)
Anat was born and raised in Haifa, and has lived in the city for her entire life. She is a teacher at Zichron Ya'acov school, and for the past nine years she has been a member of the Or Hadash congregation, where she is very active. Two years ago Anat established the first sisterhood in Israel, named in Hebrew the "Or Hadash Sisterhood," to expand the congregational power of women and support social projects in Haifa. The spirit of volunteering, helping and giving is a guiding principle for Anat and her family.
Shai Pinto (Israel)
Shai Pinto joined the World Union as vice president and chief operating officer (COO) two years ago, after many years working in what he calls "the added value sector." A graduate of the Israeli Scouts movement, Shai served as a senior educator for the Jewish Agency, a Jewish Agency shaliach and as head of the Informal Education Delegation to the UK for five years. Upon returning to Israel, he served in various management, consultancy and development positions in the NGO and business sector. Shai holds a BA in economics, a BA in management, and an MBA in marketing and international management.
Rabbi Marcello Polakoff (Argentina)
Rabbi Polakoff leads the congregation at Centro Unión Israelita, Córdoba, Argentina, teaches various courses and seminars, and also writes regularly in domestic and foreign media and Web sites. He was born in Buenos Aires, and earned his BA in international affairs at the Universidad de Belgrano, Buenos Aires, and his MA in Judaic Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He is a graduate of Leatid, JDC Latin American office, and of the senior educators program at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Polakoff is also a professor of Talmud and Halacha at the Instituto Superior de Formación Rabínica A. J. Heschel of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary; a member of the Interreligious Committee for Peace (COMIPAZ); a representative of the Latin American Jewish Congress for Interreligious Dialogue, and the World Jewish Congress Next Generation of Future Diplomats; an advisor to “Children of Abraham” in the United States and to INADI (National Institute Against Discrimination) in Argentina. The co-author of “God in the Postmodern Era - 100 Reflections on Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” (Ediciones El Emporio, Córdoba, 2006) and the recipient of the B’nai B’rith 2006 Human Rights Award. He is married and has one daughter.
Debbie Pulik (Israel)
Debbie Pulik is in charge of project development for the World Union’s FSU department, which includes serving as intermediary between congregations in the U.S. and U.K. and their twinning counterparts in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and grew up in Calgary, Canada, where she was an active member of the Jewish community. Debbie has a BA in French language and Russian literature from the University of Calgary, and an MA in Jewish education from the Melton Center at Hebrew University. She is also a certified personal trainer. She made aliyah in 1994, and has worked at the World Union since 2002, and in the FSU Department with Alex Kagan and Rita Fruman since 2006.
Rabbi Ferenc Raj
Rabbi Ferenc Raj was born at the height of World War II in Budapest, Hungary, and survived the Holocaust through the heroic efforts of the Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg. He was awarded a PhD in Near Eastern and Judaic studies from Brandeis University and is also a graduate of both the University of Budapest, where he earned a Master's Degree and a Diploma of Merit in Near Eastern Studies, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of Hungary, where he was ordained in 1967. Rabbi Raj continued his rabbinic career in America, serving Reform congregations in Brooklyn, New York and Belmont, Massachusetts prior to his election as senior rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Berkeley, California. Rabbi Raj retired in 2007, and continues in his role as Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth El. He is also founding rabbi of Bet Orim Reform Jewish Congregation in Budapest, Hungary.
Maxwell Riess (Australia)
Maxwell Riess is a long-time member of Netzer Australia, and completed the Shnat Netzer leadership program in 2006. As a leader in the movement, Maxwell held the position of rosh chinuch (head of education) in the state of Victoria, and is currently rosh chinuch for Netzer Australia. In 2008 he was part of a delegation to an indigenous aboriginal school in northern Australia, running empowerment and leadership programs as part of Netzer's pursuit of tikkun chevra.
Rabbi Danny Rich (UK)
Rabbi Danny Rich is the chief executive of Liberal Judaism, a movement of some 10,000 persons in 37 UK communities and one of two British constituents of the World Union. A congregational rabbi for nearly 20 years, he chaired Liberal Judaism’s ‘Same Sex Commitment Ceremony’ Working Party and contributed an essay on ‘Liberal Judaism and Mixed Marriage’ to Aspects of Liberal Judaism – Essays in Honour of John D. Rayner, edited by David J. Goldberg and Edward Kessler (2004).
David Robinson (New Zealand)
David Robinson is president of the Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. He was born in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in the Progressive movement as a member of Temple Israel, where he attended Netzer as a chanich, subsequently assuming various leadership roles within the movement, including co-organizing the first national Netzer camp. David is also a past president of a B’nai B’rith lodge in Cape Town. A chartered accountant by profession, David met his wife Maureen through Netzer. They have three adult daughters who have also all been involved in Progressive Jewish activities over many years. The family emigrated to New Zealand in 1997, where David was elected to the board of Beth Shalom in Auckland the following year. He became vice president in 1999 and was elected president that December, a position he filled for three and a half years. Thereafter David assumed the role of Treasurer for two years. David was elected vice president of the UPJ in November 2004, and has convened the previous two UPJ regional conferences. David’s sister is a founding member of Kibbutz Yahel, where she and her family still live.
Rabbi Jonathan Romain MBE (UK)
Rabbi, writer and broadcaster, Jonathan Romain is minister of Maidenhead Synagogue in England. He has written nine books on aspects of Jewish history and Reform Judaism, and appears regularly on television and radio. In 2004, he received the MBE for his pioneering work in helping mixed-faith couples nationally, a theme covered in his book, Till Faith Us Do Part (HarperCollins). He is chair of the Assembly of Reform Rabbis UK, as well as chaplain to the Jewish Police Association and a board member of the Three Faiths Forum. For several years he was one of the judges for The Times 'Preacher of the Year' competition and also the BBC's annual religious broadcasting awards. He is married with four sons.
Rabbi Norman T. Roman
Rabbi Roman, MAHL, DD, is the rabbi of Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield, Michigan, USA. He also is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Religious Studies department of the University of Detroit Mercy (Jesuit), and serves on the summer faculty of the NFTY Kutz High School Leadership Campus in Warwick, New York.
In March, 2008, he was invited to be Visiting Rabbi at Temple David of Perth, Western Australia.
Jeffrey Rose (UK)
Jeffrey Rose is an honorary life president of the European Region of the World Union, as well as past chairman of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (now known as The Movement for Reform Judaism) and of the Leo Baeck College for the Training of Rabbis. He currently serves as president of his synagogue; professionally, he is a retired orthodondist and a past president of the British Orthodontic Society.
Dr. Arthur Roswell (USA)
Dr. Arthur Roswell is an honorary member of the World Union’s executive board, and a past president of Temple Beth-El in Hillsborough, New Jersey. He has been president of the Federation of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties of NJ, and is on the board of many community organizations, including the JCC, Somerset Medical Center and a Jewish Hospice. Professionally, he is a retired engineering manager of Atlas Soundolier, a loudspeaker company.
Les Rothschild (Canada)
Les Rothschild is president of ARZA Canada. He is a past president of Solel Congregation of Mississauga, a community of about 300 families in a suburb of Toronto, Canada. Solel has had a very successful twinning relationship with Darchai Noam in Ramat Hasharon, Israel for over 25 years. During that time each congregation has grown together and shared their successes and accomplishments. Les owns a private adult education business. He lives in Toronto with his wife Beverley. He has two daughters, one living in Toronto and one in Minneapolis, and four grandchildren.
Rabbi Galia Sadan (Israel)
Galia Sadan was born in 1967 on Kibbutz Yechiam in the Western Galilee. She is a graduate of the departments of Hebrew Literature and Linguistics at Tel Aviv University, where she studied liturgy manuscripts from the 11th century Genizah. Her affiliation with the Progressive movement began when, as a member of Hashomer Hatzair, she met with members of the youth movement of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism at Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava. In 1999, she decided to join the Israeli Rabbinical Program at Hebrew Union College in order to prepare herself to play a leadership role in the movement. During her rabbinical studies, she served for 18 months as a student rabbi at Congregation Achvat Israel in Rishon Lezion. She then became involved for several years with the Kol Haneshama congregation, And in2004 was appointed Associate Rabbi at Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv, where she is currently in charge of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah programs and the conversion center, and also takes a share in leading services, officiating at weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremonies and other life cycle events. Sadan is a member of Rabbis for Human Rights, the coordinator of the Israel Council of Progressive Rabbis (Maram), and teaches Bible studies in various frameworks. Her article, “Rabot banot Asu Cha’il Ve-Ha-Talit Al Culana,” which is devoted to a critique of the Eshet Chayil and an examination of the status of women in Progressive Judaism, recently appeared in a book entitled Reform Judaism edited by Rabbi Meir Azari. She is the mother of Itamar Sadan.
Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein (UK)
Rabbi Marc Saperstein became the principal of the Leo Baeck College on July 1, 2006. Previously he held prestigious positions at Harvard Divinity School, Washington University in St. Louis and George Washington University in Washington D.C. Author of five books on various aspects of Jewish history, literature and thought – most recently, Jewish Preaching in Times of War 1800-200 – he is widely recognized as a pre-eminent authority on the history of Jewish preaching. Before leaving the United States, he was vice president of the American Academy for Jewish Research.
Tamara (Tati) Schagas (Israel)
Tati Schagas was born in Argentina, made aliyah in 2003, and served as a World Union board member from 2002 to 2006 and in its young adult movement. She has been an active member of Arzenu since 2000, as well as a member of the Presidium of the Vaad HaPohel HaTzioni and the outer executive of the WZO. She is currently studying Jewish Studies and education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Burt Schuman (Poland)
Rabbi Burt E. Schuman is senior rabbi of Beit Warszawa, Warsaw’s Progressive Jewish congregation and community. When he assumed the pulpit of Beit Warszawa in July of 2006, he became the first full-time Progressive rabbi to serve Poland since 1939. Under his tenure, Beit Warszawa has greatly enhanced its Shabbat, High Holy Day and Festival worship, study and communal activities; deepened and expanded its adult education and cultural and crafts programming; doubled the size of its religious school; instituted introductory and intermediate Hebrew courses, para-rabbinic training, tot Shabbat and a monthly film and concert series; greatly enhanced its youth and adult B’nai Mitzvah programs; and begun outreach activities to emerging Progressive Jewish groups throughout Poland. Rabbi Schuman was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion New York in 1995. Prior to his rabbinic studies, he served as executive director of the Jackson Heights-Elmhurst Kehilah, worked as a community organizer and later as speechwriter for the New York City Commissioner on Human Rights. Prior to coming to Poland, Rabbi Schuman served Temple Beth Israel in Altoona, Pennsylvania from 1995-2006, where he introduced many innovative new educational programs for tots, children, youth and adults as well as greatly enhanced interfaith, interracial, multicultural and community service activities. Rabbi Schuman is the author of a children’s book, Chanukah on the Prairie (URJ Press), and numerous articles for several URJ publications and curriculum materials.
Rosanne Selfon (USA)
Rosanne M. Selfon, a lifelong Reform Jew, currently serves as the president of Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ), the women's affiliate of the URJ in North America. She most recently was responsible for raising $1.5 million to finance the publishing of The Torah A Women's Commentary. She has been a member of the URJ Board of Trustees since 1991 and has served as a local sisterhood and congregational president. In her private life, she works with her husband, David, in several family businesses and has two married daughters and three grandchildren.
Sharon Ser (Hong Kong)
Sharon Ser was born in England and moved to Hong Kong in 1987, where she practices as a lawyer. From 2004 to 2008, she was the president of the United Jewish Congregation (UJC) of Hong Kong – which was formed in 1989. Sharon remains an active member of the congregation, and is involved with the wider Jewish community and the Israeli community in Hong Kong. She is passionate about Israel.
Rabbi Ayala Sha’ashoua-Miron (Israel)
Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Ayala Sha’ashoua-Miron holds a BA from Tel Aviv University and an MA from the UCLA film school. She lived for a time with her family in Los Angeles, where she taught Jewish studies.
Ayala was ordained at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem in November 2005. She is the founding rabbi of Bavat Ayin Congregation in Rosh HaAyin, a thriving kehila of the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) established in September 2004. Ayala, her husband, Avi, and their sons Nitzan, Noam and Itamar live, in the village of Zur Yigal.
Rabbi Sa'ar Shaked (Israel)
Rabbi Sa'ar Shaked is the rabbi of Achvat Israel congregation in Rishon LeTziyon. Born and raised in the Mediterranean city Netanya, he served in the IDF as a tank commander in the armored corps and worked in various positions in Israeli non-formal education and youth movements. In 1998 he was called to coordinate the Young Adult Leadership Forum of the IMPJ, and following that, became assistant rabbi at Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv while working on his rabbinic Studies at HUC-JIR. With his ordination, the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa asked him to found Carmel, a Progressive Beit Midrash, in connection with the Lokey Academy of Jewish Studies. He then turned to interfaith and peace building work, and became executive director for the Sulha Peace Project movement, a public grassroots movement that promotes peace between the children of Abraham in the holy land: facilitating large gatherings and local conferences of youths, adults and families.
Yaron Sharvit (Israel)
Yaron Shavit studied law and business administration at Hebrew University, and held positions with the Israel police and the district court in Jerusalem. Today he is a managing partner in the law firm, Shenhav, Konforti, Shavit & Co, specializing in commercial law, hi-tech, software, commercial litigation, tenders and mediation. He has been an active member of Kehilat Mevasseret Zion since 1998, a board member since 2000 and congregation president since 2004. He also serves as a member of the WZO management on behalf of the World Union and as a member of the board of the IMPJ. Born in Hod-Hashaon Israel in 1958, he is married to Michal (principal of the Junior High in Mevaseret-Zion) and has three children: Yochai, Yftach and Yaara.
Rabbi Kinneret Shiryon
Rabbi Shiryon is the founder of Mercaz Kehilati YOZMA – the Progressive Jewish Community Center of Modi’in. The word YOZMA means initiative in Hebrew; it also contains the initials for the words: Yahadut Zmaneinu, Moreshet Ha’Am – Judaism of Today, The Heritage of the People. The goal of the center is to empower Israelis to take initiative in defining their religious Jewish lives. Rabbi Shiryon has lived in Israel for over 25 years, and was the first woman to serve as the rabbi of a congregation here.
Peri Smilow (USA)
Gordon Smith (UK)
Gordon Smith is the World Union’s vice chairman-finance/treasurer and serves on its Management Committee. His previous positions include chairman of the World Union’s European Region; chairman of Leo Baeck College,London; vice chairman of The Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (now the Movement for Reform Judaism); trustee of the Manor House Trust and chairman of The Middlesex New Synagogue, London. He recently retired as senior partner of a firm of chartered accountants in London, and is married to Judy; they have two children and six grandchildren.
Judy Smith (UK)
Judy Smith currently serves on the executive board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, and chairs its marketing and communications committee. She also supports a number of other charities as a public relations consultant on a voluntary basis, and has served as chair of the Synagogue Partnership Division of the Movement for Reform Movement in the UK as well as chair of the marketing department at Leo Baeck College in London
Rabbi Sharon L. Sobel (Canada)
Rabbi Sharon L. Sobel was appointed executive director of the Union for Reform Judaism's Canadian Council for Reform Judaism and ARZA Canada in July 2000. For the previous five years, she served as the rabbi of Temple Sinai in Stamford, CT, and from May 1989 until July 1995, as the assistant rabbi at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Rabbi Sobel has traveled extensively in South Africa and the former Soviet Union on behalf of the Reform movement, and is a published author of numerous papers and articles. In 1994, (Canadian) Vision TV produced a documentary on Rabbi Sobel's rabbinate. The daughter of a Reform rabbi (Rabbi Richard J. Sobel, Glens Falls, NY), Rabbi Sharon Sobel was ordained from HUC-JIR in New York, in May 1989. She graduated from Boston University in 1982 with a degree in mass communications and concentrations in advertising/marketing and photography. Rabbi Sobel has been an avid cyclist since 1997, and has participated for six years in a row in the Israeli Reform movement's "Riding4Reform" bike ride in Israel. She has been the top fund-raiser for five years, last year bringing in approximately $47,000.00 for IMPJ programs as a member of "Team ARZA Canada".
Monica Solomon (South Africa)
Monica Solomon joined the sisterhood movement in 1994 when she became a member of the sisterhood of Temple Emanuel in Johannesburg. From 1996 to 1998, she was the treasurer of the South African Union of Temple Sisterhoods (SAUTS), and served as its vice president from 2000 to 2004. She became president of SAUTS in 2004, and was recently voted in for a third two-year term of office. She and her husband, Steven, have two daughters, aged 39 and 35, and one granddaughter, aged 2-1/2. They have been involved in our own companies since 1977, and both of their children have joined in these enterprises.
Marvin Sossin (Costa Rica)
Marvin Sossin is a founding member of the only Reform congregation in Costa Rica: Bnei Israel. He was president of the synagogue for seven years, and has remained extremely active in all aspects of the congregation. In 1997, he became one of the founding members and the first president of the Union of Liberal Congregations of Central American and the Caribbean (UJCL). He remains active as honorary president of both institutions, and has also served on the board of the World Union. Originally from Toronto, Sossin worked in the tools and fasteners industry there and, later, in Miami, where he joined his father who was a pioneer in the field of gerontology. They built nursing homes and assisted living care facilities in Florida. While doing business in Central America, he fell in love with Costa Rica, and moved there in 1982, where he opened a company Torneca, which he has since sold. He and his wife, Rosario, have four children – two in Costa Rica and two in Canada – and 11 incredibly wonderful grandchildren. He keeps very busy with Jewish activities, community work and family.
Rabbi Ruben Sternschein (Brazil)
Jerry Tanenbaum (USA)
Jerry Tanenbaum has served the World Union for Progressive Judaism for many years in many capacities: as senior vice president from 2001-2004, member of the executive board and International Assembly since 1988 and chairman of the Yad B’Yad Task Force since 2002. He received the World Union’s International Humanitarian Award in 2000. He also serves as an honorary life member on the boards of the Union for Reform Judaism and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. A board member of Congregation House of Israel in his home town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Jerry has also chaired the Henry S. Jacobs Camp Committee, the Small Congregations Committee and Youth Committee of the URJ (formerly UAHC) and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute. With his wife, Pat (z”l), Jerry has been a frequent traveler to, and supporter of, World Union communities in South America and the Caribbean, and instrumental in cultivating the Netzer (youth) and TaMaR (young adult) movements there.
Rabbi Menno ten Brink (Netherlands)
Rabbi Menno ten Brink received his MA in law at the University of Amsterdam in 1985. He was ordained at Leo Baeck College in 1993 and received his MA in Jewish Studies. Upon ordination he became part-time rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Congregation in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and served as the first progressive Jewish Chaplain to the Dutch Forces. Since 2004 he has been the senior and full-time rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Community in Amsterdam, where he started the Dialogue Committee. He is co-founder of the Jewish Moroccan Network Amsterdam, actively supported by the mayor of Amsterdam. He is active in many inter-religious activities in The Netherlands, and a member of the advisory group, Church and Community, for the Dutch Bishops, especially in the area of the Roman Catholic Church and Israel. He is also a member of the executive board of the Anne Frank House Foundation and of the board of the Bible Museum in Amsterdam.
Ten Brink is chair and coordinator of the Dutch Beth Din. He and his wife, Riette, have three children: Daniel (19), Sharon (16) and Yael (14).
Rabbi Lenny Thal (USA)
Rabbi Thal recently retired as the Senior Vice President and Director of Development of the Union for Reform Judaism, the umbrella organization serving some 900 Reform congregations in the U.S. and Canada. Prior to that he served for 14 years as the URJ's Regional Director based in Los Angeles, a post he assumed after nine years as Associate Dean of the Hebrew Union College's Los Angeles campus. He continues to serve as Visiting Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation in Singapore. After making annual visits for the High Holy Days since 1993, this year he is spending a total of eight weeks there over two visits, and is working with Rabbi Joel Oseran of the World Union to "plant the seeds" of a new Progressive congregation in Shanghai.
Dr. Linda Thal (USA)
Dr. Linda Thal is a Jewish educator and spiritual director whose current work focuses on adult spiritual development. She is co-director of the Yedidya Center for Jewish Spiritual Direction and its national Morei Derekh training program. She also conducts a program of training in Jewish spiritual direction for rabbis in the New York City area. Linda teaches on the faculty of Makom, the Center for Mindfulness at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan and leads a two-year program of spiritual exploration and growth for lay leaders through the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She has served as a consultant to the CCAR Committee on Rabbinic Spirituality and has a two-year curriculum to foster adult spiritual development. Linda has taught Jewish spirituality in Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, Singapore and South Africa as well as in the United States, Canada and Israel.
Maria Ukradyzhenko (Russia)
Maria Ukradyzhenko has served as the Sha’arei Shalom community chair since 2005, responsible for ensuring that this growing congregation runs smoothly. Maria holds a Master’s degree in Danish and English from St. Petersburg State University, and an MBA from the American University in Moscow. Maria grew up in St. Petersburg, without any Jewish education or Jewish identity. After graduating from St. Petersburg State University, she moved to Moscow, where she was introduced to the Reform movement. Upon returning home, she became actively involved with the new Reform community that was being established there at that time. Maria works for an American investment company, Jensen Group, where she is in charge of finding and analyzing prospective business for the company.
Natalia Verzhbovska (Russia)
Miriam Vasserman (Brazil)
Born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1959, Miriam got her BA in economics from Pontificia Universidade Católica and an MBA from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, with major in marketing. For over 15 years she worked in the hotel industry, primarily in sales and marketing. From 1993 to 1999 Miriam and her husband, Itche, and their two children, Ariela and Ilan, lived in Scarsdale, New York. She was first exposed to the American Reform movement by joining Congregation Kol Ami, in White Plains. While in the U.S., Miriam worked as a freelancer in international trade business. Upon returning to Brazil in mid 1999, Miriam founded Mivass Eventos Corporativos Ltda., a boutique company for developing and organizing events for corporations and institutions. She also became communications director for Congregação Israelita Paulista, the largest Progressive congregation in Brazil with 2,000 families, and was involved in some very successful events that featured such prominent figures as Nobel Peace Prize winner, Professor Elie Wiesel, the former president of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and world-renowned journalist and author, Thomas Friedman.
From 2004 to 2008 she served as vice president and youth director at CIP. She has been a World Union executive board member since 2003. Along with a committee of volunteers, she organized three very successful conferences for Liberal Judaism in the Latin America region. Miriam is very found of sports and has run several marathons.
Helene Waranch (USA)
Helene Waranch is the current chair of the North American Council of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. A former president of Women of Reform Judaism, she has had a long-time commitment to women's issues, volunteerism and Reform Judaism as demonstrated in the many professional as well as volunteer leadership positions she has held throughout her career. Today Helene is working to expand the World Union’s Twinning Program, chairs several sisterhood programs within her congregation, and serves on a number of community boards.
Professor Hana Wirth-Nesher (Israel)
Hana Wirth-Nesher is the Samuel L. and Perry Haber Chair on the Study of Jewish Experience in the United States at Tel Aviv University, as well as professor of English and American Studies, and director of the Goldreich Family Institute for Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture. Her most recent book is Call It English: The Languages of Jewish American Literature, and she has written widely on American, Jewish and Jewish American literature and culture.
Lior Zalmanson (Israel)
Lior Zalmanson is a member of the executive board of the Israeli Movement for progressive Judaism, in charge of community development and youth and young adult planning. Formerly, he worked as a coordinator for the Rishon Le-Zion young adult group, and was a member of the Zionist Youth Council in Israel where he taught groups in Israel, Greece and Ukraine. He is an alumni of the Bronfman Youth Fellowship in Israel, WUJS "Mirrors" program, IRAC social leadership program and the Saltz International Education Center's Beutel Fellowship for Community Leadership. He participated as a panelist in the Israeli TV program, "Mishehu Diber?" dealing with matters of Israeli society, and was a regular correspondent on the IDF night radio show, where he spoke on Israeli urban legends. Lior is currently a graduate student at the Tel Aviv University School of Business. His thesis deals with social and economical aspects of virtual communities. He is also currently teaching a course on digital culture in the IMPJ Mechina program.
Tanya Zion Waldoks (Israel)
Tanya Zion Waldoks is a community organizer at Kehilat Tzedek (a multi-denominational training center for developing social activism in Jewish communities in Israel) responsible for the Orthodox and unaffiliated (secular) communities. Prior to her work with Kehilat Tzedek, Tanya served as director of ATZUM's Task Force on Human Trafficking, as educational director of Mavoi Satum, a nonprofit dedicated to the plight of agunot, and as project director of the "Trembling Before G-d" Israel Outreach Project. She is a published author and editor of Sippurei Reshit, a pluralist international anthology about human issues in the book of Genesis (Yediot Ahronot, June 2002). She also serves as an active leader and board member of the Orthodox congregation, Shira Hadasha, in Jerusalem. Tanya holds a BA in Jewish Philosophy and Gender Studies from Hebrew University and is currently studying towards her MA in Gender Studies at Bar Ilan University. She is married to Ehud, and is the mother of Lia Revaya.