Revolutionary Lessons from Boston | Dr. Jonathan Sarna & Mr. Barry Shrage Sunday, March 18 5:00 PM Convention began with a dialogue between Dr. Jonathan Sarna, a leading scholar of American Jewish history, and Barry Shrage, the innovative President of Combined Jewish Philanthropies (Boston’s Jewish Federation). We explored what has transformed the Boston Jewish community and how that has been shaped through its unique history and present...

Rabbi Howard L. Jaffe was ordained by the Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion in 1983, and has been the Senior Rabbi of Temple Isaiah of Lexington since August of 2000. Previously, he was the rabbi of Temple Har Shalom in Warren, New Jersey, and Associate Rabbi of Temple Israel, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rabbi Jaffe’s early involvement in the youth group of his local synagogue ignited his passion for sharing the meaning and...

Rabbi Musnitsky has been an exceptionally qualified and accomplished member of the rabbinate for more than 28 years. She served as a pulpit rabbi for 18 years, initially in Cincinnati after ordination and for 14 years at Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, NJ. In 2000, she was specially selected by the President of the Reform movement, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, to serve as the Regional Director for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) in the New Jersey/West...

Rabbi Josh Whinston was ordained from the Los Angeles campus of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in May 2009.  In addition to his rabbinic ordination, Rabbi Whinston was awarded a Masters in Hebrew Letters and a Masters in Jewish Education during his six years at HUC-JIR.  Prior to his matriculation at HUC-JIR, Rabbi Whinston earned a Bachelors of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California Santa...

Rabbi Esther L. Lederman is the assistant rabbi at Temple Micah. Before moving to Washington, DC, she served as the Marshall T. Meyer Fellow at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun of Manhattan, a prestigious and competitive position in one of the United States most dynamic synagogues.  She was ordained in May 2008 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. Prior to becoming a rabbi, Ms. Lederman worked for seven years in...

Rabbi Gibson chairs the Jewish Unity Project for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and co-convenes the Priest-Rabbi Dialogue sponsored by the Diocese of Pittsburgh. He sits on many community boards and serves as co-chair of the Jewish-Christian Dialogue on behalf of the Pittsburgh Area Jewish Committee. He is adjunct faculty at Chatham University and also teaches Catholic high school students through their C-JEEP (Catholic-Jewish...

Rabbi Andrew Marc Paley is the Senior Rabbi and Spiritual Leader of Temple Shalom. Ordained by the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 1995, Rabbi Paley also holds a master’s degree in Hebrew Letters from H.U.C. – J.I.R and bachelor’s degree in psychology from the Ohio State University as well as a certificate in marital and pre-marital counseling. Rabbi Paley’s commitment to our Jewish community is evidenced by his...

Rabbi Ellen Nemhauser lives in Sandy Springs, GA with her husband and three children. After ordination from New York campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion she completed the course in the Masters of Jewish Education Program. Rabbi Nemhauser then served as interim Director of the National Department for Jewish Education for the Union for Reform Judaism. After moving to Cincinnati, Ohio Rabbi Nemhauser directed a program of...

Dr. David Altshuler consults to nonprofit institutions on organizational planning, leadership training, and financial resource development.  He also advises foundations and individuals on strategic philanthropic investment.   David brings to his work the creativity of a teaching scholar and the business acumen and leadership qualities of a seasoned nonprofit CEO.  He helps clients advocate for worthy causes, build vigorous professional...

I am an attorney with over 25 years of experience: my current private practice devoted to representing clergy in employment matters. I have practiced as a litigator in both the private and public sectors. As a litigator in private practice, I represented clients in mediations and arbitrations as well as in trials. My representation of clergy in employment matters has included contract negotiations, contract renewal, and termination of...

Martha’s mediation and negotiation practice specializes in clergy employment contracts.  Martha practiced as a lawyer, in both Washington and New York, concentrating in business litigation.  In addition, she has served as the Director of Synagogue-Federation Relations at the Jewish Federation in Atlanta and as Director of Development for Jewish Family & Life in Newton, Massachusetts.  Her law degree is from Georgetown University Law...

Rabbi Jonathan A. Stein assumed his duties at Temple Shaaray Tefila in July 2001. A native of Pottsown, Pennsylvania, he graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1969 and was ordained as a rabbi in 1975 from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati. In 2000, he received an Doctor of Divinity degree from the same seminary. Rabbi Stein first served as the...

Rabbi Stephanie Kolin joined the Just Congregations team this summer, serving as the Lead California Organizer and opening the west coast office of the URJ’s Just Congregations.  Stephanie, a native of New York City, is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Brandeis University and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.  Stephanie was ordained as a rabbi in 2006 at the New York campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion...

Lila Foldes is the Assistant Director of Just Congregations. Lila works to increase and deepen the participation of Reform synagogues across the country in community organizing across lines of faith, race, and class. Previously, she worked for two years as the Assistant Director of Jewish Organizing for the Jewish Funds for Justice, where she planned the first-ever national gathering of involved congregations. She trained as a community...

Reverend Kirk Byron Jones is a graduate of Loyola University and Andover Newton Theological School, and holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Emory University and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Drew University. A pastor for over twenty years,  Dr. Jones was the founding minister of Beacon Light Baptist Church in New Orleans, and Senior Minister at Calvary Baptist Church, Chester, PA; Ebenezer Baptist Church, Boston, MA; and the First...

Selected by Newsweek magazine in 2009 as the most influential rabbi in the country and described in a Washington Post profile as the “quintessential religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill,” Rabbi David Saperstein represents the Reform Jewish Movement to Congress and the Administration as the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC). Under Rabbi Saperstein, writes J.J. Goldberg in his book Jewish Power, the...

Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler is the spiritual leader of Temple Sinai of Sharon, Massachusetts. His mission, as it says in Isaiah 54:2, is to “widen the tent…and deepen the pegs” of the Jewish people, that is, to help the Jewish community grow, thrive and deepen its connections to God, Torah, and Israel. He also believes in the universalism of ethics and the spirituality of all people. Living in Sharon, Rabbi Meszler is married to Rabbi Julie...

Rabbi Stephanie Alexander received her undergraduate degree, a B.S. in Psychology with honors in Jewish studies, from Tulane University in New Orleans.  She earned her ordination, as well as a Masters degree in Hebrew Literature and Religious Education, from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2003. Her rabbinic thesis was entitled:  “Standing at the Altar:  Re-imagining the Significance of Bar/Bat Mitzvah.” ...

Along with an infectious laugh and a soulful voice, Rabbi Moshe Waldoks brings many years of deep and eclectic experiences to his Rabbinic vocation. Educated in a Yiddish-speaking yeshiva and earning  a doctorate in Jewish intellectual history from BrandeisUniversity, he received smicha, a post-denominational ordination in 1996, by his mentors, Rabbis Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Arthur Green and Everett Gendler. One of the hallmarks of Reb...

Josh (also known as “Yoshi”) graduated from Hebrew Union College in the spring of 1998 and was ordained as Rabbi. He holds Masters degrees in both Hebrew Letters and Jewish Education, and serves as Senior Educator of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California. Josh is also the founder and executive director of KAVOD, a tzedakah collective that strives to protect human dignity.

Josh Nelson is one of the most popular performers and producers in modern Jewish music. A multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Josh’s music is celebrated and integrated into the repertoire of congregations, camps and communities around the world. Delivering high-octane Jewish rock, the Josh Nelson Project is five of the most talented performers in the United States. Each musician is young, Jewish and a positive role model. 2009 marked the...

Rabbi Ron Segal joined the Temple Sinai clergy in July 1996 following his rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Segal served the congregation as Assistant and then Associate Rabbi and was appointed Temple Sinai’s third Senior Rabbi in July 2006. Rabbi Segal is active in the local, regional and national Jewish communities.  In March 2010, Rabbi Segal chaired the national convention for the...

Rabbi Peter Levi took a rather circuitous route to the rabbinate. As a native of Los Angeles, he grew up in a secular Jewish family. He received his B.A. from Yale College in Mathematics and Philosophy in 1986, taught high school for a couple years, and then pursued a Ph.D. in Analytic Philosophy from the University of California at Santa Barbara when he began his Jewish journey. After learning, eating, singing, and dancing with the Jewish...

Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman serves as Rabbi at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons. He has served as Rabbi at Central Synagogue in New York City and Temple Emanuel of Dallas. He served as President and Rosh Yeshiva of the Hebrew Union College -Jewish Institute of Religion from 1995 -2000 and President of the CCAR from 1993 -1995. He taught at Hunter College, Fordham University, Southern Methodist University and Perkins Theological Seminary. He is...

Rabbi Ronne Friedman was born on October 6, 1947 and is a native of Washington, D.C. Rabbi Friedman serves as the Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel of Boston and has served North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois and Temple Beth Zion of Buffalo, NY as well. He graduated with a B.A. with distinction in English Literature from Lafayette College in 1969, and received his Masters of Arts in Hebrew Literature from Hebrew Union College-Jewish...

Rabbi Andrea Goldstein has been a Rabbi of Congregation Shaare Emeth since 1998.  She received her undergraduate degree in Communications from Northwestern University and was ordained in 1998 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rabbi Goldstein has made the call for connection, justice, peace, and equality a focal point of her rabbinate.  She is married to Brett Goldstein and is the loving mother of...

Rachel B. Goldman has practiced law in Massachusetts for over twenty years. She specializes in collaborative law, mediation, settlement negotiation, and parent coordination. Her areas of practice include all aspects of divorce and family law, including alimony, child support, custody, parenting plans, division of marital assets, post-divorce modifications, same-sex partnership dissolutions and divorce, marital mediation, prenuptial agreements,...

Rabbi Leon A. Morris is rabbi of Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor, NY. A leading educator in the field of adult Jewish study, Rabbi Morris was the founding director of the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. Ordained from Hebrew Union College in1997 where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, he has worked extensively as an educator with the Jewish community of India, beginning in 1990 when he served as a Jewish...

Rabbi Goldberg was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kansas in 1984. He attended Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles and Cincinnati and was ordained as a rabbi in 1989. He earned a doctorate from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1994. As an adult, he has spent three years in Jerusalem, the most recent time in a fellowship at...

Rabbi Peter Berg became the fifth Senior Rabbi of The Temple in July of 2008. He is thrilled to serve this diverse and multi-generational congregation as a spiritual leader. Rabbi Berg is passionate about Jewish learning and meaningful worship, and he is an advocate for social change. Prior to coming to The Temple, he served as rabbi of Temple Beth Or in Washington Township, New Jersey and as the Associate Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas,...