BIO

 

Along with teaching in public schools and community colleges in New York and North Carolina, I've also worked within the Jewish community as an Educator, Principal, and Cantorial Soloist. I enjoy preparing students to become bar mitzvah (or bat mitzvah). I earned an MA from The City College of New York, and an MA in Jewish Studies from Gratz College where I also received an award for academic achievement in the field of liturgy. I have documented success as the leader of Jewish after school congregational programs in North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

​

I love my work in the Jewish community and have created this website to share my passion. I’m a Cantorial Student at the Academy for Jewish Religion, Yonkers, NY.

 

It was an honor and a blessing to serve for nine years alongside Rabbi Frederic Pomerantz as the Cantorial Soloist at Congregation Agudas Achim, Livingston Manor, NY. I also enjoyed seven years as the Religious School Principal at Beth Am Temple, Pearl River, NY.

 

As an Educator my goal is a curriculum based on student-centered activities, scholarship, and service to the community. Teaching theories that inform my approach include Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory and lessons created to engage higher level thinking skills (Bloom's Taxonomy). Sometimes teachers in Sunday or after school programs lack a strong pedagogical background and they appreciate suggestions based on enhancing teaching techniques. Often this leads to marked improvement as curriculum is filtered by the long history of best practices in education.

 

Jewish learning extends from classrooms into sanctuaries and out to the world. As a child of a Shoah survivor, my central belief, based on my mother’s experiences, is “Where people are acting inhuman, we must strive to be human.” (Hillel) Growing up, my family was observant Reform. My mother taught music and was a soloist at Temple Beth Sholom in New City, NY. I attended Jewish camp for 5 summers. A love of Jewish history, culture, and spirituality burns in me and I’m sometimes told shines through me when I’m teaching groups, individuals, or leading services.

 

I will be happy to share more details about specific programs that I conceptualized, directed, and facilitated in some of the places I’ve worked.