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PRESENTER BIOS Dr Program honoring the life of Rabbi Bernard M. Zlotowitz, z”l The Divine Divide: When Reality Conflicts with Intent and Aspirations Sunday, March 6, 2016 PRESENTER BIOS Dr. Michelle Friedman Dr. Friedman is a highly respected psychiatrist who focuses in private practice on the Jewish community with a special interest in the rabbinate and pastoral counseling. Dr. Friedman is the Founder and Chair of the Department of Pastoral Counseling at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, the open Orthodox rabbinical seminary in Riverdale, New York. She did her undergraduate work at Barnard College where she majored in religion. After graduating from New York University School of Medicine, Dr. Friedman interned at St. Vincent’s Hospital and then did her residency in psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital, where she is on staff as an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry. She later received a certificate in psycho- analysis from the Columbia University Institute. Dr. Friedman devotes much of her professional time to the interface of psychiatry and religious life. She has spoken widely and published articles in both academic and popular journals. Currently, she is working on a book on pastoral counseling for Jewish clergy and spiritual leaders together with Dr. Rachel Yehuda. The Art of Jewish Pastoral Counseling: A Guide for Clergy of All Faiths will be published by Routledge and should be available by Fall, 2016. Cantor Sandy Horowitz Cantor Sandy Horowitz has had several careers -- federal grants administrator, writer/editor, corporate technology consultant/project manager, massage therapist. However, her passion has always been music. Cantor Horowitz was a student and singer of Italian Renaissance music and, later, a cantorial soloist. It was on the bimah where she felt most at home so, in the Fall of 2008, Sandy matriculated at the Academy for Jewish Religion and was ordained as a cantor in 2014. While studying at AJR, she served as a student cantor and religious school teacher with several Reform congregations. After ordination, Cantor Horowitz began her position as Cantor/Religious Educator for Congregation Adas Emuno in Leonia, New Jersey, where she continues to serve. Rabbi Steven Kane Rabbi Steven Kane has been Rabbi at Congregation Sons of Israel in Briarcliff Manor since 1993. Prior to that he served Congregation Beth El-Kesser Israel in New Haven, Connecticut. He was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1985, at which time he also received a Masters Degree in Judaic Studies. Rabbi Kane has a Bachelor of Hebrew Literature from the University of Judaism and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis. In 2011, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity honoras causa from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Rabbi Kane has been an adjunct faculty member at the Academy for Jewish Religion since 2001, has served on the faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary as a preceptor in Talmud and on the faculty of Quinnipiac College in Hamden, Connecticut. He served as Assistant to the Librarian at JTS, overseeing the rare book and manuscript room. In 2011 Rabbi Kane was honored by Camp Ramah in the Berkshires for his contributions to the camping community. He currently serves on the Camp Ramah faculty as a teacher and advisor on prayer. Rabbi Kane is a former president of the Rabbinical Assembly, Lower Hudson Valley Region. He is married to Judy Thaler and they have three children, Arielle, Tamar, and Elan. Rabbi Adina Lewittes Rabbi Lewittes is the founder of Sha’ar Communities, a ground-breaking network of suburban Jewish communities in Bergen County, New Jersey. Responding to shifting patterns of Jewish affiliation, Sha’ar offers an “a la carte” choice of intimate and inclusive fee-for-service Jewish communities who gather for prayer, study, innovative youth programs, life cycle events, healing rituals and outreach to the intermarried. Born and raised in the Modern Orthodox community of Montreal, Quebec, she began her university education at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and completed her BA in Religious Studies at York University in Toronto. She studied at the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary and in 1993 was ordained as the first Canadian female Conservative rabbi. Rabbi Lewittes has held positions with The National Conference of Christians and Jews, CLAL - the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and served as Assistant Dean of the Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the first woman to hold a deanship. Her faculty appointments include Adjunct Lecturer in Professional Skills at the Jewish Theological Seminary and teacher of Rabbinics and Jewish History at Solomon Schechter Day Schools. She has led classes in the Melton program and in CLAL’s adult education programs. For more than 15 years she taught at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, New Jersey and led private study groups throughout the tri-state area and Canada. Rabbi Lewittes teaches courses through Sha’ar Communities’ Gate of Study. Her greatest accomplishments and works-in-progress are her four children, Natan, Aaron, Isaac and Nomi. She is married to Andi Lewittes and is step- mother to Tamar and Farrah. Rabbi Moshe Rudin Rabbi Rudin has long been a voice for Jewish renewal, engagement and commitment. With a background as varied and diverse as the American Jewish community, Rabbi Rudin has studied in yeshivot in Jerusalem, lived and worked on kibbutzim, and served in leadership roles in Jewish education, social action, Israel advocacy, camping and more. Originally from New England and the Midwest with roots in Conservative Judaism, Rabbi Rudin studied at Boston University before transferring to Haifa University. He was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion in 2010. With a goal of creating a rabbinate of engagement, Rabbi Rudin seeks to make prayer and Torah more accessible to congregants through music, drama, literature, art, discussion, meditation, cooking and classical text study. Rabbi Rudin places the highest value on building individual relation- ships and strengthening connections. One of his favorite texts is from Rabbi Akiva’s description of Torah as sharing light from candle to candle: neither are diminished – instead, they are strengthened by each other and more light shines forth. Rabbi Rudin enjoys hiking, canoeing, playing guitar and piano and writing. Most of all, he delights in celebrating life with his wife, Joyce, and their children, Yonaton, Shimrit and Sophie – and the family’s Shitsu, Matzah. Rabbi Marc Rudolph Rabbi Marc Rudolph was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion in 2004. Following ordination, he served for four years as Rabbi at Congregation B’nai Jacob in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Rabbi Rudolph is in his 8th year serving as Rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom of Naperville, Illinois. He is active in the Naperville Interfaith Leadership Association. He serves as Vice-President of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, and as Vice-President of Rabbinics of the Association of Rabbis and Cantors. Rabbi Rudolph is a Lecturer in Religious Studies at North Central College in Naperville, where he teaches Introduction to Judaism. Rabbi Rudolph and his wife, Middy, have two children and two grand- children. Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman Rabbi Zimmerman is the Rabbi of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons. He served as Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City and Temple Emanu-El of Dallas and served for five years as President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He led the Birthright Israel program in North America and served as Vice-President of Jewish Renaissance and Renewal of the United Jewish Communities. Rabbi Zimmerman was a visiting professor at Fordham University, Southern Methodist University, Perkins Theological Seminary at SMU, and was adjunct faculty at Hebrew Union College and an instructor in philosophy at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Rabbi Zimmerman was selected to participate in the Presidential Delegation sent by President Clinton to travel with Vice-President Gore to Warsaw for the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. He has published articles and is the author of The New Family Prayerbook for children and young families for the Sabbath and Festivals. He has served as scholar-in-residence at many congregations and churches and was the first non-Methodist to deliver the Boswell Lectures at First United Methodist Church in Dallas. He has served on many boards, commissions in the religious and secular communities including United Way, the American Red Cross, Children’s Medical Center in Dallas and has lectured in many communities throughout North America. Recognizing the rising incidence of alcoholism and substance abuse in the Jewish community, he created the first AA group to meet in a synagogue and has worked extensively with recovering alcoholics. He led Central Synagogue’s feeding program for the homeless in midtown Manhattan. Rabbi Zimmerman is the eleventh direct generation of his family to be rabbis and his son, Brian, is the twelfth. Married to Judith for more than 50 years, they have four children and six grandchildren. ~~~ Presenter Contact Information Dr. Michelle Friedman [email protected] Cantor Sandy Horowitz [email protected] Rabbi Steven Kane [email protected] Rabbi Adina Lewittes [email protected] Rabbi Moshe Rudin [email protected] Rabbi Marc Rudolph [email protected] Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman [email protected] ajrsem.org The Jewish community of today and tomorrow, one that is inherently diverse and dynamic, needs leaders who embrace diversity wholeheartedly and celebrate a multiplicity of viewpoints. The Jewish community needs leaders who are steeped in tradition and creative in their approaches to ritual and contemporary thought. The Jewish community needs leaders who bring people together. AJR fills these needs and more. AJR’s M.A. in Jewish Studies Program immerses students in our renowned pluralistic environment alongside rabbinical and cantorial students training and preparing them to masterfully serve the 21st century Jewish community.
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