ARTS EDJE Leaders, Teaching Artists, Presenters Rabbi Binyamin Krauss Rabbi Binyamin Krauss has served as the Principal of SAR Academy since 2005. He has a degree in Philosophy from Yeshiva University and received Rabbinic Ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He served as Vice President of The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation from 1999-2005. Based in Germany, Rabbi Krauss established schools and other educational programs for Jewish students in Eastern and Central Europe, including the Lauder Morijah School in Cologne, Germany, and the Lauder School in Zagreb, Croatia. He also served as professor of Talmud at the University of Heidelberg and speaks German, Russian, and Hebrew. He currently resides in Yonkers with his wife and five children. Sharon Marson Sharon Marson, SAR’s Director of the ARTS & Enrichment, is the founder of ARTS EDJE and leads SAR Academy’s Art, Music and Library Departments as well as its Enrichment Cluster Program, Adult Ed Arts Institute, and other Arts-related school programs. She is author of The Wisdom of A Starry Night-Using the Power of Great ​ Art for Self-Awareness published by Barnes & Noble Publishing and ​ More Than Four Questions-Inviting Children’s Voices to the Seder published by Ben Yehuda Press. Sharon served as Editor-In-Chief of Tzaddik Magazine and its “Life Lessons” memoir columnist. She has had published numerous educational articles including, “Equal Opportunity Excellence, Enrichment Education For All.” Sharon is mother of SAR alumni and SAR faculty, and grandmother to an SAR student. Adiella Shem Tov Adiella Shem Tov has a BFA from Concordia University, where she majored in art education and psychology. Adiella is a multi-disciplinary artist who is passionate about photography, music, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, and nature. She is also known for fusing her passion for art with her loves for Torah and spiritually. At SAR Academy, Adiella joyfully teaches many disciples where she develops innovative and meaningful curriculum for students (Nursery-6th grade) to explore materials and skills while they develop their potential as artists. Adiella has created artwork of various sizes and materials that can be found in private homes, shuls, schools, and camps. Dan Harelick Dan Harelick is a full-time ceramic artist in Bronx, NY. His work has been exhibited at the NY State Museum in Albany and Lehman College Gallery, and has been featured at Artwalk NY. His commissioned pieces adorn tables and institutional collections around the globe. Dan creates work exuding minimalist ​ functionality while adorned with uniquely cadenced graphics informed by a career in communication design spanning thirty plus years. David Glazer David Glazer is Music Chair at SAR Academy and creator of Shira L’Tefillah, a curriculum for 1st-3rd graders that builds understanding and excitement for tefillah through music. David plays piano, guitar, violin, and harmonica, and has been Music Director at Camp Moshava, Indian Orchard, for the past seventeen summers. David received a BA in Special Education from William Paterson University of NJ and an MSED in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He lives in Riverdale with his pediatrician wife Yardaena, and their five children, Aura, Michael, Yonah, Gilad, and Maya. Joy Langer Joy Langer is a visual artist and yogi and is a native of Riverdale. A graduate of LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, Joy continued her education at F.I.T., and earned a BFA from The Art Institute of Boston. She has exhibited in New York, Boston, and Jerusalem, where she lived for five years. She has been a teaching artist at SAR Academy, LEAP NYC, the Riverdale Country School, the Riverdale YMHA/YWHA Foundation for Jewish Camps with the Cornerstone Fellowship, and Young Judea, and she gives private art lessons for all ages. Lorne Svarc Lorne Svarc, a Montreal-born artist and educator, lives in New York City, enjoys exploring various forms of narrative expression and working in theatre, film, and interactive media. He has an MFA from the New School and a BA from Boston University. He is currently literary manager of Recognize Theatre and CEO of Grama Rose Productions, which produce content for non-profits and advocacy organizations. His short film Sapiosexual has been licensed by ​ ShortsTV and will air on DIRECTV in 2018. He lives in the West Village with his wife and dog, who frankly come up with most of his best ideas. Noah Solomon Noah is an Israeli–American musician, best known as lead singer, guitarist, and mandolinist for Jewish rock band Soulfarm. He has released eight albums and played alongside musicians C, Lanzbom, Diaspora Yeshiva Band, Basya Schechter, Neshama Carlebach, and more. Noel Gussen Noel was raised in multicultural Teaneck, NJ and thrived on its diversity. He possesses passion for drawing, painting, and digital art, having earned certificates in painting and drawing from Project Oren in Israel and received his BFA from West Virginia University. As an art director and instructor, Noel developed various art curricula for children and adults, and as former lead creative artist for the Apple Store, enriched the lives of thousands. Noel’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in the US and abroad, including “Gathering of the Minds” in Morgantown, WV and “Ruach in the Golan” in Israel. Rav Steven Exler Rabbi Steven Exler serves as Senior Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – The Bayit, a large open Orthodox synagogue in the Bronx. He grew up in Baltimore, MD, has a BA in Biology from Brandeis University and an MA in Bible from Bernard Revel Graduate School, and has studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion, in the Yeshiva University Beit Midrash, and at Yeshivat Maale Gilboa. His ordination is from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. He sits on the Rabbinic Advisory Boards of Eshel, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and Yeshivat Maharat. He lives in Riverdale with his wife Shira and their children, Ilan and Talya. Renata Cohen Renata Cohen is a scientist, curious math thinker, scientist, artist, and innovator. She is an art teacher, exposing students in 1st through 5th grades to art through a math lens, meeting math standards of Singapore Math curriculum in art explorations in which she engages her students. Renata is also spearheading a Fairytale Engineering course during library for 1st and 2nd graders as well as teaching 3rd grade science. Renata graduated from Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland with a Masters Degree in Biology. Sigal Chen Sigal graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music & Dance (B.MUS) and received a Masters degree in Music Education at Lehman College. She is a professional singer and voice teacher and has performed complete operas at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Sigal shares her musical skills and passion for Musical Theater and Opera with SAR students, early childhood age through 6th grade. ​ Tobi Kahn Tobi Kahn is a painter and sculptor whose work has been shown in over forty solo exhibitions and over sixty museum and groups shows since he was selected as one of nine artists to be included in the 1985 Guggenheim Museum exhibition, New Horizons in American ​ Art. Works by Kahn are in major museum, corporate, and private collections. For thirty years, Kahn has been steadfast in the pursuit of his distinct vision and persistent in his commitment to the redemptive possibilities of art. In paint, stone, and bronze, he has explored the correspondence between the intimate and monumental. While his early works drew on the tradition of American Romantic landscape painting, his more recent pieces reflect his fascination with contemporary science, inspired by the micro-images of cell formations and satellite photography. For twenty-five years, Kahn has been making miniature sacred spaces he calls "shrines." The first full-scale shrine, Shalev, is in New Harmony, Indiana, commissioned ​ as an outdoor sculpture for Jane Owen and the Robert Lee Blaffer Trust. Among the awards that Kahn has received are the Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award from Pratt Institute in 2000, the Cultural Achievement Award for the Visual Arts from the National Foundation of Jewish Culture in 2004, and an Honorary Doctorate from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2007 for his work as an artist and educator. Kahn also communicates his vision through his passion for teaching. For twenty-eight years, he has taught fine arts workshops at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He also designed the art curriculum for several high schools in the New York area and co-founded and facilitates the Artists' Beit Midrash at the Skirball Center of Temple Emanu-El. Kahn lectures extensively at universities and public forums internationally on the importance of visual language and art as healing. Yosef Gillers Yosef Gillers, Director of Education at Amir, and founder of GrowTorah, an educational Torah gardening program, works with SAR teachers, students, and community members in creating a rooftop urban, organic garden, Gan Ilan, at SAR Academy as well as at SAR High School, teaching Torah through gardening. Under Yosef’s guidance, teachers and students are actively involved in the planting and maintenance of our vegetable garden. The produce grown is used for school lunches and more. .