Past Support Staff and Leaders
Past Leaders
Past Support Staff
Past Leaders
Gadi Capela
Leader, Morrow Room Passover Seder (2011)
Gadi is currently a third year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in Manhattan. He was born and raised in Israel and moved to New York in 1995 after completing a four-year army service in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) as a Lieutenant in a search-and-rescue unit. In 2001 he graduated from Yeshiva University (YU), where he studied Business Management and Jewish Studies. He then worked as a business analyst in the banking and consulting industries for eight years. During that time Gadi also pursued a Master degree in Jewish Philosophy from YU. In 2008 Gadi decided to “take his passion and make it happen” and become a full time rabbinical student. For the past three years Gadi served as a rabbinical assistant at Temple Beth Sholom in Sarasota, Florida, taught Judaism at Camp Ramah in the Poconos, volunteered as a chaplain at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Last year Gadi was a fellow of CLAL’s Rabbis Without Borders (RWB) and for over four years he has been teaching Project Genesis–a Jewish-Catholic monthly class at Our Lady of the Island shrine in Eastport, NY.
Arielle Rubenstein, Cantoral Soloist (2008-2009)
Arielle Rubenstein hails from Houston, where she learned to love Jewish music from her synagogue’s Hazzan, Steven Berke. She is a lifelong choral singer, and has sung with the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum and the Zamir Chorale. In college, she was a student leader of the Conservative Minyan, where she participated in High Holiday services for several years. Last year she led High Holiday services at the University of North Carolina Hillel. Arielle graduated from Harvard with a B.A. in Social Studies in 2007, and currently works as a paralegal in Manhattan.
Click here to listen to Arielle singing HH meodies »
Jason Rubenstein, Text Teacher (2009)
Jason Rubenstein is a fourth-year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary and holds an MA in Talmud from JTS and an AB in Social Studies from Harvard College. In addition to his work at Ohel Ayalah, Jason is on the faculty of Yeshivat Hadar’s summer program, where he serves as a resource during Talmud study and supervises group processing. An alumnus of Yeshivat Ma’ale Gilbo’a, Jason has led three trips for the Nesiya Institute, and is a recipient of a Wexner Graduate Fellowship, a Legacy Heritage Rabbinic Fellowship, and a Graduate Fellowship from The Center For Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization at Cardozo Law School.
Elinor Nauen, Shofar Blower (2004, 2007)
Elinor Nauen comes from a family of professional musicians but has put aside the violin to concentrate on blowing the shofar. From a Reform congregation in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, last year she celebrated her adult bat mitzvah at Town and Village, where she attends daily minyan and is librarian of the Grayson Library. She has worked as an editor at Judaica Press, on the Books of the Bible series. She has published a number of books, including anthologies of women writers on cars and baseball and volumes of her own poetry. Her poetry and prose has been published in many literary magazines and anthologies. She makes her living as a freelance writer and editor, editing books by Senator George Mitchell, Paul Krassner and others, and for such publications as Self, AARP: The Magazine, Newsweek and Organic Style, on subjects that include health, automobiles, media issues and sports. She has taught writing workshops, guest-lectured and/or read at Washington State University, the University of South Dakota, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Hofstra University, the University of Tulsa, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, and the Sports Literature Association (keynote speaker), as well as many high, middle and elementary schools; she was the visiting poet at Pingry School in Martinsville, NJ, for several years. She is on the board of directors of the Poetry Project and the editorial advisory board of Southern Illinois University Presss Writing Baseball series.
Patricia Rudden, Acting Cantor for Torah Service (2004, 2005)
Patricia Rudden has been singing and leading services for a number of congregations and minyans in New York City and vicinity. She is currently the regular service leader, with Rabbi Judith Hauptman, at the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. She has sung in synagogue choirs and with the Zamir Chorale, and at Chanukah parties and community Seders of the Jewish Faculty and Staff Association of New York City College of Technology, where she is Associate Professor of English.
Abraham Menashe, Torah Reader (2005)
Abraham Menashe is a free-lance photographer whose essays and fine-art work have graced the pages of numerous publications, including Newsweek, Scientific American, The New York Times, and Time-Life Books. Abraham is committed to images that affirm life, provide refuge, and offer healing. His humanistic photography is acclaimed for its poetic beauty and compassion. Born in Egypt in 1951, Abraham Menashe now lives in New York City. His books include Inner Grace (Knopf, 1979), about AmericaÂ’s multi-handicapped population, published in conjunction with a show at the Witkin Gallery, New York City, and The Face of Prayer (Knopf, 1980), images made around the world on the nature of reverence, published in conjunction with a show at the International Center of Photography, New York City. Abraham Menashe’s photographs are in several museum collections, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Jewish Museum, New York City. Commissioned work includes a permanent installation at the Church Center of the United Nations. To see more of his work, visit www.humanistic-photography.comAbraham will be reciting the first day Rosh Hashanah Torah reading (Genesis 21:1-34) and Maftir (Numbers 29:1-6) using the Spanish-Moroccan Sephardic cantillation.
Zack Berger, Torah Reader (2004)
Zackary Sholem Berger is a member of Town and Village Synagogue, but considers himself a post-denominational Jew. He is a contributor to Forverts (the Yiddish Forward) and Forward, and publishes poetry and essays in a number of journals in both English and Yiddish. He also maintains a blog, zackarysholemberger.blogspot.com. He and his wife, Celeste Sollod, have recently founded Twenty-Fourth Street Books, a publishing house specializing in Yiddish-language translations of English-language children’s books. Their first book, Di Kats der Payats (The Cat in the Hat in Yiddish),is available at www.yiddishcat.com. In his other life, Zack is a student in the MD-PhD program at New York University. Zack and Celeste live with their daughter, Blanca, and their son, Micah, in Manhattan.
Julia Andelman, Seder Leader (2006)
Julia Andelman received her rabbinical ordination in May 2006 from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she is also pursuing an M.A. in Talmud. She served as interim spiritual leader of Beth Jacob Synagogue in Hamilton, Ontario. She is now the rabbi of Cong. Sha’arei Tzedek on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Prior to her rabbinical studies, Julia received a B.A. in Visual Arts from Harvard, where she served on the Harvard Hillel Steering Committee and sang with the nationally acclaimed Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, a mixed choir specializing in Renaissance and early music. She then spent three years engaged in intensive text study at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Julia is a popular shelichat tzibur (prayer leader) in the New York area, and also teaches, consults, and travels as a scholar-in-residence in the area of Jewish prayer. She is especially known for her work with Kehilat Hadar on the Upper West Side, for whom she produced Pri Eitz Hadar, a CD of nineteen eclectic prayer melodies from different Jewish musical traditions. She is currently working on her second CD, a compilation of Hebrew lullabies that will serve as a companion to a forthcoming children’s book based on the Bedtime Shema. Julia also composes melodies for Jewish liturgical and biblical texts.
Past Support Staff
Emily Hammerman, Project Director (2011)
Lisa Birzen, Project Director (2010)
Lisa Birzen joined Ohel Ayalah in 2010 as the new Project Director. Â She graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in mathematics and brings extensive experience in the fields of education, journalism, and technology to this position as well as her passion for the mission and goal of the organization. Â Prior to coming on board, Lisa attended Ohel Ayalah services and events for several years and knows first-hand of the positive impact that Ohel Ayalah has on a person’s life and is excited to now be working behind the scenes to help create the same welcoming, engaging environment for others.
Meredith Druss, Administrative Coordinator (2009-2010)
Meredith Druss joined Ohel Ayalah in March 2009, taking on the responsibilities of Administrative Coordinator. Born and raised in South Florida, she graduated Dartmouth College in 2008 with a BA in Linguistics and Psychology, and a minor in Chinese. Involved in Jewish life since she personally chose her Hebrew name at the age of seven, Meredith was actively involved in her Jewish youth group, was both a camper and counselor at Camp Ramah New England, was president of the Dartmouth Hillel, and currently works for Birthright Israel NEXT. Meredith’s passion for Judaism stems from the pride she felt in surprising people with her mixed Asian-Jewish background. Since then, she’s worked to instill that pride in her friends and peers. Currently residing in New York City, Meredith loves exploring the streets, and has often expressed that there is no city with better food than NYC.
Hanniel Levenson, Project Co-ordinator (2008)
Born in Haifa, Israel, reared in New York City, Hanniel Levenson is the project coordinator for Ohel Ayalah. Hanniel majored in Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and was awarded a Master of Science degree in environmental policy at Bard College. A self-described post-denominational Jew, Hanniel sees a strong connection between the environment and Judaism and plans to pursue this avenue in his Rabbinical studies at The Academy for Jewish Religion. Hanniel is a Research Associate of Integrative Medicine at the Beth Israel Continuum Center for Health and Healing. He passionately promotes green healthcare environments and patient-centered care, believing them to be crucial components to patient recovery. Hanniel teaches philosophy, prayer, and religion to various and eclectic groups, including a small prayer group in the Rockaways, Queens and a learner’s group at a synagogue in Manhattan. He is also a painter, a competitive gymnast, who has competed on the national level, as well as a recently Registered Yoga Teacher.