Religious School
Faculty - Mi Anachnu (Who Are We?)
TEACHERS
Shana Heller, Kindergarten
Elana Saenger, Kindergarten and Grade 1
Elana Saenger has been teaching religious school for 12 years. This is her third year with Temple Israel. She brings her passion for Jewish studies and creativity to the classroom. Her goal is for each child to connect to the material in an enjoyable way. She has taught Jewish history, prayer, bible and Jewish ritual practices to grades K-5. In addition, she developed a curriculum on the Jewish Holidays and customs for K-5. Elana has been a family educator in the Boston area. She holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in Education from Boston University.
Emma McAfee-Hahn, Grade 1
Emma is a sophomore at Brandeis University. She was working as a student teacher/classroom aide at Temple Israel since 2004. This is her first year as a teacher. She doesn't know yet what she wants to study; instead she prefers dabbling in a little bit of everything. Outside of school and work, her hobbies include singing, running, creative writing, and talking about Harry Potter.
Shahar Colt, Grade 1
Nechama Cheses, Grade 2
Iryna Zakhozha, Grade 2
Iryna was born in
Dinah Super, Grade 3
Dinah recently graduated from Simmons College, where she was studying Nursing with a Biology Minor. This is her fifth year with Temple Israe - first four years as an aide and now as a teacher, and she loves working with the students and teachers here. She loves teaching about Tikkun Olam, Hebrew, and Jewish stories. In her free time, Dinah loves to play frisbee and volleyball, read, and travel.
David Winship, Grade 3
David and his family have been members of Temple Israel and have attended religious school here for two generations. David started coming to the program in Kindergarten and went straight through high school. He lives in Brookline and attended Baker school as a child before heading to the New Jewish High School (also known now as Gann Academy.) During the summers he attended and worked at Grossman camp in Westwood. He graduated from Brandeis University last year with a degree in Philosophy and has devoted this year to teaching within Boston's Jewish community.
Matt Lebovic, Grade 4
Matt is senior campus associate at Combined Jewish Philanthropies, where he manages campus programs including Taglit-Birthright Israel trips. Originally from Long Island, New York, he has a BA in Public Relations from Boston University and MA in Society and Politics of Israel from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Other interests include freelance writing, volunteering and activism.
Jasmine Gothelf, Grade 4
Chasiah Haberman, Grade 5
Chasiah teaches at Kesher Community Hebrew School in Cambridge and at Temple Israel of Boston. She has taught about Jewish Practice, Law and Prayer at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, Nehirim, BIMA, and other Jewish communal settings. She is a founder of Tirtzah: A community of Frum Queer Women and currently lives in Cambridge, MA.
Suzie Schwartz, Grades 5 and 7
Suzie is currently a rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Boston. Prior to rabbinical school, Suzie received a MA in Jewish Thought from the University of Chicago Divinity School, a BA in Jewish Philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a BA in American history from Columbia University. When she is not busy with her studies, Suzie is active in numerous local Jewish organizations, including Keshet, a grassroots organization dedicated to creating a fully inclusive Jewish community for GLBTQ Jews, and the Moishe/Kavod House, a social justice organization committed to building a progressive, vibrant community for Boston Jews in their 20s and 30s. She is a resident organizer and board member of the Moishe/Kavod house, and serves as religious services coordinator for both Moishe/Kavod and Keshet. Suzie is passionate about Torah, Jewish creativity and social justice. She also really loves jam bands, spinning poi and learning how to hoolah hoop.
Rafi Spitzer - Grade 6
Rafi is a student at Boston University, studying Anthropology of Religion. He grew up in the Boston Area, and has 3 younger sisters. His favorite flavor of ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough, his favorite color is purple, and his favorite kitchen appliance is his wok.
Jamie Lichtenstein, Grade 6
Jamie has been teaching at Temple Israel since the 1998-1999 school year. She is currently teaching in the sixth grade and is very excited about the refocused curriculum. In addition to teaching at Temple Israel, Jamie is a biologist on the faculty at Emerson College and doing research at Harvard School of Public Health. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, son and daughter.
Hannah Heller, Grade 6
Hannah recently graduated from Wellesley College with a double degree in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and Jewish Studies, and is currently studying to get her MA in Museum Education at Tufts University. After graduating she interned in Israel for half a year at an arts blog in Israel called Omanoot, where she developed an appreciation for the good that the arts can do-- a lesson she hopes to bring to the classroom! She has been enjoying her second year at Temple Israel very much.
Nicole Samuel, Grade 7
Nicole is excited to begin her seventh year teaching seventh grade at Temple Israel. She enjoys working with middle school students and has taught sixth and eighth grade at congregations in Washington, DC and Boston. Nicole is a Research Associate at the Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University and lives in Cambridge.
Ira Blum, Grade 7
Laura Reader, Grade 7
Specialists
Yuliya Goncharov -Art
Sally Persing - Computers
Sally and her family have been members of Temple Israel since 1996. This is her 9th year as Religious School faculty, and she was on the Teen Ed Committee for many years. All 8 Persing kids went to the Religious School program, were active members of the youth groups and RYFTI, and several have worked here in various capacities. For full-time work Sally is the office manager and administrative associate for a research center at Children's Hospital Boston, the Center on Media and Child Health and you'll talk to her at the front desk of the Adolescent Clinic, too.
Ben Madsen - Music
Ben is a Tufts Sophomore who is studying Clinical Psychology and Music. He loves singing acoustic folk music, playing mandolin, and most of all, playing Jewish music with kids!
Aviva Reichgott - Hebrew
Aviva was born and raised in Israel. She was sent to Camp Ramah in New England with an Israeli delegation Mishlachet from Tel-Aviv University. At camp she met her husband, has three children, and loves the life in Boston and life in Tel-Aviv. A graduate of Hebrew College, she used to teach Special Ed at Temple Shalom of Newton. She loves learning and teaching.
Sivan Einsohn- Special Education Consultant
Sivan is currently working as a Special Education Consultant for the religious school at Temple Israel. In 2006 she graduated with a degree in Exceptional Student Education with an ESL accreditation and teaching license. She taught students at both ends of the spectrum for four years, from the severely disabled to the highly gifted. While continuing her education, she became extremely involved in the speech pathology world. Seh volunteered for several years at a local hospital with a speech therapist. She also worked at local hospital-managed camps for children with cranial facial anomalies, such as cleft palates. She is currently a graduate student at Northeastern University majoring in Speech-Language Pathology.
Kathy Sillman - Coordinator of Teacher Education