Turn It and Turn It: Encounters with Jewish Wisdom

Jennifer Abrams moved to Colorado with her husband, 2 daughters and dog in December 2016 from the Chicago area. She has a B.S. in Human Development and Psychological Services from Northwestern University and a Masters in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis. She has worked as a Social Worker for the Early Childhood Programs at JCC Chicago and as a Pediatric Medical Social Worker in a variety of hospital settings.

Eliana Rubin (they/she) is a queer and trans artist and educator. They aim to help people better understand themselves and the world around them through Jewish, LGBTQ+ and theatre education. Eliana is currently a candidate for a Masters of Educational Leadership at HUC-JIR, with an expected graduation date of May 2022. She received her BFA from NYU / Tisch (ETW).

Eliana is a musician, playwright and screenwriter, and enjoys intertwining her artistic and Jewish passions through Jewsicals (Jewish musicals), short musical numbers centered around Judaic texts. She will never say no to a bag of movie theater popcorn.  Elianashirarubin.com

Story District teaches and showcases the art of autobiographical storytelling to inspire, connect, and build a community of diverse voices within the Washington, DC region and beyond.
Through the love of storytelling, Story District creates opportunities for people to deepen a sense of meaning, belonging, and connection to our common humanity.
Named the "gold standard" in storytelling by the Washington Post, Story District reaches an audience of more than 12,000 patrons, 200 aspiring storytellers, and 300 adult learners every year through our performances, classes, free coaching, consulting, and a podcast.

Julie Wohl is a Jewish educator, artist, and a storyteller. She received her Master’s Degree in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary and has worked in a variety of synagogue, communal and camp settings for over 20 years. She is the co-author and illustrator of Siddur Mah Tov: a Family Shabbat Prayer Book (Behrman House, 2010) and the illustrator of Simply Seder: A Family Haggadah (Behrman House, 2011), as well as the author of Make, Create Celebrate! Jewish Holidays through Art (Behrman House, 2018). She is the founder of Jewish Learning Thru Art, a traveling creative arts beit midrash and has directed synagogue schools in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Detroit.

Julie lives in Maryland with her husband and two children where she works for the Macks Center for Jewish Education as the Director of PJ Library in Baltimore.

Rabbi Jessy Dressin serves as the Senior Director of Jewish Education for Repair the World. She received an M.A. in both Jewish education and Hebrew Letters in addition to rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. Since ordination, Jessy has worked in Baltimore as a community rabbi and continues to be involved in the local community even as she transitions to a national role with Repair the World.

She is an enthusiast about the changing trends and behaviors of younger Jews and sees the challenges of Jewish institutional life as invitations to put forth new approaches to how to meet Judaism's three primary goals: personal meaning making, the imperative to be part of a collective and the obligation to make the world a more just place for all its inhabitants. Jessy lives in Baltimore with her husband Mark and their dog, Kofi.

Dr. Bill Robinson is the executive director of Na’aleh: The Hub for Leadership Learning, an agency of The Associated, formed to inspire and develop professional and lay leadership with the ambition, ability, and authenticity to lead the greater Baltimore Jewish community. In 2019, he was also a visiting scholar at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education of Brandeis University.

Prior to this, Bill was the Dean of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education of The Jewish Theological Seminary, where he created the Leadership Commons, which cultivates educational leadership and offers practical wisdom to support Jewish communities throughout North America. During his previous seven-year tenure as chief strategy officer at The Jewish Education Project, Bill was integral to the transformation of the 100-year-old organization (formerly known as the Board of Jewish Education) into its current, vibrant form. He and the team designed a new model for central agencies of Jewish education to spark and spread innovations in Jewish learning. In recognition of this new model, in 2011, The Jewish Education Project became the first legacy organization to be named to the Slingshot list of top 50 innovative Jewish nonprofits in North America.

Bill’s experience also includes past roles as director of education and research at the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life in New York City, where he led the creation of the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative and worked toward the development of interdenominational Jewish values and ideas geared toward young adults; director of Jewish education at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he oversaw a K–12 school with 300 students, family programming, and adult education; managing director of the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he managed the administration of Yale Hillel and Young Israel House Kosher Kitchen; planning associate (pro bono) at the Atlanta Jewish Federation where he ran the planning and allocations committee and staffed the Atlanta Rabbinical Council; and staff researcher at the Council for Initiatives in Jewish Education in Atlanta, Georgia, where he performed research and evaluation for one of the first philanthropically funded national initiatives for change in Jewish education. 

Bill received an interdisciplinary PhD in Social Theory from Rutgers University. He is the proud father of Jessica Shaye and Juliette Eliana, and the adoring husband of Tia Zlotnikoff.

Rabbi Carrie Vogel serves as the Director of the Jewish Experience Center. Carrie oversees and works with the JEC team to make sure that our kindergarten-12th grade programming and experiences are at the highest level. Carrie was ordained as a rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles in 2009. In addition she received a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters in 2006 and a Master of Arts in Jewish Education in 2007 from HUC-JIR. During Carrie’s time in rabbinic school she worked at a number of synagogues, camps and day schools in the greater Los Angeles area. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Cincinnati. Carrie and her husband Brian are the proud parents of two children and in her "spare time" she enjoys being outside, baking and sorting LEGOs.

Jay Rapoport, RJE has served as the Director of Lifelong Learning at Temple Sholom of Chicago since 2014. In 2020 Jay received the ARJE Yad b’Yad Award for innovative curriculum, appeared on the Disney Holiday Singalong, defeated his former student on the “Who Knows One?” game show, and received a Covenant Foundation grant to compose the theme song for the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland’s “La-bri’ut” curriculum. Jay has composed two “Ruach Rock” albums - including six songs featured on the new “The Complete Jewish Songbook for Children Volume III (Manginot),” - and is working on his third, “Attitude of Gratitude.”

Lisa Langer, RJE, currently serves as an Associate Director, Congregational Innovation & Education with the Union for Reform and as a Clinical Faculty Mentor for the Executive M.A. Program in Jewish Education at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She has been a leader and practitioner, mentor and consultant in the field of Jewish educational innovation for nearly 30 years. Her experience spans all spaces where Jewish learning thrives, including congregations, camps, central agencies, day schools and homes. In addition to her current roles, some career highlights include: serving as a founding director of Shabbaton - a family education program at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, CA, a leader in the Experiment in Congregational Education and the B’nai Mitzvah Revolution programs, a teacher in the Family Education Fellows program at the Bureau of Jewish Education of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, an Alumni-In-Residence and visiting scholar on the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR, faculty at URJ camps: Swig, Newman, 6 Points Sports-CA and Kutz, Regional Educator for the URJ Pacific Northwest Region, author of numerous blog pieces and articles, and especially the many opportunities to work with amazing, inspiring, caring, talented colleagues and friends, including her co-awardee, Rachel Margolis, RJE. \n \nLisa is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Jewish Religious Education from HUC-JIR in 2019. Lisa currently proudly serves on the boards of the ARJE and Sinai Memorial Chapel. \n \nShe loves to play tennis, gather and make memories with family and friends, spend time at the beach and on hiking trails with her dog, and take advantage of her good fortune of living in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Dan Siegel, and their son’s Jacob and Ben.

Lisa Langer, RJE, currently serves as an Associate Director, Congregational Innovation & Education with the Union for Reform and as a Clinical Faculty Mentor for the Executive M.A. Program in Jewish Education at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She has been a leader and practitioner, mentor and consultant in the field of Jewish educational innovation for nearly 30 years. Her experience spans all spaces where Jewish learning thrives, including congregations, camps, central agencies, day schools and homes. In addition to her current roles, some career highlights include: serving as a founding director of Shabbaton - a family education program at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, CA, a leader in the Experiment in Congregational Education and the B’nai Mitzvah Revolution programs, a teacher in the Family Education Fellows program at the Bureau of Jewish Education of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, an Alumni-In-Residence and visiting scholar on the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR, faculty at URJ camps: Swig, Newman, 6 Points Sports-CA and Kutz, Regional Educator for the URJ Pacific Northwest Region, author of numerous blog pieces and articles, and especially the many opportunities to work with amazing, inspiring, caring, talented colleagues and friends, including her co-awardee, Rachel Margolis, RJE.

Lisa is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Jewish Religious Education from HUC-JIR in 2019. Lisa currently proudly serves on the boards of the ARJE and Sinai Memorial Chapel.

She loves to play tennis, gather and make memories with family and friends, spend time at the beach and on hiking trails with her dog, and take advantage of her good fortune of living in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Dan Siegel, and their son’s Jacob and Ben.

Miriam Raider-Roth is the Director of Mandel Teacher Educator Institute. She is also a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati where she serves as a professor of Educational Studies and Educational/Community-Based Action Research, and directs the Action Research Center. Miriam is a founding co-director of the Center for Studies of Jewish Education and Culture at UC. Her research focuses on the relational context of teaching and learning, action research and feminist qualitative research methods. She is author of Professional Development in Relational Learning Communities: Teachers in Connection (2017). Her research interests include how relational learning communities contribute to teachers’ transformative learning in professional development settings.

Cantor Rosalie Will is a worship consultant, cantor, songleader and teacher. She serves as the part-time director of Worship and Music for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). She consults congregations on issues of worship and music, mentors clergy in the field, and trains songleaders of all ages as well as visits congregations around North America for weekend residencies. She produces events which lead the cutting edge of worship and music thinking, trains communal singing professionals on best principles for communal singing as well as singing for justice, and is about to publish a narrative book with Transcontinental Music Publishing entitled Songleading: A Work of Art. Rosalie served from 2001 until 2017 as Cantor of Temple Emanuel in Kensington, Maryland, just north of Washington DC and was ordained Cantor from the School of Sacred Music of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She is a Synagogue 3000 Fellow, is a Partner in the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health, has taught courses at HUC-JIR, and is a past Vice-President for Member Relations of the American Conference of Cantors (ACC). You can find more information about Cantor Rosalie Will at www.rosaliewill.com

Rachel Margolis, RJE is Associate Director, Congregational Innovation and Education at the Union for Reform Judaism. She works with congregational leaders to inspire change, depth and meaning in strong communities. She advocates for the role of learning, family engagement, and education champions in congregational life. Rachel is a graduate of Cornell University and has a joint masters in Jewish Education and Jewish Non-Profit Management from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. After serving as Director of Education for a congregation in Los Angeles, Rachel helped write curriculum and re-envisioned youth involvement and teen learning for family schools, Religious Schools, synagogue day camps and retreats at synagogues and community programs around the country. Rachel is immediate past chair of the HUC-JIR Alumni Leadership Council, and serves on the HUC-JIR board of governors. She and her family enjoy their time at URJ OSRUI each summer.

Nina Woldin, Managing Director of Chai Mitzvah, has worked in Jewish education for decades, creating student materials and programs for all ages, pre-K – adult. Her work has been published by Behrman House, Ktav, Kar Ben Publishing, Addison Wesley and Grolier. She created one of the first online Jewish education resource centers, Yourpage.org, which became part of Jewish National Fund’s website in 2003.

Eve Berger is the Vice President of Partnerships for Moving Traditions. She is responsible for building the programmatic reach of Moving Traditions across North America through managing the field staff and identifying new partnerships to reach more Jewish youth and their families. With over 30 years of experience as a lifelong non-profit professional she has been a community health educator, camp director and is happy that she has found meaning being a Jewish communal professional. Eve holds a BS in Psychology from Syracuse University and an MA in Health Education with a focus in Human Sexuality from NYU. She lives in suburban Philadelphia with her family including fur babies Buster and Bella.

Rafael Chaiken is the Director of CCAR Press. In this role, he oversees the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ book publications, journal, certificates, apps, and Visual T’filah. He was previously the editor for Jewish studies, film studies, and philosophy at the State University of New York Press. His books have been winners/finalists for the National Jewish Book Awards, Jordan Schnitzer Book Awards, Foreword Indies Book of the Year, Independent Publisher Book Awards, and Canadian Jewish Literary Awards. Rafael holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s from the University at Albany, both in history. His book reviews have appeared in the Journal of Electronic Publishing and Publishing Research Quarterly. He has delivered presentations on publishing at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Association for Jewish Studies, University at Albany, and SUNY New Paltz. He also served as chair of the Association of University Presses Professional Development Committee.

Sarah Weiss-Poland is the Southeast IsraelLINK Regional Director. She is a Master Jewish Educator, Curriculum Developer and Ritual creator. She earned two Bachelor's degrees from Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, and her Masters in Jewish Education from the Davidson School at JTS. Sarah has dedicated her career to Jewish and Israel Education for children, adult seniors, and developmentally delayed adults. After her Masters Degree, she went on to direct and develop programming and curriculum for various Jewish settings throughout NYC, CT, and the tristate area. Her work has garnered recognition and awards for advancement of innovative alternatives in Jewish Education. Sarah now lives in Boca Raton, FL with her family.