Our Staff, Teachers, and Board

Jett is a freelance artist who provides part-time administrative and tech support for IJS programming. They are an alum of Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps and feel a deep connection between their Jewish values and movements for justice. Jett has created political education materials and movement-based art for organizations like Survived + Punished, Jewish Voice for Peace, Interrupting Criminalization, and Restorative Justice Initiative. Before embarking on this freelance journey, Jett worked for anti-violence organizations including Day One, where they created and facilitated consent education workshops for K-5 students. They have a BA in Gender Studies from Pomona College. Jett is also a lifelong Brooklynite, comic-maker, and Prospect Park enthusiast. You can learn more about their creative work at jettgeorge.com

Vanessa keeps IJS running by maintaining financial reports, performing general bookkeeping, and helping those who call the office with questions or concerns. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting from Baruch College and has worked in Accounting in various industries. Working for a nonprofit such as IJS has been her goal for a long time, following in the footsteps of her father, who works at Caritas France. She has strong family values and enjoys helping others.

Alyse Erman (she/her) joined IJS as Chief Operating Officer in March 2022. With a background in urban planning, Alyse has often found herself in strategy roles deeply connected to communities, education, and social justice. Prior to her work with IJS, Alyse worked at the New York City Department of Education leading the strategic planning and implementation of a mental health initiative for educators and families with young children. She lives with her wife and one year old in Brooklyn, New York.

Miriam has a long and rich association with IJS, having taught on various retreats and programs over the years. She joins the Institute as a Senior Core Faculty after over a decade as the rabbi of the Danforth Jewish Circle in Toronto. She is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and the Jerusalem Fellows at the Mandel Leadership Institute. Miriam as a founding faculty member at the Romemu Yeshiva, serving as a fellow with the Rising Song Institute, co-founding the award-winning educational program engaging with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Encounter, and recording her original Jewish music with the Hadar Rising Song ensemble.

Marc developed and teaches in our newest online course, Awareness in Action: Cultivating Character through Mindfulness and Middot. He also spearheads the daily online meditations that IJS developed as part of our response to the coronavirus pandemic. He directs our immersive programming for lay leaders and works closely with our clergy alumni as director of the Hevraya program. Marc authored several years of IJS’s weekly Text Study, exploring the weekly portion through mindfulness and middot.

Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell is a teacher of Jewish mindfulness and text and has spent years leading retreats and immersive experiences for adults in various settings through the National Ramah Commission, Orot: Center for New Jewish Learning, and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Jordan is returning to IJS as a Senior Faculty Fellow. In this role, he will lead the planning of a new center for advanced study, practice, and teaching that we aim to develop over the coming years. He will also teach in online courses and on retreats.

In addition to his work with IJS, Jordan is part of the clergy team at Beth David in Toronto.

Jordan was the founding Director of Ramah Beyond and was Director of Camp Ramah in Canada from 2019-2022. Previously, he worked for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS) as a teacher of Jewish Mindfulness and as Director of the Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training. Jordan also taught meditation to rabbis and cantors through IJS’ Clergy Leadership Program. After being ordained in 2008, Jordan served as a congregational rabbi outside of Chicago and co-founded Orot: Center for New Jewish Learning. Jordan is a recipient of the 2014 Covenant Foundation Pomegranate Prize. He and his wife Yael live in Toronto and are the proud and grateful parents of three.

Rabbi Tamara Cohen is an educator and liturgist who has been using innovative ritual and feminist creative practice to bring Jews and their fellow travelers into deeper connection with themselves, their communities, Judaism and the Sacred, for over twenty-five years. As a partnered queer white anti-racist parent of two boys and a senior leader at Moving Traditions, a national organization that works to support the thriving of Jewish adolescents and their families, she brings a keen awareness of the spiritual challenges and blessings of daily life for people who care for others within their own families while also being engaged in and committed to the need for the larger systemic changes that would make care and repair easier to center and access. Tamara’s writing can be found in The Journey Continues: The Ma’yan Feminist Haggadah, Siddur Lev Shalem and ritualwell.org. She is blessed to live with her family at the edge of Carpenter’s Woods in Philadelphia.

Nancy is a pioneer in contemporary Jewish communal life. In addition to helping found IJS, she was the first Executive Director and served for many years as a Senior Program Director, teaching and overseeing the innovative Prayer Project. Nancy also co-founded the National Center for Jewish Healing and directed the Jewish Community Healing Program of Ruach Ami: Bay Area Jewish Healing Center. She earned a BA from Dartmouth and was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

For over two decades, Rabbi Elisa Goldberg has accompanied others on their spiritual journeys as a spiritual director, professional chaplain, congregational rabbi, and educator. Rabbi Goldberg served until 2021 as a long time spiritual director at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and currently at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She teaches at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College on Rabbinic Ethics and Pastoral Counseling, and provides clinical supervision for students. She has served as Director of the Office of Rabbinic Placement for the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and led community chaplaincy services at the Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Philadelphia for fourteen years.

Rabbi Goldberg authored a guidebook on spirituality and recovery with Drexel University and consults on the integration of spiritually informed care. She was honored to be the first woman to lead the Philadelphia Board of Rabbis. She maintains a private spiritual direction and pastoral counseling practice and provides consultation and coaching for rabbinic colleagues.

Lizzie serves as cantor of Adath Israel in Merion Station, PA and is a graduate of IJS’s Clergy Leadership Program (first cohort) and Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training (4th cohort). She is on the CLP faculty and teaches the IJS weekly Monday Online Yoga Studio class, integrating Torah and liturgy with embodied practice. She is passionate about helping others bring Judaism into the body, voice, and heart through both methodical (alignment/keva) and creative (improvisational/kavanna) embodied practice. Her many years as a professional opera singer provided in-depth training in breath, voice, and movement that deeply inform her teaching and understanding of contemplative practice. She is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Manhattan School of Music (Masters in Vocal Performance) and Brown University (BA in Italian Studies). Lizzie has been a yoga student since 1993 and teacher since 2001.

Jonathan co-directed and taught in IJS’s Clergy Leadership Program and wrote our weekly Hasidic Text Study. He developed “Open My Heart”, a podcast on contemplative prayer practice featuring leading spiritual teachers. Jonathan regularly teaches meditation at the JCC in Manhattan. He has written numerous books including, most recently, A Partner in Holiness: Deepening Mindfulness, Practicing Compassion and Enriching Our Lives through the Wisdom of R. Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev’s Kedushat Levi.

Sheila has been part of IJS since its inception. Among other IJS roles, she helped create and lead the Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Program. Sheila served as a congregational rabbi for seventeen years and has worked in the fields of Jewish community relations, Jewish education, and Hillel. The author of Surprisingly Happy and God Loves the Stranger, she publishes widely on such topics as feminism, spiritual direction, parenting, social justice and mindfulness from a Jewish perspective and has contributed commentaries to the Reconstructionist prayer book. Sheila is a spiritual director to various Jewish clergy and others.

Marvin Israelow is pleased to serve as the IJS Board Chair. He worked as an organization development consultant for nearly 30 years, providing clients with a broad range of services including strategic planning, team development, leadership counseling, and customize seminars in change management and career development. Prior to starting his own firm in 1983, Marvin worked for the Exxon Corporation as an organizational development advisor> His academic background includes a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School and a Thouron Fellowship at the London School of Economics. He earned a Master’s degree from Temple University and studied at MIT’s Sloan School of Management where he also taught and conducted research on the innovation process in organizations. Marvin is an alumnus of Kivvun 1 and JMMTT2. He also completed the HUC-JIR Spiritual Director training program. He serves on the faculty of IJS’s Wise Aging program. Marvin is married to Dorian Goldman. He is the father of three sons, three daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren. He lives in Chappaqua, NY.

Sue Ellen is an actuary and has worked as a management consultant for over 25 years, spending the majority of her career with Willis Towers Watson. Her specialty area is employee benefit programs, with a focus on retirement program financials, strategy, and compliance. Sue Ellen is an alumna of Kivvun and Amukah, and has completed HUC-JIR’s Bekhol Levavkha, a Spiritual Director training program. She has served on the Board and is a Past President of Congregation Beth Am in Tampa. She earned her BA in Mathematics from the University of Vermont. Sue Ellen and her husband, Jim, live in Florida and have two grown sons.

Judy Fisher has been serving on the IJS board for three years and chairs the technology committee. She is a Jewish meditation teacher and has been the director of Or HaLev, the Center for Jewish spirituality at Peninsula Temple Beth El (PTBE) in San Mateo, California for the past five years. She received her certification to teach Jewish meditation from IJS’s Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program (JMMTT3) and is currently in the IJS Kivvun program. Judy also teaches Jewish meditation at Or HaLev and in the Bay Area. She has also been trained as a facilitator for IJS’s Wise Aging Program and facilitates Wise Aging workshops at PTBE.

Judy was a technical and marketing writer, editor and project manager for more than twenty years. She has been serving on PTBE’s board of trustees and has served on numerous boards in the Jewish community in San Diego including Congregation Beth Israel, the Jewish Women’s Foundation and the Central Agency for Jewish Education. She has a bachelor’s degree in Religion from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and studied at the Hayim Greenberg College in Jerusalem. Judy has been married for almost 40 years to Tom Fisher and is the mother of three amazing children, one daughter-in-law and is a new grandmother. They live in San Mateo, California.

Bill lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his family. He has been an enthusiastic participant in several IJS lay programs including Kivvun, JMMTT and Amukah. Bill is also a member and officer of Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh. He previously worked as a senior executive with PPG Industries, Inc. for 35 years and is currently President of a consulting company to provide management and technology services to in international glass producers.

Keith Krakaur practiced law for 36 years. When he retired in March 2020, he was based in London and headed the European government enforcement and white collar crime practice for an international law firm. He loves the outdoors and in the fall of 2021 did a seven-week solo camping trip across the U.S. In 2022-23, inspired in no small part by his IJS experiences, he found chaplaincy and became a student in the pastoral education program at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In 2023-24, he completed a second year of clinical pastoral education training at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Keith and his wife Nancy live in the New York City area and are blessed with three boys.

Lena currently serves as the Head of School of Solomon Schechter in Chicago. She began her career at Schechter in 1997 as a classroom teacher and over the years served in several administrative roles, becoming Head of School in 2018. Lena holds bachelor’s degrees from the University of Michigan in Education and Organizational Behavior, as well as a Masters of Education in Instructional Leadership and a Doctorate of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Loyola University Chicago.

Lena has been teaching mindfulness practices in both secular and Jewish contexts for over a decade. Over the years, she has led regular meditations for adults and children at school, taught mindful parenting classes, led teacher professional development about key mindfulness practices, and created a 6-week mindfulness course as well as a Mindful Leadership course. She has additionally taught mindfulness practices to camp staff members and to teams at various organizations and businesses in the Chicagoland area.

Lena lives with her husband and best friend, David, in Deerfield Illinois and they are proud of their two young adult children, Ann and Nathan.

Rabbi Shuli Passow is the director of Community Engagement at B’nai Jeshrun synagogue in New York, NY. Shuli received her ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and previously served as the Director of Community Initiatives at the Jewish Funds for Justice, where she worked with synagogues across the country to support their involvement in congregation-based community organizing. She has taught widely in youth and adult education settings, and is particularly passionate about exploring issues of justice, compassion, environmentalism and economics through Jewish text. A trained yoga instructor, Shuli loves teaching yoga in Jewish contexts, and has participated in a number of Institute Programs, including Yom Iyyun and the Tikkun Middot Project.

Rabbi Rex D Perlmeter is the Founding Director of the Jewish Wellness Center of Montclair. He credits the vision of this provider of holistic teachings and services leading toward personal and communal sh’leimut in large part to the inspiration received from his participation in several of the programs of the Institute. A former member of the Senior Staff of the Union for Reform Judaism, he resides in New Jersey with his wife, Rabbi Rachel Hertzman and family.

Bob Schechter and his wife, Susan, live in Weston and Monterey, MA with their poodle pack. They are blessed with two adult children, Mike and Brian, one daughter in law, Anya, one daughter in law to be, Michelle, and, just recently, one beautiful granddaughter, Lila.

Bob served in several leadership capacities at Temple Beth Elohim, most recently as board president from 2018 through 2020. Bob is also a past chairman of the Boston Children’s Museum and along with Susan, has volunteered and worked with a number of not for profit organizations. He is a Kivvun 3 alum, a Meah graduate and a frequent participant in Jewish studies.

Professionally, Bob is a mostly retired technology industry executive who continues to dabble in the industry serving on corporate boards and occasionally advising entrepreneurs. He worked in the software industry at the dawn of the personal computing and internet eras and later in the telecom industry as it transitioned to the mobile era and became part of the internet.

Larry Schwartz spent 25 years as a principal of the company that created the Lugz and British Knights shoe brands. Larry was the founding Board Chair of IJS. He cofounded the Jewish Meditation Center of Montclair and teaches Jewish meditation at Romemu, schools and companies (non-profit and for profit). Larry is also involved in the creation of the Romemu Yeshiva- a contemplative and egalitarian learning institution. He also invests in Impact companies and funds and serves on some of their boards.

Jonathan M. Silver, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Grossman New York University School of Medicine, a Fellow and past- President of the American Neuropsychiatric Association and a Diplomate in Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (UCNS). He has authored over 50 papers and 70 chapters, focusing on the neuropsychiatric problems subsequent to traumatic brain injury. He is senior editor of the “Textbook of Traumatic Brain Injury,” which is now in the Third Edition. He has been listed in “Best Doctors in America” since 1992 for the area of neuropsychiatry and received the award for “Innovative Clinical Treatment” from the North American Brain Injury Society. He has served on the Advisory Boards for the Freeman Center for Jewish Life and the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. He has been Baal Tekiyah for Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York for over 25 years and completed the Institute for Jewish Spirituality Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training in 2019.

Madison Slobin is a Queer Jewess living in Vancouver, Canada. By day she is the Lifelong Connections Coordinator at Vancouver Aboriginal Child & Family Services, working to connect youth in care to their families and communities. Outside of work hours, Madison coordinates Hamakom-a Jewish community that offers ritual and education programming through a social justice lens. She is also the founder of YVR Yenta- a modern matchmaking collective and Shiva Delivers (Jews in solidarity with Black grief). Madison loves living between the ocean and the mountains and prioritizes spending time outdoors. She also loves reality TV dating shows and gardening alongside her neighbors.

Jenny is a spiritual leader at Beth Meyer Synagogue and founding director of Libi Eir Awakened Heart Community Mikveh in Raleigh, NC. She is passionate about Jewish mindfulness practice and is an alum of IJS’s Clergy Cohort (CLP 2) and Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training program (JMMTT 5). Jenny is a graduate of Brown University, was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and completed a doctorate in counseling from the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health. She was also awarded a Wexner Fellowship. The proud mother of Meirav, Adi and Natan, Jenny also loves to run, practice yoga, and ride her Peloton bike!