Ron comes to us from Brotherhood Synagogue, where he was Director of Development and Membership. Prior to Brotherhood, he had a long career in the financial services sector, having led high profile corporate efforts at institutions such as National Australia Bank, Noble Group, MarexSpectron, Merrill Lynch and Oppenheimer & Co. Throughout his career he has been deeply involved and connected to synagogue life. For more than seven years, Ron served as President of Temple Beth El of Great Neck, where his strong managerial experience, people skills and financial acumen was of tremendous value in leading such a historic congregation. He has served as Co-Chair of UJA-Synergy’s North Shore Presidents Roundtable and has provided support and counsel to numerous charitable organizations in the NY metro area. Ron loves the outdoors and is an avid biker and hiker, as well as a Yankees and Knicks fan.

Annie Epstein is a senior at Northwestern University majoring in Journalism with minors in Psychology and Jewish Studies. She’s currently finishing up her term as Co-President of Northwestern Hillel. Annie attended RSS since preschool, worked with the Rodeph Sholom Theater Company, and served as Youth Group Board President.

Kai Falkenberg currently serves as EVP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at G/O Media, a digital publishing company with 10+ category-leading sites, including Quartz, Gizmodo, Deadspin, Jezebel, Kotaku, The Root and The Onion. Kai brings to that role over 20 years of expertise in media law including M&A, data privacy, intellectual property, labor relations, compliance, litigation and other matters.

Prior to joining G/O, Kai served as Acting Commissioner and First Deputy Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media Entertainment where she oversaw NYC Media, the country’s largest municipal broadcast network, and the regulation of all film and television production in NYC. In addition to her role as a C-Suite executive, Kai teaches media law at Columbia Law School where she originated and teaches the country’s first course on the Law & Regulation of Social Media. Earlier in her career she served in senior legal roles at several media companies including Forbes and NBC. She was the President of The Jewish Week Media Group and currently serves as a board member for a number of organizations including the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, the Gotham Institute for Film & Media, 70 Faces Media and the NFT platform known as Voice.

Kai began her legal career at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Columbia Law School, where she was a Kent Scholar and Senior Editor of the Law Review. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and their two children.

Debora serves as the Vice President, Brand & Marketing at ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). In her role, she is responsible for creating awareness of and engagement with ADL and its brand through impactful integrated campaigns and events. Her team works to tell ADL’s story and address its mission, “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all,” in addition to managing direct response marketing efforts and all engagements within the sports and entertainment industries.

Debora joined ADL in August 2017, as a consultant, program manager following a career in the sports industry. Prior to ADL, Debora’s experience includes leading marketing efforts for the 2017 World Baseball Classic during her second stint at Major League Baseball, being Director of Marketing for Thuzio, an influencer marketing and sports events company, and serving as Manager of Communications and Digital Marketing for the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee.

Debora has a BA in History and minor in Jewish Studies from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She lives on the UWS with her husband Bryan and daughters Jamie (RSS ’34) and Rory. Aside from her family and friends, she loves the Yankees, dumplings, pizza and puns.

Rabbi Mira Weller (she/her) received her ordination at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles in May 2022. She studied Culture and Politics at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and received her Master’s in Jewish Education at the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at HUC-JIR. She is the proud recipient of awards for her studies in rabbinic literature, her work in Jewish education, and she was granted the Myrtle Lorch Pfaelzer-Monroe Pfaelzer Award for an Outstanding Female Rabbinical School Student (2022). Rabbi Mira speaks Hebrew and Spanish (so please practice with her!). She has a passion for uncovering new possibilities in the great wealth of our tradition and for making music inspired by Judaism’s many cultures. Her guilty pleasures include cupcakes, classical music, and philosophy.

Alan Goodis is a touring Jewish musician playing over 150 events a year. Born and raised in Toronto, Alan is a proud product of URJ Goldman Union Camp Institute. Noted for his dedication to building relationships and community through music, Alan tours throughout the US to serve as an Artist-In-Residence and performer at Temples, Youth Conventions and Jewish summer camps.

For more than a decade, Alan has been a strong presence in the Reform Jewish movement to engage and empower Jewish youth and adults through music. He’s served as Musical Director for NFTY InternationalConvention and on faculty at Hava Nashira. In 2011, he developed Nashir: NFTY Teen Song leading Institute in partnership with the URJ to provide meaningful song leader training to high school students. Alan has been a featured performer and presenter at URJ Biennials and the Wexner Foundation. In 2014, Alan released his long awaited full-length studio album “This Place.” In 2016, Alan co-founded “Friday Night: A Key ShabbatCelebration” with two Chicago congregations to engage underserved young professionals. Later that year he was named to Chicago’s Jewish 36 under 36. Later this year Alan will release a new album entitled Joy.

Alan lives in Chicago with his wife Codi and their daughters Noa and Maya. To learn more about Alan visit: www.alangoodis.com.

Dan is a product of the URJ Jewish camping movement. He has toured Jewish summer camps across North America for the last 15 years. A classically trained singer, Dan received his Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance at the University of North Carolina. In 1995, realizing the potential of music to make powerful connections with Jewish youth, Dan established the Jewish rock band Eighteen. Since that time, Dan and Eighteen have released 13 albums. Songs like, L’takein, B’tzelem Elo-him, Kehillah Kedoshah, Chazak, Sweet As Honey, and Asher Yatzar have become Jewish communal anthems throughout North America.

Dan has toured over 190 days for the last 20 years, where he often serves as artist-in-residence and teacher for congregations and camp communities. He has served on the faculty of Hava Nashira since 2001. In 2009 he co-founded Shulhouse Rock, a song leading workshop for Jewish high-school students. He has performed live in Israel at the historic fortress of Masada and in the studio for the groundbreaking XM Radio presentation of Radio Hanukkah.

Dan created the Road to Eden Deep South Sukkot Tour to bring the message of Sukkot to communities in the southern United States, where he and his band played 11 shows in 10 days. Their experiences are captured in the documentary film, Road to Eden. In addition to these highlights, Dan has been featured at conferences and conventions of nearly every major Jewish movement, including the URJ Biennial, NFTY Convention, BBYO International, Limmud and the Wexner Heritage Program.

Naomi Less is an internationally celebrated singer/songwriter, ritualist and educator. Beloved for her warm smile and inviting presence, communities celebrate her imagination and innovation, tenderness and pizzazz! Her original music is sung in worship communities worldwide. Naomi serves as Co-Founder, Ritual Leader and Associate Director of Lab/Shul and is a leader in amplifying women’s voices through her work at Songleader Boot Camp and her Jewish Women Rock show on Jewish Rock Radio. Naomiadvocates for people struggling with fertility journeys as a performance artist and speaker for Uprooted: A Jewish Response to Fertility Challenges. Fun fact: Naomi and her husband wrote the song shine/Yivarech’cha, a Friday night blessing, specifically composed for URJ Crane Lake Camp, sung every Friday night in the dining hall.

Her destiny became obvious to Joanie Leeds’ parents when, at the tender age of 2, Joanie grabbed the performer’s mic at a party and belted out the entire song“Tomorrow” from Annie. Jaws dropped! No one could remember ever hearing a big voice like that coming from one so tiny and certainly no one would have thought she would one day earn a GRAMMY® Award for her original music.

As a musical theater major at Syracuse University, Joanie began composing her own songs. After graduation, she did the New York City thing, bartending at The Bitter End when not on stage performing. While making the rounds as a singer/songwriter in NewYork clubs (her favorites were Rockwood, The Bitter End, The Living Room, Arlene’sGrocery and CBGB’s), Joanie tried her hand at about ten different day gigs until a friend suggested that she get a job where she could sing with kids during the day and perhaps sleep at night. You could say that Joanie found (as in “discovered”) herself, managing one of the Manhattan Gymboree locations and singing with and for kids all day long. The nocturnal club scene was fun, but making music with children was real fun. Life clicked into place when Joanie realized that when she was with children, they transformed themselves into amazing creatures of joy, forgetting how to hold back. Seeing the kids get in touch with their true selves gave Joanie a sense of fulfillment that far surpassed playing for adults on the club circuit.

The songs that Joanie Leeds began turning out reflected this sense that life is a joyful adventure. Entertaining at birthday parties and pre- schools soon progressed into concert performances nationwide back in 2008 and has since generated material for nine full length albums: City Kid!, Challah, Challah, I’m A Rock Star, What A Zoo, Bandwagon, Good Egg, Meshugana, Brooklyn Baby and most recently, GRAMMY®Nominated All the Ladies! Joanie has also released 2 full length DVDs, City Kid Live and Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights- Live from Madison Square Park.

Over the past decade, Joanie has won 1st place in the USA Songwriting Competition, an Independent Music Award, a GOLD Parents’ Choice Award, NAPPA GOLD Award, Family Choice Award and is a John Lennon Songwriting Competition Finalist and international Songwriting Competition Finalist. She has performed at venues nationwide including Lollapalooza, Clearwater Festival, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Wolftrap and Levitt Pavilion. Her music has been featured in the New York Times, People Magazine, Parents Magazine, Billboard and The Washington Post and played on radio stations and rose to #1 on Sirius XM’s Kids Place Live.

Joanie released her GRAMMY® AWARD WINNING album (All the Ladies) in April 2020 during the ongoing pandemic and spent the pandemic working on song commission work, releasing several singles and performing from home. Joanie is thrilled to be back on tour bringing songs from her 9 albums to a city near you. Her favorite job of all is mama to her 6 year old daughter.

A composer, multi-instrumentalist, and prayer leader, Elana Arian is one of the leading voices in contemporary Jewish music. Elana’s music is part of Jewish life across the globe, and her compositions are sung in spiritual communities, summer camps, and synagogues from Louisville to London, from Chicago to the CzechRepublic, and everywhere in between. Elana just released her fourth album of original music, The Other Side of Fear, and her compositions have been published in countless Transcontinental Music collections. Elana serves proudly on the faculty of Hava Nashira (Oconomowoc, WI), the Wexner Heritage Foundation (Aspen, CO), Shirei Chagiga (London, England), and as an instructor at the Hebrew Union College in New York, where she teaches in the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. Elana has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, and perhaps most memorably, five separate appearances at the (Obama) White House. She lives in New York with her wife, Julia, and their two daughters, Maya and Acadia.

There is a reason why Time Magazine has listed Michelle in their Top Ten list of Jewish rock stars.

Best known as a pioneer in creating holiday viral videos on Youtube that have garnered millions of views and leading soulful worship services, Michelle enjoys “taking what’s old and making it new” to help people connect to the rich tradition, culture and wisdom of Judaism.

Michelle’s music is celebrated in Jewish communities around the world, on radio and on television and her knack for songwriting and composition has led to a variety of accolades such as ranking as one of Billboard Music’s top Songwriters, A VH1 Song of the Year Finalist, and is proud to have been considered one of Jewish Week’s “Next Wave of Jewish Innovators.”

Kol B’Seder has been composing and performing contemporary Jewish music since the early1970s. Rabbi Dan Freelander and Cantor Jeff Klepper met as college students; over the past 50years they have released numerous CDs and songbooks. With Debbie Friedman (z”l) and others, they forged a new musical sound for American Jewish camps, schools and synagogues. Their songs, such as “Shalom Rav,” “Modeh Ani,” and “Lo Alecha,” have become traditionalJewish melodies around the world. They are delighted to be inaugurating their fiftieth anniversary celebration by appearing in support of URJ camps, where they first composed and incubated many of their early songs.

Rabbi Juliana Schnur Karol (she/her) is our Associate Rabbi. She first served here as rabbinical intern then Assistant Rabbi, and prior to that at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, DC and the Union for Reform Judaism in New York City. Rabbi Karol is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, the Tisch Rabbinical Fellowship, and the American Jewish World Service Global Justice Fellowship, and a Senior Fellow of Humanity in Action.

With a passion for building community here among her congregants, Rabbi Karol launched CRS Outings as a way for them to experience fun and adventure in New York City and beyond while creating connections with each other. She also convenes the LGBTQIA+ Working Group, launched in 2021, which strives toward full inclusion and belonging for LGBTQIA+ members of our community. This group has instituted annual observances of National Coming Out Day, Trans Day of Visibility, and worked to grow Rodeph Sholom’s Pride Month celebrations, as well as auditing our programming, systems, and culture to ensure all genders, sexual orientations, and gender expressions are recognized and honored.

Rabbi Karol is privileged to serve on the Board of American Friends of the Parents Circle—Family Forum, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization working toward peace and reconciliation. Juli grew up in Scarsdale, NY and now lives in Manhattan with her husband Adam and their two children.

The guitarist Oren Fader played Brilliantly.” — The New York Times.

“His scholarship, technique, and intelligent musicianship are plainly evident and the beauty of his tone is consistently compelling.”— Guitar Review

Classical and electric guitarist Oren Fader (www.orenfader.com) has performed in Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States. Concerto performances include the Villa-Lobos Guitar Concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” with the New Jersey and the Omaha Symphonies.

Mr. Fader has performed hundreds of concerts with a wide range of classical and new music groups, including the Met Chamber Ensemble, Cygnus Ensemble, Bowers Fader Duo, New York Philharmonic, Talea Ensemble, ICE, Mark Morris Dance Group, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

He has premiered over 250 solo and chamber works with guitar, and can be heard on over 50 commercial recordings and film.

Mr. Fader received his undergraduate degree from SUNY Purchase and his Master of Music degree from Florida State University. His major teachers include David Starobin and Bruce Holzman. Since 1994 Mr. Fader has been on the guitar and chamber music faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. He also directs the classical guitar programs at Montclair State University and SUNY Purchase.

Todd Groves is a New York City based performer and composer, performing and recording on saxophones, flutes, clarinets, recorders, and world flutes. His performances range from Broadway pit orchestras to jazz ensembles, commercial ensembles, classical orchestras, solo appearances, and more. Todd plays Reed 1 for Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway; has been an orchestra member for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and NY City Center’s Encores since 2009; has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera (receiving a Grammy for being a part of the 2019 recording of Porgy and Bess), Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Pops, NYC Ballet, the Knights, American Symphony; and is a member of both the New York and New Jersey Saxophone Quartets. Other recent Broadway: Sunday In The Park With George, Motown, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Follies, Catch Me If You Can. He has performed with Seth Macfarlane, Audra McDonald, Michael Feinstein, Kristin Chenoweth, Randy Newman, Johnny Mathis, Boyz II Men, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin and many others. Todd is adjunct professor of saxophone and jazz at the University of Delaware, saxophone at Brooklyn College, and woodwind doubling at New Jersey City University. He also teaches at the Summer Music in Tuscany chamber music festival. As a composer, Todd focuses on writing chamber music for woodwinds and music for jazz ensembles of various sizes. Check out his videos where he performs all of the parts for many of his compositions at his website, toddgrovesmusic.com.

Eliot Bailen has an active career as an artistic director, cellist, composer and teacher. Strings Magazine writes, “At Merkin Hall ‘cellist Eliot Bailen displayed a warm focused tone, concentrated expressiveness and admirable technical command always at the service of the music.” Founder and Artistic Director of the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, now celebrating its 40th year, whose performances the New York Times has described as “the Platonic ideal of a chamber music concert,” Mr. Bailen is also Founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Music at Rodeph Sholom in New York and Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Ensemble. Principal cello of the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, New York Chamber Ensemble, Orchestra New England, Teatro Grattacielo and the New Choral Society (The Michael B. Packer Chair),Mr. Bailen has performed regularly with the Saratoga Chamber Players, Cape May Music Festival, Sebago-Long Lake Chamber Music Festival as well as with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York City Opera and Ballet, Oratorio Society, American Symphony, Stamford Symphony, New Jersey Symphony and is heard frequently in numerous Broadway shows. Among Mr. Bailen’s commissions are an Octet, a Double Concerto for Flute and Cello, Perhaps a Butterfly, Saratoga Sextet, The Tiny Mustache (a musical) and recently a Dectet (“Inclusion”) commissioned by the New Choral Society. Mr. Bailen is recipient of over forty commissions for his “Song to Symphony” for schools (subject of a NY Times feature article Sept. 2006 and winner of a Yale Alumni Grant). In 2002 he received the Norman Vincent Peale Award for Positive Thinking. Mr. Bailen received his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) from Yale Universityand an M.B.A. from NYU. He is on the cello and chamber music faculty at Columbia University and Teachers College.

Shoshana Nambi (she/her), our Rabbinic Intern, grew up in Mbale, Uganda’s Abayudaya Jewish community, learning Hebrew at the nearby synagogue and teaching songs and the Torah portion to young children. Shoshana, who is interested in sharing, will undoubtedly introduce her new Rodeph Sholom community to Ugandan Jewish traditions.

After graduating from the University of Kampala in 2011, she worked three summers as camp counselor and Tefillah coordinator at URJ Camp Coleman in Cleveland, GA. Having learned more about Judaism there paved the way to her dream of becoming a rabbi. After a year studying Hebrew and Jewish texts at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, she was offered admission to the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and spent her first year at its Jerusalem campus.

Along with her 12-year-old daughter, Emunah, who is a student at Schechter Manhattan, we welcome Shoshana who hopes: “Most importantly, I am on my way to becoming a Jewish leader myself, just like the leaders I admired growing up.”