Staff / Leadership
Officers
Ruth Kaufman, President
Reba Snyder, 1st Vice President
Rachel Levine, 2nd Vice President
David Pollack, Treasurer
Dan Tinkelman, Financial Secretary
Justine Henning, Recording Secretary
Trustees
Reva Grossberg
Bella Holzkenner
Jonathan Hurwitz
Jacqueline LeBlanc
Helen Lowery
Stephanie Nanes
Brian Newcombe
Daniel Price
Mo Weissfellner
Rabbi Carie Carter joined PSJC in 2000. She received her ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1997, having studied both in Jerusalem and at the University of Judaism. Prior to beginning her position at PSJC, Rabbi Carter served for three years as Director of Cleveland Metro Hillel and Assistant Executive Director of Cleveland Hillel. She was also Auxiliary Rabbi at Park Synagogue, a Conservative congregation in Cleveland. Rabbi Carter has extensive experience with informal Jewish education, having spent many years as an educator at Jewish summer camps and youth programs.
Rabbi Carter is dedicated to promoting the inclusion of women within the public story of the Jewish people. She has lectured often on this subject and has facilitated numerous creative rituals around women’s lifecycle and holiday observances. Rabbi Carter has also been involved in inter-religious dialogue, social justice work and ethical questions regarding the implications of technology.
Inspired by her extensive experience, Rabbi Carter is committed to finding ways to engage and excite those who are searching for meaning in Judaism. With an understanding that no single path is right for everyone, she strives to provide “many roads to the palace” of Jewish living. She is committed to building an inclusive Jewish community in which exploration and creativity are encouraged, and where the dignity of every human being is honored and celebrated.
Rabbi Carter is happy to meet with people seeking rabbinic guidance or counsel or questions about PSJC. Please feel free to contact her at 718.768.1453, or send email by clicking on the Rabbi’s name highlighted above.
Cantor Judy Ribnick, C.S.W., M.A., is happy to return to the PSJC community! She has served as High Holiday cantor for 24 consecutive years, the last 5 at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in Manhattan, and the previous 13 at PSJC. Judy’s love of music was cultivated west of the Hudson in Minneapolis, where she studied voice, clarinet and piano and was deeply immersed in synagogue and Jewish communal life. Her interest in the Jewish community led her to the Jewish Theological Seminary and to Columbia University where she obtained Masters degrees in Jewish Studies and Social Work. She has worked full-time at DOROT, inc., a New York City-based agency serving the elderly, for more than 20 years, where she is Director of Community Services. After hours, Judy cantors monthly at the Park Slope Jewish Center and at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, lends her voice and clarinet to monthly “Rinah U’Tfilah” services at Park Avenue Synagogue, and participates in other Shabbat, holiday and life cycle events. Judy is a member of West End Synagogue and Congregation Beth Simchat Torah.
Judy’s life-partner, Diane, and their daughter, Elana, share in Judy’s great pleasure in returning to PSJC and the wonderful PSJC community.
Rabbinic Fellow, Aaron Weininger
Aaron Weininger is in his final year of rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Concentrating in pastoral care, he spent two summers as a chaplain intern at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York and most recently served as the rabbi of a naturally occurring retirement community and a Kosher soup kitchen for isolated and homeless older adults on the Lower East Side. He received the Schusterman Rabbinical Fellowship, which provided three years of formal study on key issues in American and Israeli Jewry and communal leadership. He was selected for the Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship of Clal, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and served on the national advisory board of Evaded Issues in Jewish Education, a groundbreaking project started by the JTS Davidson School of Jewish Education. Having been a member of a Jewish a cappella group, Aaron has brought his love for Jewish music, singing, and learning to student pulpits in Portland, Maine, Sag Harbor, New York, and Hamilton, New York and trained in congregation-based community organizing for clergy. He currently serves as the Legacy Heritage Rabbinic Fellow at Congregation Emanuel in Statesville, North Carolina. After serving as rabbinic intern at Park Slope Jewish Center in Brooklyn, he returned for a second year in a newly-created position there as rabbinic fellow. Aaron is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied Anthropology and Jewish Near Eastern Studies. He addressed the opening plenary of the 2011 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America on pastoral care in the rabbinate and last summer spoke on LGBT inclusion as part of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable at the White House.
Rabbinic Intern, Judy Greenberg
Judy Greenberg is in her fourth year of rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she is also studying for a Master’s degree in Midrash. Also at JTS, Judy works for the Louis Finkelstein Center for Social and Public Policy and the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue. She is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Judy grew up in Hatfield, a small town outside of Philadelphia, and is still adjusting to life in New York City. She went to Harvard College, where she wrote her senior thesis on issues in Conservative Halakhah and studied Social Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her interests include people, baking, and knitting. She is delighted to be working in the PSJC community.
Hebrew School Principal Elisabeth Albert
Elisabeth Albert, came to PSJC in 2005 after spending many years in Jewish education both as a student and as an educator. She ran a private Jewish day camp in St. Louis, Missouri, for four years and has taught in various Hebrew Schools in New York City. She holds a B. A. in Jewish history from the Jewish Theological Seminary as well as a B. A. in Anthropology from Columbia University. She recently completed a fellowship in the Leadership Institute for Congregational School Educators (LISCE). In addition to working with the Hebrew School, Elisabeth also works with the Family Programming and Synaplex committees at PSJC.
Office Administrator Alan Taber
Volunteer Coordinator Farrah Noah-Daniel
Farrah joined the PSJC staff in February of 2010. She has a background in non-profit management and conference and event planning. She lives with her husband and daughters in Park Slope.
Building Supervisor Kelly Hickey