2016 Global Day Instructors
Rabbi Chaim Ehrenreich
Rabbi Chaim Zvi Ehrenreich is the Spiritual Leader & Director of Chabad of The Nyacks and a proud father of 5 children with his wife Chaya. He has been involved in Jewish outreach and education in Rockland County since 2001. He enjoys teaching and engaging with audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Through the Rockland Jewish Legal Society he has facilitated and lectured a roster of CLE approved courses. Since 2011 he led over 15 courses, many of them accredited for continued education credits in the Medical and Mental Health fields, with the local chapter of The Jewish Learning Institute.
Dr. Deborah Raice Fox
Deborah Raice Fox is an endocrinologist practicing in Rockland County. She received her MD at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and completed a residency in Internal medicine and a fellowship in Endocrinology. She received her Judaic studies education at Stern College for Women, Michlalah of Jerusalem, and has continued her Torah studies throughout her life in various venues. She teaches a weekly mishna class, is a Chatan/Kallah teacher, and gives lectures on Jewish topics in her synagogue and in the community.
Rabbi Dr. Jill Hackell
Rabbi Jill Hackell is the rabbi at West Clarkstown Jewish Center and a teacher at Midreshet Rockland. She studied for the rabbinate at the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR), a pluralistic rabbinical school which teaches a Judaism inclusive of all the movements, and she was ordained as a rabbi by AJR in 2013, at the same time receiving a Masters in Jewish Studies from Gratz College in Philadelphia. Previously, Rabbi Hackell worked as a physician. She received her M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and practiced pediatrics for several years. She spent most of her career in the pharmaceutical industry, where she did clinical research on new vaccines for children for more than 20 years. A long-time resident of Rockland County, she is the mother of two grown children and savta to her granddaughter.
Rabbi Richard Hammerman
Rabbi Richard Hammerman is a graduate of the Joint Program of Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary where he also received a Masters degree, rabbinic ordination and an honorary doctoral degree. For over 40 years, he has been intimately involved in almost every aspect of synagogue life on either a professional or voluntary basis including: Camp Ramah; United Synagogue as Director of Collegiate Activities; Solomon Schechter Academy of Ocean and Monmouth Counties and much more.
In 2006 Rabbi Hammerman retired as Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation B’nai Israel, Toms River, New Jersey, after serving as its rabbi and community leader and activist for over 31 years. He, along with his wife, Sharon moved to Caldwell, NJ in order to affiliate as a member of Congregation Agudath Israel. He served as Executive Director of that congregation from 2008 - 2012.
Rabbi Ami Hersh
Rabbi Ami Hersh was raised in the warm Jewish community of Providence, Rhode Island. Through his attendance at the community Jewish day school, his family’s commitment to synagogue life, and a home that was filled with holiday celebrations and a love for Israel, he was set on a path to the rabbinate from an early age.
A graduate of the University of Hartford in Connecticut, Rabbi Hersh holds degrees in Elementary Education and Judaic Studies. As the Jewish Family Life Coordinator at the OJC, he is fulfilling his dream of creating vibrant, engaging and fun experiences for Jewish families. In addition to his work at the OJC, Rabbi Hersh serves as the assistant director of Ramah Day Camp in Nyack and is the program director of the National Ramah Commission.
Rabbi Paul Kurland
Rabbi Paul Kurland has spent over forty years deeply committed to Jewish education. Having received his Master’s Degree in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, he served as Educational Director in congregations in Pennsylvania and New York with distinction. He is also well known for his decades-long involvement in Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, where he has a radio program called “Kibitzing with Kurland.”
Rabbi Kurland returned to The Jewish Theological Seminary for Rabbinical training in 1981 and made the shift into pulpit work in 1991 when he took the position of Rabbi at the Croton Jewish Center. He moved to Rockland County in 1997 and has served the Nanuet Hebrew Center ever since. He is currently the president of the Lower Hudson Valley Rabbinical Assembly. Rabbi Kurland and his wife Gerri have 4 sons, Yoni, Noam, Eytan and Amiel.
Rabbi Brian Leiken
Rabbi Leiken is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated with honors from Brandeis University in 1998 with a B.A. in Sociology. He then went to work in Washington, D.C. as a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (the lobbying arm of the Reform Jewish Movement). He had the opportunity to become involved with the Union for Reform Judaism’s Commission on Social Action, the Interfaith Alliance, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League.
Rabbi Leiken’s work in Washington led him on a new career path. He attended the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion where he was ordained in May of 2007. Rabbi Leiken then served as the Associate Rabbi at Temple Shalom in Norwalk, Connecticut for five years. He also lectured on the subject of Jews in Music for a year before moving to Rockland County, where he has been the Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom since June of 2012. Rabbi Leiken is passionate about social justice, Jewish history and the study of modern American Judaism.
Rabbi Dan Pernick
Rabbi Dan Pernick has been the Rabbi at Beth Am Temple since July, 1985. He is a native of Detroit, Michigan where he attended Oakland University and received a BA in Sociology. Rabbi Pernick was ordained at the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1982.
Rabbi Pernick is very involved in Adult Education, Community Outreach and is a past president of the Rockland Board of Rabbis and the Pearl River Interfaith Council. He serves on the Campus Ministry of St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, NY where he is also an adjunct professor. For the past two years he has been part of the Midreshet Faculty and he regularly participates in the Community Day of Learning.
Rabbi Pernick's religious philosophy emphasizes a love of tradition, but a commitment to creative worship and rituals that may enhance religious practice. His strong belief is that Judaism should be fun, fulfilling and challenging. What it should not be is boring.
Rabbi Jeremy Ruberg
Jeremy Brunn Ruberg was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but lived most of his life in Norfolk, Virginia. In 2000, Rabbi Ruberg began his education at JTS as a student in the Joint Program with List College and Columbia University. During his college years he sang with and was the vocal percussionist for Pizmon, the co-ed Jewish a Capella group on campus. Upon completing his undergraduate degrees, Rabbi Ruberg continued his studies at JTS in The Davidson School and The Rabbinical School. Over the course of his ten years in New York, Rabbi Ruberg worked in a variety of Jewish educational settings, including Camp Ramah in New England, Federations of North America, and Rutgers University Hillel. An avid sports fan, he can often be found watching sports or working out at the JCC. He is the son of Rabbi Arthur Ruberg and Miriam Brunn Ruberg and the brother of Adina Ruberg. Rabbi Ruberg recently married his lovely wife, Rebecca.
Rabbi Elchanan Weinbach
Elchanan Weinbach is the Rabbi of Congregation Shaarey Israel in Montebello, NY. A career Jewish leader from a family of Rabbis, Jewish educators and summer camp professionals, Rabbi Weinbach has served for twelve years as a communal Rabbi and fifteen years as Head of School or Principal. Upon receiving semikha and a Master’s degree from Yeshiva University, and marrying his wife Yocheved, he embarked on a career of service to the Jewish community. After invigorating The Hebrew Institute of White Plains Youth and Hebrew School programs and revitalizing Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Newport News, Virginia, Rabbi Weinbach became the Founding Rabbi of the Highland Lakes Shul of Miami, now a thriving synagogue. In his last three schools he has raised enrollment significantly by diversifying educational offerings and support services, emphasizing greater inclusion, and implementing a school-wide one-to-one iPad program with Blended Learning.