Our School Board
Board chairs
Shoshana Jackson, Congregation Ahavas Israel
Sharlena Lovy, Temple Emanuel
Board Members
Rebecca Altamirano, Temple Emanuel
Steven Berman, Congregation Ahavas Israel
Jennifer Cohen, Congregation Ahavas Israel.
Marissa Clark, Temple Emanuel
Heather Hefer, Temple Emanuel
Sheryl Siegel, Congregation Ahavas Israel
EX-OFFICIO BOARD MEMBERS
Rabbi Javier Cattapan (Temple Emanuel) has been rabbi of Temple Emanuel since July 2024. Rabbi Javier Cattapan is a native of Argentina. His education includes the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano (Conservative) and the University of Buenos Aires, where he studied Ancient and Medieval Philosophy and taught courses in General Linguistics. He came to the U.S. in 1994 to attend Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rabbi Cattapan received his M.A. in Hebrew Letters in 1997. He was ordained as a rabbi at HUC-JIR in Cincinnati in 1998. In 2004, Rabbi Cattapan earned his M. Phil. in Hebraic and Cognate Studies. He enjoys singing, gardening, biking, and hiking with his husband, Kris D. Gray, and their companions, Fado and Lucas, two Portuguese Water Dogs. He is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and past president of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City.
Rabbi David J.B. Krishef (Congregation Ahavas Israel) received ordination as Rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1994. Since then, he has served as the rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Grand Rapids, Michigan and blogs at EmbodiedTorah.com. He writes the popular weekly “Ethics and Religion Talk” column for therapidian.com and the Grand Rapids Press and serves on the Spectrum Health Bioethics committee. He has also taught Biblical Hebrew at Grand Valley State University, and Introduction to Judaism courses at Kuyper College and Aquinas College. He is a contributing author for the Judaism chapter of a World Religions textbook (published by Teacher Created Materials) and a set of revisions to the URJ CHAI Judaic curriculum for use in a Conservative or joint Reform/Conservative religious school.