AVODAH - Key Persons
Abby White serves on the Chicago Advisory Council at Avodah.
She is an alum of the Avodah Justice Fellowship in Chicago. She grew up in Evanston, IL and holds a B.A. in Public Policy from the University of Michigan. After spending a few years in nonprofit fundraising, Abby attended DePaul University where she received her Masters degree in Elementary Education. She currently teaches 1st and 2nd grade at a public school in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. When not at school, you'll find Abby trying out new recipes or enjoying a walk along Lake Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Vice Chair
Alan Edelman serves on the Kansas City Advisory Council for Avodah.
Alan Edelman is a native of Kansas City. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Child Development and Education from the University of Kansas, spending his junior year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Alan attended the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York City, where he received his Master's Degree in Jewish Education. He also holds a Master's Degree in Education Policy and Leadership from the University of Kansas. Alan's research focused on restructuring the congregational religious school by integrating informal and family activities into the educational program.
From 1977-1980 he served as Educational Director, Congregation Beth Shalom in Kansas City.
Alan then spent two years as Regional Director of Central States/Provinces Region of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, consulting with congregations as well as coordinating regional youth activities.
On July 1, 1982 he began serving as Executive Director of the Central Agency for Jewish Education of Greater Kansas City (CAJE), a committee of the Jewish Federation.
On October 1, 1994, Alan's responsibilities with the Jewish Federation were expanded to include community planning, human resource development, identity and engagement, and Israel/Overseas, assuming the role of Associate Executive Director until his retirement in June 2017.
Alan has served on a number of local, regional and continental advisory committees.
His volunteer efforts are focused on inter-faith and multi-cultural programming. Alan has served as guest theologian in many churches, universities and seminaries. He has also served on the board of directors for the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and Notre Dame de Sion School of Kansas City and currently serves as the Jewish Director of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. He is also active in the pursuit of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He currently serves as the Jewish Director on the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council as well a member of the board of directors of the Center for Practical Bioethics, Avodah, EmberHope, Schechter Institute and The Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning.
Alan and his wife, Debbie Sosland-Edelman, have three children, Alex, Katja and Jonathan and on June 14, 2014 another child came into his life when his daughter married Ari Fine. Katja and Ari made Alan a proud grandfather when Noa Dorit joined the family in August of 2017 and Kobi Zev joined the family in December of 2019.
Job Titles:
- New Orleans Advisory Council
Aleeza Adelman serves on the New Orleans Advisory Council at Avodah.
She is the communications coordinator for Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. Aleeza has a rich background in Jewish education, having worked as the Director of Jewish Enrichment for BBYO and teaching at the New Orleans Jewish Day School. Prior to teaching, she spent four years living in Jerusalem, completing the Pardes Educators Program and Year Program earning a Certificate of Advanced Jewish Studies. She also has a Masters in Jewish Education from Hebrew College.
Anthony Sacks serves on the Board at Avodah.
He is a Family Physician in a very large multi-specialty medical group in San Diego. He has been in clinical practice for 39 years, served on the Board of Directors for his medical group for 18 years, and held other leadership positions including Associate Medical Director and Department Chair. He also mentored UCSD medical students for over 35 years and volunteered at their medical student-run "free clinic" for the homeless. He has recently reduced his practice to part-time.
He has been married to his wife Ellen for 37 years and they have three children and three grandchildren. His daughter Tammy was an Avodah Service Corps Member in Brooklyn 2012-2013. He is originally from South Africa and did his medical internship at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.
Ben Horwitz is Chair of the New Orleans Advisory Council at Avodah.
Ben is a nationally recognized expert in data-driven policy management and criminal justice data systems. Ben's work has been instrumental in analyzing organizational problems, evaluating possible solutions, and building data-driven organizations.
Ben's influential collaborations have been with the U.S. Department of Justice, National Policing Institute, Albuquerque Police Department, Puerto Rico Police Bureau, the Baltimore Police Department, and others. Before launching AH Datalytics, Ben worked as the Director of Analytics for the New Orleans Police Department, where he instituted a crime analyst unit and implemented the nationally recognized Management Analytics for Excellence (MAX). This platform assists in optimizing police management in the areas of crime, community policing, consent decree compliance, and much more.
He has built numerous dashboards and data visualizations that are publicly available and has created methodologies, authored analyses, and disseminated economic, demographic, and other data sets to serve governmental, business, and non-profit organizations. Ben has a master's degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University that specializes in the intersection of data, information systems, and public policy. Ben holds a Bachelor's of Arts from American University.
Benetta Mansfield serves on the Board of Directors, and Chicago and San Diego Advisory Councils at Avodah.
Benetta is a lawyer with more than 30 years of experience as an advocate and mediator. During her professional career in Washington, D.C., Benetta served as the Chief of Staff of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents more than 185,000 bus operators, maintenance and clerical employees throughout the U.S. and Canada. Previously, she was the Chief of Staff of the National Mediation Board and was appointed by a federal judge to direct the election of international officers for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Upon retirement, Benetta returned to her hometown of Chicago, Ill., where she lives today with her husband, Kalman Resnick. She previously served as Vice President of the Board of Arise Chicago and Chair of the Board of Operation Understanding in Washington, DC. She is also a board member of the Mansfield Family Foundation, a longtime supporter and board member of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. In May of 2019, she completed her second term as Chair of the Avodah Board of Directors and completed three terms as a Board Member.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Board
Cheryl Cook is the Chief Executive Officer of Avodah.
With close to 30 years of experience working across the Jewish community, Cheryl is passionate about developing the next generation of Jewish social justice leaders. Cheryl has overseen some of the organization's most successful national growth strategies, including the expansion of leadership programs to new cities, the creation of innovative models to elevate Jewish justice voices, and bringing educational resources and conversations into the Jewish community to strengthen Avodah's work on poverty and social justice in the United States.
Prior to coming to Avodah, Cheryl served for nine years as Chief Operating Officer of Hazon, where she played a vital role in guiding the organization through an era of significant growth. She has worked across the Jewish community for her career, at JESNA, New Israel Fund, Hillel of Greater Philadelphia, and at the 92nd Street. She has participated in the Selah Leadership program, Advancing Women Professionals Action Learning Team, and the Institute for Jewish Executive Leadership.
Cheryl is an active member of her congregation, Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE), and serves on the board of JPRO and the Leadership Team of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable. She holds an M.A. from Jewish Theological Seminary, an M.S. in Social Work from Columbia University, and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin. Cheryl lives in Brooklyn, New York with her spouse and their two children. In her free time, she can be found cycling around Prospect Park or playing board games with her family.
Job Titles:
- New Orleans Advisory Council
Dana Keren serves on the New Orleans Advisory Council at Avodah.
She is the Senior Administrator for Tulane University School of Medicine's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a proud alumna of Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps. Prior to joining Tulane, Dana co-founded Birthmark Doula Collective, a reproductive justice cooperative that provides pregnancy and parenting support services to New Orleans families. Dana graduated with an M.B.A from Tulane University's Freeman School of Business and is a board member of the National Council of Jewish Women Greater New Orleans Section. When she isn't working, Dana can be spotted walking her dog along Bayou St. John and practicing yoga.
Dani Levine serves on the Advisory Council of the Avodah Institute for Social Change.
Dani (she/her) is the Director of Social Impact at Hillel International. Dani was born and raised in Washington, DC and fell in love with the Jewish Social Justice community through Habonim Dror camps and programming. Dani has a BA in Environmental Studies and Comparative American Studies from Oberlin College and received her Masters of Public Health (MPH) in Environmental Health and Policy from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Dani spent a few years in San Francisco and then New Orleans in the environmental non-profit, consulting, and environmental policy world, before finally succumbing to that still small voice calling her to full-time Jewish Professional life. Prior to joining Hillel, Dani spent a decade with Avodah, first as the local New Orleans Director and ultimately as the National Program Director, responsible for overseeing all Avodah programming across multiple cities and programs. Dani has also had the privilege of being a member of the IOWA Project Ovdim leadership cohort, where she studies Musar with other rad Jewish thinkers. Dani lives in the best city in the world, New Orleans, with her wife and three kids. When she's not working or organizing with fellow congregants, Dani can be found on the parade route, at the fais-do-do stage, or cooking up some freshly caught fish.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Vice Chair
Daniel C. Price serves as Vice Chair on Avodah's Board.
He is a venture capital and growth equity investor focused on financial services and fintech companies, including insurance and Insurtech. He is a Partner at Ambrosia Ventures. Previously, he founded and served as CEO of a pioneer in the InsurTech space and a disruptive full stack insurance company. Prior to that, he led business strategy and private equity and venture capital investments at Gracie Asset Management (a $2.2 billion alternative asset management firm sold to Moelis & Company) and financial services investments at Moelis Capital Partners.
Earlier in his career, Daniel was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and a member of that firm's global financial services and strategy practices, serving clients on four continents and leading a series of initiatives around global financial services innovation. He has also held roles in investment banking and as a staff member in the United States Senate. He received an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School and a BA from Yale University.
Daniel is Vice Chair of Avodah and a member of the board of the New Israel Fund and the Administrative Council of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights.
Daniel holds an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School and a BA from Yale University.
Job Titles:
- Advisory Council of the Avodah Institute for Social Change
- Director of Special Projects at Leading Edge
Danielle Natelson serves on the Advisory Council of the Avodah Institute for Social Change.
Danielle is the Director of Special Projects at Leading Edge. Previously, she was the Director of the Springboard Fellowship at Hillel International.
Diana Levy Moldovan has been involved with Avodah in multiple capacities, with involvement spanning more than a decade. In 2007, she became the first Service Corps Member to be placed at the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice (SLJ) … Continue reading →
Job Titles:
- National Program Director
Emily Piff (she/her) lives in Chicago, IL, where she participated in the Avodah Justice Fellowship in 2019-2020. Emily attended college in Atlanta, GA at Agnes Scott College. She now works as a Data Analyst for the Chicago Transit Authority. Emily … Continue reading →
John Schochet serves on Avodah's Board of Directors.
John lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side with his wife, stepson, and daughter. John works as deputy general counsel at the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, New York's largest human services agency. Before joining the Jewish Board, John spent more than a decade at the Seattle City Attorney's Office, where he most recently served as the deputy city attorney. He also spent the 2017 legislative session in Olympia, Washington, serving as the first chief of staff to Washington State Lieutenant Governor Cyrus Habib. John has always been active in his community; he was on the board of Congregation Beth Shalom in Seattle for eight years, including two years as vice president. He also participated as a fellow and then subsequently chaired the board of the Institute for a Democratic Future, a six-month political leadership fellowship for young Democrats in Washington state. John graduated from Yale University in 2001 and the University of Virginia School of Law in 2004. John and his family are active members of Kehilat Hadar, a traditional egalitarian synagogue on the Upper West Side. John enjoys hiking, travel, trivia, the Seattle Seahawks, and exploring New York City, and he has been to all 50 states.
Joshua Singer spends most of his time in a van, but he's not on a road trip. He's currently an Avodah Service Corps Member, serving with the New York City nonprofit, Project Renewal, which provides healthcare and social services to … Continue reading →
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Footsteps
DC Corps member Michal Rosenoer reviewed a recent event called "A Moral Dilemma: is going green a choice between right and wrong?" Hosted by the Humanities Council of DC as a part of their World House Series, the panel discussion … Continue reading
Job Titles:
- Professional Writer, Editor
Naomi Barnett (they/them) is a professional writer, editor, and project manager. They currently work at Spotify as the editor-in-chief of the company's online publication, For the Record. They graduated from Binghamton University in 2016 with degrees in English and Marketing.
Job Titles:
- Member Ellie Moskowitz Kicks off Service Year With Hurricane Relief Efforts
- Member Katie Schmidt Helping Immigrants and Afghan Refugees
Late this summer, we celebrated the graduation of our 2020-2021 Corps Members and prepared to welcome a new cohort across six bayitim (houses) in five cities. In addition to new Service Corps programming in San Diego and our Jews of … Continue reading
Job Titles:
- Rabbi Alana Alpert Serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet
Rabbi Alana Alpert serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet at Avodah.
A California native, Rabbi Alana Alpert currently serves as the rabbi of Congregation T'chiyah in Detroit, and as a community organizer with Detroit Jews for Justice. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Community Studies, where she studied resistance and social movements and first learned about faith-based community organizing. She is a graduate of Avodah and ACTIVATE! The Community Organizing Fellowship of Social Justice Leadership. Rabbi Alpert has worked as an organizer at NY Jobs with Justice and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. Rabbi Alpert received ordination from Hebrew College in Boston in 2014. In her spare time, she swims, sings karaoke, and tries to learn to play guitar. She is really excited to meet you!
Job Titles:
- Rabbi Alexis Berk Serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet
- Rabbi of Temple Solel in San Diego
Rabbi Alexis Berk serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet at Avodah.
Rabbi Berk is the Rabbi of Temple Solel in San Diego. Rabbi Berk graduated from the University of California San Diego with honors in Sociology in 1995. From UCSD, she traveled directly to Jerusalem to begin her rabbinical studies. Having received several awards for oratory excellence in homiletics, Rabbi Berk was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2000. She became the first Rabbi/Educator of Congregation Micah in Brentwood, Tennessee. Finding deep love for creative Jewish education and full family participation, she deepened her connection to Jewish living at Micah. In 2008, Rabbi Berk became the first female Senior Rabbi of the historic, glorious Touro Synagogue in New Orleans. A complex city with resilient, profound spirituality, Rabbi Berk describes her time at Touro with loving superlatives - it is a place of transformative prayer, expansive thought, fearless engagement, and love. In 2011 Rabbi Berk was chosen as one of Gambit Magazine's "40 under 40," - forty individuals under the age of forty whose skills and accomplishments helped make New Orleans a better place to live and work. Rabbi Berk and her husband Bob live in North County, with their two teenage sons and their dog, Russell.
Job Titles:
- Rabbi Amy R. Perlin Serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet
Rabbi Amy R. Perlin serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet at Avodah.
Rabbi Perlin served as Senior Rabbi of Temple B'nai Shalom in Fairfax Station, Virginia for 33 years before she retired in 2019. Rabbi Perlin has an A.B. degree in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University, Class of '78 (Summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), and an M.A.H.L. (Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature) 1980 and ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in NY, 1982. She received her Doctor of Divinity degree from HUC in May of 2007. Rabbi Perlin is the first woman rabbi in America to start a congregation on her own. Rabbi Perlin received the Jewish Women International's 2012 Women To Watch award. In February of 2013, she was inducted onto the Board of Governors of HUC's Jewish Institute of Religion, and in 2013 was named by The Forward newspaper as one of "America's Most Inspiring Rabbis." Above all, Rabbi Perlin is a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. She has been happily married to her husband Gary for 40 years. In her spare time Rabbi Perlin is an avid reader of mysteries, enjoys cooking and entertaining, has a passion for home design and collecting vintage Art Deco, loves science and space exploration, and frequently travels the world, traveling 35,000 miles around the globe in both hemispheres in one summer.
Job Titles:
- Rabbi Angela Buchdahl Serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet
- Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet at Avodah.
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl serves as the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City and is the first woman to lead Central's Reform congregation in its 180-year history. Rabbi Buchdahl first joined Central Synagogue as Senior Cantor in 2006. In 2014, she was chosen by the congregation to be Senior Rabbi.
Rabbi Buchdahl was invested as a cantor in 1999 and also ordained as a rabbi in 2001 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. She earned a bachelor of arts in religious studies from Yale University in 1994. Born in Korea to a Jewish American father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Rabbi Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as a cantor or rabbi in North America. Prior to her service at Central Synagogue, Rabbi Buchdahl served as Associate Rabbi/Cantor at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York.
Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship, which draw large crowds both in the congregation's historic Main Sanctuary and via livestream and cable broadcast to viewers in more than 100 countries.
Rabbi Buchdahl has been featured in dozens of news outlets including the Today Show, NPR, and PBS and was listed as one of Newsweek's "America's 50 Most Influential Rabbis." She serves on the boards of the Avodah Jewish Service Corps, AJC, the New York Board of Rabbis, UJA-Federation of New York and Yale University Council.
Rabbi Buchdahl and her husband Jacob Buchdahl have three children.
Job Titles:
- Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, Ph.D. Serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet
Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, Ph.D. serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet at Avodah.
He is the part-time Rabbi-in-Residence for Bend the Arc in Southern California. A long time social justice activist-with a specific interest in economic justice, criminal justice reform, and articulating the theory and practice of Jewish social justice-Rabbi Cohen served as chair of the board of the Progressive Jewish Alliance (Bend the Arc's predecessor organization). He currently serves on the board of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. Rabbi Cohen is Professor of Rabbinic Literature at the Ziegler School for Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University. His latest book is Justice in the City: An Argument from the Sources of Rabbinic Judaism.
Job Titles:
- Rabbi Becky Silverstein Serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet
Rabbi Becky Silverstein serves on the Rabbinic Cabinet at Avodah.
Rabbi Becky Silverstein is a genderqueer, trans rabbi currently working as the Education Director at Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center. Since 2006, Becky has been facilitator for Keshet (an organization working for the full inclusion and equality of LGBTQ Jews in Jewish Community); he recently joined their board. He uses his personal identity and experience to move Jewish communities towards embracing the full diversity of both their membership and those who might one day be among their members. Becky is most well-known for his personal vulnerability and making the vast vocabulary of gender and sexuality accessible. Rabbi Silverstein grew up in Great Neck, New York, and found his synagogue to be a safe haven. Having realized during his tenure at Smith College that he was more passionate about running the Kosher Kitchen than his engineering classes, Becky began his path to Hebrew College. A love of working with teenagers and a desire to experience "the real world" led him first to teaching math at a board school and then a Jewish day school. Rabbi Silverstein is the first trans rabbi to be hired by a Conservative Synagogue. During his daily life, Becky works to transform the lives of his students through a Torah of compassion, joy, and vulnerability.
Job Titles:
- Director of People and Culture
Job Titles:
- Director, Avodah Institute for Social Change
Job Titles:
- Director of External Affairs
Rabbi Benjamin Altshuler is honored to serve as the faith leader for Mt. Sinai Congregation in Wausau, WI. His goals are to cultivate thriving Judaism through personal relationships and creative expression resulting in meaningful observance and intentional community.
Benjamin is a product of the Midwest and many vibrant Jewish communities. He received rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, OH in 2020. There, he also earned his MAHL degree and received the Israel Bettan Memorial Prize for creative and imaginative pulpit presentation. Benjamin is an alumnus of Carleton College in Northfield, MN, where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Cognitive Science. Prior to matriculating at HUC, Benj was a corps member of Avodah in Chicago; he worked for Friedman Place, a supportive living facility for blind and visually impaired adults.