Exciting New Staffing Updates

We are pleased to share with you a number of exciting updates regarding our Rabbinical Assembly staff:

Idit Lev will begin in September as our Global Engagement Associate. In this new part-time role, she will be responsible for connecting colleagues globally; supporting and strengthening rabbis especially in South America, Israel and Europe, and building our global Rabbinical Assembly network.

About Idit:

Idit was ordained from Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in 2004. For the last year, Idit was a fellow at The Mandel Center for Leadership in the North of Israel. Idit is the rabbi of a new congregation that is starting in Haifa, in the Bat-Galim neighborhood.

For 15 years Idit was the Director of Social and Economic Justice Programs at Rabbis for Human Rights, specializing in issues of poverty in Israel and the Israeli state budget. She volunteered at our Rabbinical Assembly, Yaltha group, and was active in the tent protest in Israel in 2011. Today, she is on the board of the Forum for the Fight Against Poverty in Israel.

Idit also holds a MA in Psychology from the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva. Over the years she worked in a number of positions in NOAM, as student rabbi at a TALI school, and as Yaltha coordinator. She also worked in marketing and professional training.

She lives in Haifa with her husband, Dror, and their children: Shai Moshe, Tamar Ester and Zohar Rivka.

Additionally, there have been a number of other exciting changes as our professional staff continues to evolve and grow. 

In July, Ashira Konigsburg added an additional role as USCJ’s Chief Program Officer, where she will oversee the following departments: Teen Engagement, Synagogue Leadership, and Marketing Communications. She will also continue in her role as the COO of the Rabbinical Assembly where her areas of focus include: strategic plan implementation; finance and budget oversight; project lead for public statements; administering the Wolfe Kelman Assistance Fund. Her dual role should bring further integration and alignment of our work strengthening the Conservative movement.

In turn, we will gain expertise in HR, financial management, development (see below) and marketing/communications from USCJ as we begin to share resources in those key support areas.

Max Arad was promoted to Director of Member Development and Engagement. His focus will be in the areas of Membership, Gatherings and Expanding our Reach. 

Christine Aucoin has been promoted to the position of Project Manager where she will work closely with Max Arad, Sheryl Katzman and Ilana Garber on Membership Engagement, Continuing Rabbinic Education and Expanding our Reach projects. As part of this transition, we have posted a position of Administrative Assistant who will work with and support the Career Center.

As a result of our partnership with USCJ, we also want to introduce you to two USCJ staff members who started this past month in the development department: Barb Gelb, Director of Program Advancement and Sammi Cutler, Director of Donor Engagement. They will be assisting our RA with our growing development efforts. 

We also have two JTS rabbinical students who have joined our team:

  • Max Buchdahl is the Secretary to the CJLS. This is a part-time role to support the work of the CJLS and to answer questions and support the halakhic needs of our members. You can reach him at cjls@rabbinicalassembly.org. 
  • At the end of August, Aiden Pink will begin working primarily with Jacob Blumenthal as a Special Projects Assistant.

As always, you can reach a listing of our staff, their areas of focus, and contact information here. All of our staff are dedicated to serving our members and helping us create Our RA together.