Cantor David Berger was invested as a cantor in May 2007 by the School of Sacred Music at the Hebrew Union College in New York City. He completed a Master’s program in Jewish Philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary and completed a two-year Cantorial internship at CBST.

 

Yehuda Berger is the facilitator of a group of fellow-learners known as the Tuesday night Chevruta, he's rather. Yehuda has been involved since May of the founding year of CBST and has conducted worship services and delivered divrei Torah during the past 35 years.

 

Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen serves as CBST’s Associate Rabbi and Director of the Lehrhaus Judaica program. She has spent extensive time in Israel, where she worked as a translator and advisor for the Minister of Justice. Rabbi Cohen was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

 

Ben Davis is a third year rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and joined CBST this year as a Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern.  Recently, he has served as guest instructor at Congregation Beth Ahavah in Philadelphia, and as student cantor for the Yamim Noraim at the Ottawa Reconstructionist Havurah.

 

Jack Greenberg is CBST’s Tefillah Coordinator.  A longtime member of CBST, he was Chair of the Ritual Committee for 15 years, along with his numerous other volunteer activities.  He has been teaching cantillation at CBST since 1981 and has taught well over 100 students, greatly increasing the ranks of congregants able to chant the various readings throughout the year.

 

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum serves as spiritual leader of CBST. The national Jewish weekly The Forward named her as one of the country’s 50 top Jewish leaders and The New York Jewish Week identified her as one of the 45 leading young American Jewish leaders in New York.  Rabbi Kleinbaum was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

 

Beth Rosen is a certified Gestalt psychotherapist in private practice in New York City. She received her MSW from the Columbia School of Social Work. She teaches applied psychology courses in CUNY’s School of Professional Studies and recently created a new course, Memoir Writing: An Exploration of Workplace Issues.

 

Joyce Rosenzweig has served as CBST's music director since 1994. A leading figure in Jewish music and music education, Ms. Rosenzweig is artist-in-residence at Hebrew Union College in New York. She is a sought-after pianist, coach, and lecturer on Jewish music, and has collaborated in recital with most of the great cantors of this generation.

 

Melissa Simon is the Children's Educator at CBST.  Melissa is pursuing her MA in Jewish Education at HUC-JIR in New York City where she is also a Mandel Fellow.  She completed her third year of Rabbinical school at HUC-JIR in Cincinnati and anticipates Rabbinic Ordination from the New York campus in Spring 2010.  She has lived all over the world, from Boston to Beijing, from San Francisco to Jerusalem.  A graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA, she is a passionate advocate for social justice, particularly concerning Israel, AIDS education, Queer rights and Women's rights. 

 

Dr. Neil Theise is an internationally recognized liver pathologist and stem cell researcher, responsible for demonstrating the existence of liver stem cells in humans and pioneering the field of adult, multi-organ stem cell plasticity.  He is also a long time practitioner of meditation (in Jewish and Zen traditions) and has been a member of CBST for more than two decades.  His scientific writings, including those regarding mind/body medicine and science and spirituality, may be found on his website: www.neiltheise.com.

 

Rachel Weiss joined CBST for a second year as a Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern. A 5th year student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rachel has worked with Kolot: the Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies, as well as the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs in Chicago, where she developed a program and curriculum for rabbinical students across denominations on how to incorporate social justice into their rabbinate. 

 

Ron Weiss has been a professional Judaica educator since 1982, in the areas of Hebrew, cantillation, prayer, history, culture, and tradition, with both children and adults. He has been a very active CBST member since 1981. His CBST activities have included serving on the Board of Directors for four years, service leadership and teaching for over 20 years, and serving on the Chevra Bikkur Cholim and the Ritual Committee.