Margo Gold of Atlanta, Georgia served as International President of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) from 2015 through 2018. She has been a Vice President of Masorti Olami since 2019. In addition, she serves on the Va’ad of the USCJ Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center and is a Delegate of the WZO Va’ad HaPoel Hatzioni.

Margo is a respected professional leader and volunteer in an array of nonprofit and communal organizations. She served on the Boards of JTS, the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, MERCAZ USA, and on the Executive Council of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. Margo was a delegate to the World Zionist Congress in 2015 and 2020.

In Atlanta, Margo served as President of Ahavath Achim Synagogue, President of Congregation B’nai Tora, Vice President of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, and on the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta (JFGA), among other leadership roles.

Professionally, Margo is a Managing Director for Hadassah (HWZOA). Previously, she served as Director of Development and Communications for Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, and was Community Relations Director for the JFGA and active in the national Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

Margo has been honored for her dedication to Israel and to the Jewish nonprofit world by Israel Bonds, City of Hope, Ahavath Achim Synagogue and the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta Women’s Division.

She and her husband, Atlanta attorney Larry Gold, are proud parents and grandparents of David and Emma Dix and their daughters Isabella and Layla (Atlanta); Michael and Mindy Gold and their son, Jackson (Atlanta); and Carolyn and Evan Remer and their children, Daniel and Vivian (Columbus, OH).

Rabbi Philip Scheim has entered his thirty-ninth year at Beth David Congregation in Toronto, Canada, where he has served since his ordination at JTS in 1981. Immediate Past International President of the Rabbinical Assembly, Phil has been active in Masorti causes through the years, and in numerous charitable organizations in Israel and Canada. He co-edited the RA/Schechter Institute Megillat HaShoah, and was instrumental in the creation of the newly published Pirkei Avot – Lev Shalem. He has served as an officer of MERCAZ Olami.

Immediate Past President, Member of Executive Committee

Tomas Munzer is married and has two children and one grandchild. Tomas graduated from business school and works as a board member of his family companies. Tomas has been a volunteer since 2009 and served as board member and President at NBI Synagogue, Santiago, Chile and an international board member at Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano (Buenos Aires).

Vice President, Member of Executive Committee

Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin came to Am Yisrael in 1990. In 1994 she became the Congregation's sole Rabbi. At that time Am Yisrael became the first congregation in the Chicago metropolitan area to be headed by a woman, and for many years was the largest Conservative congregation in the country to have that distinction. Rabbi Newman Kamin provides keen intellectual and spiritual guidance to the congregation. She is the immediate past President of the Rabbinical Assembly, the international membership Organization of Conservative Rabbis. Rabbi Newman Kamin also serves on the Chancellor's Cabinet of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the seminary that trains and ordains Conservative rabbis. She is a Hartman Fellow. Rabbi Newman Kamin is the 2005 recipient of the Jewish Theological Seminary's Rabbi Simon Greenberg Rabbinic Achievement Award. Rabbi Newman Kamin is married and the mother of three adult children. 

Fredi Rembaum is a retired Jewish community professional with a 30+ year career in nonprofit management, organizational development and institutional fundraising in Los Angeles. Since 2015, she has spent 5 months a year during the winter semester in Berlin with her husband, Rabbi Joel Rembaum, who teaches as Guest Halakhah Professor for rabbinical students of the Masorti/Conservative Zacharias Frankel College.  Frankel is the newest Masorti/Conservative rabbinical school, which is co-sponsored by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and the University of Potsdam's School of Jewish Theology. Fredi is actively engaged in consulting with Frankel College and recently established the American Friends of Zacharias Frankel College, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, to support the work of the College. Fredi joined the Masorti Olami Board in 2019.

Rabbi Rafi Cohen serves as director of admissions for both The Rabbinical School and the H. L. Miller Cantorial School. In this role, he guides prospective students in discerning the path of their Jewish commitments and assists them in gaining the experience they need to successfully prepare for and begin lives of sacred service. Rafi also served as the Office Administrator and Development associate for Masorti Olami’s New York office from 2019-2020.

Rafi earned a BA from Brandeis University, an MA from the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education, and received ordination from The Rabbinical School. Prior to joining the JTS admissions team, he served as a congregational rabbi and in Jewish day school and Hillel roles, most recently as director of Jewish student life at City College of New York Hillel. 

Rafi has completed the Rabbinic Management Institute at the American Jewish University, two units of clinical pastoral education, and is an alumnus of the Glass Leadership Institute (ADL).

Mary H. Sanders has a BA in Social Sciences from Villanova University and took courses towards an MBA at Drexel University. Mary has had exposure to all aspects of information technology – including systems analysis and design, programming in numerous languages, quality assurance, implementation control and management of all phases of the systems development lifecycle, amongst other things. Her most recent position was Vice President of Information Systems at Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. and has held various positions at Morgan Stanley over a 12 year period. 

Mary is presently retired but serves as Treasurer and Member of the Executive Committee of Masorti Olami. She is also the Treasurer of American Friends of Batsheva Dance Company. She is a Member of the Resident Concerns Committee and the Grievance Committee of the 900 Biscayne Bay Homeowners Association. Previously she was President of the Board of Trustees at Metropolitan Schechter High School, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Solomon Schechter High School of New York, Member of and Secretary of the Board of Trustees at Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, Chair of the Bergen County Council, Friends of The Jewish Theological Seminary, Member of the International Board of Directors at Women’s League for Conservative Judaism and Torah Fund Vice President for Metro-North Region. She also served as President of the Sisterhood, Member of the Religious School Committee, Rabbinic Search Committee and the Strategic Advisory Committee at Congregation Habonim, NYC. She was the Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees, The Neta Dance Company and a Founding member of Kol HaNeshamah in Englewood, NJ. Mary is married to Saul Sanders and is the proud parent of 3 children: Rebecca, Beth and Chaim.

Gillian Caplin grew up in Birmingham, England but has lived in North West London since her marriage.  She had a long career in broadcasting which started when she travelled to the USA where she worked in television production in New York and Los Angeles for eight years.  Returning to England, she continued to work in media both for the BBC and independent production companies.  She then took a career break to raise her family. 

On returning to work, Gillian became the cultural director at the Spiro Institute for Jewish Education and then worked at Norwood Child Care.  She has also been involved with the Pascal Theatre Company as well as being on the Executive and National councils of the Women’s International Zionist Organisation.

Gillian was elected to the position of  Chair of New North London Synagogue (the largest Masorti community in Europe) followed by a further four years as Chair of the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues (AMS) UK. Gillian also represented the Masorti community on the Jewish Leadership Council’s Commission on Women in Jewish Leadership.

Gillian was instrumental in the creation and development of Masorti Europe, set up to enable and encourage the development of Masorti communities across Europe through mutual support and sharing of skills and became its President.

After completing her term of office as President of Masorti Europe, she was elected the President of Masorti Olami as well as a Vice President of MERCAZ Olami.  She also sits on the Board of Governors of JAFI.

Ex Officio Member of Executive Committee, Past past-President

Wanda, originally from Buenos Aires, and currently lives in Valencia, Spain, where she teaches Hebrew and coordinates volunteers at her Community, Aviv.

She is a member of the Boards of Masorti Spain and Masorti Olami and was recently appointed President for Masorti Europe.

She is currently researching for her PhD project on Cultural Heritage on Jewish life in Medieval Galicia, in north-west Spain. 

Member of Executive Committee, President of Masorti Europe

Rabbi Alan Silverstein, PhD has been the religious leader of Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell, New Jersey since 1979. From 1993 to 1995 he served as President of the International Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement. From 2000 - 2005 he was President of the World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues. He served as Chair of the Foundation for Masorti Judaism in Israel from 2010-2014. He currently serves as the president of MERCAZ Olami. He is the author of It All Begins With A Date: Jewish Concerns About Interdating; Preserving Jewishness In Your Family: Once Intermarriage Has Occurred; as well as Alternative to Assimilation: A Social History of the Reform Movement in American Judaism, 1840-1930.

Ex Officio Member of Executive Committee, President of MERCAZ Olami

Rabbi Mauricio Balter (הרב מאוריסיו בלטר) was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. He received an MA in Jewish thought from the University of Haifa. He received his rabbinic ordination in 1991 from the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano Marshall T. Meyer. He attended the prestigious Educators Graduate Program at the Melton Center for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and continued his educational leadership training at the Leatid program in Argentina.

Rabbi Balter Balter was a Rabbi in Argentina for 12 years at the Kehilot of Tucuman and Salta (Northern Argentina) and Or Hadash Kehila of Buenos Aires. He was also the first director of the Masorti Movement in Argentina. He made aliyah in 1995 and was Rabbi of the Kiryat Bialik community for 15 years. From 2010 until 2017, he served as the Rabbi of Kehilat Eshel Avraham in Be’er Sheva. He was formerly Chair of the Publications Committee, as well as a member of the Executive Committee for Masorti Israel, and previous served as co-president of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel and was a member of the Administrative Committee of the International Rabbinical Assembly.

Rabbi Balter currently serves as Executive Director of Masorti Olami and MERCAZ Olami and sits on the Executive of the World Zionist Organization and the Board of Directors of JNF-KKL where he heads the committee on sustainability and environmental protection.

Rabbi Balter has been married to his wife, Bilha for 40 years. They have two daughters, Maia (married to Herman) and Shani (married to Orion), and two Grandsons, Matan-Chaim and Ma’or.

Ex Officio Member of Executive Committee, Executive Director of Masorti Olami and MERCAZ Olami

Tehila Reuben is the Deputy Director at Masorti Olami and MERCAZ Olami, responsible for our network of international communities, resource development and operations in our office. She has worked at Masorti and MERCAZ Olami since May 2011 and has organized and coordinated countless projects, events, missions and programs including missions to Budapest, Paris and London as well as the past seven Annual Tribute Events in New York. Tehila has been leading Masorti Olami’s efforts in helping our Ukrainian Masorti/Conservative communities and refugees since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, together with our partners at The Schechter Institutes. 

Tehila is the liaison between Masorti Olami's communities in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia - working closely with each region on programming and activities, as well as building and strengthening their network. 

Tehila is also very involved in the everyday running of the Jerusalem and New York offices. When she is not in the office, Tehila is an avid cook and has her own channel of her healthy gourmet creations. She is originally from Teaneck, New Jersey and made Aliyah in 2005. She currently lives in Jerusalem next to one of her favorite hang-outs, the Machane Yehuda Market.

Tehila Reuben | Team Member | Deputy Director | Masorti Olami | MERCAZ Olami

Tehila Reuben | Deputy Director | Masorti & MERCAZ Olami

Ex Officio Member of Executive Committee, Deputy Director of Masorti Olami and MERCAZ Olami

Sophie Fellman Rafalovitz made Aliyah with her family as a child from Guatemala City. She served in the IDF as a drill sergeant through the NAHAL program. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Occupational Therapy from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and her M. Ed in Jewish Education from Oranim College. From 2001-2005 she served as the United Synagogue Youth Shlicha on the West Coast.  Since then, she has worked in Israel's Ministry of Education as an occupational therapist for children with special needs, guiding educational teams and families. At the same time, she served as the National Youth Commission Chair and on the Executive Boards of the Masorti Movement and Marom Olami and helped being a pluralistic prayer group in her hometown. She served as the Midwest Regional Representative of the Jewish Agency, serving in Chicago from 2011-2014 with her husband and three children, facilitating Aliyah and coordinating the Jewish Agency’s various activities, including but not limited to: Israel experiences, Partnership, Shlichut, social activism, and Jewish peoplehood. 

Since her return, Sophie has been living in Kibbutz Hannaton. She served as the Pedagogical Education Director for the Kibbutz’ supplementary educational programs, to which she now consults. She currently works in as a Pediatric Occupational Therapist and supervisor. 

Sophie recently finished a six year term serving as the Masorti movement’s national Chairperson. She currently serves on several movement boards as well as her own synagogue committee in Hannaton.

Shirley has been an active member of Masorti Judaism since discovering the movement in Israel. She is on the Board of Kol Nefesh Masorti synagogue, served as Co-Chair (President) of Masorti Judaism UK for four years and on the Board of  Masorti Europe. She is passionate about spreading the message of Masorti Judaism, believing that many more could find their home in the Masorti movement.

Shirley has been a presenter and attendee at Limmud for the past 25 years, and is also on the Board of Resource; a charity helping Jews into employment. She has also been a member of the Jewish Leadership Council a body representing the major Jewish organisations in the UK.

Professionally Shirley held senior management positions in the Pharmaceutical Industry in France, Israel, USA and the UK.  Her background is in statistics and epidemiology, managing teams in Drug Development, Quality & Compliance and Training.  She has acted as consultant to Hospital and University Development Trusts whilst Director of a Pharma Training company. She holds degrees from Oxford, Manchester and London Universities and speaks four languages.

Sylvia L. Freund is the President of the Comunidad Israelita de El Salvador, CIES since 2020. She has served on the Board of the CIES since 2016 where she was Secretary. She has been an active member of the Sisterhood of the CIES since 1990. She is the Executive Director of Fundació n Max Freund and oversees its flagship program of scholarships for the children of the workers of the family business.

She is currently serving on the Board of Masorti AmLat and the Board of the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano. She is also a member of the BILLA Board of Trustees (AJC). She is Spouse Member of YPO and has served on the board of YPO El Salvador for 6 years as Spouse and Family Director. She obtained a BS from University of Miami in International Business and Marketing. She has participated in executive education programs in London Business School, Columbia University and Kellogg School of Management.

Sylvia was born in Bogotá, Colombia, moved to Miami, FL in the US at the age of 13. She lived in the US for 10 years, before moving to El Salvador in 1990. Sylvia has been married to Eduardo for 36 years and they have three children and one granddaughter.

Baruch Frydman-Kohl is Interim Rabbi in Residence at Kehillat Beth Israel of Ottawa, the capital of Canada and Rabbi Emeritus of Beth Tzedec Congregation in Toronto, the capital of the Province of Ontario. He formerly served as Rabbi of Congregation Ohav Shalom, of Albany NY, the capital of New York State. 

During his three decade leadership of the largest synagogue community in Canada, he initiated the development of a "synaplex" of ritual and educational opportunities to encourage participation in synagogue life and emphasized family education, life-long learning and care for the housebound, hospitalized and homeless.

Rav Baruch is past president of the Toronto Board of Rabbis, serves as vice-chair of the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus and was featured in “The Secret of San Nicandro” for CBC and “Amazing Communities” for Israel television. He offered a prayer in the Unit-ed States Senate and helped to organize the Solidarity Vigil and Memorial following the Yonge Street killings in April 2018. He was a leader of Path of Abraham/ Sharing Perspectives study missions to bring Jews, Christians and Muslims to the Holy Land to explore three religions, two nations and one land.

Rav Baruch is the author of scholarly articles in the area of Jewish philosophy and mysticism and served on the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbini-cal Assembly for two decades. He was awarded a Coolidge Fellowship for research in an interfaith community at the Episcopal Divinity School at Harvard University, re-ceived a doctorate in Jewish Philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary, is a Rabbinic Fellow of the Hartman Institute and was awarded a degree in Dispute Reso-lution by Osgoode Hall Law Schoo of York University.

His service to the community was recognized in 2016 with the Gordy Wolfe Award for Lifetime Jewish Communal Professional Leadership. In 2021, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contributions to Canadian society.

Rabbi Rafi Kaiserblueth is a world traveler, having spent time in the United States, Argentina, Israel, and the United Kingdom. He was born in Puerto Rico and is married with three children.

He was ordained in 2010 from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and served in the UK for 6 years at St Albans Masorti Synagogue before moving to Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney, Australia in 2016. Rafi has dedicated his rabbinate to making the texts and rituals of our tradition relevant and accessible to those he teaches, trying to always be influenced by the words, “ivdu et hashem b’simcha, serve God with joy” (Ps 100:2). For thirteen years, Rabbi Kaiserblueth served as a chaplain in the United States Navy Reserve.

Rabbi Kornsgold has been the spiritual leader of Beth El Synagogue in East Windsor, New Jersey since 1994. 

In addition to serving as Beth El’s Rabbi, Rabbi Kornsgold serves as the Vice President of the Rabbinical Assembly (the international association of Conservative rabbis) as well as a member of its Administrative Committee, Executive Council and Social Justice Commission. Rabbi Kornsgold also serves as Chair of the Budget Committee and Investment Committee.  He previously served as Treasurer and Secretary. Rabbi Kornsgold is a Past President of the New Jersey Region of the Rabbinical Assembly, served as Chair of the International Social Justice Commission for nine years and Chair of the International Resolutions Committee for five years and has been a member of numerous Rabbinical Assembly committees over the years.

Rabbi Kornsgold currently serves as a member of the New Jersey State Cemetery Board, the National Council of AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the National Rabbinic Council of State of Israel Bonds, the Board of Directors of MERCAZ, the Board of Directors of the Masorti Foundation, the Clergy and Jewish Professionals Advisory Board of the American Jewish Committee of Central New Jersey and the Advisory Board of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks.

Rabbi Kornsgold is a Past President of the Board of Rabbis of Princeton Mercer Bucks and a Past President of the Windsor-Hightstown Area Ministerium (which promotes inter-faith communication). He was a member of the Board of Directors of Abrams Hebrew Academy, the Advisory Board of the Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the Board of Directors of the Center for Jewish Life at Princeton University and the Spiritual Advisor to the Northern New Jersey Region of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs.

Rabbi Kornsgold was honored with the 2007 Rabbinic Achievement Award by the New Jersey Region of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and in 1997 was awarded the Rabbinic Achievement Award by the Council of Jewish Federations. Rabbi Kornsgold received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree in 2021 from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America in honor of his twenty-five years of service to the Conservative Movement.

Rabbi Kornsgold received his Rabbinic Ordination, his Master of Arts and Bachelor’s Degrees from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He also received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Columbia University.

Prior to coming to Beth El, Rabbi Kornsgold served at Congregation Shaare Zedek in New York City, both as a student and later after he was ordained. During his rabbinical studies, he also served as a hospital chaplain at New York Hospital – Cornell Medical Center. Before deciding to become a rabbi, he interned for the Mayor of Philadelphia.

Rabbi Kornsgold is married to Leslie Ann Kornsgold and they have three children: Noam (married to Gavriella), Yona (married to Tamar) and Yaffa as well as a grandson, Shemayah Yair. The rabbi was born and raised in Philadelphia and is an avid Philadelphia sports fan.

Margo Gold

Rabbi Philip Scheim

Tomas Munzer

Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin

Fredi Rembaum

Rabbi Rafi Cohen

Mary Sanders

Gillian Caplin

Wanda Teplitsky

Rabbi Dr. Alan Silverstein

Rabbi Mauricio Balter

Tehila Reuben

Sophie Fellman Rafalovitz

Shirley Fenster

Sylvia Freund

Rabbi Baruch Frydman Kohl

Rabbi Rafi Kaiserblueth

Debbi Kaner Goldich

Arieh Katz

Rabbi Jay Kornsgold

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