The Community Synagogue Staff
Executive Director |
Director of
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ECC Director |
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Jeff Rembrandt
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Shari Isserles
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Jen Schiffer
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Assistant to the Clergy |
Office Manager |
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Jean Gatz
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Annette Rosalia
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Controller |
Communications Associate |
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Phyllis Zuckerbrot
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Allison Merims
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Administrative Assistant |
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Fara Delplato
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Early Childhood Center
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Assistant Director of
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Liad Zayit
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Orly Danialian
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Facilities Manager |
Associate Director of Engagement |
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Ted Dzyr
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Lindsay Ganci
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Administration Team
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Jeff Rembrandt
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Jeff grew up in Cleveland Ohio. He received his BA in Rhetoric from Kent State University and an MSW from The University of Cincinnati, with a concentration in Non-Profit Administration.
His professional, non-profit experience has primarily been in Jewish Community Centers in Ohio, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and as the Regional Director for Women’s American ORT.
Jeff joined The Community Synagogue staff in 2017 as our Executive Director and is proud to be part of the team that keeps our Reform Synagogue growing and thriving. His office door is always open and he is looking forward to meeting everyone. He would love to have you stop by and say hello when you are in the building.
Jeff lives in Port Washington with his wife, Rabbi Rachel Rembrandt, and their two cats. They are the proud parents of 3 grown children; Jason who lives in Denver, Colorado, Micah who lives in Brooklyn, and Hannah who is a PhD candidate in Speech Language Pathology at Syracuse University..
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Jean Gatz
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Jean grew up in Woodhaven, New York. For most of her career, she provided Administrative support at corporate accounting firms in NYC. Before joining The Community Synagogue, she worked for six years at a Long Island based Special Education software firm.
Jean feels blessed in her current position as the Assistant to the Clergy and enjoys providing for all of the clergy’s daily needs, as well as assisting the congregants with any questions or needs they may have.
When not working she enjoys reading, ancient history, astronomy, and science fiction and she is an avid animal lover. She lives in Merrick with her partner Andrea.
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Annette Rosalia
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Phyllis Zuckerbrot
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She is an active member of Temple Am Echad in Lynbrook, where she is currently the Sisterhood President and was previously Sisterhood Vice President, Social Action co-chair and Youth Committee chairperson.
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Allison Merims
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Allison Merims grew up in Cary, North Carolina. She has slowly moved her way up the East Coast before finding her home here in Port Washington and at The Community Synagogue. When not working, Allison loves trying new vegan recipes, tending to her garden, singing, and supporting her favorite sports teams – the Carolina Hurricanes and the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team.
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Fara Delplato
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Fara grew up in Flushing, NY. After graduating from SUNY Brockport, she began her career in the music industry which she spent many years before switching careers to the hotel industry working in corporate sales. Her last few years have been spent as a manager in the storage industry before joining The Community Synagogue in June 2022.
She currently lives in Port Washington and has two children, a son and a daughter. Her daughter is graduating from Bowling Green State University in Ohio with a Thesis Masters Degree in Biological Sciences in August 2023 and her son will be attending Queens College in the Fall of 2024 as an Exercise Science major. Her interests include learning Russian, listening to music and watching documentaries.
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Education Team
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Shari Isserles, RJE
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Shari Isserles has served as the Director of Education at The Community Synagogue for the past 18 years. She received her Masters of Religious Education (M.A.R.E.) degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion after doing her undergraduate studies at Boston University.
Shari has extensive experience in Jewish educational leadership, educational development and engagement. She has a breadth of experience with kids of all ages from our youngest learners to our adult learners. Shari strives to keep our synagogue on the cutting edge of Jewish education and has brought many innovative programs to our learners, including the FLAME (Family Learning & Mitzvah Education) Program, Hebrew Through Movement, Parent/Child cooking workshops and various Tikkun Olam projects. In addition to her congregational work, Shari serves as a Vice President of the Association for Reform Jewish Educators (ARJE).
Shari has always had a strong connection to Jewish camping. She grew up as a camper and later spent many summers as a staff member at the URJ Eisner Camp. She continues to spend time at camp where her husband Paul is the Director and their son is a 3rd generation camper.
Shari, her husband Paul and son Michael live here in Port Washington. Outside of her professional life, Shari most enjoys spending time with family and friends. She also loves chocolate, the NY Mets and binge watching episodes of The West Wing.
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Jen Schiffer
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With over 15 years of experience working in the field of early childhood education, Jen is thrilled to be “coming home” to TCS. She began her teaching career working in both public and private schools, in New Jersey, New York City, and most recently, here on Long Island. Prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jen served as our ECC Assistant Director, as well as our Summer Camp Director. After a two-year hiatus where she served as Director of Temple Beth Sholom’s Early Childhood Center in Roslyn Heights, Jen returns to the ECC, bringing with her an in depth-knowledge of developmentally appropriate practice, an understanding of the best ways to teach Jewish values and traditions, as well as a passion for leadership.
Jen’s goal is to bring families together at the ECC to help foster meaningful connections, creating a kehillah kedoshah (sacred community), amongst each and every person in the school, including the amazing ECC staff that she is honored to lead. For Jen, every voice matters, and as she often says, “if I don’t know, I can’t help.”
Jen is an alumna of the University of Pennsylvania, and received her Master’s degree in teaching Spanish and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. A lifelong learner, Jen went on to add an additional Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education to complete her resume. She also holds a NYS Training & Technical Assistant Professional (T-TAP) Credential as a Professional Development Specialist Trainer in Early Childhood, and serves as treasurer on the board of the Jewish Early Childhood Association (JECA).
Jen lives here in Port Washington with her husband, Michael, and their sons, Jonah and Nathan. When she’s not at the ECC, Jen can be found on the baseball field where she serves as the “mom-a-ger” for her son’s Legends baseball team, or in the kitchen cooking or baking. Her specialty is making rainbow challah on Shabbat. As Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home,” and Jen is honored to be back “home “with her TCS family.
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Liad Zayit
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Over the past two years, Liad has worked at the ECC as an Assistant Teacher in our Pre-K Program. While serving this role, she supervised children, evaluated their performance with regarding to their social, emotional and cognitive development, and provided them with support throughout the day. Liad also created classroom materials, organized data and participated in Parent Teacher Conferences. She is proficient in progressive ECE philosophies, various teaching approaches and has substantial experience both as an educator and office administrator. Prior to her professional positions, Liad served as a camp counselor at The Community Synagogue Summer Program for 8 years and volunteered at our Religious School as a Teacher's Assistant. Liad is dedicated to supporting families and colleagues as we continue to navigate our Early Childhood Center to excellence.
Liad has been devoted to Early Childhood Education since graduating with honors from Roslyn High School. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hofstra University in Communications & Public Relations with a minor in Early Childhood Psychology. Liad also holds a NYS Child Development Associate accreditation (CDA) and is proficient in all I.T. Office programs. In addition to her work commitments, Liad regularly volunteers as a reading specialist.
Born and raised on Long Island to Israeli parents, Liad is the middle of three siblings. She is fluent in Hebrew and has strong connections with Israel where both her parents were born and still have extensive family there. Liad loves to cook, travel and go on walks with her husband Alec and their dog, Leo.
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Orly Danialian
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Orly Danialian serves as The Community Synagogue’s Assistant Director of Education. Orly was a teacher in our program for many years before joining our full-time team, so she brings a wealth of classroom experience to her work. You can often find Orly overseeing our Hebrew program, working with our teachers or kvelling over our students' progress in their Hebrew studies. Orly loves to get involved in creating new and exciting curriculum and programs. Her creativity and energy helps to make our school a vibrant learning community for all.
Orly grew up in Israel and served in the IDF for two years. She came to the United States in 1995 where she met her husband David. She & David currently live on Long Island with their three wonderful children.
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Osnat "Ozzie" Beck
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Osnat Beck, aka “Ozzie,” is happy to join the ECC team as the school’s Administrative Assistant. Ozzie previously taught in the Religious School at the Synagogue almost 20 years ago, so she is excited to be returning after many trips around the sun.
Ozzie was born in Israel and is the daughter of Holocaust parents, Ozzie and her family arrived in the United States when she was two years of age. She grew up in Long Beach,where she has lived ever since.
Ozzie is the proud mother of TWO sets of twins (two boys and two girls), born four years apart. She recently became a grandmother to baby Isabella Faye.
Outside of the ECC, Ozzie teaches Hebrew across Long Island, helping bar and bat mitzvah students prepare for their special day. On summer evenings you can find Ozzie at Live Nation where she works as a concert usher at Jones Beach.
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Ted Dzyr
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Lindsay Ganci
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Lindsay grew up in Westchester, New York. She received her undergraduate degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Muhlenberg College, and then attended Teachers College, Columbia University, where she received a Masters degree in English Education. Lindsay has also earned a Certificate in Jewish Education specializing in Adolescents and Emerging Adults from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. In 2017 Lindsay was selected to be one of 24 fellows of the UJA-Federation's Ruskay Institute for Jewish professional leaders. In 2016, Lindsay was selected to be a participant in the Paideia Paradigm Program with Jewish professionals from the US, Europe and Israel. In 2015, Lindsay was a recipient of The Jewish Education Project Young Pioneers Award, and has published articles in the URJ's Journal For Youth Engagement.
In her first 10 years at The Community Synagogue, Lindsay created the thriving program that POWTY is today, engaging more than 250 youth and teen participants in our POWTY Youth Programs each year. In her role as Associate Director of Education, Lindsay develops, implements and oversees the educational programming for 7-12th graders at The Community Synagogue. She also directs the Mindful Leadership Institute, an exciting, all new program designed for Jewish young adults ages 18-25.
Lindsay truly loves working with the wonderful families of The Community Synagogue, and developing strong relationships with the members of our congregational family.
Lindsay lives in Port Washington with her husband, Alec, her daughters Ruby and Jayne and their dog, Latke.
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Fri, December 8 2023
25 Kislev 5784
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For Complete Community Calendar Click Here |
Worship Schedule
Shabbat "Vayeshev" ~ "שבת "וישב &
Chanukah חנוכה
Friday, December 8
6:30 pm – Chanukah Service with your clergy and the Shabbat Band as our community gathers to welcome Shabbat and celebrate the 2nd night of Chanukah! Worship in person or watch on our Website.
Chanukah Party to immediately follow the annual Chanukah Service. Enjoy a Make Your Own Doughnut Bar, Blue & White Candy Kebabs, a Dreidel Competition, and much more!
Saturday, December 9
9:00 am – Shabbat Havurah Morning & Torah Study with Rabbi Z, worship and study in person or register here to join via Zoom. Torah Study will take place during Shabbat Havurah Morning service and will begin at approximately 9:15 am.
10:30 am – Shabbat Morning (B'nai Mitzvah of Jack Steinberg & Chase Winder), worship in person or watch on our Website.
Link to this week's parasha (Torah portion) and haftarah.