As Senior Program Officer for Volunteer Services and Intergenerational Program Engagement at DOROT, Judith Turner has developed and established pedagogies and initiatives for intergenerational and service learning education that is not only framing Jewish journeys, but also renewing conversations about generational barriers and the mutuality of caring for and learning from others.

Anna Hartman is making a mark on nearly every level of Jewish Early Childhood Education. As a classroom teacher, early childhood director, Founder and Director of The Paradigm Project, and now, Director of Early Childhood Excellence at the Jewish United Fund in Chicago, she is elevating the field to ensure that educators are resourced with support, best practices, and a peer community. Along the way, she has enhanced and enriched what is often a first portal to engaged Jewish life for young children and their families.

Helene Drobenare-Horwitz wears a few hats, including Jewish educator, social worker, and change maker. As Executive Director of the Young Judaea Sprout Camps — comprising Camp Young Judaea Sprout Lake in Dutchess County, NY, and Sprout Brooklyn and Sprout Westchester day camps — she brings a multi-dimensional vision to these camps, and also more broadly to the Jewish camping movement and beyond. Her impact is both programmatic and cultural, as she elevates initiatives and conversations advancing inclusion, pluralism, social justice, and emotional health at camp and in other communal spaces. In addition, Helene is leading Jewish camping professionals across the denominational spectrum toward the generation of ideas and excellence through Think Camp, a community of practice for senior-level camp directors.

Amanda Pogany is Head of School at Luria Academy of Brooklyn in Brooklyn, New York. At Luria Academy, where she has worked for the past eight years, Amanda Pogany supervises the school’s educational and administrative leadership (which includes 60 faculty members, 10 administrators, and 15 board members), provides the educational mission and vision for the school, and oversees the curriculum. She has also played an integral role in the implementation of Luria’s five-year strategic plan. In addition, Pogany oversees Luria’s inclusion program for students with special needs. Pogany has also played a key role in growing the school’s population, which during her tenure has tripled, from 97 students to over 300.

Maxine Segal Handelman is the Director of Family Life & Learning at Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago, Illinois. At Anshe Emet, “Max” Handelman works with the Educational Steering Committee to strengthen the educational experience for all children in the synagogue community, and leads Tot Shabbat, monthly Kabbalat Shabbat services and dinners, and family services. She also oversees High Holiday youth programming and leads the Young Family High Holiday services for several hundred people each year. Handelman also supervises youth family service leaders and trains a pipeline of teens to lead youth tefillah experiences. In partnership with the clergy and educators at Anshe Emet, Handelman created and now implements Family Education Days for Anshe Emet families, between 300 and 400 people in total.

Russel M. Neiss is Senior Product Engineer at Sefaria, which is based in New York. At Sefaria, Russel M. Neiss has worked to develop a groundbreaking educational resource—a free living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and in translation. In his role there, he also creates interactive platforms that enable learners to engage with Jewish textual tradition from anywhere. As Senior Product Engineer, he spearheaded the development of Sefaria’s Source Sheet Builder tool, which has enabled tens of thousands of educators to create their own source sheets and share them with students, colleagues, and the wider community. Together with his colleagues, Neiss also envisioned, developed, and built Sefaria’s first mobile app.

Risa Strauss is Education Director at Beth Shalom Synagogue and Founding Director of Camp Gesher at The Katie and Irwin Kahn Jewish Community Center, in Columbia, South Carolina. At Beth Shalom, Strauss has increased enrollment and reinvigorated the Religious School through enhanced teacher training and meaningful interaction with parents, and worked to develop positive connections with adult learners and the synagogue Board through outreach and creative programming. In 2013, she was recruited her to redevelop the Columbia Jewish Community day camp. Strauss focused on infusing the informal camp experience with Jewish life and learning, with an emphasis on respect, compassion, and tolerance. The camp demographic is only 20% Jewish, but the entire population embraces Strauss’ educational curriculum, which includes Hebrew, Israeli Music, Bible Stories, Israeli Dance, and Shabbat.

Sally Grazi-Shatzkes is a Registered Drama Therapist, Licensed Creative Arts Therapist and Theater Director at Yeshivah of Flatbush in Brooklyn, NY. At the Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School, Grazi-Shatzkes is the lead drama therapist in the Witness Theater program, which she facilitates by utilizing a guided drama therapy process through which group members explore issues of war, loss, and trauma, allowing participants to also form deep and meaningful relationships that dissolve the barriers between generations. She is also the designer and facilitator of two original curricula for younger students (grades 1-3) at the Yeshivah of Flatbush Elementary School, which both focus on social and emotional awareness and character development. Beyond Flatbush, Grazi-Shatzkes teaches weekly Shabbat classes at Congregation Bnei Yitzhak about Torah, Mussar, and other Jewish topics to girls ages 5-13, and during the summer, she serves as the Head of the Drama Department at Camp Morasha, a modern Orthodox residential summer camp in Lakewood, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Gregory Beiles is Head of School at The Toronto Heschel School and Director of the The Lola Stein Institute in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In his work at Heschel, Beiles is guided by the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and seeks to shape Jewish education as a ‘work of art’ by looking to Jewish wisdom not merely for content, but also to shape the methodologies and approaches for teaching and learning. At his school, he ensures that tikkun olam, daily acts of chesed, and ethical practices based on the weekly parsha are woven into the school’s daily curriculum. In 2004, Beiles was appointed Director of The Lola Stein Institute – where he designs professional development workshops on topics including metaphor and God, tefillah as the art of wonder, teaching mathematics for understanding, democracy in Jewish sources, and more.

Deborah Newbrun is Senior Jewish Educator and Director Emeritus at Camp Tawonga in San Francisco. A pioneer of the Jewish Environmental Education movement, Newbrun strives to transform the outdoors into a space for deep Jewish learning. As a visionary educator and mentor, Newbrun has provided myriad campers with their first authentic connection to Judaism and created an intentional community at Tawonga that models inclusion and respect.