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Merri Lovinger Arian, Director of Music and S3K Consultant on Liturgical Arts
Merri Lovinger Arian specializes in using music to build Jewish identity and commitment. Merri serves on the faculty of the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music, teaching courses in Music Education, Conducting, Congregational Singing, and Guitar. She was recently appointed S3K's consultant on liturgical arts at HUC-JIR in New York, and in that role, supervises rabbinic and cantorial students in creating worship collaboratively at the college. She frequently serves as an invited music specialist for diverse audiences including the Wexner Heritage Foundation, the Union for Reform Judaism, the UJC Lions of Judah, the Women's League for Conservative Judaism, the Whizin Institute at the University of Judaism, and the Hava Nashira Institute for Songleaders, among others.
Merri holds a Master of Arts in Teaching, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Education, and a Certificate in Music Therapy. She has sung with Debbie Friedman in Carnegie Hall, recorded songs for children, written on the educational value of youth choirs, and the use of music in creating sacred community, and has published a book and recording of her own choral arrangements. Her more recent projects for Synagogue 3000 include editing the music book, R'fuah Sh'leimah: Songs of Healing, and recording Nefesh: Songs for the Soul.
Professor Steven M. Cohen, Director of Research
Steven M. Cohen, a sociologist of American Jewry, is Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at HUC-JIR and Director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner as well as the Director of Research for Synagogue 3000.
Steven's work for S3K includes generation and critical review of ideas, strategic thinking, etc., production of research documents for public dissemination, qualitative monitoring of the Next Dor initiative, evaluation of Next Dor initiative, and connecting S3K to larger Jewish communal world.
In 1992 he made aliyah and taught for 14 years at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Previously, he taught at Queens College, with visiting appointments at Yale, Brandeis, and JTS.
With Arnold Eisen, he wrote, The Jew Within, and with Charles Liebman he wrote, Two Worlds of Judaism: The Israeli and American Experiences. His earlier books include American Modernity & Jewish Identity, and American Assimilation or Jewish Revival? With Isa Aron, Lawrence A. Hoffman, and Ari Y. Kelman, he is a co-author of the forthcoming book, Sacred Strategies: Becoming a Visionary Congregation. His current research interests focus on the patterns of Jewish engagement among American Jews age under the age of 40.
Larry Hoffman, Co-President
For nearly thirty years, Larry Hoffman has combined research in Jewish ritual, worship, and spirituality with a passion for the spiritual renewal of American Judaism.
As Co-President with Ron Wolfson, Larry acts as the overall design coordinator of S3K - envisioning and executing the organization's mission, oversees the Synagogue Studies Institute, assists with board development and fundraising, is the chief liaison with and partner to CEO Aaron Spiegel, and is S3K's senior academic scholar.
Larry has written or edited over twenty-five books, including the National Jewish Book Award winner, My People's Prayer Book (Jewish Lights Publishing), a multi-volume edition of the Siddur with modern commentaries from across the spectrum of Jewish life. For a general audience, he has also written The Way Into Jewish Prayer (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2000) and One Hundred Great Jewish Books, an introduction to Judaism as an ongoing conversation through the centuries (forthcoming, Blue Ridge Publishing, 2010).
On synagogues, specifically, Larry Has authored Rethinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2007); and is coeditor of Sacred Strategies: Moving Synagogues From Functional to Visionary (Alban Institute Press, 2010).
Larry's writings, both popular and scholarly, have appeared in eight languages and four continents, and include contributions to various encyclopedias and journals, including such places as The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Religion, The Oxford Dictionary of Religion, The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies, The Encyclopedia of Judaism, Worship, Studio Liturgica, and The Fordham Law Review. His regular column for The Jewish Week, the largest Jewish newspaper in North America, is syndicated in the United States and Europe.
Larry was ordained as a rabbi in 1969, received his Ph.D. in 1973, and has served since then as Professor of Liturgy at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. From 1984 to 1987, he also directed HUC-JIR's School of Sacred Music. In 2003, he was named the first Barbara and Stephen Friedman Professor of Liturgy, Worship and Ritual. A Past President of the North American Academy of Liturgy, the professional and academic organization for liturgists, Larry received that organization's annual Berakhah Award in January 2004 for outstanding lifetime contributions to his field.
Sadie Rosenthal, Community Manager
Sadie Rosenthal graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law with her JD in 1998. She moved to Washington D.C. to do public interest policy work with the American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center. While there she began designing websites and managing listservs - the early days of social networking.
Sadie serves as the Community Manager for the Next Dor Initiative. In this role, she manages S3K's social networking feeds on Facebook and Twitter as well as www.nextdoronline.org.
Rabbi Aaron Spiegel, Chief Executive Officer
As CEO, Aaron's responsibilities include overseeing operations, marketing, strategy, finances, creation of company culture, human resources, compliance, public relations, etc. As chief executive, he is responsible for implementing the strategic goals and objectives of the organization, enabling the board to fulfill its governance function, and giving direction and leadership toward the achievement of the organization's philosophy, mission, strategy, and annual goals and objectives.
Aaron Spiegel is a director for the Indianapolis Center for Congregations. Aaron's work for the Center includes resource consulting with congregations for enhancing congregational effectiveness and efficiency, strategic planning, building issues, finance, and leadership.
Together with Center colleague Nancy Armstrong, he developed a course-series entitled "Computers and Ministry: Making Technology Work for Your Congregation" which resulted in publication of the book 40 Days and 40 Bytes: Making Computers Work for Your Congregation.
Before relocating to Indianapolis in 1996, Aaron served several congregations in South Florida. A transdenominational rabbi, he has a Bachelor's Degree in Comparative Theology from the Union Institute & University (Miami, FL), rabbinic ordination from The Rabbinical Academy of Mesifta Adath Wolkowisk, and is currently a D.Min. candidate in congregational studies at Hartford Seminary. He also serves as the campus rabbi for Butler University and Butler Hillel.
Ron Wolfson, Co-President
Ron Wolfson is a visionary Jewish educator whose enthusiasm for bringing Judaism alive in homes and synagogues has shaped his work in the community.
As Co-President, Ron's duties include fundraising, board development, acting as the "public face of S3K" - representing S3K to the Jewish community, and strategic planning and implementation.
Ron is the Fingerhut Professor of Education at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles where he has been a member of the faculty since 1975. He has also served as Dean of the Fingerhut School of Education, Vice President and Founding Director of the Whizin Center for the Jewish Future and the Whizin Institute for Jewish Family Life.The book, First Fruit: A Whizin Anthology of Jewish Family Education, which he co-edited with Adrianne Bank, won the 1999 Jewish Book Award.
Ron's interest in synagogues dates back to his involvement in a Conservative congregation, Beth El, in his home town of Omaha, Nebraska. Over the years, he has visited hundreds of synagogues across North America as a consultant, teacher and scholar in residence widely recognized for his passionate, insightful and often humorous presentations. Ron is a co-founder of Synagogue 2000 (with Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman) and currently serves as President of Synagogue 3000, a catalyst for excellence, empowering congregations and communities to create synagogues that are sacred and vital centers of Jewish life.
Ron is the author most recently of The Seven Questions You're Asked In Heaven, The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation Into a Sacred Community and God's To-Do List: 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God's Work on Earth (Jewish Lights Publishing). A pioneer in the field of Jewish family education, Ron has authored The Art of Jewish Living series of books (Jewish Lights Publishing): Three of the titles (Shabbat, The Passover, Hanukkah) are designed to enrich the celebration of Jewish holidays, and one, A Time to Mourn, A Time to Comfort, provides a guide to Jewish bereavement and comfort.
Rabbi Jessica Zimmerman, Director of Congregational Engagement
Rabbi Jessica Zimmerman is Synagogue 3000's Director of Congregational Engagement. She is passionate about helping synagogues transform into kehillot kedoshot - sacred communities - and has been involved in cutting-edge conversations about transformation throughout her time as a rabbinical student and a rabbi.
In her role, Jessica is the go-to person for all S3K public contact. She answers questions about how S3K can help, represents S3K in the Jewish community, and is the lead for the Next Dor Initiative. Much of Jessica's time is spent representing S3K and Next Dor out in the world, creating relationships for S3K with top Jewish thinkers.
As a student at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Jessica learned with Synagogue 2000. As a fellow in CLAL's interdenominational conversations on Jewish life in America, Jessica engaged in new kinds of thinking about the future of American Judaism. She went on to serve as a Marshall T. Meyer Fellow at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in Manhattan and then as the Grace and Horace Goldsmith Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Phoenix, Arizona. During her time in Phoenix, Jessica became a STAR Peer Fellow and continues to be involved in the Fellowship as an alumna. Jessica served as the rabbi at the World Union for Progressive Judaism congregations in India and Costa Rica. She also served as the student rabbi at the Community Synagogue in Port Washington on Long Island, at Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco and in The Juneau Jewish Community, in Juneau, Alaska. Rabbi Zimmerman graduated from Columbia College, Columbia University in 1995, with a degree in art history. She spent two years doing research in astronomy for the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Columbia and at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile before beginning her rabbinical studies in 1997, at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem.
In addition to helping synagogues reshape their visions, Jessica is very involved in interfaith issues, both learning and teaching. She has enjoyed her work with the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding in Connecticut and it inspired her to co-found, with Rev. Frank Shirvinski, Gesher: An Interfaith Bridge to Understanding. Jessica is interested in helping to increase interfaith dialogue in America and Israel. She is an active member of the Steering Committee for New Generations of the New Israel Fund.
