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OUR PEOPLE

Suburban Temple Kol Ami is blessed with a dedicated professional staff and active board of trustees.

Our Education Director:

Rabbi Shoshana Nyer, Director of Lifelong Learning, joined the Suburban Temple Kol Ami community as Director of Lifelong Learning in July 2012, after serving Temple B'nai Shalom in Fairfax Station, VA for nine years as Associate Rabbi and Educator. Before arriving in Northern Virginia, Rabbi Shana earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland, and then studied at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where in addition to achieving her ordination in 2003, she earned a Masters of Arts in Hebrew Literature in 2002, and her Masters of Arts in Religious Education in 2016. Rabbi Shana is also the Jewish Educator at Camp Wise is Chardon, OH., returning to her childhood summer home. 

Rabbi Shana loves teaching students of all ages and is a passionate advocate for the inclusion of all learners.  She is the creator and director of Our Tent, an acclaimed innovative multigenerational choice-based congregational learning program. Rabbi Shana is a gifted storyteller who loves to teach Jewish values through this medium and gets excited when her lessons combine her knowledge of and passion for Judaism and her interest in all things pop culture. When she is not at work, Rabbi Shana enjoys spending time with her friends and family.

Email Rabbi Shana

Our Officers:

Alan Melamed, Co-President

Dorothea Polster, Co-President

Margery MazohVice-President

Dennis Lehman, Secretary

Tracey MesserTreasurer

Lori Rosenberg, Immediate Past President

Our Past Presidents:

Jack Alan Bialosky

Dr. Stanley Brown

Zolman Cavitch (z"l)

Dr. Richard L. Cohen

Martin J. Cohn (z"l)

Beth N. Curtiss

David H. Deitz (z"l)

Morton R. Dworken (z"l)

Barbara Feldman

Louis A. Fox (z"l)

Thomas E. Galvin

Robert S. Glick (z"l)

Irwin S. Haiman (z"l)

Donald S. Jacobson (z"l)

Kenneth M. Lapine

Matt Lehman

David L. Margolius (z"l)

Richard D. Margolius

Stanley M. Proctor (z"l)

Robert T. "Buzz" Rosenfeld (z"l)

Kim Rosner

Ronald M. Rubinstein (z"l)

Mina S. Siegel (z"l)

Sara Stashower

Our Board of Trustees:

Loren "Lori" Bacik

Sandy Buzney

Amy Wasserstrom Cummings

Alan Hazzard

Elissa Katz

Muriel Lederman, Kol Nashim

Amy Richards

Ellen Weber

Our Executive Director:                         

Brett Shankman joined Suburban Temple Kol Ami as Executive Director in April 2014. He has worked in the organized Jewish community for most of his professional career, including the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the Menorah Park Foundation. Brett serves on the Executive Committee of the National Association for Temple Administration.

Brett is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. He lives in Shaker Heights with his family.

Email Brett Shankman

Our Music Director:                                  

Annika Balish joined Suburban Temple Kol Ami as our Music Director in 2023. She is a graduate of The College of Wooster class of 2022, where she studied voice and music performance.

She brings experience from working as the performing arts supervisor and a part of the song leading team at Camp Wise for multiple summers, as well as the head song leader in 2023. Annika found her passion for music at a very young age and began studying voice at age 10. Her early-found love of music was in large part due to growing up at a musically oriented congregation in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

She loves living in Cleveland, where she lives with her best furry friend, Plum the cat.

Email Annika Balish

Our Staff:

John Farragher, Maintenance Supervisor

Charles Hickerson, Retired

Rochelle Arian, Administrative Assistant

Smadar Lahav, Administrative Assistant

Mason Keller, Technical Assistant

 

Rabbis of Blessed Memory

Rabbi Myron Silverman, D.D. (z"l) - (1949-1976)
Rabbi Michael A. Oppenheimer (z"l) - (1976-2002)
Rabbi Eric Bram (z"l) - (2002-2010)

Sun, July 13 2025 17 Tammuz 5785