School Staff
Andrew Bleckner was an undergraduate at Brown University were he studied applied math and music. He then studied music composition at the University of Pennsylvania and received a Ph.D. in 1995. He has been teaching at Mishkan Shalom since 1999. In addition to teaching Hebrew and music electives, he also tutors students for their bar and bat mitzvah's. He loves working with kids and sharing his passion and appreciation for Jewish music and prayer. He feels especially at home with the Mishkan community. he lives with his friendly cat Angus.
Anne Feibelman is an entering year student at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She holds a bachelor of arts with honors from Brown University, where she majored in French. She studied abroad at the Sorbonne in Paris. Anne holds a masters of arts degree in documentary film production from Stanford University. She lived in Israel for four years in the late 1970's, where she attended the WUJS Institute in Arad and then worked in Ramar Aviv as a film purchaser for Israel Educational Television. Anne has served as a film producer for a wide variety of corporate and nonprofit clients and has won many prestigious awards for her professional work. She has been an active member of Congregation Beth Ami in Santa Rosa, CA, for the past five years and was very involved in in the Beth Ami Women's Rosh Chodesh group. She has volunteered for the Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project for over 20 years and has interviewed more than 100 Holocaust survivors. She helped organize the Santa Rosa Jewish Film Festival. She has also taught reading to kindergarten students.
Shulamit Izen earned a bachelor of arts in religious studies from Brown University this past May. She was a leader in Brown Hillel and served on its executive board. She was a member of the Providence, RI burial society and co-chaired a gathering of Jews in the Woods, a grassroots, pluralistic Shabbat retreat. Shulamit has served on the staff of Camp JRF for the past three summers. She has extensive experience as a religious school teacher and Hebrew tutor. She was the primary subject of a documentary film, Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School (2005) for her work organizing a gay-straight alliance and has spoken about the film and her experiences at many film festivals, synagogues, and universities. She is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. In her free time, Shulamit enjoys dancing, laughing, poetry, blessing and kvelling at the universe.
Rivka Jarosh has been teaching at Mishkan since 1990. She has always loved teaching and the Jewish part of herself. Rivka started teaching religious school in 1969 while in college. Except for a few years, she has been teaching ever since. During the day, she teaches public school in Philadelphia. For the last several years she has been teaching Science. Rivka will be retiring from public school at the end of this school year in June 2008. She has become very involved with the synagogue here also, reading from the Torah regularly and coordinating the readers. Rivka also coordinates our participation in once a month providing a full meal to hungry people at a Center on 63rd and Market Sts. She has served on many committees here and is the faculty representative to the Education Committee. She and her partner, Craig Cohen, have two grown up sons. Besides what Rivka does here and for her day work, she does puzzles and gets involved in most political campaigns both locally and nationally. Rivka really enjoys her students and works hard in her teaching.
Jennifer Nates began teaching Gan-Alef-Bet in 2006. She also taught in our school for five years in the late 1990s. During the day, Jen teaches at Friends Street Haverford and have been teaching in elementary schools for six or so years. She graduated from Brandeis University many moons ago with a degree in Psychoogy and became certified as a teacher through Rosemont College in 1996. Jen’ daughter just became bat mitzvah here last spring, and her seven year old is currently in Bet. Jen remains committed to Mishkan as she is aligned with Mishkan’s philosophy and delighted with her daughters’ enjoyment of learning at Mishkan. She is also indebted to Mishkan because she met her husband through teaching here in 1995. They are an animal family and try very hard to live a thoughtful and authentic life.
Yitzhak Nates first joined the Mishkan staff in 1996 as a rabbinical student, so some of them do hang around! He teaches children at a Waldorf School in Bucks County, and is a Melton Instructor in Chester Co. and on the Main Line. He is a bar mitzvah tutor of Mishkan youth who is quite familiar with the Mishkan way and liturgy. He is dad to Eva, Kitah Bet, and Alex who celebrated her bat mitzvah in March, 2007. His partner Jen is a professional educator and is on our Mishkan staff working with Gan-Alef-Bet.
Alisa Philips grew up in the area and attended Solomon Schechter Day School and Akiba Hebrew Academy. For the past 6 years she has worked for the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York, as a visiting artist, where she created interactive theatrical pieces on such diverse themes as Yemenite Jewry, Eastern European Jewry, Henna and the Song of Songs, 350 Years of Jewish History in New York, Parts I &II, Yoga and Meditation, and In the Spirit of Miriam: Middle Eastern Dance and Percussion. She has also worked in New York as a professional performer and has recently returned from Britain where she earned a masters degree in performance. For a peak at her latest project, a postmodern take on midrash, go to www.cypherscribe.org (but please be patient with the loading--she's still tweaking). She is happy to join Mishkan Shalom as a classroom teacher.
Shelly Ricci has been a teacher in the Philadelphia Public Schools for 31 years. She currently teaches English to new immigrants who are learning English as a second language and literature on a high school level. Shelly enjoys working with the younger children at Mishkan; this is her eighth year returning to teach the Gimel class. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two sons. Stephen is an industrial designer and Kevin is a student at Drexel. Shelly also loves singing with her dog Jake and playing with my cat Tiger, who is totally black.
Alanna Sklover excited to be teaching Vav Hebrew and Civilization this year at Miskan Shalom. She has recently moved to the area and can't wait to get to know the congregation, and the wider community. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Alanna graduated from Goucher College in 2005 with a double BA in Theatre and Religion. Most recently, Alanna has worked as the drama director at Camp JRF, and for the past two years served as the K-12th grade Youth Activities Director at Congregation Beth Emeth in Wilmington, DE where she also taught 5th grade Hebrew. Alanna loves to sing, rollerblade, and read a good fantasy novel. Alanna lives in Mt. Airy with her partner Rebecca and their cat Naomi, and is starting this year at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
Erica Steelman grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. She has lived in New England, California and most recently Ohio. Erica obtained a B.A. in Modern European History and Judaic Studies from Brown University and a Masters in Public Policy from UCLA. Among her different pursuits, she was a metalsmith and designed, fabricated and sold jewelry and small sculptures. In 2006, Erica moved to Philadelphia to pursue rabbinical studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and also began teaching at Mishkan Shalom. She loves teaching and working with young people and looks forward to another eventful inspiring and enriching year at Mishkan Shalom.
