Educational Leadership Program

Saul Kaiserman, RJE (he/him/הוא) is Founding Director of Lifelong Learning and Scholar in Residence at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York. In 2013, Mr. Kaiserman was inducted by Hazon into its “If Not Now Society” as a “Visionary Leader in Jewish Life and Learning;” in 2019 he was recognized as a “Distinguished Jewish Educator” by the Association of Reform Jewish Educators (ARJE). Mr. Kaiserman is currently writing his dissertation at the Davidson School of Education of the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he is a doctoral fellow in the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education and where he received his Master of Arts in 1999. He is a board member of the Jewish Education Project, and in the summer of 2020 was interviewed for its podcast, Adapting: The Future of Jewish Education.  He serves as adjunct faculty in the School of Education of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and as a mentor for the Educational Leadership Program of the Mandel Institute for Nonprofit Leadership. In July of 2020, he was an all-star songleader for the Union for Reform Judaism’s Campfire on Tour summer concert series. He is a native New Yorker and lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife, Elizabeth Freirich, and their daughters, Jory and Zeva. Videos of Saul’s performances and work are on his YouTube Channel.

Jacob Pinnolis is currently Interim CEO at Maimonides School in Brookline, Mass.  Jacob joined Maimonides in 2020 as Chiel Educator-in-Residence, working on the systematic implementation of reflective teaching practice, with a focus on student-centered learning and mastery. He will return to this role in 2022-23. Jacob previously served as Director of Teaching and Learning at Gann Academy, where he was responsible for deepening a culture of reflection, developing a program of professional growth at every stage of a teacher’s career, and constructing a process of supervision to support these goals. While at Gann, he also taught Tanach, Jewish philosophy, and analytic philosophy. Jacob has published numerous articles on Jewish education, teacher development, and leadership culture, and has conducted workshop sessions at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education on developing reflective teaching practice. He is the former editor of Gleanings: An Online Journal of Jewish Education, published by the Melton Research Center. Before entering Jewish education, Jacob taught analytic philosophy at the University of Florida and at Virginia Commonwealth University. Jacob has an A.B. in Philosophy from Harvard University and an M.Ed. in Jewish Education from the Davidson School of Education at JTS, and did doctoral work in philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Jacob lives in Newton, Mass. with his wife, Sarah. Jacob and Sarah enjoy camping and hiking, stargazing, reading, and gardening. They have two grown children.

Jen Rosenberg is the founder of Jen Rosenberg Consulting where she serves as a coach, mentor/advisor, and consultant working primarily with educational leaders in Jewish environments and Jewish communal professionals. Her coaching/advising style and approach can be described as organic, dynamic, relationship-centered, client-driven, and goal-oriented. She holds a BA in elementary education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.Ed. in education from Harvard University, and a professional certified coach credential (PCC) from the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Prior to launching Jen Rosenberg Consulting, she spent 30+ years teaching and leading in Jewish Day Schools serving in roles including Head of School, Principal, Vice Principal, Education Coach, and Teacher. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband; they have three (relatively) grown sons. She enjoys traveling, music of all sorts, making art, hiking, scuba diving, and yoga.  

Michelle Shapiro Abraham (she/her) brings over 20 years of experience in Jewish communal leadership, inclusion, and strategic innovation. She currently serves as Executive Director of JBI Library, an organization dedicated to ensuring that individuals with visual disabilities can fully engage in Jewish life. Most recently, Michelle was CEO of the national nonprofit Gather Inc., where she led efforts to build inclusive Jewish communities for young adults in their 20s and 30s. Previously, as Executive Director of Strategic Innovation and Program at the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), she oversaw national teen engagement strategies and launched initiatives bridging Jewish camps and congregations. Michelle’s work lives at the intersection of community organizing and relational strategy, reimagining Jewish leadership, communal power, and individual thriving. A passionate advocate for accessibility, she has consistently embedded inclusion and belonging into her leadership across the Jewish community. A respected educator, author, speaker, and consultant, Michelle has partnered with camps, congregations, and Jewish organizations across North America. She holds a master’s degree and an honorary doctorate in Jewish education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at HUC-JIR. Michelle is a proud PJ Library and Sydney Taylor Notable Book Award author, and a recipient of the 2015 Covenant Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. In her free time, you’ll find Michelle enjoying time with her family or in her home art studio, happily immersed in ceramics, metalwork, and creative play.

Dr. Susie Tanchel is Vice-President of Hebrew College in Newton, MA.  Prior that that she served as Head of School at JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School for close to a decade.  During her tenure, Tanchel was an accomplished and deeply beloved leader, guiding the school to preeminence as a national model of excellence in pluralistic Jewish education, and creatively embodying its abiding commitments to community, centrality of Hebrew language, and teaching the whole child. Before going to JCDS, she served as the Associate Head of School at Gann Academy – The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston for 7 years and had taught Tanakh there for 14 years. Susie earned her doctorate from Brandeis University’s Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department. She has been an instructor in a number of pre-service education program including the DeLeT (Day School Leadership Through Teaching) program at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education and the Masters of Teaching Program in Secondary Education at Brandeis University. She was on the writing team of the JTS and the Avi Chai Foundation’s Standards and Benchmark project for the teaching of Tanakh. Susie has also taught in a variety of adult education settings including Combined Jewish Philanthropy’s Genesis Program, and Biblical Hebrew and Me’ah at Hebrew College. Over the course of Susie’s career, her teaching, scholarship and leadership has been recognized by a variety of fellowships and awards.  Most recently, she received the 2017 Hachmat Lev Award from Keshet and was a recipient of the 2018 Covenant Award for Jewish Educators.