WRT and Scarsdale Synagogue Welcome New Leaders

Westchester Reform Temple (WRT) welcomes two new members to the administrative and clergy teams this summer. Alan Halpern is the new Executive Director and Sara Abrams will assume the role of Assistant Rabbi working alongside Senior Rabbi Jonathan E. Blake, Assistant Rabbi David E. Levy, Senior Cantor Jill Abramson and Associate Cantor Mia Fram Davidson.

"Westchester Reform Temple is now entering its 60th year, and continues to embrace innovation and tradition side-by-side. I am thrilled to welcome two outstanding new members of our staff who will strengthen our synagogue and extend our reach within our congregational membership and wider community."" said Rabbi Blake.

The community will have their first opportunity to meet the new WRT team members during Shabbat Evening Services this Friday, July 12, at 6:15 pm. Rabbi Abrams will deliver the sermon for the evening and Alan Halpern will be on hand during our reception following the service. "This is a wonderful and informal way to meet Rabbi Abrams and Alan," said temple president, Helene Gray. "They bring experience, energy and warmth to WRT. We are excited to have them be part of our community."

Sara Abrams comes to WRT from Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles where she has served as a rabbinic intern at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills and as a chaplain at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica. Rabbi Abrams's educational background encompasses her passion for teaching, learning, inquiry, and spirituality. In addition to her rabbinical ordination, Rabbi Abrams holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Hebrew (University of Wisconsin-Madison), a Master of Science in Education (Hunter College) and a Master of Arts in Religious Studies (University of Colorado) and is also a certified yoga teacher. Through Judaism, a love of God, Torah, and Israel, Rabbi Abrams seeks to assist others in nurturing a clearer and calmer approach to daily life and in fostering a deeper connection to the Divine. She is thrilled to be a part of the WRT community.

Alan comes to WRT from Temple Israel in Dayton, Ohio where he served for 11 years as executive director and sh'liach tzibbur (prayer leader and cantorial soloist), providing both administrative and musical leadership for the congregation. Alan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and a Masters in Business Administration from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He has worked as a management consultant in strategy, marketing and operations and led the business development and marketing functions of for-profit companies. Alan's wife, Julie, will join him here in New York in 2014 after their younger son graduates from high school. Their older son is a sophomore cello performance major at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

Westchester Reform Temple is located at 255 Mamaroneck Road, in Scarsdale, N.Y. For more information: call 914-723-7727, email office@wrtemple.org, or visit www.wrtemple.org.

Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El (SSTTE) has appointed Rabbi Wendy D. Pein as its first Director of Congregational Learning. In this newly created position, Rabbi Pein's responsibilities will encompass both managerial and hands-on leadership of the synagogue's religious school, and also work closely with Senior Rabbi Jeffrey C. Brown on programs designed to educate congregants of all ages on the Torah, and the rituals, history and traditions of Reform Judaism. As head of the synagogue's religious school, Rabbi Pein succeeds Rebecca Schubert, who recently retired after 27 years.

"We are fortunate to have someone of Rabbi Pein's stature and background become part of our synagogue's outstanding professional staff, and we are grateful to Debbie Finn and Ellen Miller-Wachtel, who chaired our search task force, for attracting her to our congregation," said Ellen Baken, SSTTE's president. "Her deep experience, along with her energetic and passionate approach to teaching, is focused on communicating the relevance of Jewish thought and practices, providing our community with a valuable perspective as we meet the challenges of life in the 21st century."

In welcoming Rabbi Pein, Rabbi Brown said: "The overriding goal of our synagogue is to help ensure that our congregants, their children and our wider Jewish community are able to learn about and practice the customs, ideas and insights of our faith in ways that are exciting and enduring. Given her background and capabilities, I am confident Rabbi Pein will prove a great colleague for Cantor Becker and me, and to the rest of the synagogue's professional staff. Working together, our team will be better able to foster the innovation and continuity necessary to teach our children well, and better engage their parents and other adults in our community."

Immediately prior to joining SSTTE's professional staff, Rabbi Pein served as the Westchester coordinator and educator for Chai Mitzvah, a countywide initiative that re-engages Jews in synagogue and Jewish communal life. As a member of the Westchester Board of Rabbis, she also helped develop five "Introduction to Judaism" courses now offered throughout the area by rabbis from Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist congregations.

Rabbi Pein – who holds a bachelor of arts degree from Stanford University and was ordained a rabbi by Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New York – began her career in 1997 as an assistant rabbi at Temple Israel of New Rochelle. Following that, she became an instructor at the headquarters of the Union for Reform Judaism and simultaneously served as visiting rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in her hometown of Scottsdale, AZ. For the following five years she served as associate rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester in Rye, NY, before moving to Texas to become senior rabbi of Congregation Adat Chaverim, a 150-family synagogue in Plano. Married with two children, Rabbi Pein now lives in Harrison, NY.

Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El is a Reform Jewish congregation committed to creating, with and for its 500 member families, a covenant community of shared lives and real relationships. For further information, contact: Gary Katz, Executive Director, at (914) 725-5175 or by email at GaryKatz@sstte.org.