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Clergy
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Clergy : Rabbi Douglas Sagal
Douglas Sagal has been Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El since July of 2002. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom-Rodfe Zedek in Chester, CT and Senior Rabbi of KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation in Chicago.
Rabbi Sagal is a graduate of Wesleyan University, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and the Yale Divinity School, where he won the annual award for outstanding preaching, the only rabbi to ever do so.
He is the author of several articles on preaching and biblical interpretation, as well as other subjects. He is a faculty member of the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York City, and has been a guest lecturer at the Hebrew Union College in New York City. He is profiled extensively in the best-selling book Today I am a Boy by David Hays.
Rabbi Sagal is married to Dr Lauren Kaplan-Sagal, a psychiatrist in private practice, and has three children, Michal, Kyra, and Coby. He enjoys studying Talmud, boxing training, and doing the occasional magic trick.
Rabbi Sagal writes, “The future of the synagogue is creating a congregation with many open doors to Jewish life. One size no longer fits all. We have an obligation to provide as many paths to Jewish life, learning, and spirit as we can.”
Call Rabbi Sagal at 908-232-6770, ext 117, or email Rabbi Sagal, to learn more about Emanu-El and our community! |
Clergy : Cantor Martha T. Novick
Cantor Novick received a Bachelor of Science in Music Performance and a Master of Arts in Music Education from New York University. She also received a Bachelor of Sacred Music from Hebrew Union College, School of Sacred Music, where she was invested as Cantor in May of l983.
Cantor Novick has performed leading roles in opera for the Metropolitan Opera Association, the National Shakespeare Theatre, CBS and PBS Television, NYC Radio, The Center for New Music in New York, and the Liederkranz Opera Workshop. She has been soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony, The Brooklyn Philharmonia, Musica Hebraica, Sela and the Hebrew Arts Chorale. Cantor Novick has served on the Board of the American Conference of Cantors, the Commission on Synagogue Music, the Advisory Board and Review Board of Transcontinental Music Publishing, and currently serves as Vice President of the American Society for Jewish Music.
Cantor Novick had the distinction of being the first female Cantor to perform in a traditional Cantorial Concert in a major concert hall in New York. She made a CD of Yiddish Art Songs Music for the Miliken Foundation Archives of Twentieth Century American Jewish Composers, and a CD of High Holiday Music for Transcontinental Music Publishing.
Cantor Novick is a member of the faculty at The Hebrew Union College, School of Sacred Music and The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Miller Cantorial School.
Contact her at 908-232-6770, ext. 116 or email Cantor Novick.
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Clergy : Rabbi Erin Glazer
Rabbi Glazer graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in Government and Politics and a minor in Jewish Studies. After college, she volunteered in Israel as a participant in Project OTZMA, a year-long leadership and community service program. She then worked in Washington, DC for three years, first at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and later in the Washington office of the National Council of Jewish Women.
Following her social justice work in the nation’s capital, Rabbi Glazer returned to Israel to begin her rabbinical studies. After the first year in Jerusalem, Rabbi Glazer studied at the New York campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where she received her Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature in 2008 and was ordained in 2009. During her time at HUC-JIR, she was the recipient of several awards including the Raphael Memorial Prize for Outstanding Youth Work and the Friedman/Shacknai Prize in Homiletics for Best Senior Sermon.
As a student, Rabbi Glazer served many different communities from the Hebrew Association for the Deaf on the Lower East Side to Temple B’nai Sholom in Brookhaven, Mississippi. She also served on the faculty of the URJ Kutz Camp for one summer and worked for two years as the Rabbinic Intern at Woodlands Community Temple in White Plains, NY.
Rabbi Glazer is thrilled to be a part of the Temple Emanu-El community. She lives in Westfield with her fiancé, Joseph Skloot, a rabbinical student and Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University.
Contact her at 908-232-6770, ext. 115 or email Rabbi Glazer. |
Clergy : Charles A. Kroloff, Rabbi Emeritus
Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El for 36 years, from 1966 until his retirement in 2002. He and his wife, Dr. Terry Kroloff, still reside in Westfield. On his retirement, the new educational wing of the Temple was named The Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff Center for Jewish Learning.
Rabbi Kroloff currently is Vice President for Special Projects of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. He remains active in the Westfield area, through leadership to Temple Emanu-El’s “I Have A Dream” program in Plainfield and the Westfield Foundation, as President, speaking at area synagogues, and providing rabbinic life cycle services.
Rabbi Kroloff earned his B.A. magna cum laude at Yale University and rabbinic ordination at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. Before coming to Westfield, he was Assistant Rabbi at Temple Israel, Boston, and Rabbi of Community Reform Temple, Westbury, NY. A past president of ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America, he was a member of the governing boards of the Jewish Agency, Hebrew Union College, and the Union for Reform Judaism. He was a founder of the Interfaith Council for the Homeless of Union County and, following retirement, Interim Rabbi at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, New York City.
He is the author of three books, When Elijah Knocks, A Religious Response to Homelessness (Behrman House), 54 Ways You Can Help the Homeless (Macmillan), and Reform Judaism: A Jewish Way of Life (Ktav).
Rabbi Kroloff and his wife are the parents of Micah, Noah, and Sarah, and the grandparents of Adam, Arielle, Jonathan, Aaron, Max, and Ella.
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Clergy : Ronni Pressman - Cantorial Assistant
Ronni Pressman enters her third year in the position of Cantorial Assistant. Her journey towards Temple Emanu-El has included a deep dedication in the Reform Movement, has studied at GRATZ College in Melrose Park, PA., had an opportunity to be a part of a Rabbinic Student Delegation to El Salvador with American Jewish World Services (AJWS), as well as studied at The Academy for Jewish Religion in Riverdale, NY. Ronni, trained as a Para Rabbinic Fellow (HUC-JIR) and had been the Ritual Chair and an active member of many committees including Social Action and Continuing Education at Temple Beth-El in Monroe, N.Y. She had been the B'nai Mitzvah Program Coordinator, Youth Director and 8th Grade Teacher at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, N.J. At present, she is an Executive Board Member and the Worship & Jewish Living Vice-Chair for the East District of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). In addition, Ronni serves as a North American Board Trustee of the URJ and participates on the National Lifelong Learning Council, The Joint Commission on Worship, Music, and Religious Living, as well as the National (MUM Maintenance of Union Membership) Committee.
With a Master of Science in Special Education from SUNY New Paltz and a second Master of Science in Computers and Technology in Education from Long Island University, Ronni has retired from her twenty-seven years of teaching Special Education Science classes in public schools. She has also worked for ten years teaching Graduate Computer classes for N.Y.I.T., and thirteen years teaching Middle and High School Religious School classes and training B'nai Mitzvah students to chant Torah and Haftarah at Temple Beth-El in Monroe, N.Y.
Her passion for Judaism is reflected through her love of studying Judaic texts, chanting Torah & Haftarah, praying through song, producing Judaic arts, and helping others to make connections through Torah (Study), Avodah (Prayer), and Gimmilut Chasadim (Acts of Lovingkindness). Ronni shares her life in Bloomfield, NJ, with her husband Fred. Their two sons, Ryan and Randy, bring so much joy to their lives. Ryan, a graduate of Brandeis University, is completing his Masters at Boston University and will be receiving his MFA degree in May 2010; he is a painter. Randy, a Graduate of the Institute for Audio Research in New York City begins the next part of his life’s journey, as he moves to Israel and makes aliyah. Ronni and Fred intend to visit him often!
Contact her at 908-232-6770, ext. 134 or email Ronni Pressman.
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Clergy and Staff: Clergy
| Professional Staff
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