Temple Emanu El
Staff 

 

Renee Higer, Executive Director

Renee Dunmead, Education Director

Aline Davis, Education Director

Julie Rosenthal, Preschool Director

Andrea Rubin, Membership and Programming Director

Shari Bernstein, Family Educator

Kate Milgrom, Youth Director

Lee Haas, Librarian

Ina Yablonsky, Bookkeeper/Administrative Assistant

Judi Roseman, Bulletin Editor/Administrative Assistant

Paula Goddard, Administrative Assistant/Receptionist

Angelo Johnson, Director of Maintenance

For contact information, please visit the Contact Us page.

Renee Higer, Executive Director, began working at Temple Emanu El in 1997. She oversees the temple's finances, supervises the support staff and membership director, and insures that the building is maintained. She was also the point person for the relocation project.

Renee is a trained social worker with eight and a half years experience at the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, Ohio Northern Region. She received her BS at The Ohio State University and her Master's degree from the Mandel School of Applied Social Science of Case Western Reserve University.

Renee is a past president of the Cleveland Area Synagogue and Temple Administrators and is a member of the National Association of Temple Administrators where she has chaired various committees for their national conventions. In addition, Renee has facilitated sessions on leadership development throughout North America.

Renee Dunmead, Education Director, is excited and honored to be the Education Director here at TEE.  Creating kehillah (community) in the school is very important as well as providing opportunities for every child who enters this building to leave with something “more” than when they arrived. Renee has a BS in math education and a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction. Prior to moving here, Renee taught mathematics at both junior high and college levels, taught Religious and Hebrew School, and was the Education Director at a temple in Michigan. She has been involved in Jewish Education for the past 20 years. During her tenure at TEE, Renee has been involved in many facets such as teaching Religious/Hebrew School to both children and adults, developing the chavurot program, and serving on various committees including programming, co-chairing membership and serving on the TEE board.  Her husband, Steve, and two childr en, Matt and Jordan , have been members of Temple Emanu El since 2001. Renee is dedicated to helping TEE be a great place to be … a great place to belong.

Aline Davis, Assistant Education Director, manages the mid-week Hebrew program and facilitates grade level retreats and high school trips. She teaches 6th grade Hebrew, 4th grade Parent/Child Hebrew, 11th and 12th grade core classes, a variety of Contemporary Topics in the high school and administers the Kriat B’Yachad tutoring for the mid-week Hebrew program. She holds a BA from George Washington University in American Literature and Elementary Education and a Masters in Judaic Studies from Siegal College. A graduate of the first Moreshet class at Siegal College, she holds a Hebrew teacher’s license and a Level A license in Hebrew.  Her passion is accommodating students with a variety of learning styles in the Hebrew classroom. She is a past winner of the Blanche Raybin Excellence in Teaching award from TEE and the 2008 winner of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.  Aline has been a member of our congregation since 1990 and all three of her children are graduates of the TEE Religious School.

Julie Rosenthal, Preschool Director, attended The Ohio State University where she earned a BS in Early Childhood Development in 1987. She then taught at OSU's Child Care Center for two years.

Julie returned to Cleveland in 1989 and worked as a teacher at Temple Emanu El until 1993. She then was the head teacher in the childcare center of Menorah Park for the Aging for two years. In September 1995, Julie was appointed preschool director at Temple Emanu El and has been here ever since. In addition, Julie joined the staff of Alexandria School in 2008 to teach Creative Play to students studying to become nannies.

Andrea Kushnick Rubin, Membership and Programming Director, returned to Cleveland from Philadelphia in 2006. In Philadelphia, Andrea worked at the University of Pennsylvania as the Director of Business Administration for the university’s writing programs. Andrea earned her MBA in Marketing at Temple University and her BA from Lehigh University. She was active in the Philadelphia chapter of Hadassah where she helped to found a new group aimed at involving younger women. Andrea is happy to be a part of the warm, close-knit, Jewish community that Cleveland and Temple Emanu El have to offer.

Shari Bernstein, Family Educator, Shari is most grateful to The Jewish Community Federation for generously offering her the opportunity to work as the congregation’s Family Educator while pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Judaic studies at Siegal College. In June 2009, Shari earned her Moreshet Certificate from Siegal College.  The Moreshet Program was designed specifically to train people to teach Hebrew in supplementary schools.  Temple Emanu El has been Shari’s 2nd home for many years: as a student from kindergarten through confirmation; a teacher in both the religious school and preschool; and a mother of 3 Temple Emanu El students with various educational ties from preschool on up.

 

Kate Milgrom, Youth Director, is new to TEE this year and is teaching 3rd, 6th and 10th grades including contemporary topic classes in our TEEn Kolel high school program. She is thrilled to be the advisor of the Gesher, Junior and Senior TEEn Kolel youth programs and is looking forward to getting to know all the students at TEE. Kate has an undergraduate degree in Jewish Studies and Hebrew from The Ohio State University and is pursuing an MA in Jewish Studies with an Advanced Certificate in Jewish Education through Gratz College. She is very excited to be back in Cleveland after spending her first year out of college in Cincinnati, and even more excited to be a part of Temple Emanu El!

 

Lee Haas, Librarian, has worked at Temple Emanu El since March 2001. Her responsibilities include selecting and purchasing new books, videos, CD's and audiocassettes, maintaining the library catalogue, keeping accurate circulation records, and working with religious school teachers and classes. Lee also answers reference requests, assists patrons in the use of the library, promote the library through programs, bulletin articles, displays, etc., and does general library maintenance and administration.

Lee earned her Master's of Library Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She worked for two years in the reference department of the University of Cincinnati Library in the 1970's. From 1993 until 1999 she managed libraries in four synagogues, the Jewish Community Center, and a Hebrew day school in Nashville, Tennessee. Upon moving to Cleveland, Lee worked for a year in the library of Siegal College before coming to Temple Emanu El.

Ina Yablonsky, Bookkeeper, started in September 1989 as a Temple Emanu El employee. Ina first came to Temple Emanu El as a part-time assistant in the Religious School. Previously, she worked at National City Bank. As bookkeeper, Ina has also become our computer troubleshooter and website technician.

Judi Roseman, Communications Associate and Administrative Assistant, began working at Temple Emanu El in 1994. Judi is the support staff person for Rabbi Denker, Rabbi Roberts and Cantor Barr. She also creates and edits the monthly Temple Emanu El Bulletin. Judi is our B'nai Mitzvah coordinator. Judi earned a BS in Hearing and Speech Sciences from Ohio University.

Paula Goddard, Administrative Assistant and Receptionist, has been a member of Temple Emanu El for 19 years, and a member of the Religious School faculty for nine years in addition to being a part of the administrative staff. Professionally, Paula was employed for National City Bank for twenty-three years holding positions in the Retail Bank and the Retail Lending Divisions. Before leaving, Paula was Vice President, Manager of Sales Administration, which included incentive programs and training for all of Retail employees. Paula is a graduate of the Me’ah program at Temple Emanu El, and graduated from Dyke College, The Graduate School of Retail Banking at University of Virginia and has her Bachelor of Arts in Judaic Studies from Siegal College.

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Angelo Johnson, Director of Maintenance, has been custodian of our building since 1984. In addition to taking wonderful care of our building, supervising his staff, and overseeing all event set ups, Angelo is also a beloved member of our community.