Clergy
Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe
Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe serves as Senior Rabbi for Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester. He also serves as co-chair of the Chappaqua Interfaith Committee and sits on Hebrew Union College’s President’s Rabbinic Council, AIPAC’s National Rabbinic Council and is a Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Leadership Initiative.
Before arriving at Temple Beth El, Rabbi Jaffe served as Rabbi and Education Director of Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco, where he sat on the boards of the Jewish Community Federation's Peoplehood Commission, the San Francisco Interfaith Coalition, the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis and wrote a column for the J Weekly newspaper.
Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He attended Camp Ramah in Ojai, California and later served as Education Director for URJ Camp Newman in Santa Rosa. He received his BA in philosophy and history from Duke University and studied abroad at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Prior to ordination, Rabbi Jaffe served student pulpits in Great Falls, Montana and Las Vegas, Nevada and spent a year working as the Education Director of Temple Beth Torah in Fremont, California and creating the San Francisco Bureau of Jewish Education’s Teen-to-Teen program. Before pursuing a career in Jewish communal life, Rabbi Jaffe spent three years working at Gap Inc. in business development and finance. Needless to say, he prefers his current occupation!
Access Rabbi Jaffe’s sermons and study sheets at http://rabbijaffe.blogspot.com/
Click here to see Rabbi Jaffe: In the News
Email Rabbi Jaffe or call 914.238.3928, ext. 1310.
Rabbi Maura H. Linzer
Rabbi Maura Linzer was ordained at the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 2012. She received an MA in Hebrew Letters from HUC-JIR in 2011 and an MA in Religious Education from the New York Campus of HUC-JIR in 2013. During her time in rabbinical school, Rabbi Linzer had the pleasure of serving student pulpits from South Dakota to Florida and many places in between and led Passover seders throughout Crimea, Ukraine. She also served as an education intern at the historic Isaac M. WiseTemple in Cincinnati, OH, where she helped to write their Gesher curriculum for family education, grades two-five. She also oversaw the professional development program for teachers, ran their youth activities for grades five and six, and helped to coordinate their youth retreats.
She is very passionate about Israel and Jewish peoplehood. Rabbi Linzer studied abroad at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 2005 and also earned an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, Israel in 2010. She also had the honor of serving as an ARZA delegate to the World Zionist Congress. Rabbi Linzer graduated with honors with a BA from WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis with majors in Psychology and Jewish, Islamic, and Near Eastern Studies and a minor in Modern Hebrew.
Rabbi Linzer cares deeply about Jewish education and is very excited about bringing engaging and innovative learning experiences to Temple Beth El Families. She lives in Pleasantville with her husband, Liad, a mechanical engineer, her daughter, Sarah and her son, Ori.
Email Rabbi Linzer or call the Religious School at 914.238.5641 or the temple at 914.238.3928, ext. 1121.
Watch the Installation Service of Rabbi Linzer
Rabbi Maura Linzer: The Jewish Education Project Young Pioneers Award 2019 Recipient
Assistant Rabbi Leora Londy
Rabbi Leora Londy joins Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester after seventeen years living in Israel. She grew up in New York and in Florida before making Aliyah to Israel. She received her BA in international relations from Reichman University (Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya) and her MA in Jewish Studies from Ono Academic College.
She was introduced to the Reform Movement in Israel through her work at the Israel Religious Action Center, where she learned about Israeli society on a grassroots level. She further pursued this kind work while studying for a teaching certificate at Levinsky College of Education through the Hotam-Teach First Israel program, where she found and cultivated a passion for education and community work that has carried into her rabbinical work as well. She studied at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem and was ordained by HUC-JIR in Jerusalem in 2022. She also has a certificate in Bibliotherapy from HUC-JIR’s Blaustein Center for Pastoral Care.
Rabbi Londy worked at Tel Aviv’s Reform Synagogue, Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv for seven years as the Director of Family Education, in community development and in pulpit work Rabbi Londy also led their Ramat Aviv community, Kehilat Tiferet Shalom.
Rabbi Londy is a writer who finds inspiration in connecting Jewish ideas to the day-to-day moments of life, especially around parenthood and the idiosyncrasies of the human experience. She lives in White Plains with her husband, Omer, their three children, Zohar, Amitai, and Shaya and three pets.
Email Rabbi Londy or call 914.238.3928, ext. 1312.
Watch the Installation Service of Rabbi Londy
Get to Know Rabbi Londy! Leora Londy, our new Assistant Rabbi, sat down to answer questions big and small, ranging from the profound to the mundane. Click here to check out her three part interview.
Turia Stark, Cantorial Soloist
In July 2024 Turia joined Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester after serving as Cantorial Soloist/Student Cantor of Temple Beth Or in Montgomery, AL for 14 years. Originally from Massachusetts, Turia holds a master’s degree in Music (Vocal Performance) from The Boston Conservatory, and a dual bachelor’s degree in Music and Hispanic Studies, summa cum laude, from Wheaton College Massachusetts. In 2023 Turia was the recipient of the "Rabbi Hershel J. Matt Creative Liturgy Award," presented by the Association of Rabbis and Cantors.
One of Turia’s strengths is her musical versatility. A seasoned cantorial soloist well-versed in both contemporary and traditional Jewish repertoire, she is equally comfortable singing in styles ranging from Bach to Broadway, from ballads to folk. Before delving into Jewish music, Turia extensively performed classical, opera, and oratorio repertoire in Boston, New York City, Atlanta, Montgomery (AL), and in southern Spain. A former Spanish teacher, she has a particular love for Ladino music as well.
Turia is currently completing her final year of the cantorial ordination program at the Academy for Jewish Religion (based in Yonkers, NY). She and her family live in Westchester.
Email Turia Stark or call 914.238.3928, ext. 1316.
Rabbi Norman Cohen, Ph.D., Scholar-In-Residence
Dr. Norman J. Cohen serves as Professor Emeritus of Midrash at the New York campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He served as Provost of HUC-JIR from 1996-2009, Interim President of HUC-JIR from Dec.,1999 - June, 2000 and as Dean of the New York School from 1988-1996. He was ordained by HUC-JIR in 1971 and received his Ph.D. from HUC-JIR in thevfield of Midrash in 1977. He lectures widely on the Modern Interpretation of the Bible.
Rabbinic Intern Margeaux Dressner-Wolberg
My name is Margeaux Dressner-Wolberg. I’m a second-year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and I’m so excited to serve as the rabbinic intern at Beth El this coming year!
A bit about me: I was born and raised in San Francisco, California, at Congregation Emanu-el, where Rabbi Jaffe was my rabbi! I spent most of my summers growing up at URJ Camp Newman in Santa Rosa (fun fact: I was an Israeli dance “specialist” there for three years). I studied at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Joint Program, where I received bachelor’s degrees in Religion and Jewish Gender and Women’s Studies, respectively. Nowadays, I live on the Upper West Side with my wonderful wife, Zoe, who is also a rabbinical student. In my (admittedly limited) free time, I enjoy singing Renaissance music, playing recreational badminton, and hosting Shabbat dinner parties.
I feel so lucky to be able to spend the year learning from Rabbi Jaffe and the rest of the Beth El team, as well as from all of you! I am particularly excited to meet my Monday-night students – I am a long-time Religious School teacher and currently teach Pre-K/Kindergarten and 5th/6th grade at Rodeph Sholom in NYC. Please come introduce yourself in the fall – I’m looking forward to meeting you!
Cantor Elizabeth Sternlieb, Cantor Emerita
Cantor Elizabeth Sternlieb grew up in Westchester county and for the past six years served as Beth El's Cantor. She was ordained at The Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR) in 2014 while simultaneously receiving a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies from Gratz College. She has also served congregations in Long Beach, NY, Mount Vernon, NY, and Suffern, NY.
Cantor Sternlieb served as faculty at both URJ’s Eisner and Crane Lake camps for a number of years: coordinating summer Bar/Bat Mitzvah tutoring, drama coordinator and limud staff. She has had the pleasure of appearing as guest conductor for the AJR choir, served as a mentor for cantorial candidates and cantorial soloists, and she served on the board of ARC (The Association for Rabbis and Cantors).
Cantor Sternlieb worked professionally as both a voice over and recording artist. She appeared as a featured soloist with the Westchester Chorale, Metropolitan Klezmer, and has had several leading roles in community and regional musical theater productions. In addition to singing liturgical, classical, pop and Broadway, Cantor Sternlieb also enjoys singing jazz and blues. She lives with her husband Michael, a real-estate and construction lawyer, who also served on the North American board of the URJ for many years. She has two grown sons who live in Brooklyn, and two step-daughters who are married each with two children of their own. They all live in Houlton, Maine (last exit on 95 before crossing into Canada).
