Bios of Proposed 2019 Shearith Israel Board of Trustees

Rick Kaplan (co-President 2019 - 20)

I am excited and honored to be nominated as Co-President of Congregation Shearith Israel. I look forward to partnering with Faith Levy for the next year. It has been a great experience to work with Rabbi Kaiman, Jodi Salomon and Our Board of Trustees over the past two years and I look forward to continuing these efforts.

My wife, Sharon Neulinger, and I have been a part of this amazing community for 35 years. We have two adult children, a daughter presently living in Brooklyn and a son in Charleston. I have served many roles on the Board, including as President. In addition, I have been a member of the last two rabbinic search committees. I am an Internal Medicine Physician practicing at Emory St Joseph’s.

Faith Levy (co-President 2019 – 20; President 2020 - 21)

Faith Levy is honored and humbled to be nominated to serve as co-President for one year alongside our current President, Rick Kaplan for the first year of the upcoming term, and solo for the second year. She looks forward to working with Rick to continue the strong trajectory of our thriving community. Faith and her husband, Howard, have been members of Shearith Israel for over 10 years. Faith has been active at CSI both on the Board and in programming the Synagogue Scholar and Author Series.

When not at Shearith, Faith works at Emory University in Medical School Admissions. Faith and Howard have three sons: Abe (27), Ethan (26) and Joey (24) and look forward to welcoming future daughter-in-law, Jenna Krieger to their family next spring.

Heidi Einhorn (Executive Vice President)

Heidi Einhorn and her husband Ronnie have been members of Shearith Israel for 8 years. In that time, their family has grown from one to three children who consider Shearith their home. You can find Heidi at shul on most Shabbat mornings, leading Tot Shabbat, davening in the sanctuary, or working on her long-term goal of teaching an Israeli husband and 3 lively kids to whisper. Heidi served for two years on the most recent Rabbi Search Committee and is currently Member-at-Large, focusing on volunteer coordination.

After 25 years in the tradeshow and event marketing industry, Heidi most enjoys the opportunity to create the best possible team for each individual client and project. Seeing the exceptional talent of CSI membership willing to invest their time into growing our community, and being challenged to engage the even bigger pool of people that have not yet been engaged feels like the perfect way to start a new board term.

Michael Rosenzweig (Organizational Vice President)

Michael Rosenzweig and his wife Shelli Bank have been members of CSI since moving to Atlanta from Ann Arbor in 1987. Their two sons, Zach (currently living in Israel) and Nat (currently living in Brooklyn) literally grew up at Shearith Israel and were both Bar Mitzvah here.

Michael was trained as a lawyer and was a law professor (University of Michigan), a partner in two prominent Atlanta law firms and senior VP and general counsel of a large building manufacturer before moving to the nonprofit world in 2008, where he served as president and CEO, successively, of Hands On Atlanta, the National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia) and the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem). He has long been active in the Atlanta Jewish community, having served as counsel and Vice President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and as a board member and officer of The Epstein School and The Weber School, the latter of which he co-founded and served as founding chairman and president. He is currently an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations.

Blair Rothstein (Treasurer)

Blair Rothstein, an Atlanta native, is an investment advisor and Principal with Register Financial Associates. He provides investment management and financial planning advice to high net-worth individuals and families. He earned his BA in Economics and BA in History from the University of Michigan. He received his JD from Tulane University School of Law.

As an active volunteer, Blair holds several leadership positions with various professional and community organizations. At CSI, Blair is currently serving on the Board of Trustees (At-Large Board member) and is leading the LIFE & LEGACY Committee (end of life philanthropy). He is married to Lisa Rothstein. They have two energetic boys and an adorable baby girl.

Kevin Hendler (Secretary)

Kevin Hendler, his wife Abby Goldsmith and their three children, Shira, Orli and Eli have been members of Shearith Israel for more than 15 years. All of their children attended the religious school and became B’nai Mitzvah at CSI. Kevin served on the board years ago and is honored to return.

Kevin is a dentist at Emory and provides oral health care for older adults and patients with head and neck cancer. He will also become the president of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry in April.

Jerry Rothenberg (Human Resources Committee Chair)

Amy, Jerry and Elena joined the Shearith Israel community in 2003, and Elena became bat Mitzvah in 2009. Jerry has been on the SI board since 2005 serving in several positions including chair of the Human Resources Committee and president of the congregation. He has been on the Human Resources/Personnel committee for more than twelve years and several other committees. In the private and volunteer sector outside of SI, Jerry has served in management and leadership positions for several decades. He is currently a project manager with a software company.

Joanna Kobylivker (Jewish Learning Committee Co-Chair)

Joanna Kobylivker, and her husband Andy, joined Shearith Israel in 2016. She is an Atlanta native and grew up in Sandy Springs. She holds an MPH from Emory Rollins School of Public Health and worked in Strategic Planning and Project Management for ten years at Emory. Joanna has been on the Education Committee for the past year, and she and her family have enjoyed getting to know more members of the congregation. She and Andy spend a lot of time watching their two boys - Eli (9) and Max (7) - play soccer.

Rebecca Kolesky (Jewish Learning Committee Co-Chair)

Rebecca Kolesky and her husband Scott joined Shearith Israel in 2007. She is originally from Los Angeles and attended college and medical school at the University of California, San Diego. She completed her residency in pediatrics at Northwestern University in Chicago and works as a pediatrician in private practice in Decatur. Rebecca has been on the Education Committee for the past year, has served as Sisterhood Membership chair for the past 3 years, and is on the leadership team for Sisterhood Simchas. She and Scott have 3 active boys - Jonah (14), Micah (11), and Ethan (8) and spend lots of their free time watching them play various sports!

Jaime Sherman Wender (Membership Committee Chair)

Jaime Sherman Wender is an Atlanta native and a fourth-generation Shearith Israel member. She has enjoyed serving as CSI’s Chair of Membership Engagement for the last two years and looks forward to continuing to welcome our newest faces while finding more ways for CSI to meet the needs of all of our wonderful members. A graphic designer by day, Jaime and her husband David reside in Morningside with their twin boys, Avery and Harrison, who are students in Machaneh Shai’s fifth-grade class.

Bruce Stiftel (Religious Life Committee Chair)

Bruce Stiftel has been part of Shearith Israel with wife, Janet, and daughter, Justine, since 2008 when they moved to Atlanta. He is an active gabbai and davener, served on the Religious Life, and By-Laws Committees, and co-chaired the most recent Rabbinic Search Committee. Bruce values the intellectual honesty and respect for tradition of Conservative Judaism. He recently retired from Georgia Tech where he taught city planning, and has held national office in several city planning non-profit organizations.

Helaine Brill (Board Member At-Large)

Helaine Brill and her husband David joined Shearith Israel in 2004. Helaine first became involved at the shul when she led K’tonton programming with her husband in 2006. Since then, she has served as a Board member, Sisterhood President and as a member of the Human Resources Committee. She regularly sits for Shabbat services in the middle section back row with three generations of her family. Helaine has a BA from Franklin and Marshall College and an MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School. Helaine currently works in Human Resources at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and lives in Decatur with her husband, David, and three children, Aiden (14), Guy (14) and Ella (12).

Marshall Duke (Board Member At-Large)

Marshall and Sara Duke have been members of Shearith Israel since 1977.  Their three children were all bar- or bat-mitzvahed here and their daughter, Sharon, was married here.  Over the years, Marshall has served several times as a member of the Board of Trustees and of various shul special committees. He has expertise in leadership development and the dynamics of complex organizations.  In addition, along with Michael Robinowitz, he authored at least one dozen Purim Shpiels.  He is, perhaps, best known for composing the lyrics to “Some Rise, Some Sit,” the centerpiece song of the shpiel entitled, “The Bar Mitzvah of Steve the Policeman.” Marshall’s day job is Professor of Psychology at Emory, where he is currently closing in on 50 years of teaching. 

Baby-named at CSI back in '79, life came full-circle when Jaci joined the shul three years ago with her husband Jon and their two girls, Ziva and Ari. Since becoming a member, Jaci has served on the Education Committee, helped to plan the Rock the Shtetl weekend and heads up the Social Events Committee for the synagogue. Currently Jaci is hoping to start a Challah baking and delivery service for the Atlanta area. She previously co-owned an event design company, Handmade Events, owned a women’s clothing boutique in Inman Park and had a long career as a travel and style editor. She loves to volunteer her time planning parties and making things beautiful for her children’s school and other organizations she is involved in. Jaci is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has extended her creative education over the years at the School of Visual Arts, The New School and The Fashion Institute of Technology. 

Elise Eplan (Board Member At-Large)

Elise Eplan and her husband, Bob Marcovitch, have been members of Shearith Israel for 14 years and both of their children had their b’nai mitzvah there. Elise is a consultant that serves primarily family foundations. She was previously on the staff of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

Elise is currently a member of the CSI Strategic Planning Committee and is also on the boards of The Paideia School, The Arthur M. Blank Foundation and The American Jewish Committee. Elise was a founder of Hands on Atlanta and currently serves on its Advisory Board.

Jeff Kirsh (Board Member At-Large)

Jeff Kirsh and his wife Natalie are originally from Toronto, Canada, moving to Atlanta (the first time) in 1998. They then lived in London, England and back in Toronto for the period 2009 to 2016, returning to Atlanta (and joining Shearith Israel) in the summer of 2016. Jeff is legal counsel at The Coca-Cola Company, and has spent over 25 years in the Coca-Cola system. He received his law and undergraduate degrees from the University of Toronto, and has been active in numerous community and professional organizations, including: The Epstein School, the Museum of Design Atlanta, and Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta.  Jeff and Natalie have three sons: Sam (22), Jonathan (20) and Miles (14), and love living in Morningside.

Lindy Miller (Board Member At-Large)

A Georgia native, Lindy Miller has 15 years' experience in policy, strategy and operations. She served as an AmeriCorpsVISTA in New York City and worked for the World Bank in India before joining Deloitte. After several years of client service in Canada, Lindy joined Deloitte's Global Corporate Strategy function and served as an Associate Director in Deloitte's Global Public Policy group before leaving to run for statewide office in 2018.

Lindy is co-founder of Cherry Street Energy and works part-time in her family's commercial real estate development firm. She holds an MPA from Harvard and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Decatur with her family, and they joined CSI in 2015.

Jay Steinberg (Board Member At-Large)

Jay Steinberg has been a member of Shearith Israel for 25 years. Jay’s wife, Shari, previously served on the shul Board. Jay and Shari’s three children, Eva (23), Jonathan (22) and Michael (20) grew up at Shearith Israel. Jay has contributed to various shul and shelter activities/events over the years and has been a lecturer for the Synagogue Scholars series.

Jay has been on the faculty of Emory University School of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases for 30 years and helps lead Emory’s efforts to prevent infections from occurring in hospitals. He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Emory University Hospital Midtown.