Fran Held
Over the past decade, Fran Held has built two highly active, compassionate and ever-growing volunteer Hesed committees at Tiferet Bet Israel (TBI) in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and B'nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, Ohio. Fran has dedicated her time to building caring communities that are committed to kindness and providing for all those in need within the respective synagogue's and their larger surrounding communities.
Some of the programs Fran pioneered include the Family to Family Meal Program which delivers homemade meals to families dealing with crisis, loss, hospitalization or long-term illness; the Adopt A Soldier Program which delivers packages to US servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq; The Adopt A Class Program which delivers monthly student essentials, student incentives and holiday treats to inner-city school children; and a daily Food Project that delivers more than 500 pounds of food weekly from local supermarkets and bakeries to after-school programs, community centers and food banks.
Whether school-age children, young families or senior volunteers, these and other Hesed programs provide multi-generational community connections and care. Organizing shiva services for the death of a congregant, creating community Mitzvah Days — which are days of volunteerism and social action — Fran devotes her time to building community. Fran serves on the Board of Trustees at Tiferet Bet Israel and the Mitzvah Food Project Home Delivered Meal Program in Philadelphia. She is a past-President of the Board of Montgomery County Citizen Advocacy.
Fran received a Masters degree in Psychology from Binghamton University and a B.A. from McDaniel College.
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Rabbi David Ackerman
Rabbi David Ackerman is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Am Israel in Penn Valley, PA. David began his rabbinic career at Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago, where he served as Assistant Rabbi and was active in community-wide adult education programming, outreach to young adults, and directed and administered the religious school. He is well known in the Philadelphia region for his numerous religious and communal activities having served for 15 years as Rabbi of Tiferet Bet Israel in Blue Bell, PA. At TBI, Rabbi Ackerman focused his energies on reshaping Sabbath worship, energizing adult learning projects, and helping to build and nurture the synagogue’s Hesed (caring community) efforts.
In 2008 Rabbi Ackerman joined the senior staff of the Jewish Theological Seminary in NY where he served as Rabbi for National Outreach. At JTS he focused on educational outreach programming, rabbinic enrichment and continuing education, and was a frequent author of the weekly JTS Torah Commentary. A graduate of Princeton University and The Jewish Theological Seminary, David has pursued lifelong learning at the Shalom Hartman Institute and the doctoral program in Jewish Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Rabbi Hal Rudin-Luria
Rabbi Hal Rudin-Luria is the Associate Rabbi at B'nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, Ohio. He has been at B'nai Jeshurun since graduating from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001. Rabbi Rudin-Luria has earned a reputation as a talented speaker, teacher and scholar who guides and inspires. At the congregation, he works on chesed, adult education, young families, young professionals, youth groups and teaches in the religious school. B'nai Jeshurun's chesed committee with Rabbi Rudin-Luria's guidance has nurtured relationships with local Cleveland organizations to build volunteer partnerships with soup kitchens, neighborhood centers, furniture banks, inner-city schools, animal shelters, homeless and women's shelters and Jewish service programs.
Currently, Rabbi Rudin-Luria is studying with the Rabbinical Assembly to become a certified Mesader Gittin, officiant of Jewish divorce. He is involved in many organizations including a board member of Gross Schechter Day School, Cleveland Board of Rabbis and a member of Jewish Federation's National Young Leadership Cabinet. Rabbi Rudin-Luria served as rabbi-in-residence on a young professional mission to Israel and a Federation mission to Poland. Prior to his arrival in Cleveland, he served as student rabbi in Huntsville, Alabama and in New York City, chaplain at Beth Israel Medical Center, the US Navy, the New York Jewish Healing Center working in grief counseling, and Gateways Beit Teshuvah — a Jewish home for recovering addicts in Los Angeles.
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Cynthia Weiss Stein
Cynthia Weiss Stein is an attorney in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Ms. Stein currently serves on the Board of Directors of Camp Ramah in the Poconos and co-chairs the Ramah Day Camp Committee. She has held both of these positions since 2005. Ms. Stein also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Tiferet Bet Israel in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. She has been a member of this board since 2005 and previously served as solicitor and vice president on the executive committee of Tiferet Bet Israel from 1997 to 2002.
Ms. Stein’s past community involvement includes: Board of Governors of the Golden Slipper Club and Charities (1993-2000), Board of Governors of the Golden Slipper Camp for Boys and Girls (1993-1997), Board of Directors of Laurel House (2000-2001), Chair of Montgomery County Bar Association’s Drug Education Awareness Committee (1992-1995), Speaker for D.A.R.E. program through Montgomery County Sheriff’s office (1993-1995).
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Silas P. Norman, M.D.
Silas P. Norman, M.D. is currently an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Nephrology, Section of Transplantation at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Norman received his Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Michigan and his medical degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Norman completed an Internal Medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine prior to returning to Michigan to complete Nephrology and Transplant Nephrology fellowships at the University of Michigan. Dr. Norman has been on staff at the University of Michigan since 2003.
Dr. Norman has been interested in improving patient access to health care. Recently, under his direction the Transplant Center established a transplant outreach clinic in Kalamazoo, MI. In addition, Dr. Norman, in concert with two colleagues helped establish and maintain a program to provide kidney transplant opportunities to HIV infected candidates.
In addition to his clinical duties, Dr. Norman is active in a number of professional organizations. Dr. Norman currently serves on three committees of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) which manage transplant organ allocation in the U.S. He serves as the vice-Chair of the Minority Affairs Committee and a member of both the Policy Oversight Committee and the Board of Directors. Dr. Norman is also an active member of the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Dr. Norman currently divides his time between his clinical duties, professional service and his research which focuses on health disparities as well as cardiovascular outcomes in kidney transplant recipients.
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