 |
 |
|
Who We Are: Staff
ELLIOT B. GERTEL, RABBI
773-752-2770, ext. 101
Rabbi Elliot B. Gertel has been spiritual leader of Congregation Rodfei Zedek since 1988. A native of Springfield, Massachusetts, he attended the Joint Program at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary from 1972 to 1976, earning a B.A. in philosophy and a B.H.L. in Bible. He received a M.H.L. from the Seminary, where he was ordained in 1981. He did research and editing for Dr. Gershon D. Cohen and for the Rabbinical Assembly, and from 1982 to 1988 served his first pulpit, Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel in New Haven, Connecticut. In December 2007 Rabbi Gertel received a Doctor of Divinity degree, honoris causa, from JTS in recognition of his contributions to Jewish life (Rabbi's response and photos).
In Chicago Rabbi Gertel has been chairman of the Joint Television Commission of the Jewish Federation and the Chicago Board of Rabbis, President of the Hyde Park and Kenwood Interfaith Council, and a board member of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society.
Rabbi Gertel has been a contributing editor of Conservative Judaism and Jewish Spectator magazines. He has contributed many essays and reviews to popular and scholarly publications in the fields of Jewish thought, Jewish literature and American Jewish history, and, since 1979, has been the media critic for the Jewish Post and Opinion, American Jewry’s longest-running national English-language weekly. His recent books include Jewish Belief and Practice in Nineteenth Century America: Seminal Essays by Outstanding Pulpit Rabbis of the Era; What Jews Know About Salvation, which prodded the Library of Congress to list "salvation" as a Jewish concept; and Over the Top Judaism, which discusses the depiction of Judaism in film and on television.
On the congregational level, Rabbi Gertel has been an innovator whose programs have won Solomon Schechter awards for music and publications and "unique programming." He has pioneered in outreach to synagogue alumni and in joint ventures with other communal agencies, such as Jewish Family Services. Rabbi Gertel has written several intergenerational Festival services, and he developed the concept of "one synagogue with many schools," which has become fundamental at Rodfei Zedek.
|
JULIUS SOLOMON, CANTOR
773-752-2770
Cantor Solomon joined the Rodfei Zedek pulpit staff on Shavuot 5758 (1998), coming to us from Bnai Jacob Congregation in Rogers Park, where he served as Cantor for 21 years. He received his early religious training at Yeshiva Toras Chaim in Brooklyn and Yeshiva University High School, and studied hazzanut with Macy Nulman, later head of the Yeshiva University Cantorial School. Cantor Solomon also studied at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a Ph.D. in physics. Cantor Solomon is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and he continues to teach and periodically compose new music for the Synagogue.
|
THEA E. CROOK
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/EDUCATION DIRECTOR
773-752-2770, ext. 102
director@rodfei.org
Thea Crook joined the Rodfei Zedek family in 1988 after emigrating from South Africa with her own family. As Executive Director, Thea has primary responsibility for coordinating all educational, social, and religious programs for the Congregation and for managing the facility (which also houses the Hyde Park JCC). She also represents Rodfei Zedek on the Hyde Park/Kenwood Council of Jewish Organizations and works with officers and board members on special projects and programs. As Education Director, she directs and teaches in Rodfei Zedek's Hoffman Religious School and works closely with the School Committee on curriculum planning and Family Services.
|
CATHERINE HALL
DIRECTOR OF CONGREGATIONAL LEARNING
773-752-2770, ext. 119
learning@rodfei.org
We are proud and delighted to welcome Catherine (“Kitty”) Hall to our staff as Director of Congregational Learning. She has an appreciation for all segments of the Jewish community because she was raised in a home where her parents were active, simultaneously, in Orthodox, Conservative and Reform congregations. Kitty has been Director of Early Childhood Education at West Suburban Temple Har Zion and a religious school teacher at Oak Park Temple. Kitty and her husband are active members of Oak Park Temple, where Kitty has been Sisterhood President and chair of the ritual and music committees, as well as a choir member. For the past six years she was Educator at Congregation Solel in Highland Park, where she programmed for adults and children. Kitty is known as an outstanding school administrator, designer of programs for all ages, and engaging puppeteer. fyi: see A Congregation of Learners and Kitty Hall's letter to Hoffman School parents.
|
ETTY DOLGIN
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION at MOADON KOL CHADASH
312.988.7993
moadon@aol.com
Etty Dolgin is a co-founder and presently the Director of Education of Moadon Kol Chadash, Rodfei Zedek's North Side religious school affiliate. Etty has held the position of Master Israel Educator at the Community Foundation of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago Area since 2002. An active fellow in the Master Teachers' Institute of the Community Foundation for Jewish Education and a member of the Principals' Center, Etty has been a vibrant moving force in Hebrew education in Chicago since 1970. She served for 18 years as Hebrew Director and Youth Director of Temple Sholom. Etty has been involved with the Hebrew program at Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute (OSRUI) since 1970. She founded the Merkaz Ivrit of OSRUI and has been Director of Hebrew Learning there since 1982. In 1989 she and Gloria Mintz together established Moadon Kol Chadash. They have also co-directed the Kesher team, publishers and distributors of Hebrew learning materials, for 24 years.
Up to Page Top
|
|
|
|
