Temple Ahavat Shalom Hires New Director
of Education and Youth Programs

May 2008

In December, we began the arduous process of finding a new Director of Education. The process involved completing and submitting extensive applications to the Central Conference of American Rabbis as well as the National Association of Temple Educators. Fifteen applicants responded to our application, expressing interest in our position. After initial interviews with Rabbi Lutz, a diverse committee representing the TAS community, under the leadership of Barry Pearlman, identified those candidates with whom they wished to meet. Candidates were invited to TAS where they each spent a day meeting with the clergy, the school leadership team, the Temple support staff and TASTY leadership before meeting for an interview with the search committee. As you can well imagine this was an intensive, time consuming but most rewarding process. The committee had the opportunity to meet with many outstanding individuals, conducting seven interviews over the course of the month of March.

We are delighted to announce that the efforts of the committee has reaped tremendous reward. On June 2nd, we will be welcoming Halli Steinberg as our new Director of Education and Youth Programming. Halli comes to TAS with a great deal of experience in the field of Jewish education as well as a background in the world of non-profit management. Halli received her Masters in Education as well as an MBA in Non Profit Management from the University of Judaism (now known as the American Jewish University). She comes to Temple Ahavat Shalom after having spent four summers as the Assistant Director and Director of Camp Kinneret. Before that, she was, for six years, the Principal of the Religious School at Temple Judea . From a group of truly outstanding candidates, it was the feeling of the committee that Halli's educational background and experience uniquely qualified her for leading our educational programs into our next phase of growth and development. Halli looks forward to working with faculty, staff, students and parents in furthering our already outstanding educational programs.

Halli has been married to Jeffrey Lee Steinberg for almost 15 years and has two children, Shoshanah and Noah.

We are so blessed to have found just the right person for this position. A special thank you to the members of the committee: Barry Pearlman, Cathy Meyers, Gail Karlin, Judy Alban, Fran Krimston, Robert Cohn, Bruce Udelf, Lynn Doner, Lori Glazer, Lisa Labowitz and Marc Cooperman, who worked so hard to find the right candidate to serve in the role of educational leader for our community.

Halli will be in the Temple school office beginning June 2nd as she works with Kim to assure a smooth transition. In the meantime, Halli can be reached at hallijoy@aol.com.