One legacy, many voices.
Board of Trustees
William Liss-Levinson, PhD (Board Chair) has been a trustee of the Board since 2016 and became Chair in August 2018. He retired in May 2020 after a 45- year career in healthcare in executive and corporate positions, including being the founding director of one of the first hospice programs in the nation under Jewish auspices (1979-1987). Bill is the author of In Search of Theological Modesty: Biblical Lessons (Resource Publications, 2015), and has written various book chapters and journal articles on topics in healthcare. He has also lectured and taught across North America on issues related to both Jewish philosophy and theology and healthcare. In addition to AJR, he is very actively involved with several other organizations as a volunteer.
Rabbi Bruce Alpert (Chair Emeritus) worked in manufacturing and sales of dental restorative materials before attending AJR. He served as AJR’s Board of Trustees student representative from 2007 until his ordination 2011. He served as board chair from 2012 to 2018. Bruce is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and he has a master’s degree in Jewish Studies from Gratz College. He is the rabbi of Beth Israel Synagogue in Wallingford, CT where he has served since 2007.
Wendy Love Anderson, PhD (AJR Student Representative) received her MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. She also holds a MA in Management and Leadership from Webster University. When she is not learning at AJR, she serves as Assistant Director of Academic Programs in the Center for the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, and teaches in both the Center for the Humanities and the Program in Religious Studies there. She has published, taught, and presented on topics in Jewish studies and Jewish-Christian relations in a variety of academic and popular venues. She would like to thank AJR for ensuring that she was a Zoom expert before everyone became a Zoom expert!
Rabbi Stephen Axinn was ordained by AJR in 2022. Although AJR is his first love, he is also a graduate of Columbia Law School (1962) and practiced antitrust law for more than 50 years, first as a partner in Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and then at Axinn Veltrop Harkrider LLP, a law firm he founded in 1997. He served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at both NYU and Columbia Law Schools. He was the author of an antitrust text book and the monthly columnist on Antitrust for the New York Law Journal for many years. He was also a special assistant Attorney General at the US Department of Justice in 1999-2000. He served as a Trustee and Treasurer of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. But his proudest achievement are his three children and his five grandchildren.
Robert Einhorn received his BA and MA in American History at the University of Pennsylvania. He then worked and became the owner of Columbia Can Co Inc., a distributor of plastic and metal containers and corrugated cartons, in Astoria, New York. Currently, he is a key account manager at Champion Container Corporation in Edison, New Jersey.
Amit Goldman is Head of Partnerships at the healthtech company, Lapsi Health. She is a Member of the Council of the Jewish (Litvak) Community of Lithuania and Chair of the Board of the Doctor Janusz Korczak Centre, a charitable organization with the mission to advance children’s rights and well-being. Amit was previously Vice President of the Board of the European Union of Jewish Students, and led the Lithuanian Union of Jewish Students. She is one of the co-founders of the MedTech Club, the largest medical community on Clubhouse, with almost 100,000 members. Amit holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Vilnius and an EMBA from ISM University of Management and Economics. Amit has extensive healthtech experience and is involved in venture capital funds investing in early-stage healthtech startups.
Rabbi Jill Hackell, MD (Alumni Liaison to ARC) is the rabbi of a small non-affiliated congregation in Rockland County, NY. She received her ordination from AJR, along with an MA in Judaic Studies from Gratz College. She received a BS from Tufts University and an MD plus pediatric residency training at Johns Hopkins. She practiced general pediatrics before going on to a career in the pharmaceutical industry in clinical research on new vaccines. She has combined these two paths through an interest in bioethics, teaching this subject on the graduate level. She also teaches subjects of general Jewish interest at the Jewish Federation of Rockland County.
Evi Heilbrunn is a digital health founder and investor. Evi holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a published healthcare journalist, before she ventured into the business side of media, spearheading commercial product solutions at major U.S publishers in DTC and B2B health. She then moved into venture capital and startups, building and supporting health companies in 2021. Evi is the Founder & CEO of Peach Health Ventures, currently in stealth mode. She joined the Board in August 2020.
Rabbi Michael G. Kohn (Trustee Emeritus) is Rabbi Emeritus at the former Temple B’nai Abraham in Meriden, CT, and was Ordained at AJR in 2009. Prior to entering rabbinical school, he was engaged in a national practice of law in Cincinnati, OH, primarily litigating Antitrust, Securities, and other complex commercial matters. He holds an A.B. degree in Biology from Emory University, an S.M. degree in Microbial Genetics from the University of Chicago, and a J.D., cum laude, from the Seton Hall University School of Law. While living in Cincinnati, he was very active in service to, and as a member of, the Boards of numerous Jewish organizations and institutions. He has two grown daughters and five grandchildren.
Rabbi Enid Lader and her husband, Harry, have lived in Lakewood, Ohio for over forty years, and are longtime members of Beth Israel – The West Temple. With a background in music therapy and music education, Enid transitioned to Jewish Education, and was in the Cleveland Fellows Program and received a graduate degree in Judaic Studies from the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies. Originally serving as volunteer principal, Enid then served as the Director of Congregational Education for Beth Israel-The West Temple for twenty years. She then became the lay Spiritual Leader and Educator for Knesseth Israel Temple in Wooster, Ohio. It was during this time that she started her rabbinic studies at AJR in 2005. In 2010, Rabbi Enid was ordained from the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York and completed her work in Wooster in 2012. She began her position as the rabbi at Beth Israel -The West Temple in August of 2012. Rabbi Enid is very active in interfaith programming in the Cleveland area. She served as the president for ARC for six years, and as treasurer and president of the Greater Cleveland Board of Rabbis. Enid and Harry have two married daughters and four grandchildren.
Ora Horn Prouser, PhD (CEO & Academic Dean) received her BA and PhD from The Jewish Theological Seminary, as well as a BA from Columbia University. She has published widely on the Bible focusing on disability studies, gender issues and literary analysis. She has also worked with the Melton Center for Jewish Education, the Davidson School of Education at JTS, and various educational institutions to develop curricula and approaches to Bible pedagogy for all levels and learning styles. Her book, Esau’s Blessing: How the Bible Embraces Those with Special Needs was recognized as a 2012 National Jewish Book Council finalist and as a Gold winner in the 2016 Special Needs Book Awards.
Ian Rosen (Treasurer) is the CEO of Financial Answers, and a Partner at The TIFIN Group. Financial Answers acquires and adds value to financial media firms, combining audiences with high quality tools and data. He has over 20 years’ experience as a media and fintech executive having founded and/or run several successful firms including Even Financial, Inc., MarketWatch, Inc., and Stockwits, Inc. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two boys.
Rabbi Simon Rosenbach (Board Secretary) graduated from Rutgers College and Rutgers Law School and embarked on a 35-year career in law enforcement. The stops included the Somerset County (NJ) Prosecutor’s Office, a four-year stint in the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, and a 30-year tenure in the Middlesex County (NJ) Prosecutor’s Office, ending in 2010. In 2005, he enrolled at AJR and was hired by Congregation Ahavas Sholom in Newark, NJ (a USCJ affiliate), to be their spiritual leader. He was ordained as a rabbi in 2014, and has never left Ahavas Sholom. Simon and his wife, Gayle have three married children and two grandchildren.
David Siegel is the CEO of Meetup, the leading social media platform dedicated to connecting 50 million members in person or online to over 15,000 exclusive daily events. He has over 20 years’ experience as a technology executive, leading organizations through innovative product development, rapid revenue growth and subscription acceleration. Prior to joining Meetup, David was CEO of Investopedia and before that, President of Seeking Alpha. He lives in White Plains with his wife and three teenage children. David joined the Board in August 2020.
Leah Zimmerman, MSEd owns Stepping Stool Coaching and is a sought after advisor for CEO’s and Business leaders who want to be honest with themselves, reflective and own their integrity. Leah has a masters degree in Museum Education from the Bank Street College of Education, taught public school in New York City and in Round Rock, Texas before leaving to pursue her theatrical career. Jewish education was her day job which led her to directing education programs in synagogues from New York City to Los Angeles before leaving to start her own business.
