Professional StaffRabbi Adam Feldman is the spiritual leader of The Jewish Center  Rabbi Adam Feldman joined us at The Jewish Center in the summer of 2005 after serving for six years as Assistant and then Associate Rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in Roslyn Heights, NY. He also has many years of experience in synagogue and Jewish communal work prior to becoming a Rabbi, including working as a Program Director and senior staff member in national youth organizations and other prominent synagogues. He received his ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York in 1999. His formal education including participating in the USY NATIV Leadership Program in Israel as well as studying at the Hebrew University and Machon Schechter in Jerusalem. Since coming to The Jewish Center, Rabbi Feldman has been very involved in many of our life-long learning opportunities by creating educational programs for our Nursery students and families, as well as our Religious School students and families. He teaches in our Tichon High School program and conducts many of our programs for these students. Rabbi Feldman works very closely with Cantor Simon, Rabbi Tucker and the Religious Affairs Committee to create inspiring Shabbat and Holiday services and programs and he is a passionate teacher in our Adult Learning Program. He feels very strongly about welcoming all members to our congregation, including the interfaith families in our community. He has helped us attract nationally recognized Jewish thinkers for Shabbat programs and we look forward to another exciting year this coming year. Rabbi Feldman is a graduate of Rutgers University and is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly as well as the UJC Rabbinic Cabinet. He is the President of the Board of Rabbis of the UJA Federation of Princeton-Mercer-Bucks and the Vice President of Programming for the Princeton Clergy Association where he is also the point person for all programs amongst the houses of worship in Princeton to address the crisis in Darfur. He is on the Chair of the Personnel Committee and a member of the Board of the Committee for Religious Ministries at the University Medical Center of Princeton and the Board of Governors for the Central New Jersey Region of the American Jewish Committee. He is also very involved in both of the Hebrew Day Schools in our community, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley in East Brunswick, NJ and the Abrams Hebrew Academy in Yardley, PA as well as the AIPAC Synagogue Initiative. Rabbi Feldman is married to Sara Bucholtz and they live in Princeton with their children Talia, Dena, and Ilan. Send an email to Rabbi Feldman Murray E. Simon is the Cantor at The Jewish Center  Cantor Murray E. Simon is a native of Philadelphia, PA where he earned the degree of Bachelor of Music in Performance from Temple University. In 1980, Cantor Simon was honored by Temple University as its "Alumnus of the Year" of the College of Music. Recognizing his love for interpreting the liturgical music of the synagogue, Cantor Simon enrolled at the Hebrew Union College - School of Sacred Music in New York City in order to prepare for a career in the cantorate. He was elected president of the student body and was certified and commissioned as a cantor in addition to receiving his Bachelor of Music cum laude. Cantor Simon served several prominent congregations in the New York City and Boston communities before coming to The Jewish Center. He has been a lecturer in Jewish music and liturgy at Brandeis University and Hebrew College, Brookline, MA among others. He also attended the Boston Conservatory of Music where he received his Master of Music degree in Voice. Cantor Simon is on the faculty of the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York City. He has served as Vice-president of Communal Affairs for the Princeton Clergy Association, National president of the Cantorial Alumni Association of the Hebrew Union College, national president of the American Conference of Cantors; president of the New England Jewish Music Forum; and is currently a member of the National Executive Council of the Cantors Assembly. He is the producer of the highly-acclaimed historic DVDs, "Great Cantors of the Golden Age" and "Great Cantors in Cinema" in conjunction with the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University. In the spring of 2001, Cantor Simon received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in recognition of his many contributions to the cantorate. Assisting Cantor Simon is Larry Epstein. Anne Tucker is the Assistant Rabbi at The Jewish Center 
Rabbi Anne E. Tucker grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in Psychology and Jewish Studies. She received a master's degree in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001, continuing on in the Seminary's rabbinical program where she was ordained in May 2006 with a concentration in pastoral counseling. At graduation, Rabbi Tucker received the Bernard and Sydell Citron Scholastic Prize awarded to the outstanding graduating student of the Rabbinical School. She also received the Lamport Prize in Homiletics. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, Rabbi Tucker has served as rabbinic intern for congregations in Florida, New York, and Mississippi as well as working with college students at Amherst, Duke, and Princeton Universities. She completed two units of Clinical Pastoral Education serving as a hospital chaplain at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan and has much experience teaching afternoon Hebrew school as well as working at Camp Ramah in New England and with USY (United Synagogue Youth) groups. Rabbi Tucker is thrilled to be working at The Jewish Center and brings to the position a love of teaching, community building, and working with individuals across the generation span. Linda Park is the Director of Operations Linda Park grew up at East Meadow, Long Island, attending a Reform Traditional synagogue. After twelve years in San Diego and eight years in San Carlos, near San Francisco, they made the move back to the east coast to return to their roots and raise the children in a larger Jewish community. Linda had worked in the Jewish community for the past eight years, most recently as the Administrator of Congregation Beth Israel-Judea in San Francisco, and previously at the Jewish Federation as the Young Adult Director and as a religious school educator at various temples in the San Francisco Bay Area, teaching a wide range of ages from preschool to 8th grade. Linda has also owned two businesses, and has experience in sales and purchasing for different companies. Fran Amir is Principal of Religious School 
She has held this position since 1997. She grew up in New York City and has been in the field of education and youth programming most of her adult life. She graduated from Brooklyn College with a B.A. in History and an M.A. in Secondary Education and taught Social Studies in the New York school system for many years. In the field of Jewish education, Fran did graduate work in Jewish Studies at Wayne State University and has taught in Hebrew schools in New York, West Bloomfield, Michigan, Toronto, and at The Jewish Center. She has directed teen programs both in summer camps and during the school year and served as the Youth and Family Programs Co-chair at The Jewish Center for five years. Fran and her husband, Assaf, live in Plainsboro with their children, Yariv, Lemore and Orly. Gayle Wagner is Director of The Jewish Center's Nursery Program 
Gayle graduated from Douglass College, Rutgers University with a BA in Art/Education. She spent her sophomore year studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and has been working in the education field for 25 years, with a focus in Early Education for the past nine years. Gayle has taught Art in grades K-12 for public school districts, and pre-school at Temple Beth El in Hillsborough. Through her years at Temple Beth El, she was a teacher of the 2, 3 and 4 year old students. She was responsible for helping to create the full day kindergarten program that she taught for five years, played a significant role in developing the Jewish content curriculum for all ages of the nursery school at Temple Beth El, and was appointed the position of Assistant Director. She was the Art Director and later the Director of their summer camp program. Before joining The Jewish Center, Gayle was the Director at The Goddard School in Branchburg. She resides in Hillsborough with her husband, Rick, and their three children, Jared, Tye and Blaire. Gila Levin is the Ritual Director 
Gila Levin brings 15 years of teaching and tutoring experience at The Jewish Center to her position as Ritual Director . Gila was born in Haifa Israel. She received her B.A from the Technion and taught at Rogozin High School in Kiryat Ata for 12 years. Gila joined The Jewish Center teaching staff in 1991 and has been coordinating our tutoring program since 2000. Gila and her husband Gadi live in Hillsborough. They have three children: Yariv, Yuval, and Yael, and a granddaughter, Lia. Neil Wise is the Director of Youth and Family Programs Neil Wise brings 10 years of youth and synagogue programming experience to The Jewish Center. Neil joined us at The Jewish Center in the fall of 2007 after serving as the Youth and Program Director at Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park, Pa. He also taught religious school, Hebrew high school, and was a youth group advisor. He comes from a strong background in USY (United Synagogue Youth). In his youth, he served as a regional USY board member, traveled to Poland and Israel with USY, and has been a staff member for USY on Wheels. Neil’s Jewish educational background came from Abrams Hebrew Academy and Gratz Hebrew High School. Neil is known for his Congregational Purim extravaganzas. His vision is to see The Jewish Center become a leader in its youth and synagogue programming, and to infuse the synagogue with new energy. Dov Peretz Elkins is the Rabbi Emeritus Rabbi Elkins graduated from Gratz College for Hebrew Teachers (1958), received a B.A. from Temple University (1959), and received a M.H.L. from the Jewish Theological Seminary (1962). He was ordained in 1964. In 1976, Rabbi Elkins received his doctorate in counseling and humanistic education from the Colgate Rochester Divinity School. Rabbi Elkins has served as a military chaplain, authored over twenty-five books, and received numerous awards. During the years 1992 - 2005, he was the spiritual leader of The Jewish Center of Princeton. | ||||||||||
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