Education Director Roni Rosenthal
Roni, 37, was born and raised in the beautiful city of Haifa, Israel. Over the past 20 years she has been working both as a Judaic/Hebrew teacher and as an administrative manager.
Roni started working with children as a guide at the early age of 16 at the "HATZOFIM" (a group of Israeli scouts). When Roni was 21 years old she was given her first opportunity to be a school director. In 2002, she was appointed again to be a school's administrative manager within the School of Public Health at the University of Haifa. As a teacher, she has taught in formal and non-formal structures, in Hebrew schools and Jewish schools, working with kids at various levels of the Hebrew language and working with kids in different grades, ranging from pre-k through 8th grade.
Roni holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Haifa with a double-major in Education and Sociology and a Master’s degree in Education and Counseling. Roni also has a great interest in writing and editing. She has written and published three books; her most recent book, published in 2009, is called, "101 Let's have fun – 101 fun activities that reinforce learning in the Hebrew language." Roni is currently in the process of developing a special curriculum on: "Jewish Creative Writing for grades 2-3, and 5-6". She also established a newspaper in 2007 in the DC metro area for Hebrew readers called, "Washington". She was a writer and a Chief Editor for this newspaper.
Roni is a mother of two children (ages 5 and 9), and an active participant in Israeli dancing class.
Sunday School Parent Council
The Beth Chai Sunday School Parent Council was established to enhance the School’s educational programming and to encourage its continued development and growth. In concert with our Education Director, Roni Rosenthal, the Council engages in ongoing discussion of the school, its objectives, curriculum and achievement. The Council meets periodically with the Education Director, and at times is called on to help formulate policy recommendations to her and the Beth Chai Board. The Council is chaired by a Board member, and is joined on the Council by Beth Chai members representing each of the school’s grade levels. We encourage parents to contact the Parent Council with suggestions or concerns at any time.
Meet the Faculty: Beth Chai’s Sunday School Teachers
2010-2011 School Year
We have a great staff of returning and new teachers lined up for this school year!
Jessica Katz, pre-K teacher, has taught at Beth Chai since January 2009. She has a Masters in Teaching with a focus on secondary education from American University. She loves teaching pre-k - it is different from teaching older children. She especially enjoys thinking up ways to explain fundamental elements of Judaism in creative ways. In the classroom, she challenges a static understanding of Jewish values and the Jewish experience and hopes to foster individual perspectives in each student. At the same time, Jessica deeply values the sense of community being at Beth Chai brings. During the week Jessica researches school safety at an educational insurance company.
Stephanie Elgart, Kindergarten teacher, is entering her sophomore year at the University of Maryland as an education major. She has been a counselor at a camp in the Poconos, Camp Ramah, for the past two years and also spent a summer in Israel with Camp Ramah. She earned her teaching certificate as a Hebrew school teacher from Gratz College. This is her second year at Beth Chai as the Kindergarten teacher and she could not be more excited to be back!
Julia Narrow, first-grade teacher, is a student at the University of Maryland, College Park. She had gained experience as a B’nai Mitzvah tutor, Hebrew teacher’s assistant and Tot Shabbat leader’s assistant at Beth El in Baltimore. She was an instructor, set designer and costumes at the Maria Verdeja School of the Arts, Theatre Dance Camp. She is very excited to join our Beth Chai teaching staff.
Elana Mayer, second-grade teacher, is a sophomore at the University of Maryland College Park studying History and Spanish. She is the treasurer of the University of Maryland’s J Street U this year. She is also a member of Habonim Dror North America, a labor Zionist youth movement by means of which she has learned invaluable lessons at Camp Moshava and traveled to Israel for five and a half weeks. Elana has worked with students of many different age groups and abilities, as a tutor, a teacher’s assistant, and a substitute teacher. She spent the summer of 2009 as a teacher’s assistant at Head Start in East Baltimore. This year she spent about two months teaching a basic financial literacy curriculum designed by Junior Achievement to second grade students at a D.C. charter school. For the past year she worked as a substitute teacher at Beth Chai and as a tutor through Peer Advantage Tutors. She is currently a teacher’s assistant for the seventh grade at Higher Achievement West Baltimore. Elana plans to become a high school teacher after receiving her Master’s Degree in secondary education.
Jeremie Lipczenko, third-grade teacher, has a Master of Education degree from Lesley University and a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University. She has spent several years teaching Judaic Studies in the Rockville area. She is a full-time stay at home mom to three children (ages 6, 4 and 1). In her extra time, she loves taking her retired greyhound to the dog park.
Rachel Mayer, fourth-grade teacher, is a Sophomore at the University of Maryland College Park studying government and politics and Arabic as part of the Arabic Flagship Program. She grew up going to a Reform synagogue and attended religious school through her senior year of high school. She has spent the last 11 years attending and working at a Jewish summer camp called Camp Moshava, which is part of the labor-Zionist youth movement Habonim Dror. She is also very involved in J Street U and is now the Marketing and Outreach Vice President of J Street U at the University of Maryland College Park. In addition, she is also a trip leader of the Alternative Breaks program that sends students on community service trips during winter and spring breaks. She is very excited to become part of the Beth Chai community.
Sara Eckert, fifth-grade teacher, is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park studying Biology. She has taught a range of students and is excited to begin teaching 5th grade. Sara went to Israel on numerous occasions and is pleased to be able to share her experiences with her class. In addition to teaching, Sara spends her time doing research in conservation biology. She is always happy to meet new people and do new things, and welcomes the opportunities that the year will bring along.
Danielle Kiefer, sixth-grade teacher, is a full-time paralegal at a law firm in downtown Bethesda. She graduated magna cum laude from UMBC, where she studied political science, writing, and Judaic studies. In her spare time, she is most often found either volunteering as an Army Family Team Building instructor at Walter Reed supporting injured soldiers and Army families, spending time with family and friends, or feeding her insatiable addiction to contemporary American fiction.
Justin Prince, sixth-grade teacher, is a sophomore at The GW University, studying International Affairs and Political Science. When he is not in D.C, he lives with his family in Skokie, Illinois. Justin was exposed and enriched by Jewish tradition and Israeli culture. He attended a Jewish high school where he studied Judaic scriptures and the Hebrew language. Following high school, he traveled to Israel where he spent one year studying and volunteering across the country. During his first three months, he volunteered in a Jewish Arab Community Center in Yaffo.
Aimee Mayer, Mitzvah class teacher, is a first-year law student at American University Washington College of Law. Following her work with Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the International Rescue Committee in Argentina, and DC Language Access, Aimee has decided to work in the field of immigration and refugee law. Aimee has bachelor's degrees in psychology and government & politics from the University of Maryland, College Park. While at the University of Maryland, Aimee served as a trip leader for the alternative break program, a program that sends students on community service learning trips and does local community service. Aimee was also the president of J Street U at the University of Maryland and served on the National Student Board of J Street U. Aimee was actively involved in Habonim Dror, a labor Zionist youth movement.This is Aimee's fourth year teaching at Beth Chai.
Danielle Lipman, post-Mitzvah class teacher, is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland were she majored Jewish Studies. She is currently teaching preschool at the Rockville JCC working with the 4 year olds. This is her 5th year at Beth Chai and she is very excited to be working with the Post-Mitzvah Class.
Sarit Cioban, Hebrew teacher, grew up in Nazareth Illit, Israel, currently living in Falls Church, Virginia since. In 2007, Sarit served as a Shlicha (Emissary) from the Jewish Agency for Israel to the Jewish Federation of Southern NJ. She spoke and conducted programs at many religious day schools, Sunday schools, synagogues and other Jewish community organizations. Sarit served in the Israeli Air Force from 1996 to 1998 and received her Bachelor of Arts in Human Services from the Emek-Izrael College in 2006. She is looking forward to bringing her extensive knowledge of Hebrew and Israel to the students of Beth Chai.
Philip Resnik, music teacher, has been cajoling song out of Beth Chai members since he and his family joined the congregation in 2001. (He volunteered when he found out that the plan for accompaniment on Sundays was a tape recorder.) Professionally, he is an associate professor at the University of Maryland, with joint appointments in the Department of Linguistics and the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. He works on computational models of human language processing, and develops software to help computers deal more intelligently with human language in areas ranging from automatic translation to medical records. Philip grew up in Rockland County, New York, and he enjoys making music at home in Bethesda with wife Becky and sons Jay, Harry, and Ben.
Hannah Spiro, music teacher, is a junior at the University of Maryland majoring in philosophy and Jewish studies. In her spare time, she writes, records, and performs alt-folk music. She has three CDs out now, the most recent of which, "Aliyah", is her first alt-Jewish CD. At UMD, Hannah is the president of both Kesher, the Reform/Reconstructionist Jewish Community and Hamsa, the LGBTQ Jewish Community. She looks forward to singing with the students for a third year at Beth Chai!
Michelle Pinko, on-site substitute, is looking forward to getting to know all the students in the Beth Chai community working as the on site substitute. She holds a masters degree in Early Childhood Education and has been teaching Pre-School and Kindergarten at Beth Sholom of Potomac for the past nine years. Teaching with an integrated approach makes sense to children and Michelle especially enjoys observing what interests her students and then using a project approach to help guide their learning. After spending a semester in college studying abroad at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem she decided to spend more time in Israel and accepted a teaching position at the American International School in Israel. While living in Israel she met the love of her life and got married under a grove of Pecan trees in Petach Tikvah. Together with her family she enjoys mountain biking, hiking and Sunday night campfires.
