Rain Zohav has been Education Director of the Beth Chai Family School for the past eight years, and has over two decades of experience in Jewish education.
Rain’s first “degree” was in Kibbutz living as a member of Kibbutz Shomrat from 1972 to 1979. She later earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from Mary Baldwin College, graduating Summa Cum Laude and receiving the Outstanding Adult Degree Student Award. In 2007 she was accepted into the rabbinic program of Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal.
She has been an active member of the Education Director’s Council of the Washington area Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning, helping to plan area Professional Day trainings and develop regional curriculum on Israel, and conducting teacher trainings at Professional Day and the Lay Educators’ Institute.
In 2004 she attended an intensive curriculum design course sponsored by the Cleveland BJE using the Understanding by Design methodology, and has since applied this to several grades of the Beth Chai curriculum. She is a graduate of the Melton adult continuing education program, has studied mentoring and supervision at GWU, and has attended several National Havurah summer institutes and conferences of the Coalition for Advancement of Jewish Education.
Rain has also worked for many years in the areas of dialogue and conflict resolution. She has been active in Common Denominator, a cross-denominational Jewish women’s dialogue group; Jewish / Muslim and Jewish / African-American dialogue groups; and a Study Circle on race, ethnicity and student achievement.
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, Rain Zohav, 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.
2007-2008 School Year
Music Leader/teacher Philip Resnik 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 accompaniment on Sundays was to come from 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. Philip grew up in Rockland County, New York, and he enjoys making music at home in Bethesda with wife Becky and sons Harry (age 2) and Ben (age 15).
Hebrew teacher Ophra Paul has been a teacher at Beth Chai for three years. She was a shadow in the Pre-K class in her first year with the school. Rain realized her potential as a Hebrew teacher after Ophra subbed for several classes successfully, and this is her second year in that position. She has also been privately tutoring Beth Chai children for 2 years. Ophra attends the University of Maryland-College Park, where she has created her own major in Museum Studies. She hopes to work one day in an art museum combining her passions for education, art, and communications. Besides visual art, Ophra loves singing and writes her own music.
Preschool teacher Sandi Shapiro Foster has been a Beth Chai member since 2004 with her two daughters, Roberta (age 14) and Ashley (age 12). Professionally, she is a second-grade teacher in the Montgomery County Public Schools, having taught grades K through 5 since 1981. Sandi grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated with an undergraduate degree from Miami University and earned a master’s degree from Loyola College in Baltimore. Besides teaching, she enjoys spending time with her dogs, gardening, doing home-improvement projects, and creating various art projects with her daughters. Sandi is thrilled that her daughter Roberta is joining her this year as a teacher's aide in the preschool class.
Kindergarten/First grade teacher Rella Kaplowitz is enjoying her second year of teaching at Beth Chai. Rella is a program specialist at Jewish Women International, where she writes curriculum and coordinates programming for teens and young adults aimed at promoting healthy relationships as part of JWI's effort to end domestic abuse in the Jewish Community.Rella grew up in Baltimore and attended the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, from which she graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in psychology. In her spare time, Rella enjoys creative writing, road trips, and listening to ‘80s hair bands.
Second grade teacher Arielle Klane is in her first year at Beth Chai’s Sunday School. In her professional life, she is a student at American University majoring in Elementary Education. She has been a camp counselor for many years and, for four years, has tutored struggling second through fourth graders in urban Minneapolis schools. Arielle’s hobbies include cooking, traveling, and skiing.
Third grade teacher Aimee Mayer is new to Beth Chai this year. She spent two years as a teaching assistant at Oheb Shalom, a Reform synagogue in Baltimore, and has been madricha (guide) in Habonim Dror, a youth movement that has both summer camps and activities during the school year. She currently is a student at the University of Maryland-College Park double-majoring in psychology and government. On campus, Aimee is involved with the Alternative Spring Break community service program as well as a progressive Zionist group. Originally from the Chicago area, Aimee moved to Baltimore six years ago. She has two younger sisters, identical twins still in high school who, unfortunately, have just started driving.
Fourth grade teacher Jackie Hess has returned to Beth Chai after a two-year hiatus. After teaching for several years at the combined Beth Chai/Machar Sunday school, Jackie joined the Beth Chai faculty, teaching fourth grade for five years and fifth grade for a year. She's also taught third grade at Gesher Jewish Day School. Jackie has worked in Washington for 35 years, in the House of Representatives, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the World Bank, and currently at the Academy for Educational Development. Jackie directs two national programs funded by the Department of Education that focus on assistive technology for children with disabilities. Her husband, Warren Milberg, has served on the Beth Chai board and her son, Evan, is a Beth Chai Bar Mitzvah. Jackie is an avid walker and reader.
Fifth grade co-teacher Yonah Meiselman was new to Beth Chai in 2007. A freshman at the University of Maryland-College Park, he enrolled after going on a gap-year program in Israel called “Workshop” with Habonim Dror. Yonah grew up in Silver Spring and went to the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville for high school. He is nearly fluent in Hebrew. He has a background in piano and trumpet but now mainly plays guitar. He also likes chess, drawing, and Facebook.
Fifth grade co-teacher Lonny Moses originally hails from Philadelphia. The main influence in shaping his Jewish identity was Habonim Dror Camp Galil in Ottsville, PA, where he spent ten summers as a chanich (participant) and three as a madrich (guide). After graduating from The Central High School of Philadelphia in the spring of 2005, Lonny spent a year on Habonim Dror’s “Workshop” program in Israel. The program consisted of a combination of rural and urban communal living experiences as well as participation in classes and seminars concerning different aspects of Israeli and Jewish culture and society. Additionally, Lonny volunteered in Israeli public-school and community-center settings while learning different aspects of pedagogical theory. After returning from Israel, Lonny spent a year studying at American University in Washington, DC. He currently resides in Hyattsville, where he spends his time working and volunteering for various Jewish youth and education programs and volunteering at the University of Maryland Food Collective.
Sixth grade teacher Merav Fine, a newcomer to Beth Chai this year, is a senior Government and Politics Major at the University of Maryland-College Park. Merav is a native New Yorker and is, of course, a Yankees fan. She also loves politics and reading a good book. She is active in the Jewish Community at UMD, serving both on the Jewish Student Union board and on the Hillel board. An active member of her sorority, Merav is currently on the community-service committee for her chapter.
Seventh grade Tikkun Olam Teacher Danielle Lipman, a second-year teacher at Beth Chai, is a sophomore Jewish Studies major at the University of Maryland. She is from Wilmington, DE, where her parents, sister, and dog remain. She likes ice skating, Israel, and cooking and eating vegetarian food.
7th Grade Mitzvah & 8th Grade Post-Mitzvah teacher Dave Trachtenberg is a second-year teacher at Beth Chai. He will be graduating from American University this spring with a degree in history and is looking to have a career in teaching, counseling, or social work. When not at Beth Chai, Dave tutors reading and writing, and he is in the process of setting up an after-school film class to teach at DC high schools. He loves film and music, plays the piano, and is a staunch Philadelphia sports fan.