Ordained in 1981, Rabbi Elyse Frishman served as Rabbi of The Reform Temple of Suffern (NY) for 14 years, and then as Senior Rabbi of The Barnert Temple (Franklin Lakes, NJ) for 22 years, retiring in 2017. Her rabbinate focused on the shaping of sacred community grounded in adult study, spiritual life, and service.
She currently serves as faculty for The Wexner Foundation, an organization that focuses on leadership development in the Jewish communities of North America and Israel.
Rabbi Frishman is nationally recognized for her work transforming Reform Jewish worship, and as a writer and editor of liturgy. She edited the Reform movement’s prayerbook, Mishkan T’filah (CCAR Press, 2007), as well as Haneirot Halalu (CCAR Press, 2009) and Blessings for the Table (CCAR Press, 1997). She was identified as the second most influential American Jew in The Forward newspaper’s “Top Fifty Jews” list of 2007.
Married to Rabbi Daniel Freelander, their family includes Adam and Julie, Jonah and Sarah, Devra (z”l) and granddaughter Aviva.
Rabbi Hara Person is the Chief Executive of Central Conference of American Rabbis. Previously, she was the CCAR's Chief Strategy Officer. In that capacity, she oversaw the Communications Department and served as Publisher of CCAR Press, and worked with leadership on overall organizational strategy. Rabbi Person was ordained in 1998 from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, after graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College (1986) and receiving an MA in Fine Arts from New York University’s International Center of Photography (1992). She served as Educator at the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue from 1990-1996, and was the Adjunct Rabbi there from 1998-2019. Since 1998, Rabbi Person has been the High Holy Day Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Olam, Fire Island Pines, NY. Before coming to the CCAR, Rabbi Person was the Editor-in-Chief of URJ Books and Music, where she was responsible for the revision of
The Torah: A Modern Commentary(2005) and the publication of many significant projects, including the
Aleph Isn't Tough adult Hebrew series and
Mitkadem: Hebrew for Youth as well as several award-winning children's books. While at URJ, she was also the Managing Editor of
The Torah: Women's commentary, named the National Jewish Book Award Book of the Year in 2008. Rabbi Person is also the co-author of
Stories of Heaven and Earth: Bible Heroes in Contemporary Children's Literature and as well as co-editor of
That You May Live Long: Caring for Your Aging Parents, Caring for Yourself, and Editor of
The Mitzvah Healing. Her essays and poems have been published in various anthologies and journals, including
Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal,
upstreet,
Encyclopedia of Jewish American Popular Culture,
Women and Judaism,
The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, and
The Women's Haftarah Commentary. Links to her many OpEds are listed below. Rabbi Person lives in Brooklyn, NY, and is the mother of two young adults.
Rafael Chaiken is the Director of CCAR Press. In this role, he oversees the CCAR’s book publications, journal, certificates, apps, and Visual T’filah. He was previously the editor for Jewish studies, film studies, and philosophy at the State University of New York Press. His books have been winners/finalists for the National Jewish Book Awards, Jordan Schnitzer Book Awards, Foreword Indies Book of the Year, Independent Publisher Book Awards, and Canadian Jewish Literary Awards.
Originally from Albany, Rafael is a graduate of the Hebrew Academy of the Capital District. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s from the University at Albany, both in history. His book reviews have appeared in the Journal of Electronic Publishing and Publishing Research Quarterly. He has delivered presentations on publishing at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Association for Jewish Studies, University at Albany, and the Association of Reform Jewish Educators. He also served as chair of the Association of University Presses Professional Development Committee.
Rabbi Annie Villarreal-Belford, PsyD (she, her), a native of El Paso, Texas, was the first full-time female solo rabbi in Houston, Texas, serving Temple Sinai from 2009–2022. She currently works as Editor at CCAR Press. In her free time, she enjoys reading, creating mixed media art, visiting National Parks, and loves nothing more than soaking up life with her spouse and three children.
Rabbi Janet Marder, a Los Angeles native, graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz and was ordained in 1979 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Following ordination, she pursued graduate studies in the Department of Comparative Literature at UCLA, specializing in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish. In 1983 she became the first ordained rabbi of Beth Chayim Chadashim, a Los Angeles synagogue with special outreach to lesbian and gay Jews. During her five years with that congregation, she founded NECHAMA, a Federation-funded program of AIDS education for the Jewish community . From 1988 to 1999 Rabbi Marder served the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, providing leadership and guidance to Reform synagogues in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Texas. In August, 1999 she became Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, CA. She has a special interest in creating meaningful, joyous and participatory worship services, and in helping to make Beth Am a warm and welcoming community. Rabbi Marder’s articles have appeared in
Reform Judaism magazine, the Reconstructionist, Sh’ma and several anthologies. She was part of the core editorial team for
Mishkan HaNefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe and contributed to
Divrei Mishkan HaNefesh: A Guide to the CCAR Machzor. She is also co-editor of Mishkan HaLev: Prayers for S'lichot and the Month of Elul, a companion prayerbook to
Mishkan HaNefesh. She has served as President of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis, the first woman and the first non-congregational rabbi to be elected to that office. In 2003, she became President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the national Reform rabbinic organization, the first woman to serve in that capacity in the CCAR’s 114-year history. Rabbi Marder is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, having recently completed a three year course of study through the institute.
She is married to a colleague, Rabbi Sheldon Marder of the Jewish Home in San Francisco, and they are the parents of two daughters, Betsy and Rachel.
Rabbi Sheldon Marder earned a BA in English from SUNY at Stony Brook in 1971 and an MA in Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institution of Religion in New York in 1975. He was ordained by HUC-JIR in 1978 and received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from HUC-JIR, Los Angeles, in 2003. In 2007, he completed a four-year curriculum of Jewish studies and graduated with the title of Senior Rabbinic Fellow from the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel. He is currently the Rabbi and Department Head of Jewish Life at the Jewish Home of San Francisco. Rabbi Marder is the co-editor, translator, writer, and commentator of
Mishkan HaNefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe, published by CCAR Press in 2015, as well as the co-editor of
Mishkan HaLev: Prayers for S'lichot and the Month of Elul, a companion prayerbook to
Mishkan HaNefesh. He is also the contributor to other publications, such as
Divrei Mishkan HaNefesh: A Guide to the CCAR Machzor, published by CCAR Press in 2016; and
CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Summer 2013 issue. Rabbi Marder developed several programs of note at the Jewish Home of San Francisco, such as the Art as Therapy program: a weekly art program in which short-term psychiatric patients reflect on great works of art; and Torah Talk: a gathering in which people with Alzheimer’s and related diseases explore Torah, poetry, and art for personal spiritual meaning. He was honored as Mentor of the Year by the Association of Jewish Aging Services in 2008.
