Kane Street Synagogue

Rabbi

Samuel H. Weintraub

Members Call-in Hours: Tues 10:15am – 12:15pm; Wed 11:00am – 1:00pm

Rabbi Weintraub serves as spiritual guide to over one thousand individuals within the Kane Street community and counsels people ages five to ninety-five. The Rabbi officiates at all life cycle events and generally provides educational and spiritual preparation before such passages as Bar/Bat Mitzvah and weddings. Since 1996 when he came to Kane Street, he has spearheaded several innovations, including a weekday/Shabbat Hebrew School curriculum, a “Synaplex” Shabbat series, the two-year Me’ah course on Jewish civilization with Hebrew College and a conversational Hebrew “Ulpan”. Read full bio →

Executive Director

Alan Bell

Executive Director Alan Bell, is the newest member of the Kane Street staff, joining the synagogue in August of 2015. Alan comes to Kane Street with 18 years of administrative experience having worked in several synagogues. Alan is a graduate of Yeshiva University with degrees in business administration and Jewish studies. Alan also holds an MBA specializing in non- profit corporations from Touro University.

Alan looks forward to serving at such a prestigious synagogue as Kane Street. Both Alan and his wife Susan, native New Yorkers, are excited to be in Brooklyn and to be close to family and friends.

Preschool Director

Rebecca Caplow

Rebecca Caplow has been a preschool teacher in New York City for more than eight years, during which time she has continued to cultivate her ability to provide a secure and stimulating atmosphere for children to mature emotionally, intellectually, socially, and physically. She earned her Masters degree in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College, and joined the Kane Street Kids family in 2015.

Rebecca is committed to working with the devoted teachers at Kane Street Kids to create curricula based on the children’s interests and to provide a safe, secure, and welcoming environment for the children to grow and explore. She works together with the teachers, parents, and the larger community to construct holistic, enjoyable, and educational experiences for the young children at Kane Street Kids.

Director of Education & Family Programming

Rabbi Valerie Lieber

Rabbi Valerie Lieber oversees the Hebrew School, Shabbat and Holiday children’s services, Shabbat Club and Family Education programs at Kane Street. Valerie began working with our community in the summer of 2008 and quickly exhibited her strengths as an educator and administrator.

Valerie graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College and a month later was immersed in rabbinical study in Jerusalem. Rabbi Lieber received ordination at Hebrew Union College in New York in 1995. She served as Rabbi-Educator at Temple Beth Ahavath Sholom in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn for seven years. She then became the spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Jamaica in Queens for six years where she led the congregation through the Experiment in Congregational Education Re-Imagine program, a national project exploring congregational education. Rabbi Lieber has published chapters and articles in anthologies including The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, an award-winning volume published in 2007.

Though she was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, she has lived with her partner, Leah Kooperman, in Park Slope since 1993. She considers Brooklyn one of the great Jewish holy lands. You can sometimes see her riding around Brooklyn on her bicycle or her motor scooter. She’d love you to wave and shout hello.

Engagement Director

Rabbi Jason Gitlin

Rabbi Jason works to deepen the experiences of young families and other community members at Kane Street, offering personal outreach, integrating people into congregational life, and supporting community building efforts. He leads our mini-minyan and formerly taught the Open Beit Midrash’s Foundations of Jewish Life course and other classes.

Prior to joining Kane Street full-time, Rabbi Jason directed a program in experiential learning and congregational education at the Jewish Theological Seminary (where he was ordained). Before rabbinical school, he was a director at UJA-Federation of New York in communications and interfaith affairs and began his career as a reporter and editor in the Jewish and general press. He has an MA in Near Eastern Studies from New York University, and a BA in journalism from the University of Colorado, and has been a fellow in the Muehlstein Institute for Jewish Professional Leadership and at Yeshivat Hadar and the Conservative Yeshiva.

Rabbi Jason invites you to visit him in his choir loft office. An avid walker, you may otherwise see him exploring city neighborhoods by foot or enjoying Brooklyn beaches and culture with his wife Laureve and daughter Rose.

Music Director

Judith Berkson

Judith is a Cantor, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who has been active in Jewish music and Jewish education for 15 years. She served as Cantor of Congregation Beth El in Quincy, Massachusetts (1999-2001) and from 2001-2011 was the Assistant Cantor/Cantor for the Religious School at Old Westbury Hebrew Congregation in Long Island.

Judith has worked with musicians including Theodore Bikel, Frank London of the Klezmatics, the Kronos Quartet, John Zorn, and Hankus Netsky. Inspired by traditional nusach, she has composed, recorded and taught melodies and chants to promote joy and communal participation in services. In 2010, she received a Six Points Fellowship from the Foundation for Jewish Culture to compose “The Vienna Rite,” an opera about the collaboration in 1828 between Vienna’s Chief Cantor Salomon Sulzer and Viennese composer Franz Schubert. Her music has been written about in The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, TimeOut, Lilith Magazine, The Jewish Week andTablet.

Judith is also the daughter of a Cantor and has been singing sacred music since she was five years old. She has strong roots in the Conservative Movement, and she attended a Solomon Schechter Day School in Chicago and Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.