Kane Street Synagogue

Rabbi

Michelle Dardashti

(she/her)

Prior to making her way to Cobble Hill to join the team at Kane Street, Rabbi Michelle Dardashti spent nine years on College Hill in Providence, RI, where she served  as Associate University Chaplain for the Jewish Community at Brown University and Rabbi at Brown RISD Hillel. Rabbi Dardashti is the daughter of an American folk-singer and teacher and an Iranian-born cantor. She was raised on a brand of Judaism that is multicultural, meta-denominational, musical and global; she became a rabbi to share the gifts her parents’ eclectic Judaism afforded her: passion, hope, wonder, gratitude, empathy, responsibility and joy.

Her appointment at Kane Street has been covered by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Brooklyn Eagle, and the Brown Daily Herald.
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Executive Director

Mickey Dobbs

(he/him)

Before coming to Kane Street, Mickey Dobbs was at the Yale Alumni Association, where he was Director for Clubs and Associations, working with Yale’s alumni groups in New York City and the West Coast. Prior to Yale, Mickey worked for various FinTech start up companies in New York City as CFO and Chief Compliance Officer. Read full bio →

Director of Education & Family Programming

Rabbi Valerie Lieber

(she/her)

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

Preschool Director

Cam Lieberson

(they/them)

Cam Lieberson is thrilled to be joining the Kane Street Kids community in their first year as Education Director. After earning their undergraduate degree in Educational Theater from NYU, they launched into their teaching career, working in general education and arts integration roles for children of all ages. Read full bio →

Director of Liturgy and Learning

Cantor Avital Lazar

(she/her)

A native New Yorker, Cantor Avital Lazar graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and music composition in 2003. Cantor Lazar received her Cantorial Investiture in May 2008 after completing a Master’s of Sacred Music at the HL Miller Cantorial School at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City. She proudly taught 6th grade Jewish Studies at a prominent New York City Day School for 8 consecutive years beginning in 2008, and has been preparing students for B’nai Mitzvah for nearly two decades.
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Prayer Leader in Residence

Noah Solomon

(he/him)

Noah Solomon Chase, an accomplished singer and musician, is based in the vibrant city of New York. Born in the USA, Noah’s parents moved to Israel when he was very young. Noah was exposed to the rich sounds of Israeli and Jewish music from a young age, thanks to the influence of both his father and the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, who was Noah’s next door neighbor. Noah’s father, an accomplished musician himself, founded the well-known Jewish group “The Diaspora Yeshiva Band” in the 1970s, which played a pivotal role in the emergence of Jewish music as a genre.

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Engagement Coordinator

Luka Dubnick

(he/him)

As Kane Street’s inaugural Engagement Coordinator, Luka Dubnick plays a pivotal role in assisting in membership, engagement, marketing, and communications initiatives. His primary objective is to foster connections and nurture a sense of kehillah (community) within the synagogue.

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Business Manager

Deborah Nocella

Rabbi Emeritus

Samuel H. Weintraub

(he/him)

Rabbi Samuel H. Weintraub served as the pulpit Rabbi of Kane Street Synagogue from 1996 to 2021. For that quarter of a century, Rabbi Weintraub devoted himself passionately to outreach. He labored to keep our Synagogue both accessible and appropriately challenging to people from all religious backgrounds, levels of Jewish observance, races, ethnic backgrounds, gender identities, physical abilities, and economic brackets.
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Hebrew School & Family Programming Administrative Assistant

Priscilla Murphy

(she/her)

B'nei Mitzvah Tutor

Melissa Zimmerman

(she/her)

Melissa Zimmerman has been a B’nei Mitzvah tutor for over sixteen years. She grew up on Long Island, where she attended Solomon Schechter Day School and was active in her synagogue, the Huntington Jewish Center.
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Family Services Leader

Landon Braverman

(he/him)

Landon Braverman is a highly experienced composer and educator in the Jewish world. He is the Tefillah Specialist and Family Service Leader at Kane Street Synagogue, and the Music Teacher at Hannah Senesh Community Day School. Read full bio →