Alexander Frisch grew up in New Jersey, where he first started working in the nonprofit world in arts organizations. He earned his bachelor’s in public affairs from Ohio State University (Go Bucks!), where he specialized in nonprofit management and minored in theatre. Before joining Stephen Wise Free Synagogue as the Religious School’s operations coordinator, Alexander worked professionally in stage management and theatre development in Ohio, at a music festival, and at the off-Broadway musical “Stomp.” Outside of work, you can find Alexander running around the city training for marathons. He also creates content for his website, including writing a community newsletter, producing YouTube videos, developing his drag persona Nikki Lodeon, and working on other fun projects.
Julia Bennett grew up on Long Island and was a camper, counselor, and limmud specialist at URJ Eisner Camp. She completed a self-designed major in Jewish studies at Clark University and received her master’s in religious education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. After watching the movie “Babe” when she was seven, she decided to become a vegetarian and she’s been vegan since she was 14. She loves “Harry Potter” and is currently working with a friend to translate one of the books from Hebrew to English. She starts every day with Starbucks and ends every day by reading (but the book has to have a “happily ever after”).
For more than three decades, Joyce has given of her heart and soul to the congregants of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue as a b’nai mitzvah tutor. Her total involvement in the youth of her synagogue has been for her a source of strength and blessing and she continues to enrich Jewish life through her participation in her community.
Whitney is a graduate of The Hartt School of Music, where she studied classical voice performance. After graduation she fostered her passion for language by learning Hebrew, and quickly found her niche teaching Hebrew and Torah chanting in uptown Manhattan. She loves being a part of the Stephen Wise community — whether she’s tutoring our students, teaching adult b’nai mitzvah or coordinating the bar/bat mitzvah program.
Rabbi Rena Rifkin, RJE, received her master’s in Jewish education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Rhea Hirsch School of Education in 2008 and was ordained by HUC-JIR in 2010. During her time as a student, she was a Mandel Fellow for clergy-educators and worked in various communities throughout Los Angeles and New York City, including Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills and Temple Shaaray Tefila in New York.
Following ordination, she served North Shore Synagogue in Syosset, New York, as the director of lifelong learning, and most recently was coordinator of faculty and family engagement at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.
Rabbi Rifkin grew up at and continues to have strong ties with the URJ Camp Eisner and she is member of the Association of Reform Jewish Educators’s board. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Scott, and their three children, Eden, Simon and Micah.
