Governing Boards

Andrew Offit, Me’ah`09, Chair

Andy Offit spent his career in the investment industry as a portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments and Wellington Management. Andy then attended the Harvard Kennedy School where he earned a Masters in Public Administration degree (2011). He then worked in Somerville as Special Advisor to Mayor Joseph Curtatone. Before becoming Chair of the Board at Hebrew College, Andy was President of Temple Reyim in Newton, MA.

Andy is currently attending Suffolk Law School, expecting his J.D. in 2021. He earned his B.A. at Emory University and M.B.A. at Wharton. Andy is a CPA.

Andy’s Jewish journey has been a reflection of his family. His three sons attended Solomon Schechter and Gann Academy. Andy’s wife, Rabbi Suzanne Offit, is a 2009 graduate of the Rabbinical School.

Rabbi Van Lanckton, Rab`09

Rabbi Van Lanckton is a 2009 graduate of the Rabbinical School. He is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple B’nai Shalom in Braintree, MA, where he served in a student pulpit from 2007 to 2009 and then as Rabbi from 2009 to 2017.

Van is the Placement Adviser for the Rabbinical School and serves as Executive Vice President of its Alumni Association, which he created in 2008. He is also Secretary of the Rabbis and Cantors Retirement Plan, which he co-created in 2012.

Van practiced law in Massachusetts for 36 years, serving initially as Director of the Community Legal Assistance Office and Teaching Fellow in Law and Clinical Practice at Harvard Law School and then in two positions in the Massachusetts state government. Following his subsequent 25 years in private practice, he retired from law in 2003 to become one of the seventeen founding students of the Rabbinical School. Van graduated cum laude from Yale College in 1964 and Harvard Law School in 1967.

Louis J. Grossman, Me’ah`00

Louis Grossman is Chairman and Treasurer of The Grossman Companies, a family-owned real estate and investment company started in 1980 by Louis and his father, Morton Grossman, z”l. Louis’s sons, David and Jacob, joined him in 2007-2009. They successfully developed and acquired a portfolio of more than 40 commercial and residential properties as well as an active private lending business, primarily in Southern New England. He is active in numerous local and national charitable organizations, including the Union for Reform Judaism, Temple Beth Shalom in Needham, Mayyim Hayyim, the JCC of Greater Boston, and Israeli Stage.

Jack A. Eiferman

Jack Eiferman, a Director at the Boston-based law firm of Goulston & Storrs, has worked extensively with business and nonprofit organizations, many of which are in the health care industry. His more than 30-year legal career has spanned a wide range of issues that face business and charitable organizations, including corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance issues. Jack is a past Chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Tax Exempt Committee and was on the Committee of the Boston Bar Association that last revised the nonprofit corporation laws. He is the author of several chapters in the Massachusetts treatise that covers nonprofit corporations.

Jack is a graduate of the Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York, and received his B.A. from the University at Albany, an M.P.H. from Yale University and a J.D. from Rutgers University.  He and his wife, Fern Fisher, are members of Temple Beth Zion and Congregation Kehillath Israel, both in Brookline.

Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld

Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld was appointed President-Elect of Hebrew College in the fall of 2017 and became President on July 1, 2018. She was Dean of the Rabbinical School from 2006-2017. Prior to assuming these positions, she served as an adjunct faculty member and then dean of students at the school. After graduating from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1990, Rabbi Anisfeld spent 15 years working in pluralistic settings as a Hillel rabbi at Tufts, Yale and Harvard universities. She served as a summer faculty member for the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel since 1993 and is co-editor of two volumes of women’s writings on Passover, The Women’s Seder Sourcebook: Rituals and Readings for Use at the Passover Seder (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2002) and The Women’s Passover Companion: Women’s Reflections on the Festival of Freedom (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2002). In 2015, Rabbi Anisfeld was named one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world by The Jerusalem Post. From 2011 to 2013, she was named to Newsweek’s list of Top 50 Influential Rabbis in America.

Harvey Chasen, Me’ah`16

Harvey Chasen is a founder and original member of the Board of Directors of MetroWest Jewish Day School. He received his B.S. degree from Northeastern University in Mechanical/Industrial Engineering followed by an M.B.A. He is a past officer of Temple Israel and served as chairman of the Disaster Response Committee for the Metrowest Red Cross. He has been a participant with the speaker’s bureau of the Boston Alzheimer Association.

Harvey is a partner with his son, Allan, in their third-generation family business, HD Chasen, which supplies material to build and maintain bridges, power plants and oil refineries worldwide.

Harvey is a 2015 graduate of Me’ah and has continued his studies with Me’ah Select.

Carl Chudnofsky, MAJS`13, Me’ah`06

Carl Chudnofsky is CEO of CB Ventures, Inc., a full management and marketing company in the retail and shopping center industry. Chudnofsky was President of the Noerr Programs, a digital photography and marketing company that services the retail and shopping center industry. His 40-year career began with Wm. Filenes, where he held senior executive positions and was a member of Filene’s Administrative Board. Thereafter he joined New England Development as an Executive Vice-President and became President of their management company, The Wells Park Group.  He also held the position of EVP and Chief Operating Officer for Prime Retail in Baltimore, MD.

Carl has served on multiple boards in Greater Boston and the MetroWest area, including: Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the MetroWest Jewish Federation, the Anti-Defamation League, Hebrew College, The MetroWest Jewish Day School, the Bureau of Jewish Education, Temple Beth Sholom, the Greater Boston Jewish Community Centers and Hebrew SeniorLife.

Carl has lived in the MetroWest community for over 40 years. He was born and grew up in Boston where he attended Boston Public Schools and graduated from Northeastern University School of Business.

Carl is a graduate of the Me’ah program of Hebrew College and CJP and received the degree of Master in Jewish Studies at Hebrew College.

Harold G. Kotler, H`18, Me’ah`99

Harold G. Kotler is Chief Executive Officer of GW&K Investment Management.  He is also the firm’s Chief Investment Officer, chairs the Investment Committee and is a member of the Management Committee.  He joined GW&K in 1975 as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategist of the firm’s innovative fixed income investments.

Before joining GW&K, Harold was a Vice President of the U.S. Trust Co. in Boston, MA.  He previously served as President of Barclay Asset Management Co., an advisory affiliate of U.S. Trust, Vice President of Studley, Shupert & Co., Inc., Boston, and as an investment officer with the Newton Waltham Bank. He received a B.S./B.A. from Babson College in 1965.

Harold earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society and the CFA Institute. Harold formerly served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Hebrew College and is a Trustee of Hebrew Senior Life.  Harold is also a Trustee Emeritus of the Citi Performing Arts Center.  Harold previously held positions of Chairman of the Board of the Jewish Memorial Hospital, President of Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, MA, Board Member and Treasurer of the Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters, Trustee of Hebrew Union College and Board Member of The Rashi School, Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Babson College.

Harold’s wife, Rabbi Jamie Kotler, is a 2016 graduate of the Rabbinical School. In 2018 Hebrew College awarded Harold an honorary doctorate.

Lydia Kukoff

Lydia Kukoff created and for thirteen years led the Reform movement’s Outreach program, the Jewish Community’s first national program for intermarried couples and Jews-by-Choice. In that capacity she traveled widely throughout North America, leading seminars and speaking about intermarriage, conversion, and the changing demography of the North American Jewish Community.

Lydia created and taught a professional development class for rabbinic, cantorial, and education students at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York. With Rabbi Steven Foster, she created the Denver Outreach Internship, which brought groups of these students to Temple Emanuel in Denver and enabled them to experience a complete Outreach program in a congregational setting.

Lydia is the author of Choosing Judaism, and also co-authored Every Person’s Guide to Judaism and Introduction to Judaism: A Course Outline with Rabbi Steven Einstein. She produced the videos “Choosing Judaism: Some Personal Perspectives” and “Intermarriage: When Love Meets Tradition”. She has also written numerous articles on the subject. She was executive editor of a library of training manuals and resource books for professionals working with intermarried couples, parents, and their children, and guides to enable synagogues to deal with issues around welcoming intermarried couples and Jews-by-Choice.

She served as the North American Director of the Avi-Chai Foundation. She was one of the founders, a past president and serves on the board of The Chatham Synagogue-Netivot Torah in Chatham Center, New York. She also served on the boards of Jewish Jumpstart and Interfaith.com.

Lydia was awarded the Weinberg-Chai Award by the Los Angeles Jewish Federation and the Isaac Mayer Wise Award by Temple Emanuel in Denver.

She holds a B.A. in English Literature from Beaver College (now Arcadia University) in Glendale, PA, and an M.A. in Jewish Studies from (HUC-JIR) in Los Angeles where she was awarded the Faculty Award for academic achievement.

Professor Sara Lee

Professor Sara S. Lee was the Director of the Rhea-Hirsch School of Education at the Los Angeles, CA campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion from 1980-2007. She served as Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Jewish Education from 2007-2012 teaching a variety of courses such as Sociology of Jewish Education, Curriculum and Organizational Development. She has served as a consultant to schools and organizations and lectured extensively on Jewish Education, and has written articles for The Jewish Principal’s Handbook, Religious Education, and Jewish Education.

Sara served as a member of the Wexner Foundation Graduate Fellowship Committee and as a vice chair of the URJ Commission on Lifelong Jewish Learning. She served the Project Director for the Hebrew Union College Mandel Fellows Program from 2007-2012 and currently serves as faculty for their Mandel Initiative for Visionary Leadership.

Her research interests include Jewish institutional transformation, interreligious education, approaches to leadership of Jewish religious institutions, and the impact of American religion on Jewish religious life and institutions.

Sara has edited three books: A Congregation of Learners (with Isa Aron and Seymour Rossel); Touching the Future: Mentoring and the Jewish Professional (with Michael Zeldin); and Communities of Learning: A Vision for the Jewish Future.

With Dr. Mary C. Boys of Union Theological Seminary, Sara edited a special issue of Religious Education, “Religious Traditions in Conversation”. She also co-authored Christians and Jews in Dialogue: Learning in the Presence of the Other with Dr. Boys in 2006. The Lilly Endowment awarded Sara and Dr. Boys a grant in 1992 to support a colloquium for Catholic and Jewish educators, and a second grant in 1996 for the study of pluralism and particularism in religious education.

She is a past president of the Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education (APRRE), and received the Distinguished Merit Citation from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

She was awarded the Sara and Samuel Rothberg Prize in Jewish Education by Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1997, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999, Pras HaNasi, the President’s Award for Distinguished Leadership of Jewish Education in the Diaspora in 2005, and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Hebrew Union College in 2012.

Sara was born in Boston, M.A. She received her B.A. in Social Relations from Radcliffe College, an M.A. in Jewish Education from Hebrew Union College, and an M.S. in Education from University of Southern California.

Tara Mohr

Tara Mohr is an expert on women’s leadership and well-being, and an author, educator and certified coach.

Tara is the author of Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create and Lead, published by Penguin Random House and named a Best Book of the Year by Apple’s iBooks. She is the creator of the pioneering Playing Big leadership program for women, and Playing Big Facilitators Training for coaches, mentors and managers who support women in their personal and professional growth. Her work has been featured on The Today Show and in publications ranging from The New York Times to Harvard Business Review.

Tara has been a speaker at venues and companies including Watermark, TedxWomen, Emerging Women Live, Yelp and Intuit, and her Playing Big model has been part of leadership development programs at Starbucks, Google, Kirkland & Ellis, Bank of America, and many other companies. The Playing Big concepts have also been incorporated into middle and high schools in the U.S. and United Kingdom to support girls’ leadership development.

Tara received her M.B.A from Stanford University and her B.A. in English Literature from Yale College.

Myra Musicant, Me’ah `03

Myra Musicant is a CPA by training. She has devoted herself to raising three children and being an active volunteer in non-profit organizations.

Myra graduated magna cum laude from Smith College with a major in religion.  She studied in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis University for three and a half years. She received a master’s degree from the Simmons Graduate Program in Management.  She obtained her CPA and had seven years’ experience with the firm of Coopers & Lybrand.

Myra was a member of the board of trustees at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Boston, serving as Treasurer and First Vice President.  She also served as President of Temple Beth Zion in Brookline for four years. She is an alumna of the Me’ah program at Hebrew College and currently is a hospice volunteer at Hebrew SeniorLife.

Susan Shevitz

Susan is associate professor emerita at Brandeis University where, for over twenty-five years, she taught in and then directed the Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service (now Jewish Professional Leadership). She has helped numerous foundations, schools, synagogues and agencies plan, implement and/or evaluate programs such as Hebrew charter schools, family education, and professional development programs for Jewish educators. Susan recently served as faculty on the OnBoard initiative that prepares newly appointed board members of Jewish non-profit organizations for their responsibilities. She has also served on several boards including the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, JESNA (Jewish Educational Service of North America), and the Jewish Communal Service Association.

Susan presently teaches one course on leadership in the Rabbinical School as a member of the adjunct faculty. The spring semester of 2019 will be her last semester in this role.

Susan’s research and teaching focus on organizational culture and change, leadership in non-profit organizations, and pluralism in Jewish life. She has published numerous articles and monographs and is finishing a book on pluralism in Jewish education. Susan holds undergraduate degrees from the Jewish Theological Seminary (history) and Columbia University (urban planning) and a doctorate from Harvard University in educational planning and social policy. When not working, Susan especially enjoys art, architecture, gardens, travel, and time with her family – her husband, children, step-children and, especially, her four young grandchildren.

Ross Silverstein, Prz`78

Ross Silverstein is the President and CEO of the Wayland, MA company iPROMOTEu, one of the largest and fastest growing companies in the promotional products industry. The company has a network of more than 1,000 promotional products sales professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Ross is a member of Congregation Or Atid in Wayland, MA and serves as co-Chair of its Ritual Committee. Ross also is a member of Temple Emanuel in Newton and The Adams Street Shul in Newton and is involved with Temple Israel in Boston and the Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston. Ross and his family were early supporters of The Rashi School, where Ross served on the Board of Directors for several years.

Ross graduated summa cum laude from Boston College with a B.S. in Management and later earned an S.M. in Management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law. Prior to founding iPROMOTEu, Ross worked as a corporate attorney for many years at Goodwin Procter in Boston and later worked as an executive for the RE/MAX real estate organization, helping expand RE/MAX into parts of the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Middle East (including Israel).

Ross lives in Weston, MA with his wife Amy. Together, they have four children. Their three older children all graduated from Prozdor at Hebrew College (their youngest child attended Gann Academy); Ross, himself, graduated from Prozdor when it was located on Hawes Street in Brookline, MA.

Myra L. Snyder, MAJS’01, Me’ah `97

Myra Snyder has been a long-time supporter of Hebrew College, serving on its Board of Overseers before joining the Board.

Myra is a founder of B’nai Torah in Sudbury, Temple Shir Tikvah in Wayland, MA and MetroWest Jewish Day School in Framingham, MA.

Myra serves on the boards of MetroWest Jewish Day School, B’nai Torah of Sudbury, and BOLLI at Brandeis. She has worked in development for many institutions and Jewish organizations, including Mayyim Hayyim, Boston Jewish Film Festival, Brandeis (BOLLI program), Hebrew College, B’nai Torah in Sudbury, MetroWest Jewish Day School, New England branch of University of Haifa, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

Myra graduated from the Forsyth School for Dental Hygienists at Tufts University and worked as a Registered Dental Hygienist, mostly in pediatrics with special needs children. She received her B.S. degree at Northeastern University. She is a 1997 graduate of Hebrew College’s Me’ah program and received her Master’s in Jewish Studies at Hebrew College in 2001.

Sarah Sonnenfeld

Sarah B. Sonnenfeld leads the North American People & Organization practice at Boston Consulting Group. She previously held strategy and division management roles at a variety of firms including Fidelity, Thomson Reuters, and American Express.

Sarah has strong personal connections to Hebrew College – she counts many dear friends and family among the faculty and alumni, including her grandmother who graduated from Hebrew Teachers College in 1950. Sarah has studied at The Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and at Yeshivat Hadar in New York, and serves as Treasurer of the Washington Square Minyan in Brookline, MA. Sarah is a board member of the Natan giving circle which provides early-stage funding to innovative Jewish and Israeli startup and post-startup nonprofits, social businesses and social entrepreneurs around the world.

Sarah holds a B.A. from Harvard and an M.B.A. from University of Chicago.

Steven D. Targum, Me'ah`07

Steven Targum has spent his professional career involved in academics, drug development research, and clinical practice. He is a psychiatrist-psychopharmacologist who has been founder and/or chief medical officer at several small biotech or pharmaceutical companies.

Steve moved to Boston in 2005 with his wife, Carol, in order to live closer to their children. He has been delighted to have three grandchildren come along the way. He has served on the boards of several Jewish charitable organizations including the Institute of Jewish Spirituality in New York and has been committed to his own, evolving Jewish education. He is a proud graduate of the Me’ah program and has continued to take Me’ah Select classes.

Steve received his B.A. in biology from Colgate University and an M.D. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He has been Professor of Psychiatry and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Mental Health Sciences at Hahnemann University School of Medicine (Philadelphia) and a consultant in psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Betty Brudnick
, H'10, Prz`46

Betty Brudnick graduated from Hebrew College and was an active member of the Board of Trustees from 2001 through 2008.  She and her husband, the late Irving S. Brudnick, established Hebrew College’s Irving Brudnick Professor of Philosophy and Religion Chair, now occupied by Dr. Arthur Green. The Brudnicks also established Chairs at Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Betty founded the Brudnick Neuroscientific Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA and Northeastern’s Brudnick Center for the Study of Conflict and Violence.

Mickey Cail
, H'06, Me'ah`03

Previously Chair of the Hebrew College Board, Mickey Cail is the owner of Cail Realty and Investment Corporation. He co-chaired Hebrew College’s building campaign. Mickey received Hebrew College’s esteemed Philip W. Lown Award in 1995. He was Vice President and board member of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, President of Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly and of the Chestnut Hill Lodge of B’nai B’rith, and served on the Executive Board of the Anti-Defamation League. He also helped build the Gosman Campus at the Leventhal-Sidman JCC in Newton. His alma mater is Northeastern University, where his support included serving on its Hillel Board of Directors.

Theodore Teplow, H`99

A 1999 recipient of an honorary doctorate from Hebrew College, Ted Teplow is a past Chair of the Board. Retired as CEO and President of Crosby Valve, Inc., he has served on the boards of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Wilstein Institute of Jewish Policy Studies, the Stone Charitable Foundation and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Foundation, Inc. In 2002, he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree honoris causa from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, where he served as Assistant Treasurer and board member of its American Committee as well as a member of its International Board of Governors.