Jewish Life

Peter J. Rubinstein brings decades of experience as a congregational rabbi and as a leader in the Jewish and interfaith communities to his role as 92Y’s director of Jewish Community and the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life. In this capacity, he oversees Jewish content and programming within the Bronfman Center, collaborates with staff throughout the institution on innovative programs related to Jewish themes and forges new collaborations with faith leaders both within and beyond the Jewish community.

Rabbi Rubinstein is also the Rabbi Emeritus of Central Synagogue, a Reform congregation where he served as the Senior Rabbi for 23 years. Prior to his position at Central Synagogue, Rabbi Rubinstein served as the Rabbi of Woodlands Community Temple in White Plains, New York and Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, California.

He co-chairs the Partnership of Faith in New York City, which includes the senior clergy of the city’s major congregations and was co-president of the US Board of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. He is also immediate past chair of the Board of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City and is on the Board of the New York Region of the American Jewish Committee and Co-Chair of its Rabbinic Round Table. He is presently the director of the Be Wise Fellowship in Jewish Entrepreneurialism at the HUC-JIR in New York City.

Rabbi Rubinstein is also a founder and chair of the Rabbinic Council of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and a member of the organization’s North American Advisory Board. and he frequently lectures on the evolution of synagogues and the role of a Rabbi now and in the future. He was ranked number three in Newsweek’s 2012 list of “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis” and number 5 in 2013. He was named one of the 28 “2014 America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis” by The Jewish Daily Forward.

Rabbi Rubinstein graduated from Amherst College and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Amherst College in 2017. He was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, where he also received a Master of Hebrew Letters degree with honors. He received a Doctor of Divinity in 1994.

He has taught at Manhattanville College, Colgate University, San Jose State and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion both in New York and Cincinnati. His essays have been included in Restoring Faith by Forrest Church, How Can I Find God (edited by James Martin), Our Rabbis Taught and Shine by Star Jones. He co-authored an article entitled “Innovation in All Generation” which appeared in the Winter 2017 edition of the The Reform Jewish Quarterly.

Rabbi Scott Perlo is leader in the field of Jewish open outreach. He’s taught Torah to thousands of unaffiliated Jews, their partners and those interested in Jewish life of any background. For the last ten years, Scott has worked primarily with Millennials, addressing the specific needs of the next generation of Jewish life.

Scott is a veteran of multiple cutting-edge Jewish communities, having served as a rabbi at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, rabbi-in-residence at Moishe House and The Professional Leaders Project, and intern at IKAR in Los Angeles. Scott leads trips for Honeymoon Israel, was a founding member of the Jewish Emergent Network and is a Wexner Field Fellow.

A regular writer, Rabbi Perlo has been published in The Washington Post, The Forward and The Huffington Post, among other publications.

A California native, he gets back to his beloved Pacific Ocean to surf and to dive whenever he can. He lives in New York with his partner, Yael, a Constitutional lawyer, and son.

Contact Rabbi Scott Perlo.

Samantha Gayler Frank was raised in Silver Spring, MD. She graduated from Tufts University, where she earned her B.A. in French and Community Health. Prior to becoming a Rabbi, she taught English in France and worked as a research assistant at the NYU Child Study Center in the field of mental health policy. She served as student rabbi at Temple Beth Am in Monessen, PA, rabbinical intern at Yale Hillel: Joseph Slifka Center for Student Life in New Haven, CT, and as rabbinical intern at Temple Micah in Washington DC. Samantha was honored to be a Bonnie and Daniel Tisch Rabbinical Fellow and recipient of the BeWise Fellowship for entrepreneurship, as well as a Jewish Innovation Fellow at the 92Y!

She is currently a Rabbinic Fellow at Temple Micah, where she is creating a new cycle of haftarot readings that will serve to reanimate the prophetic voice in Shabbat worship. Samantha is co-creator of the Jewish educational resource, @Modern_Ritual (on Instagram and at www.modernritual.org). In addition to thinking creatively about how to share the beauty and meaning of Jewish tradition, Samantha loves pasta of all shapes and flavors. She lives in Brooklyn.

Chelsea joined the 92Y Bronfman Center team in September 2014 after working at Central Synagogue as Rabbi Peter Rubinstein’s Executive Assistant since January 2012. Her resume includes extensive directorial and administrative experience as well as HR, bookkeeping and feature film production coordinating.

Rebecca Schoffer is the Director of Jewish Family Engagement and the leader of the Shababa community at 92nd Street Y. She is a musical and experiential Jewish educator, a singer songwriter, cantorial soloist and a playwright of Jewish family theater. Rebecca is a recent recipient of the 2019 Young Pioneers Award from The Jewish Education Project, which celebrates forward thinking innovative educators.

Before her 92Y days, Rebecca worked at the Atlantic Theater Company, where she also taught children’s theater classes and performed in theater for young audiences. She is a alumna of Tufts University and the Atlantic Acting Conservatory. Rebecca brings her background in theater, acting, music and improvisation to her work, creating spaces where hundreds of kids, parents, caretakers and grandparents come together every week to celebrate Jewish life through music, movement and play!

In addition to her weekly Shabbat celebrations, Rebecca also leads 92Y’s Family High Holiday services, baby naming ceremonies, holiday & Shabbat dinners, concerts and many other joyful Jewish celebrations for families. She sings as a cantorial soloist during the 92Y High Holiday season. As a songwriter, Rebecca weaves psalms, prayers and Jewish concepts into contemporary melodies. Her album Shababa of the Heart recorded in collaboration with Karina Zilberman and Toby Singer in 2015, is available on iTunes and Spotify. You can also check out Shababa concerts on 92Y On Demand and YouTube and sing along at home!

Rebecca is a theater director and playwright of family musicals, including Bagels from Benny the Musical and Sammy Spider’s First Mitzvah the Musical! co-written with Joel Esher and based on the beloved PJ Library books by Aubrey Davis and Sylvia Rouss.

Born and raised in Margate, NJ, Rebecca now lives in New York City with her husband Jonathan and son, Sam.

Originally from Bradenton Florida, Rick Rosenbluth moved to New York in 2016 after living in Israel for three years. His love for Judaism and Israel is what drives his work managing Jewish programs at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life. Rick’s passion for Jewish education and community work started a long time ago when he enrolled in Jewish Sunday High School and subsequently went to Israel for the first time in 2008. These experiences propelled him to earn a degree in Jewish Studies and Family, Youth, and Community Sciences from the University of Florida. As a student at UF, Rick was involved in and led multiple Jewish student organizations. In 2013 he moved to Israel and enlisted in the IDF. Following his service, he worked for Masa Israel and recruited roughly 250 English tutors for the Masa Israel Teaching Fellows Program. He is excited to work at the Bronfman Center for Jewish life bringing fun, engaging and thought-provoking programming for all ages!

Jason Rosenberg is a New York native, who has always had a passion for growing global Jewish community. As Program Coordinator for the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life, Jason will work on our educational programs, special initiatives and other global innovative projects. Prior to joining the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life, Jason worked in 92Y’s Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact on initiatives such as the Ford Motor Company International Fellowship of 92nd Street Y, Ben Franklin Circles and #GivingTuesday. He is an Americorps VISTA alumna and has served in previous roles at Amnesty International USA and Urban Dove. He has an undergraduate degree from SUNY, University at Buffalo in Political Science and African Studies, where he explored LGBT rights in Ghana, West Africa. Jason also volunteers as a leading facilitator and social media manager at ACT UP NY, a direct-action advocacy group working to impact those living with HIV/AIDS.