Leadership

Officers

Ken Jaffe and his wife, Deborah, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2011. He is a retired attorney and has been a member of the Board of Trustees, Chair of the Development Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Renovation and Expansion Committee. Deborah and Ken have two children, Eric and Matthew.

Glenn Engelmann and his wife Michelle have been members of the temple since 2012. Glenn served on the Sinai House Board for many years and currently chairs the Steering Committee for Temple Sinai’s Davis Center for Social Justice and the temple’s Finance Committee. Glenn is a retired attorney; having spent most of his career as a corporate executive and US general counsel for a large multinational corporation and later serving as vice-chair of the life sciences practice for an international law firm. He has also served on several non-profit boards of directors over the years.

Jonah Perlin and his family have been members of Temple Sinai since 2018. After participating in the Temple’s Leadership Development Program in 2019, he joined the Board in 2022. As the current Membership Committee Chair, Jonah is deeply committed to welcoming new members to our community and making our current members feel engaged and connected. Jonah met his wife Debra (who serves on the URJ Board and the URJ’s Commission on Social Action) when they worked as Legislative Assistants at the Religious Action Center. They both were also active in the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY). In his professional life, Jonah is a full-time Professor of Legal Practice at his alma mater the Georgetown University Law Center. He also hosts a podcast for junior lawyers called How I Lawyer. His two daughters are in the Temple Sinai Religious School and participate in the Youth Choir.

Anita Stoll (Bio Forthcoming)

Dianne Rudo (Bio Forthcoming)

Naomi Gendler Camper and her husband, Clarke Camper, have been Sinai members for around a decade. Their three children, mostly willingly, attended religious school, and have finally learned to pre-order their hamentaschen. The daughter of a Rabbi, Naomi grew up in Massachusetts, but has lived in DC since 1997. Together with her cousin Andrew Engel, Naomi is co-chair of Temple Sinai’s Capital Campaign. Outside of Sinai, Naomi is Chief Policy Officer at the American Bankers Association.

Laura Steel and her husband David (z”l) joined Temple Sinai in 2000. Their two sons, Alex and Paul, attended the Nursery School, Religious School and celebrated their b’nei mitzvot at Temple Sinai. Laura is herself a graduate of the Adult B’nei Mitzvah program and she celebrated her bat mitzvah in 2008. Laura is currently studying Hebrew at Temple Sinai (perpetually in Kitah Dalet, or the fourth grade) and she joined the Board in July 2016. Outside of temple, Laura is a partner in the law firm of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, LLP, where she litigates professional liability and employment cases.

Jean Veta and her wife, Mary Ann Dutton, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2005, and Mary Ann became an adult bat mitzvah at the Temple. All three of their children — Caleb, Emma, and Micah — attended Temple Sinai Nursery School, and all three attended the Religious School where Jean served as a room parent for several years. Caleb celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Sinai in January 2015, and Emma and Micah celebrated their b’nai mitzvah in 2017. Jean was a partner for many years, and is now senior counsel, at the law firm, Covington & Burling LLP, and Mary Ann is a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical Center.

Board of Trustees

David Antonelli (Bio forthcoming)

Dora Chen and her husband, Jon Nathan, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2015. Their two children, Max and Mira, attend Temple Sinai Religious School. Dora serves on the Temple’s Multiracial Sinai committee, which is committed to making the temple an affirmatively anti-racist congregation. She was the Labor on the Bimah speaker at the temple for Labor Day 2019. Dora is also an alumna of Bend the Arc’s Selah Leadership Program (Jewish Leaders of Color cohort). Outside of Temple Sinai, Dora has devoted her legal career of nearly twenty years to working for the labor movement. Since 2007, Dora has been an Associate General Counsel at the Service Employees International Union, a labor union of two million service and care workers in the healthcare, property services and public sectors. Currently, Dora serves as Counsel for SEIU’s Political Programs. Dora also serves on the board of Janney+, a non-profit organization that provides before and after care, language and enrichment programs at Janney Elementary School in Washington, DC.

Catherine Gibson (Bio forthcoming)

Sally Greenberg has been part of Temple Sinai since moving to Washington DC 28 years ago with her then-partner and 9-month-old son, Joe. Temple Sinai was always a special and welcoming place for their two mom, one kid family and full of allies. Joe is now grown and married, but he started in the Temple Sinai Nursery School, became a bar mitzvah, and was confirmed here. Sally still kvells seeing his photo on the wall outside the Bet Am with his confirmation class. Sally had her own adult Bat mitzvah 15 years ago, studying with Rabbi Portnoy and Cantor Croen, so in some ways, she kind of grew up here, too. In the past four years, Sally has served as vice chair of the Temple Sinai Gun Violence Prevention Group and has served on the TSWRJ board for the last two years.

In her professional life, Sally has been the National Consumers League Executive Director/CEO since 2007. Previously, she worked on product liability and food safety issues for Consumer Reports, at the U.S. Department of Justice Foreign Claims Settlement Commission and served as the Eastern States Civil Rights Counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, based in Boston. Sally started her career as a legislative correspondent for Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) and went on to be legislative assistant for Congressman Toby Moffett (D-CT). She  president of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts and the Women’s Bar Foundation and served on several gubernatorial commissions in Massachusetts.

Cara Jablon (Bio forthcoming)

Katie Joselow (Bio forthcoming)

Dan Koch and his wife Leah Brasch have been members of Temple Sinai since 1996, and celebrated the b’nei mitzvot of their two sons here. In recent years, they have been members of a Kallah of synagogue couples, which has been very gratifying. Dan is a retired attorney; after practicing Government contracts and technology transfer law for many years, he retired from Miles & Stockbridge in 2020. Leah works as a pediatrician at Friendship Pediatrics in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Unfortunately, in 2013 Dan suffered a freak cycling accident, leaving him a quadriplegic, confined to a wheelchair. Nevertheless, after extensive rehab, he resumed legal work half-time until his retirement. Both his law firm was, and the synagogue continues to be, very supportive of his recovery.

Laura Kolton, along with her late husband Adam, became part of the temple community in 2010. Their two sons, Jacob and Sam, both became a Bar Mitzvah and were confirmed at Temple Sinai. She has appreciated the support and inspiration she has received from the caring community and Rabbinical staff of the temple and looks forward to giving back to the community. Laura is the Executive Director of Federal Government Relations for Syracuse University. Although not an alumna, she has learned to love the color orange.

Sam Lehman (Bio Forthcoming)

Carin Levine (Bio forthcoming)

Ariel Levinson-Waldman and his wife Rachel are long-time Temple Sinai members and live in walking distance from the temple. They celebrated their daughter Sarah’s bat mitzvah at Temple Sinai in 2023, and their son Eli is a current student at the Religious School and Hebrew School and an alum of the Temple Sinai Nursery School (which they highly recommend!). Their family’s Sinai Story is here. Ariel is Founding Director of the nonprofit Tzedek DC, and his professional bio is here.

Deborah Lewis grew up attending Temple Sinai where she became a bat mitzvah and a confirmand. She has been chair of the Religious School Committee and the Ritual Committee and served on the search committee that selected Cantor Robins. Deborah is a social worker on the palliative care team at Washington Hospital Center. Before changing careers, she was an attorney. She and her husband, Leon, a labor lawyer, have a daughter and a son who became b’not mitzvah at the temple.

Myron Marlin (Bio forthcoming)

Anthony Murphy (Bio Forthcoming)

Howard Oppenheim and his wife, Terri Salus, along with their 2 sons, Jay and Daniel, joined Temple Sinai in 1999.  Howard is a native Washingtonian who grew up in Silver Spring, receiving his Jewish education at Temple Israel (a now defunct Conservative synagogue).  As a teen, Howard was active in United Synagogue Youth (USY) and helped run the youth service at Temple Israel.

At Temple Sinai, Howard helped Cantorial Soloist Robyn Helzner organize the lay-led High Holiday evening services for over a decade. He served on the search committee that led to the hiring of Rabbi Adam Rosenwasser and more recently on the Nominating Committee.  He was also part of a group of Temple Sinai members who served breakfasts and washed dishes once a month at So Others Might Eat (SOME) for 15 years. In 2014, Howard became President of the Temple Sinai Men of Reform Judaism (TSMRJ).  He held that position until 2018, but then returned to the TSMRJ Presidency in 2021.  

Howard and Terri live in Chevy Chase. Professionally, Howard is a software developer and data analyst for GDIT.  He is an avid runner and a fitness nut. 

Aaron Panner (Bio Forthcoming)

Karen Rothenberg and her husband, Jeffrey Seltzer, joined Temple Sinai 35 years ago. Their daughters, Andrea and Rebecca, celebrated their Bat Mitzvahs and Confirmations at the Temple. Karen is a member of the Temple’s Davis Center’s Reproductive Health and Rights Group, the TSWRJ Board and the Advancement Committee. Professionally, Karen is a healthcare lawyer and bioethicist. After practicing at Covington and Burling, Karen joined the faculty of the University of Maryland’s Carey School of Law over 40 years ago where she founded the Law and Health Care Program and served as Dean for 10 years. Karen is the Marjorie Cook Professor Emeritus at the School of Law and Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Karen has spent many years working with the NIH, including as Senior Advisor to the Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Jeffrey is a child psychologist who was on the original committee that established the Temple Sinai Nursery School. Karen loves spending time with her four grandchildren and playing mahjong at Temple Sinai.

Sara Rosenblum and her husband, Zack, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2018, but Sara was confirmed at Sinai back in 2000. Their older son, Micah, is a TSNS alum and currently attends TSRS, and younger son, Seth, will “graduate” from TSNS next spring. Sara has served in many volunteer roles for the Nursery School including chairing TSNS’ 30th Anniversary Community Cookbook committee. She now serves on the Early Childhood Task Force. Outside of the temple, Sara is a writer, editor, and trained chef who has worked across the media industry from Washingtonian Magazine to Food Network.

Aaron Schuham and his husband, Chris Anders, have been members of Temple Sinai since 1998. They have two children, Isaiah and Gracie, both of whom attended the Religious School and celebrated their b’nei mitzvot at the temple. Aaron also is a graduate of the adult b’nei mitzvah program. Outside of the temple, Aaron serves as Associate General Counsel for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, focusing on civil rights and health information privacy protections across the Department’s programs. Aaron has been deeply appreciative of the support he and his family have received from Temple Sinai leadership and the congregation and looks forward to giving back to the community through Board service.

Dolores Siegel (Bio forthcoming)

Seth Speyer (Bio Forthcoming)

Marcie Solomon has been a member of Temple Sinai since 1997 when her daughter Aviva enrolled in the Religious School.  Aviva went on to become a Bat Mitzvah and confirmand.  Marcie’s individual involvement began with serving as a member and then chair of the Religious School committee.  She was particularly pleased with the development of the Temple’s first program to serve students with learning differences.  She served her first term on the Temple Board 2003-06, was a member of the 2006 (Dibrot) Adult B’nei Mitzvah class, served on the Ritual Committee, chaired the Strategic Planning Committee, was Co-President of TSWRJ 2009-2011, co-chaired the 2012 Building Modernization Committee and in 2013 she introduced the Sinai Stories column into the Temple newsletter.  She continues to enjoy serving as the column’s coordinator.  Marcie is a clinical social worker in private practice and has held various leadership positions within the profession.  She is also on the faculty of the GW Medical School.