Board of Trustees

Board of Trustees

• Michael Baratz

  Michael Baratz and his wife, Raanan Weintraub Baratz, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2002. Michael has been involved with the Temple since 1995 when he was a Sunday school teacher during college and law school. Their children, Elia (10) and Ami (7), attended Temple Sinai Nursery School. Both kids attend Religious School. Michael is a partner at the law firm, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he specializes in commercial litigation, international arbitration, and judgment enforcement.

• Lori Berman

  Lori Berman (Bio Forthcoming)

• Dora Chen

  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.

• Andrew Engel (President 2015-2017)

  Andrew Engel has been a member of Temple Sinai since 1989, serving as a Board member since 2006. He has also served on following committees: Ritual, Long Range Planning and Strategic Planning, Development, a Religious School Search Committee and several Rabbi Search Committees. He and his wife, Karen Barr, have two children who have attended Religious School and been active in Sinaites. Andrew is an Ob/Gyn and Mohel who cooks, bakes and pickles in his spare time, sleeping rarely.

• Larry Freedman

  Larry Freedman and his wife, Lucy Eldridge, have been part of the Temple Sinai community since 2002. Their sons, Levi and Benjamin, attended Temple Sinai’s Nursery and Religious Schools, and were Bar Mitzvahs in 2013 and 2017. They participated in the synagogue family trip to Israel with Rabbi Roos in 2013, and Larry has served on the Sinai House Board for a number of years. Larry is an attorney in private practice who defends in government investigations and fraud cases, after many years serving in the United States Department of Justice, where he and Lucy met. Their family enjoys spending time any place there are rocks to climb and peaks to explore.

• Gary Friend (President 2017-19)

  Gary Friend and his wife Tara Sonenshine have been members of Temple Sinai since 2000. Their sons, Jordan and Yale, attended the Religious School through Confirmation. Gary served on the board of Sinai House for five years prior to joining the temple board. Outside the temple, Gary is Managing Director at Housing Partnership Equity Trust and, previously, was Chief Operating Officer of Bridges Public Charter School in Washington, DC. His career includes the for-profit and non-profit sectors, leading operations, growth strategies, and organizational design in officer-level positions at organizations ranging from small, entrepreneurial to global Fortune 500. Gary’s passions are his family, fixing anything mechanical, doing crossword puzzles in ink, and occasionally tech’ing guitars and amps for rock musicians.

• Cathy Goldwyn

  Cathy Goldwyn and her husband, David Goldwyn, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2004. Their son attended Temple Sinai Nursery School, became a bar mitzvah at Temple Sinai, and continues to attend the Religious School. Cathy became an adult bat mitzvah in 2017, and has been active with the Social Action Committee, the Gun Violence Prevention Group, and a new working group on Embracing Our Multiracial Community. She also co-chairs the Parent Forum for Identity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Norwood School in Bethesda. Cathy’s doctoral research examined U.S. education policy, racial inequality, and social movements, and her background includes community organizing and affordable housing development.

• Ken Jaffe

  Ken Jaffe (Bio Forthcoming)

• Nancy Liebermann (TSWRJ Co-President)

  Nancy Liebermann has been a member of Temple Sinai for 25 years. Nancy previously served two terms on the Temple Sinai Board and now serves in her capacity as co-President of TS Women of Reform Judaism. Nancy was a longtime Executive Director of a DC nonprofit organization focusing on affordable housing for people with mental health issues. As an attorney, she represents low wealth individuals with legal issues arising from debt through Tzedek DC. She teaches English to Syrian and Afghan families in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties and serves on the Board of Solutions in Hometown Connections, a nonprofit organization welcoming refugees and immigrants in the DMV.

  Nancy’s mom, Marianne Liebermann, was also a co-President of TSWRJ and she is proud to continue her legacy. Nancy and her husband, Joe Godles, have two daughters, who celebrated their B’nei Mitzvot and Confirmation at Temple Sinai and both served on the regional NFTY Boards. As a family, they currently celebrate Shabbat through Zoom candle lightings.

• Andrew Mannes (TSMRJ President)

  Andrew Mannes (Bio Forthcoming)

• Matthew Pachman

  Matthew Pachman and his wife Marcy Berman have been connected with Temple Sinai since 2005. Their children both attended the Nursery School and Religious School. Their, son had his bar mitzvah at Temple Sinai in 2016 and their daughter’s bat mitzvah is scheduled for 2018. Matt is a former chair of Temple Sinai’s Ritual Committee. Matt is the Chief Risk & Compliance Officer at FTI Consulting and is currently Chair of the Ethics & Compliance Association while Marcy is an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.

• Debbie Rappaport

  Debbie Rappaport and her husband, Adam Rappaport, have been members of Temple Sinai for 8 years. They have twin daughters, Gabby and Sasha, both of whom have attended Religious School since Kindergarten. Her daughters became b’not mitzvah in early 2020 and have been devoted Camp Harlam campers since 2016. Debbie is a graduate of the Baltimore Institute for Jewish Communal Service, receiving a master’s degree in Jewish Studies from Baltimore Hebrew University and a master’s degree in Policy Sciences from UMBC. She began her professional career in the Jewish community, working for two JCRCs, the Washington office of the National Council of Jewish Women, the Hillel International Center, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. After a 25-year career in policy and advocacy within the Jewish community and the early childhood field, Debbie switched gears and went back to school to study graphic design. She now works as a graphic designer at The Hatcher Group, a strategic communications firm advancing social issues in Bethesda, Maryland.

• Deitra Reiser

  Deitra Reiser and her spouse, Jeff Reiser, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2011. Their daughters, Olivia and Emma, attend Temple Sinai Religious School. Deitra is a co-chair of Multiracial Sinai Committee and is on the Social Action Committee. She has been an educator for the past 15 years and is currently a school psychologist for Montgomery County Public Schools. Recently she has pursued a passion for creating space for Jewish congregants to explore race and racism through understanding intersecting identities and increasing antiracist thoughts and actions. She is an alumna of Bend the Arc’s Selah Leadership Program. Deitra holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology from The University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Catherine Ribnick

  Catherine Ribnick (Bio Forthcoming)

• Elizabeth Rose

  Elizabeth Rose has been a member of Temple Sinai for 28 years. Rose is a communications consultant for Left-leaning advocacy organizations and think tanks. Liz directed communications for several nonprofit organizations including the Economic Policy Institute, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office, and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Rose also served as the director of public affairs for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Before her tenure at the FCC, Rose was a public affairs officer at the U.S. Department of Labor. Rose was also the media relations director for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and served as a press secretary for Sen. John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-W.Va.) and Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-N.Y.).

• Steve Sacks

  Steve Sacks (Bio Forthcoming)

• Seth Speyer

  Seth Speyer (Bio Forthcoming)

• Michael Sussmann

  Michael Sussmann and his wife, Apple, have been members of Temple Sinai since 2008 and Michael is a past chair of the Temple’s Israel Affairs Committee. Their three children attended the Temple’s Nursery School and currently attend Religious School. Their oldest had her Bat Mitzvah in Israel in 2018, and their middle child recently had a beautiful Zoom Bat Mitzvah. Michael is a partner at Perkins Coie, practicing privacy, cybersecurity, and national security law, and Apple is a pediatrician in private practice.

• Lisa Tucker (TSWRJ Co-President)

  Lisa Tucker and her husband Seth have been members of Temple Sinai since 2009. Their three teenagers attended religious school, celebrated their bar and bat mitzvahs and attended confirmation class at Temple Sinai. As co-president of Temple Sinai Women of Reform Judaism, Lisa has enjoyed deepening her connections with Temple Sinai and, among other activities, initiating Temple Sinai’s involvement with the Reproductive Health and Rights Cohort of the Religious Action Center. She recently retired from K&L Gates, LLP, where she practiced energy law for 25 years.

• Regina Ziegler

  Regina Ziegler joined Temple Sinai in 1986 when her twins Micah and Shira were born. During her childhood in Dallas, Texas, Temple Emanu-El, a mega-congregation, was her second home. Micah and Shira became b’nai mitzvah at Temple Sinai and, without much parental pressure, were confirmed, attended Camp Harlam, and participated in Sinaites and NFTY-MAR. Since the age of 10, Micah and Shira have served as ba’ale tekiah at High Holy Day services. Gina finally learned to read Hebrew and became an adult bat mitzvah with the Mi’Sinai class. For many years, she served on the Religious School and Youth Committees. In 2015 she launched the Temple Sinai Green Team and is currently a co-chair. Before joining Sinai, in both Boston and DC, she worked with rabbis from several congregations to develop Shabbat programming for young adults. In her professional life, Gina directed epidemiologic studies on cancer prevention and causation within the NIH intramural research program. In her “hippie” days, she developed and taught courses on international nutrition and global food resources at various universities.