Rabbi Jay Perlman
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Rabbi Jay Perlman is a Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom. Since his arrival in Needham in the summer of 2003, Rabbi Perlman has been dedicated to nurturing a warm, vibrant, spiritually meaningful community. He is proud to share in this sacred service with many outstanding clergy, professional, and lay leaders.
Rabbi Perlman is active in both the Needham and the Greater Boston Jewish community. He is an active member of the Needham Clergy Association, including having recently served as president. He currently serves on the New England Regional Board of the Anti-Defamation League. He frequently dedicates two weeks during summer to serve on the faculty at the Union for Reform Judaism’s Camp Eisner. Rabbi Perlman has served as a rabbinic mentor for both the Hebrew College Rabbinic Program and the rabbinical school at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is a regular teacher for the URJ’s “Taste of Judaism” and “Introduction to Judaism” programs and is a member of the Needham Coalition for Suicide Prevention.
Before coming to the Boston area, Rabbi Perlman served at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis, MO. While there, he was awarded UJA Federation’s Rabbinic Award for outstanding community leadership. Rabbi Perlman was active in the development of innovative worship experiences, creative youth programming, and in working with the St. Louis Jewish deaf community. In addition, Rabbi Perlman was the founding Rabbinic Director of the Fleischer Jewish Healing Center of St. Louis.
Rabbi Perlman was ordained from the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1996. While at HUC, he was the recipient of a number of academic awards, including his selection as a Steinhardt Scholar for his work in informal education.
Rabbi Perlman is originally from the Boston area. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Brandeis University, where he received his B.A. in both History and Near East and Judaic Studies. Rabbi Perlman has participated in numerous study opportunities in Israel, including programs at the Hartman Institute, the Conservative Yeshiva, the Pardes Institute, Hebrew University, and through the World Zionist Organization.
Rabbi Perlman has a passion for teaching, learning, building bridges, and sharing the beauty of our Jewish tradition. He joyfully shares his life with his wife, Emily, and their children Liana and Jonah.
K-12 Learning At Temple Beth Shalom
Mayim Jewish Learning Guides (Educators)
Kindergarten
Emily Kraus
Pronouns: She/Her
I’m Emily Kraus and I am so excited to be a Jewish Learning Guide in Kindergarten Mayim and to be part of the wonderful TBS team! I graduated from Colgate University with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in Sociology. I am from Port Washington, New York and am new to the Boston area. I have had the wonderful opportunity to grow up at URJ Eisner Camp and continue spending summers there as a counselor and most recently Unit Head. Camp has played a significant role in making me the person who I am today and has helped me build my Jewish identity. After having incredible role models at camp and in my life overall, I feel lucky to have the opportunity to pay it forward and hopefully have a similar impact on the children that I teach. I strive to make all children feel included, seen, and valued while learning about being Jewish and being proud of it!
First Grade
Lila Klaus
Pronouns: She/Her
Shalom! I am thrilled to continue my work as a Jewish Learning Guide in Mayim. I have been an educator with Temple Beth Shalom since fall of 2018, where I have taught a variety of age groups. I am a graduate of Bard College, where I received my Bachelor of Arts in Dance with a minor in Theology. Prior to joining TBS, I have spent my time as a madricha for Kindergarten through third graders, as well as working at a URJ summer camp as both a counselor and a unit head. I also have served as the Dance Arts Mentor at the URJ 6 Points Creative Arts Academy. I love to bring into my classroom all of the ways in which the creative movement process can be applied to the teaching of Jewish values. With both my educational and artistic backgrounds, I strive to bring to TBS a classroom environment where creativity and curiosity are encouraged, and to instill a love of learning about Jewish ideas.
Mia Riess
Pronouns: She/Her
I am so excited to be joining the Mayim team and teaching first grade this Fall! I’ve been very lucky to work at TBS for several years, in the Children's Center, Mayim Outdoors program, and by being a madricha in Mayim. While in highschool, I was also a part of Etzim, the TBS teen program, and learned so much about being a part of the Jewish community. I strive to encourage all children to follow their creative instincts and am determined to help them in finding learning strategies that will guide them throughout their Jewish education. I think a successful learning environment is built on respect and an ability to adapt plans to best fit the individuals involved. I am also excited to learn the interests of the learners and involve their ideas in our learning. My goal is for Mayim to be a safe and exciting place full of questions, conversations, and creative learning.
Second Grade
Andrea Kamens
Pronouns: She/Her
I'm excited to begin my first year at TBS, and to be engaging in Torah Godly Play. I'm a storyteller, teaching artist, and Jewish and secular educator with over 20 years of experience in camps, playgroups, synagogues, boardrooms, and classrooms. In 2020, I founded Youth Standing Strong Camp, an online storytelling camp that matches mentors with youth from around the world, sharing the power of young voices across culture, race, religion, and experiences. My classrooms are filled with the sacred riches of our diverse and shared stories. I graduated from Boston University and spent a year at Seminary in Har Nof, Jerusalem. My husband and I have five children, some of whom are
still at home in Brighton, (and, over the years, a few cats, gerbils, mice, a hamster, and a crested gecko). I love meeting every child where they are, as who they are, and I can't wait to meet yours!
Liat Friedman
Pronouns: She/Her
I am so excited to be joining the TBS team this year! I grew up in a Reform Congregation in the Berkshires, MA. My family was very involved in Temple throughout my childhood and I was a Madricha throughout high school. My other Jewish involvements have included NFTY Northeast and Hillel in college. I graduated from Skidmore College this past May with a Bachelors in Psychology and Art History. I believe in listening to students and guiding them in their educational journey instead of dictating what education should mean to them. I am also very excited about working with parents to create a safe, comfortable, and most importantly fun environment for their kids. Very excited to meet everyone!
Third Grade
Hannah Elbaum
Assistant Director of Mayim
Pronouns: She/Her
This is my fifth year at TBS, and I look forward to teaching 3rd Grade Mayim and Hebrew for 4th-7th graders again! I am also the Assistant Director of Mayim and the Hebrew Coordinator.
In teaching, I believe that questions are the foundation of meaningful learning, and I strive to empower students to find their own answers with guidance and support. My goal is to create a classroom community that inspires exploration of ideas, fosters deep relationships, and values the perspectives and experiences of each individual.
Beginning this fall, I will also be pursuing my Master's in Professional Jewish Studies through the Spertus Institute. I'm excited to bring my learning to TBS!
Liat Friedman
Pronouns: She/Her
I am so excited to be joining the TBS team this year! I grew up in a Reform Congregation in the Berkshires, MA. My family was very involved in Temple throughout my childhood and I was a Madricha throughout high school. My other Jewish involvements have included NFTY Northeast and Hillel in college. I graduated from Skidmore College this past May with a Bachelors in Psychology and Art History. I believe in listening to students and guiding them in their educational journey instead of dictating what education should mean to them. I am also very excited about working with parents to create a safe, comfortable, and most importantly fun environment for their kids. Very excited to meet everyone!
Fourth Grade
Jake Rosenberg
Pronouns: He/Him
As a learning guide in Jewish education, I gear my students not just towards connecting with the material, but also towards fostering a bond with the community that they are a part of. I try to emphasize the idea that they are not just learning facts or some interesting stories. But instead, they are learning their own stories; they are learning who they are as a people.
I grew up Northern New Jersey, which is where I first became an involved in the Jewish community. I then went on to Wesleyan University, where I studied both English and Jewish History. Since then, I’ve spent the past three years in the field of education helping students achieve their academic goals. I now live in Waltham with my wife and our cat, Itty Bitty.
Emma Greenberg
Pronouns: She/Her
Manishma TBS community! I’m thrilled to be joining the K-12 team as both a Mayim and Shorashim Jewish Learning Guide in fourth and fifth grade. I graduated from American University with a Degree in Strategic Communications and Marketing. I loved spending my college years in DC, and it holds a special place in my heart. I knew that once I graduated from school though that I would want to teach English abroad and couldn’t think of a better place to do that than Israel. While in Israel, I taught at an Elementary school in Haifa for the 2022 - 2023 school year. Since I grew up in Connecticut, I’m very happy to be back in New England close to family and friends.