Ma’ayanot is excited to welcome outstanding teachers in the Tanach and Talmud departments, a new director of admissions and marketing and a new director of communications and community engagement, all of whom have deep connections to the Ma’ayanot community.
To the teaching staff, Ma’ayanot welcomes Rabbi Yehuda Chanales and Mrs. Lori Linzer. Rabbi Chanales is joining the Talmud and Halacha departments. For the past seven years, he was director of educational advancement and a member of the Judaic faculty at the Fuchs Mizrachi School in Beachwood, Ohio. A Teaneck native and former faculty member at TABC and MTA, Rabbi Chanales studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion, received a BA, MEd and semicha at Yeshiva University and completed a Certificate in Advanced Educational Leadership from Harvard University. He is the recipient of a Wexner Field Fellowship and moved to Teaneck this summer with his wife and four children.
At Ma’ayanot, Rabbi Chanales is looking forward to challenging his students to appreciate the beauty and depth of Gemara, as they build skills to join the conversation of Torah Shebe’al Peh. Beyond his Talmud and Halacha classes, he will be working with Talmud teachers to integrate more personal Torah learning into their teaching. Over the past three years at Fuchs Mizrachi, he led a partnership with Rav Dov Singer and Yeshivat Makor Chaim aimed at embedding a culture of religious and personal growth in schools.
Rabbi Chanales was connected to Ma’ayanot at the school’s inception. He explained, “For me, teaching at Ma’ayanot feels like coming home. I remember the Shabbos-table conversations at my parents’ home that eventually led to the school’s founding, and hosting Rav Lichtenstein as he helped shape the school’s philosophy. While the school has grown its student body and physical building over the past 25 years, it is incredible to me that the idealism and educational philosophy with which the school was founded continues to define Ma’ayanot.”
Mrs. Lori Linzer is joining the Tanach department. For the past eight years, Mrs. Linzer taught biblical Hebrew at Yeshiva College. Prior to that, she taught fourth-, sixth-, and seventh-grade students at RYNJ. She completed her coursework for a master’s degree in Bible at Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School. Mrs. Linzer has been a longtime Ma’ayanot board member and parent; three of her daughters are proud Ma’ayanot graduates, and her youngest daughter is beginning her junior year at Ma’ayanot. “I am excited to join Ma’ayanot’s faculty,” said Mrs. Linzer, “and look forward to sharing my passion for Tanach and parshanut with Ma’ayanot students and encouraging them to connect the Torah’s lessons to their personal growth.”
To the communications, admissions and marketing staff, Ma’ayanot welcomes Mrs. Deena Katz and Mrs. P’nina Seplowitz. Deena Katz will be director of communications and community engagement. Mrs. Katz has taught at RYNJ for the past 13 years. An innovative teacher, she mentored teachers and provided seminars and workshops to the faculty. She has also worked as one of the directors at Camp Mesorah for the past 12 years. She has overseen both girls’ and boys’ campuses, provided workshops for the staff, and overseen communication, public relations and recruitment throughout the year. She has managed Camp Mesorah’s communications team, and worked closely with the parents and leaders in many different communities and schools. “I am excited to bring my experience and talent to Ma’ayanot, and am looking forward to working closely with the administration, faculty, parents and students,” said Mrs. Katz, who is also the mother of a rising sophomore and rising junior at Ma’ayanot.
P’nina Seplowitz has joined the Ma’ayanot leadership team as the director of admissions and marketing. She brings with her extensive marketing and management experience in both corporate and Jewish non-profit environments. Mrs. Seplowitz comes to Ma’ayanot from TABC, where she was also responsible for overseeing the admissions and recruitment process for incoming ninth graders and transfer students, from point of inquiry through enrollment. Among her other endeavors, she is the co-founder of the non-profit organization Better Future for Israel, Inc., which executes social and educational programs to promote Israel advocacy, and serves as a member of the Bergen County Holocaust Memorial Committee. She is the author of two books: a children’s book called “Once Upon A Vegetable,” and her grandmother’s Holocaust memoir, “White Angel.” She lives in Teaneck with her husband and their three children. Said Mrs. Seplowitz, “I am thrilled to join the Ma’ayanot family, where I hope to build upon my experience and relationships with the many elementary schools to strategically guide the admissions and recruitment process forward. Having raised my family in Bergen County, I have a strong working knowledge of the local and broader Jewish community and its needs. It’s an exciting time to be part of Ma’ayanot, and together with a dedicated leadership team, I look forward to contributing to the school’s continued growth and success.”
