Building the Next Generation of Jewish School Leadership

Rabbi Stuart Zweiter has spent his career shaping the future of Jewish education through visionary leadership, deep community engagement, and a commitment to developing the next generation of school leaders. From 1998-2018, Stuart Zweiter served as the director of the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education at Bar Ilan University, a leading resource center and think tank for Jewish education throughout the world. In Israel, he also served as an instructor in Talmud at Bar-Ilan University and as a Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. Before making Aliya, he served as a principal at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School and at the Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey. He has served as an educational consultant to communities throughout the world.

With close to 35 years in Jewish education and educational leadership, Jason Ablin has served as a teacher, principal and head of school.

Michael Doppelt is a graduate of the Frisch school in New Jersey and has been an active member of Lincoln Square Synagogue since the late 1990s where he now co-chairs the executive board. He has spent his career in finance. He was an investment banker for over a decade and has worked for nearly 20 years in the private equity industry, primarily raising capital from institutional investors and leading business development efforts. As a lifelong Jewish activist, Michael has been involved in numerous communal initiatives and remains passionate about developing the very best leaders for our North American Jewish day schools. He is also a 16-time marathon runner, an avid reader, and a major Bruce Springsteen fan.

Born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, Evelyn’s passion for ensuring positive educational experiences for others led her to pursue a degree in Education and Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly after moving to South Florida in the 1980’s and while raising a family of three, Evelyn’s passion for Jewish continuity, education and Israel led her to the RASG Hebrew Academy, serving as President in the late 1990’s as well as the boards of the FIDF, RASG, GMJF, CAJE, NCSY, Bar Ilan University, Hebrew at the Center and Nishmat Board of Governors. In recognition of her extensive service to the community, Evelyn was awarded “Doctorate Honoris Causa” by Bar Ilan University in 2018. Evelyn Katz is dedicated to supporting school leaders in building thoughtful, collaborative, and resilient educational communities. She brings a practical, people-centered approach to leadership development.

Josh is a private-equity attorney at Honigman LLP, where he is a member of the executive committee and the director of Honigman’s Israel office. As the father of two students of Farber Hebrew Day School in Metropolitan Detroit, Josh has been deeply engaged in the governance of Farber, a Modern Orthodox yeshiva, for nearly fifteen years. He and his wife Rachel have long been involved in Detroit’s Jewish ecosystem, including its Federation, and Josh brings a wealth of strategic planning and community leadership experience to the JSLE board.

Lori is a Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she is the Co-Director of the Nutritional and Metabolic Biology Ph.D. program. After graduating from the Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington, Lori received an A.B. in Molecular Biology and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs from Princeton University and her Ph.D. from The Rockefeller University. Lori and her husband Len Berman have three sons who attended the Abraham Joshua Heschel School and Ramaz. Lori is a past board member of the Ramaz School. She is an accomplished educator and community activist committed to building strong foundations for Jewish day schools.