For the last 20 years, Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin has been involved in supporting many of the Conservative Movement’s institutions through her volunteer work. She served on the Executive Council of the Rabbinical Assembly for about 10 years before moving up the ranks and eventually holding all of the Officer positions, culminating in her role as President of the Rabbinical Assembly. Throughout that journey, she learned a tremendous amount. She served on numerous committees and co-chaired the Strategic Development Initiative, which played a key role in transforming the Board into the active and dynamic body it is today.

Holding these various positions gave her significant leadership experience. She learned when to compromise and when to push forward. Working with Rabbis who held diverse perspectives required unity and collaboration to achieve meaningful progress. Her ethos is that serving on a lay Board means one’s main purpose is to support the work of the paid professionals, who possess a deeper understanding of the organization. Her own synagogue’s Board does the same for her, giving her the added perspective of having served both as a professional and as a lay leader.

During her time as President of the RA, she organized trips to Argentina and Uganda so that Rabbis could witness firsthand the extraordinary communities that are part of the global movement. She became deeply passionate about the worldwide Masorti/Conservative community. While many in the U.S. sometimes feel discouraged about the movement locally, experiencing the vitality of communities around the world can be reinvigorating. Seeing her colleagues work tirelessly to build institutions—and witnessing their amazement when they visit the U.S. and encounter the infrastructure that exists there—renewed her own appreciation for what has been built.

When she was invited to serve as a Vice President of Masorti Olami, she was delighted to accept. She is now in the first year of her second term.

Finally, she takes great pride in the efforts that helped increase voter participation in the United States for MERCAZ, and she now fully recognizes the importance of matching that effort across global communities.

Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin

Rabbi Mauricio Balter was born in Uruguay. He received an MA in Jewish Thought from the University of Haifa. He received his rabbinic ordination in 1991 from the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano Marshall T. Meyer. He attended the prestigious Educators Graduate Program at the Melton Center for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and continued his educational leadership training at the Leatid program in Argentina. He was a Rabbi in Argentina for 14 years at the Kehilot of Tucuman and Salta (Northern Argentina) and Or Hadash Kehila of Buenos Aires. He was also the first director of the Masorti Movement in Argentina. He made aliya in 1995 and was rabbi of Kiryat Bialik community for 15 years. Since 2010, he serves as the Rabbi of Kehilat Eshel Avraham in Be’er Sheva. He is a member of the executive committee of the Masorti movement in Israel and co-president of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel.

Rabbi Mauricio Balter

Following his military service, Yizhar earned a BA in Political Science and Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A member of the Israeli Bar, his law degree is from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. He holds an MA in Jewish Studies from the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem and his PhD in Sociology and Education from Sussex University in Brighton, England.

Yizhar has a broad range of experience in Jewish communal service. After holding the Deputy Director position at the Shorashim Centre for Jewish Studies, Yizhar served as the Jewish Agency’s community shaliach to Tucson. On his return to Israel, he worked for the Jewish Agency as Director of Partnerships. Yizhar has professional experience in advertising and journalism.

He is a regular contributor to the Israeli press on the subjects of religion and state and is the co-editor of the book, Questions About God, published by Ma’ariv. Between 2007-2020 Yizhar served as the Executive Director of the Masorti Movement in Israel - part of the worldwide Conservative/Masorti Movement dedicated to a traditional, egalitarian and pluralistic vision of Israel and Judaism.

Yizhar represented the Masorti Movement in the negotiations with the Israeli government regarding egalitarian prayer at the Kotel, and he is one of the leading voices in Israel promoting Jewish pluralism. Yizhar Hess is a 10th generation Jerusalemite. He lives today in Modi'in with his wife Yael, a former colonel in the IDF, and their two children Achiad and Mica.

Dr. Yizhar Hess

Eytan Hammerman, of White Plains, NY, is an independent rabbi and Jewish educator. He has previously served three Conservative synagogues in New YorK: Temple Gates of Prayer in Queens, the Jewish Community Center of Harrison and Temple Beth Shalom in Mahopac. He brought innovative programming and his trademark energy and enthusiasm to all of these kehillot.

Rabbi Hammerman is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary and, with his wife Rebecca, helped in the establishment of the Masorti (Conservative) synagogue in Madrid, Spain – Congregacion Bet El. He has served on the Board of the international Masorti Movement, is currently Vice President of Mercaz USA and assists numerous other Jewish and wider-community organizations. Together with his family, which includes daughters Ary, Rena and Lani, Eytan loves international travel, creative cooking and the great outdoors.

Rabbi Eytan Hammerman

was born and raised in Tel Aviv and has been working in Jewish education for over ten years:  Between 2008 and 2010 she was a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow for Hillel at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and since she returned has been working for Hillel Israel as a program director at Hillel in Tel Aviv University and as the Director of Hillel at IDC Herzliya.

Nilli holds an MA in the History of Israel and a BA in the History of Israel and Studies of The Land of Israel from Bar Ilan University, and a second MA in Learning Technologies at Holon Technological Institute (HIT).

Over the years she participated in various Beit Midrash programs including Kolot Fellows and Beit Midrash Heder MiShelach at the Hartman Institute,  248: A new global community action network, organized by Partnership2Gether, Rehovot – -Minneapolis and more. 

Nilli currently lives in Rishon LeTzion with her family.

Director of Zionist Educational Projects & MERCAZ Olami Chapter Liaison

Nilli Glick Asaf

Tammy Gottlieb is the Director of Marom- for young Masorti Jews, and the Vice Chairwoman of Women of the Wall, which fights for the right of women from all denominations to pray according to their custom at the Kotel. Tammy is also a member of the World Zionist Organization Executive representing the global Masorti/Conservative Movement. She also serves on the governing body of the WZO’s Hostages and Hostage Families Directorate, which oversees the implementation of official Israeli government programs serving returned hostages and hostages’ families.

Throughout her career, Tammy has worked to shape a Jewish and democratic Israel that is a welcoming home for every Jew. Raised and educated in a Masorti congregation in Rehovot, Tammy served as a combat soldier in the IDF’s Caracal Battalion back when few women joined combat units. She later worked as a senior manager in the Masorti Movement’s NOAM youth group as well as a senior executive with the Masorti Movement in Israel.

Now residing in Jerusalem, Tammy holds a B.A. in Political Science and Communications from Bar-Ilan University and an M.A. in Jewish Studies from the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies.

Tammy Gottlieb

Rabbi Mauricio Balter (הרב מאוריסיו בלטר) was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. He received an MA in Jewish thought from the University of Haifa. He received his rabbinic ordination in 1991 from the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano Marshall T. Meyer. He attended the prestigious Educators Graduate Program at the Melton Center for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and continued his educational leadership training at the Leatid program in Argentina.

Rabbi Balter Balter was a Rabbi in Argentina for 12 years at the Kehilot of Tucuman and Salta (Northern Argentina) and Or Hadash Kehila of Buenos Aires. He was also the first director of the Masorti Movement in Argentina. He made aliyah in 1995 and was Rabbi of the Kiryat Bialik community for 15 years. From 2010 until 2017, he served as the Rabbi of Kehilat Eshel Avraham in Be’er Sheva. He was formerly Chair of the Publications Committee, as well as a member of the Executive Committee for Masorti Israel, and previous served as co-president of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel and was a member of the Administrative Committee of the International Rabbinical Assembly.

Rabbi Balter currently serves as Executive Director of Masorti Olami and MERCAZ Olami and sits on the Executive of the World Zionist Organization and the Board of Directors of JNF-KKL where he heads the committee on sustainability and environmental protection.

Rabbi Balter has been married to his wife, Bilha for 40 years. They have two daughters, Maia (married to Herman) and Shani (married to Orion), and two Grandsons, Matan-Chaim and Ma’or.

Ex Officio Member, Executive Director of Masorti Olami and MERCAZ

Ilan Tuvia

Nilli Glick Asaf was born and raised in Tel Aviv and has been working in Jewish education for over ten years:  Between 2008 and 2010 she was a Jewish Agency Israel Fellow for Hillel at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and since she returned has been working for Hillel Israel as a program director at Hillel in Tel Aviv University and as the Director of Hillel at IDC Herzliya. Nilli holds an MA in the History of Israel and a BA in the History of Israel and Studies of The Land of Israel from Bar Ilan University, and today is studying for a second MA in Learning Technologies at Holon Technological Institute (HIT). Over the years she participated in various Beit Midrash programs including Kolot Fellows and Beit Midrash Heder MiShelach at the Hartman Institute and more. Today she participates in 248: A new global community action network, organized by Partnership2Gether, Rehovot – Minneapolis. Nilli currently lives in Rehovot with her family.

Ex Officio Member, Director of Organizational Development and Zionist Projects  

Nitzan Aharon

Tehila Reuben is the Deputy Director at Masorti Olami and MERCAZ Olami, responsible for Masorti Olami’s ninternational communities and resource development network. She has worked at Masorti Olami since May 2011. She has organized and coordinated missions and events, including missions to Budapest, Paris, London, and the past six Annual Tribute Events in New York. 

Tehila is also very involved in the everyday running of the Jerusalem and New York offices. When she is not in the office, Tehila is an avid cook and has a hen channel for her healthy gourmet creations. She is originally from Teaneck, New Jersey, and made Aliyah in 2005. She currently lives in Jerusalem next to one of her favorite hang-outs, the Machane Yehuda Market.

Ex Officio Member, Deputy Director of Masorti Olami and MERCAZ

Tehila Reuben

Rabbi Wernick has been the Senior Rabbi at Beth Tzedec community in Toronto, Canada, since February 2019.

Rabbi Wernick currently serves in leadership roles in many community organizations and has been named one of Newsweek’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America and was on the Forward's List of Influential Jewish Leaders.

Before joining Beth Tzedec, Rabbi Wernick served as the CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) and was instrumental in the effort to create a permanent space for pluralistic and egalitarian prayer at the Kotel (Western Wall).

Rabbi Wernick is happily married to Jody Wernick and the proud father of three daughters.

Rabbi Steve Wernick

Born and raised in Liberty, New York, Emily and her husband Jack made Aliya from Boston almost 40 years ago.  Emily trained in Jewish Communal Service at the Hornstein Program at Brandeis University and began her professional career with the Jewish Community Centers in Boston. 

In Israel, she has held senior staff positions at the Yoseftal Institute for Community Development, the Hebrew University’s NCJW Research Center for Innovation in Education, the Israel Movement for Progressive (Reform) Judaism, and the Moriah Fund. She also served as the first Executive Director of the Counseling Center for Women and the Israel Heart Fund. She was a faculty member of the Hebrew University's Schwartz Program for Training of staff for Community Centers (Matnassim) and Early Childhood Centers. 

Having completed over four years of service as the Chairperson of the Masorti Movement in July 2014, Emily currently is the Chairperson of the Jewish Pluralism Watch and is a member of the Board of the Educational Center at Hannaton; She also is a member of the Boards of the Israel Association of Ethiopian Jewry and Agudat Adi for the promotion of organ donations.

Emily serves as KKL vice-chair and chairs the environment and science committee.

Emily Levi Shochat

Rabbi Alan Silverstein, Ph.D., has been the religious leader of Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell, New Jersey, since 1979. From 1993 to 1995, he served as President of the International Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement. From 2000 - to 2005, he was President of the World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues. He served as Chair of the Foundation for Masorti Judaism in Israel from 2010-to 2014. He currently serves as the president of MERCAZ Olami. He is the author of It All Begins With A Date: Jewish Concerns About Interdating; Preserving Jewishness In Your Family: Once Intermarriage Has Occurred; and Alternative to Assimilation: A Social History of the Reform Movement in American Judaism, 1840-1930.

Rabbi Dr. Alan Silverstein

Following his military service, Yizhar earned a BA in Political Science and Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A member of the Israeli Bar, his law degree is from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. He holds an MA in Jewish Studies from the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem and his Ph.D. in Sociology and Education from Sussex University in Brighton, England. 

Yizhar has a broad range of experience in Jewish communal service. After holding the Deputy Director position at the Shorashim Centre for Jewish Studies, Yizhar served as the Jewish Agency’s community shaliach to Tucson. On his return to Israel, he worked for the Jewish Agency as Director of Partnerships.

Yizhar has professional experience in advertising and journalism. He is a regular contributor to the Israeli press on religion and state and is the co-editor of the book, Questions About God, published by Ma’ariv.

Between 2007-2020 Yizhar served as the Executive Director of the Masorti Movement in Israel - part of the worldwide Conservative/Masorti Movement dedicated to a traditional, egalitarian, and pluralistic vision of Israel and Judaism. Yizhar represented the Masorti Movement in the negotiations with the Israeli government regarding egalitarian prayer at the Kotel. He is one of the leading voices in Israel promoting Jewish pluralism.

Yizhar Hess is a 10th-generation Jerusalemite. Today, he lives in Modi'in with his wife Yael, a former colonel in the IDF, and their two children, Achiad and Mica.

Ex Officio Member, senior representative of MERCAZ Olami at WZO. Vice-chair at WZO

Margo Gold is the President of Masorti Olami, a role she assumed in August 2023 after serving as its Vice President from 2019 to 2023. She previously served as International President of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) and continues to hold leadership positions with the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center and the World Zionist Organization’s Va’ad HaPoel Hatzioni. She has been a delegate to multiple World Zionist Congresses and is recognized for her long-standing commitment to global Jewish leadership.

A graduate of the University of Michigan with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Margo has held senior roles across major Jewish institutions, including the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, MERCAZ USA, and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. In Atlanta, she has led several prominent communal organizations, among them Ahavath Achim Synagogue, Congregation B’nai Torah, the Marcus Jewish Community Center, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

Professionally, Margo most recently served as Managing Director of Hadassah Super South and previously contributed to statewide justice initiatives through the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. Her earlier work at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta focused on Israel advocacy, government relations, Holocaust education, and community mobilization. She has visited Israel more than twenty times and has been honored by multiple organizations for her dedication to Israel and Jewish communal life. She and her husband, Larry, live in Atlanta and are proud parents and grandparents.

Ex Officio Member, Masorti Olami President

Margo Gold

Rabbi Philip Scheim has entered his thirty-ninth year at Beth David Congregation in Toronto, Canada, where he has served since his ordination at JTS in 1981. Immediate Past International President of the Rabbinical Assembly, Phil has been active in Masorti causes through the years, and in numerous charitable organizations in Israel and Canada. He co-edited the RA/Schechter Institute Megillat HaShoah, and was instrumental in the creation of the newly published Pirkei Avot – Lev Shalem.

Ex Officio Member, President of Masorti Olami

Rabbi Philip Scheim

Ex Officio Member, Immediate Past President of Masorti Olami

Ex Officio Member, President of Masorti Israel

Sophie Fellman Rafalovitz

Join us as Rabbi Hillel Skolnik discusses his post-Oct. 7th trips to Israel with his family. He will center on the personal and spiritual/religious aspects of his journeys.

Rabbi Hillel Boaz Skolnik was ordained at Jewish Theological Seminary of America in May, 2011. After serving as the rabbi of the Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation for seven years, Rabbi Hillel and his family moved to Columbus in the summer of 2018 where he now serves as Senior Rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Israel. Rabbi Hillel is a member of the Extended Executive of the World Zionist Organization, a board member of the American Zionist Movement and of Mercaz USA.  Rabbi Hillel also serves on the board of the Columbus Jewish Day School.

Before beginning Brandeis University in 2002, Rabbi Hillel spent the year in Israel as a participant on the Nativ Leadership Program where he enjoyed wonderful learning at the Conservative Yeshiva as well as volunteering in the potato and carrot fields of Kibbutz Saad. In December of 2005, he graduated Brandeis University (cum laude) earning degrees in Politics and Near Eastern Judaic Studies.

Rabbis Hillel and his wife, Rabbi Sharon Barr Skolnik, reside in Bexley with their three children.

Team Members