Leadership

Senior Rabbi:Lee Friedlander
Rabbi:Jodie Siff
Cantor:Eric Schulmiller
Executive Director: Sylvia Jacobs
Nursery School Director: Laura Reich
Rabbi Emeritus: Ira Eisenstein z”l

Senior Rabbi Lee Friedlander

Rabbi Lee takes an active role in all aspects of the congregation. Equally at home in his weekly sixth grade Hebrew School class as he is in his Shabbat seminars or on the bima, he is a rabbi to all generations. Rabbi Lee is a graduate of Temple University, holds a Master’s Degree in Philosophy and Religion, and is a graduate of the Reconstructinist Rabbinical College. In 2005, we joyfully celebrated his 25th year at RSNS. A past president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, he is also readings editor of Kol HaNeshama, the prayerbook series of the Reconstructionist movement. He currently serves as the chair of his rabbinical association’s Ethics Committee. Rabbi Lee has two daughters, Sara and Ruth.

Rabbi Jodie Siff

Rabbi Jodie literally grew up in this congregation. Her family joined RSNS soon after its founding. Today she directs our synagogue school and is active in every part of our community. Rabbi Jodie leads the Rosh Hodesh groups for women and one for girls post Bat Mitzva. Her work with the synagogue’s children begins in our nursery school and includes many intergenerational programs. Rabbi Jodie is a mentor in the Leadership Institute of Congregational Educators and is an active member of the Port Washington/Manhasset Clergy Association. An alumna of Lehigh University, Jodie began her Hebrew studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary and graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2001. Jodie and her husband Peter are the proud parents of four children.

Cantor Eric Schulmiller

Cantor Eric Schulmiller, a member of the American Conference of Cantors, was raised in Norwalk, CT. Eric earned his bachelor of music degree with a major in jazz piano from the University of Miami in 1994. He was vested as Cantor in 1999 with a degree from the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, where he played piano for the weekly HUC-JIR soup kitchen. Eric has played with his own jazz group at venues in New York City such as the renowned Knitting Factory, and his commissioned musical settings of liturgical music have been performed at synagogues throughout New York including Temple Emanuel and Temple Rodef Sholom of Manhattan. Eric is happy to have served as cantor at RSNS for over ten years, where he has worked to support and encourage a community filled with people who care deeply about social justice, who love to sing and learn together, and where teens and adults of all ages feel connected and engaged. Eric and his wife Sarah live in Port Washington, and have two young children.