Board of Directors

CBI has been a pillar of my life since I moved to Northampton with my husband Joel Feldman (also on the board) 30 years ago. I was not raised with any Jewish learning or practice so I "became Jewish" through my experience at CBI. This community raised our 3 children, all bar and bat mitzvahed here, and then I joined the tribe, literally and figuratively, with a bat mitzvah of my own in 2021. My gratitude for all of it is unending. I served as co-chair of the Tikkun Olam Committee for many years, and now continue as a member of its Democracy Action Team, and find profound meaning in sharing my commitment to social justice with my Jewish community. My professional career started as a legal aid lawyer and for the last 16 years I have directed the Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness. I am also co-chair of the CBI Capital Campaign, which offers a thrilling window into the future of our campus (can't wait to make it happen together!). As Co-President this past year, it has been an honor to work with so many other lay leaders and staff to build an ever stronger institution. Our community is a constant source of inspiration to me and I look forward to continuing the work together.
pschwartz77@gmail.com

I am a retired attorney residing in Northampton. My wife, Dorothy Nemetz, and I have been members  of CBI since 1990 and our three children went through Hebrew School and had their bat and bar mitzvahs here. Over the years, I have served on a variety of committees and special initiatives, and served as co-president 2017–2019. Dorothy is a former CBI president and served on the Board for 21 years. I look forward to joining with our rabbis, Executive Director, and the Board in their ongoing work to make this synagogue a central part of the Jewish community in this area, just as it has been central to our family's Jewish community and Jewish identity for the past three-plus decades. In this upcoming term I hope we can focus on strengthening our financial base and encouraging deeper engagement from all parts of our diverse community.

I have been a member of CBI since 2022, when my partner Naomi and I moved to Northampton from Brooklyn, NY. I am a regular Torah reader; a participant in the Jews Read Palestinian Stories Havurah; and an alum of several adult education classes. I love the community at CBI and especially cherish the intergenerational friendships I've made at shul. You have probably seen me and Naomi with our baby, Yona, at shul. In my professional life, I work as a registered nurse at Cooley Dickinson Hospital and I am active in the Massachusetts Nurses Association. I live in Village Hill Cohousing, where I spend time building community with my neighbors, and even more time in meetings. My goals for Board membership are to increase transparency, improve communication, and represent young families and folks with progressive politics. 

I have been a member of CBI for more than 30 years — first joining so my daughter could go to religious school (as ALMA was called then). Over time, her interest pushed me into becoming an active CBI member and, much to my surprise, a regular Shabbat services attender. My daughter had her Bat Mitzvah in 1998 and I was part of an adult Bat Mitzvah group in 2005. I depend on CBI for community and am excited and amazed by its  growth — in diversity, membership, and activities. I am on the Preschool Education Committee and have been part of the Inclusion Task Force. In my non-CBI life, I am a retired Early Childhood educator and an avid Connecticut River rower. Being on the Board and serving as co-president has been a learning experience and, though I may question my sanity at times, I am honored to be a part of CBI leadership with so many amazing people!

I have been a member of CBI for almost thirty years, and during that time, CBI has been a second  home for me, my wife Pamela, and our three children. We are regular Shabbat service attendees, and we have been Gan Keshet parents and CBI religious school parents. I have served on the Board for twelve years (including as a co-President in 2020–2022), I have chaired or participated in many committees, led the Shabbat Sing program at CBI on Shabbat for more than eleven years, and helped to revive the CBI Shabbaton weekend. During my non-Shabbat hours, I work as a civil rights/tenant attorney in Springfield, representing low income clients. I care very deeply about CBI and its future, and I am so excited to be part of this special moment in the history of our synagogue.

I'm so grateful to have been part of this community for the last few years. CBI's campus now feels like a second home. You can always find me here on Friday nights, much of the day Saturday, and normally a few other days each week between classes, Ohel minyan, and other events. I love getting to regularly setup, cleanup, and help the happenings here run. I'm an enthusiastic member of the Torah Foragers, and I coordinated the Torah Queeries chavurah. Over the last year, I enjoyed working with the Cemetery Committee to digitize our cemetery map and associated records. I was previously on the board of Beit Ahavah, serving as the board secretary, organizing and running many events. My hope in joining the board is to do more to help CBI run smoothly and be as inclusive and welcoming a community as possible. I'm a computer engineer. Outside of synagogue, I love practicing my modern Hebrew, studying Talmud with my chevruta, writing software, and learning wacky midrashim.

I am a new member this year at CBI. I live in Longmeadow and previously was a member of Temple Beth El and attended daily Minyan which sadly ended when COVID came. As for my background, I owned Central Travel, with offices in Springfield, UMASS, downtown Amherst and Longmeadow. After selling my agencies in July 1994, I accepted an offer from the owner of two off airport parking lots at Bradley to be the Director of Sales & Marketing where I remained until retiring. I have served on numerous boards including Association of Retail Travel Agents, United Hebrew School, Springfield Jewish Community Center and the Western Mass Relics (a Senior Softball League for 50 and over men). I am presently on the board of Rachel’s Table and am their volunteer Van Coordinator. I am also the Western Mass Coordinator for Mass Senior Games for softball. Finally, things that I would like to work toward for CBI include seeing a welcoming committee for new members, particularly those from outside Hampshire County. I would also encourage a regular Conservative daily minyan CBI in addition to the Wednesday Ohel Minyan which has been very welcoming.

I've been regularly attending services at CBI since 2021, and before the shul itself reopened, I spent every shabbes on Abundance Farm studying torah with what would become the Torah Foragers group. I am a frequent Torah leyner at CBI, and I’m passionate about learning and sharing ritual skills, and studying texts with friends. I've also been part of the leadership team of the Ohel Minyan for the past year and a half, and I served on the board of Beit Ahavah in 2018-19. I appreciate that the CBI board has heeded the call for more transparency and open communication with the larger congregation, and I want to be part of ensuring a healthy and sustainable future for the community that has been so important and welcoming to me. I really value the intergenerational connections, bountiful learning opportunities, and multivocal commitment to justice that I’ve found here. During the week, I work as a PCA (personal care assistant), which is a study in deep collaboration, and motivates me to work towards accessibility in all parts of communal life.

I have been a member of CBI since 1999, when I returned to the Valley with my wife (Eve Weinbaum) after having grown up in Amherst, and served as co-president 2016-18. We attend Shabbat services regularly and our three children — Jonah, Aviva, and  Ruthie — have been a part of the CBI religious school most of their lives. I am a Professor of Architecture at UMass Amherst, where I teach the histories of cities, and the theory and practice of historic preservation. I am currently on leave from UMass to serve as the Vice President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the 115,000 member union of public school and college educators. My work advocating for a more just society is inextricably bound up with my dedication to Judaism. I look forward to helping to support CBI as a thriving Jewish home for all of us, dedicated to Jewish prayer and study, and the work of Tikkun Olam.

Since moving to the area to start my medical residency at Baystate Medical Center in 2017, my family and I have become deeply involved with Congregation B'nai Israel and have been formal members since 2022. Our connection to CBI began with a captivating Shabbat Shabloom at Abundance Farms during the pandemic and has grown ever since and has quickly become our first adult Jewish home. CBI has become a source of comfort and community, especially after the October 7th attacks. Our commitment to CBI has only increased with our son attending Gan Keshet and ALMA, and our one-year-old daughter is now attending Shabbat Shabloom. As a physician triple board-certified in adult, pediatric, and obesity medicine and an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine, my professional career is dedicated to improving patient care and medical education. I also have experience working in non-profit organizations during my community service with AmeriCorps and community organizing while working on the 2012 Obama presidential campaign. Outside of work, I play jazz guitar and recently discovered weightlifting. I am excited to continue contributing to CBI as a board of directors member with my professional experience in quality improvement, community organizing, and non-profit organizations. I aim to maintain the welcoming and nurturing environment I have cherished to continue the mission of CBI to strengthen Jewish life while bolstering our family's ties to this vibrant congregation.

I’ve lived in Northampton since 2010 with my wife Beth Notar and our two boys Isaac and Emile. We celebrated their b’nai mitzvah at CBI IN 2017 after they went through the ALMA school program. I never really imagined I’d be so involved with Jewish life but find myself drawn to the culture of learning at CBI, and the warmth of so many people here. I have been on the Adult Ed committee since 2014 when I helped found the Sunday Cafe lecture series at CBI. I participate in the Caregivers havurah, and was in the CBI based circle of care for a refugee family. I grew up in Forest Hills, NYC, and have been teaching anthropology and Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College since 1998, and have written about Japanese Brazilian migrants in Japan, the history of driving in Japan, and an intimate ethnoGRAPHY (graphic format) about aging, care, and art. My goal on the board is to be an advocate for our hardworking staff and socially responsible engagement with the broader community, compatible, of course, with our charge of fiscal responsibility.

My family has been members of CBI since 2017, when we moved to Northampton from Providence, RI. My two sons have been in ALMA since then and have flourished in the program, with one becoming bar mitzvah this past October. I currently serve on the education committee, and oversaw the ALMA kiddush programs prior to COVID. I am excited to contribute more to the CBI community as it is the first synagogue I have belonged to that has felt like  "home" to me. In my professional life, I am CEO of Acceleration Partners, an online marketing agency focusing on the affiliate marketing space operating globally across the US, UK, Europe, Singapore, and Australia.