KEHILAT KOL HANESHAMA

Kol HaNeshama Board deals with policy matters and long term decisions. The Board sets the annual budget and annual strategic work program and work together with the Rabbi and the Ex. Director.

Each Kehilah committee has a representative on the board whose role is to update the board on matters discussed in the committees and decide on budgetary needs according to policies.

Board Members

Dr. Sarah Bernstein

Chair of the Board

Elisa Helman

Vice-Chair of the Board

Elisa has been an active member of Kol HaNeshema since 2002.  

She is a native of Danvers, Massachusetts and a graduate of Brandeis University.  

In her pre-aliyah life she was involved in theatre; Elisa worked for Spoletto Festival, Long Wharf Theatre and Brandeis University Theatre on hundreds of production, she is also the founder of The Five Star Theatre Company.

Elisa made aliyah in 1997, she introduced Israelis to balloon culture through her business Elisa In Balloonland.  For twenty years she has added color and creativity with balloons for smachot, and for a decade she was the leading balloon distributor and educator in Israel.  

With the sale of her balloon wholesale business she started a new endeavor and is the co-owner of Leave it 2 Us, a personal concierge service.

Dennis Allon

Treasurer

An active member of KKH since 1991, Dennis made Aliyah from San Francisco.

He has an MA from Hebrew University.

For the past twenty-five years Dennis has been working in non-profits and is now the Director of Fundraising and Resource Development at the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind.

He is the father of one beautiful daughter, Yardena. He is a former Chairman of KKH and is presently the Treasurer.

Bonnie Boxer

Bonnie Boxer was a founding member of Kol HaNeshama and has always been part of the congregation.  

In her professional life, she was, inter alia, Foreign Press Spokesperson for the Jerusalem Municipality in Teddy Kollek z"l's last term, Israel representative of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund of San Francisco for 15 years until the fund closed, and a consultant to Israel's Environment Ministry.

Dr. Michael Hoffman

Dr. Michael Hoffman is a long time member and past chair of KKH.  

For nearly two decades, Michael lectured in clinical psychology at Bar Ilan, before he began a second career of building in Jerusalem.  

Michael has also served the board of the World Union. Michael has three adult children, one granddaughter, and a dog.

Steve Israel

Steve is a semi retired informal Jewish educator originally from England who has been involved with the community for over thirty years.

He is a great believer in the concept and the reality of Jews' involvement in community and Kol HaNeshama has served him and his wife Dena very well.

Among other things his understanding of being Jewish is a chance and an obligation to help those less fortunate than ourselves and one of the central things about KKH is the chance to do that with others. That's been an important part of his involvement up to now and he hopes it will continue in the future too.

Alona Baidani-Auerbach

Alona lives in Jerusalem with her partner Martin and their sons Raphael and Emanuel.  

She is a Hebrew text editor and social activist.  

For the lsat 20 years she has been a member of the Kol HaNeshama community and also a member of the Hand in Hand Community School.

Shaul Vardi

Shaul was born in England and has lived in Jerusalem and been a member of Kol HaNeshama since 1986.

He works as a freelance translator and editor, and in the past worked in resource development in the Israeli Reform movement and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

He has two children who are now young adults and lives in the German Colony.

His passions include linguistics, Turkey, European movies, and instant ramen noodles.

Nicky Cregor

Mother of 3, long-term member of the shul, serving first term as a Board Member.

Active on the National Movement board as well as on a local community level.

Chairwoman of the Israeli Movement's Keren BeKavod.

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Director of the Unit for Volunteers Services in the Jerusalem Municipality.

The community of Kol HaNeshama is our second home and we welcome others to join in our services and our cultural activities!

Melanie Sobell Zaken

Mel is originally from the UK, and made aliyah in 1989 after completing a degree in Law and History at Cambridge University, and then working for RSY-Netzer.  

She received a Masters degree in Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University, and spent many years working in the field of Jewish education, including two years based in New York.

After a career shift in 2000 to fundraising management, Mel has for the past decade specialized in human resources, and is proud to be an HR Director at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, where she works with JDC staff in Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as on a range of global initiatives.  

Mel has been a member of Kol Haneshama since arriving in Jerusalem in 1989.

Michal Zukerman

Michal joined Kol HaNeshama during the nineties as the Kehila's secretary. It was love at first sight, and since then she has been an active member, involved in reading Torah and leading services.

She later joined the board and is active in several committees.

Michal is a writer, translator, and editor as well as a musician, and enjoys the congregation's active musical life.

She also loves knitting, especially for infants.

Shelley Adelson is a new Olah from Highland Park New Jersey. 

She studied at Yeshiva University and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Professionally she works as a graphic designer, and art teacher. In New York Shelley made props for Broadway and was the Art Director of a private girls high school in Long Island, as well as being involved in many New York City government arts projects. 

Her goal is to continue creating paintings and developing her artistic career in Israel, as she focuses on learning Hebrew and integrating into Israeli society. 

She is excited to be joining Kehillat Kol Haneshama who has warmly welcomed her since she arrived in Israel.