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Cantor Educator
Teen Programs Faculty
We are currently in the process of hiring faculty for the 2020-2021 school year.
We look forward to announcing our faculty as they are recruited!
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Cantor Hinda Tz. Eisen Labovitz achieved ordination and a masters degree in Judaic studies at Hebrew College in Newton, MA in June of 2014. She is the two-time recipient of the Al Goldberg Scholarship in Jewish Music, and upon graduation, she also received the Israel Pollack Award for Excellence in Judaic Studies from Hebrew College. She is also the 2013-2014 recipient of the Gideon Klein Scholarship from Northeastern University, for which she dedicated a year of independent study of the cabaret at the Westerbork concentration camp in the Netherlands.
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Cantor Labovitz served as part-time ba’alat t'filah and tutor at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, MA, and as the assistant to the conductor for the Zamir Chorale of Boston, where she also served as Mary Wolfman Epstein Conducting Fellow (studying conducting under maestro Dr. Joshua Jacobson) and sang alto for eight years. She also served as Vocal Coach for the 8th grade play, Aladdin, at Solomon Schechter in Boston in 2014.
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Following her graduation from Boston University with a B.A. in Religion and a concentration in Special Education, Cantor Labovitz served as the Ritual Director at Temple Emanu-El in Providence, RI for three years and as Youth and Community Educator at Temple Aliyah in Needham, MA for one. She attended and worked at Ramah camps in the Berkshires, Wisconsin, and New England.
Cantor Hinda Labovitz
Director
Rachel Lang
Director of Teen and Community Engagement
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Rachel Lang is The Director of Teen and Community Engagement at Ohr Kodesh. She grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated with honors from Towson University with a B.S. in Early Childhood Education. After graduating from college, Rachel worked for an educational non-profit in Baltimore City before moving to California. While in California, she entered into the world of Jewish Education when she went to work at Congregation Kol Shofar, in Tiburon, as a Hebrew school teacher, youth group adviser, and eventually the administrative assistant for the education department. Rachel became a member of the OKC staff, as the Director of Youth and Family Programming, in the summer of 2016. She currently lives in Rockville with her family.
Rabbi Lyle Fishman
Instructor, Teen Beit Midrash
Rabbi Fishman has been the religious leader of Ohr Kodesh Congregation since 1984. He served the Greenburgh Hebrew Center in Dobbs Ferry, New York, before that.
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He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with honors in his major, religious studies. He spent his junior year at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. After college he attended The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York from which he received a Master's degree in Hebrew Literature and then rabbinical ordination. While there he received several academic awards. He also served on the faculty of JTS.
He taught at the Herzl Institute of New York during the years he served as a rabbi in the New York area.
In recent years he was valedictorian of the Shalom Hartman Institute Rabbinic Leadership Institute 2002-2005, a select program of continuing education for rabbis.
He has taught Jewish texts extensively in Ohr Kodesh, for The Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies, and now teaches a course at Georgetown University. Rabbi Fishman has been teaching in our Teen Beit Midrash since 2014.
Jacklyn Krisch
Instructor, Teen Beit Midrash
Jacklyn Krisch is a teacher for Teen Beit Midrash, and has been teaching Hebrew school students for the past 15 years. She is originally from New Jersey and came to the DC area to attend American University and set down roots afterwards. Jacklyn has been teaching about Hot topics through Jewish values, Tanach, Biblical characters in Torah, and more to the teens in Teen Beit Midrash for the past 7 years. She lives in Rockville with her husband Jon and their 3 children.
Craig Simon
Instructor, Tzohar
Craig Simon, a native of Los Angeles, CA and Temple Ramat Zion (including its awesome USY), moved to Kemp Mill, MD in 2002. He spent four years learning in the beit medrash (college level) program of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington; and has a bachelor's in History, and a graduate degree in Public Management from the University of Maryland, College Park. While in Yeshiva, he interned as chaplain at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Since then, he has taught for various Jewish programs throughout the Greater Washington DC Region (ranging from Mishna, Torah, to the letter's of Rabbi Dessler). Craig was a teacher in the Alvin Browdy Religious School for four years before joining the faculty of Tzohar in 2020.
Andy Weissfeld
Instructor, Tzohar
After a two year hiatus, Andy Weissfeld is thrilled to be working at Ohr Kodesh again. He grew up in Pittsburgh PA and moved to Montgomery County, MD with his family almost six years ago. He spent this past year living and learning in Jerusalem, and studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary where he is in his third year of Rabbinical school. Andy usually works at Camp Ramah in New England over the summers, where he has served as a unit head since 2016. In his free time, he loves to exercise, cook, read, play video games, and follow Pittsburgh sports. Andy can’t wait to reconnect with many friendly faces from his time working with ABRS and Ohr Kodesh USY as he steps into his new role as a Tzohar teacher!
Hagar Netzer
Instructor, Tzohar
Hagar is the Shlicha (Israeli emissary) to Ohr Kodesh Congregation. She served in the IDF as a Chief Sergeant in the Education and Youth Corps, creating educational programs and materials for soldiers. After her service, Hagar graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy and Judaic Studies from Tel Aviv University and started teaching Judaic Studies at Ironi Aleph High School in Tel Aviv. Before becoming a Shlicha, she was employed at Walla! News as a senior news editor while simultaneously working on her Master’s in Philosophy at Tel Aviv University.