Religious School Staff

Religious School, Teen Tuesdays & Confirmation Class, B’nei Mitzvah, Children’s Services & Holidays, Youth Activities, Library
Abigail Weinberg celebrated her Bat Mitzvah, wedding, and children’s B’nei Mitzvah at GJC and is thrilled to now be facilitating all aspects of youth and family education.  After graduating from Barnard College in 1992, where she studied political science, religion, and education, Abby taught environmental education for one year and in Hebrew Day Schools for three years.  She then turned to a career in organizational and non-profit management primarily in the Jewish community. She has worked for a variety of Jewish social justice organizations, both in Israel and the US, as well as within schools and synagogues in areas such as recruitment, marketing, fundraising, event planning, and outreach. Since receiving her Masters in Urban Studies from Temple University in 2006, Abby has served as the Administrative Director of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia and the Associate Director of Jewish Life and Learning at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Melanie (aka Morah Malka) is beginning her sixth year as a teacher in the GJC Religious School, following a long and varied career as a Jewish educator. This year, in addition to teaching the Bet/Gimel (2nd and 3rd grade) combination class, she is also teaching many of her former 3rd graders in the Teen Tuesday program.

Having traveled from place to place for many years, she came back to Philadelphia a few years ago, and returned to the congregation that was her second home for all of her childhood and adolescence. She is a proud graduate of the GJC Religious School and a special intensive program at Gratz College, and served as a Torah reader, B’nai Mitzvah tutor, madricha, and leader of Junior Congregation services – way back in the 1960’s! She holds a BA in Psychology from Bryn Mawr College and an MA in Education from American University. She has served as a teacher, Education Director, Head of Jewish Studies, and Head of School at a variety of congregational schools and Jewish Day Schools throughout the United States. She served as Conference Chair and member of the Board of Directors of CAJE ( Coalitions for Alternatives/Advancement of Jewish Education), and was the author of Jewish educational materials for Torah Aura Productions. She is eager to share her expertise and her love of Jewish learning with a new generation of students and their families.

Ariel Silverman is very excited to return this fall for her fifth year as the Gan (kindergarten) teacher at the Germantown Jewish Centre Religious School.  Before coming to GJC, she taught first grade at  another congregation for five years, and worked in the classroom as a teen aide for six years.  When she’s not in the classroom, she is a student working towards an education degree.

Jay Jacobson is so excited to be bringing his passion for stories, Jewish ethics, and the Hebrew language to the Kitah Dalet classroom this year! A New York native, he moved to the Philadelphia area just over a year ago to become more involved with the Jewish community here; in September he began his first year at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

Noah Rubin-Blose is a first-year student at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He hails from Hillsborough, North Carolina, where he worked for years as a vegetarian chef and an interfaith community organizer for racial justice. For him, interfaith dialogue and organizing have been a way to affirm and deepen his own Jewish identity and practice — he is excited to bring this experience, along with his passion for experiential education, to the 10th grade Confirmation class.

Daniella Forstater is a music educator and Jewish songleader/prayer leader in the Greater Philadelphia area. In her experience, music has the ability to teach, heal, and inspire, and can be a powerful vehicle for connecting to our Jewishness…and humanness. She is thrilled to begin her fourth year as a member of the teaching team at Germantown Jewish Center and is eager to collaborate with students, families, and classroom teachers to make joyful noise!

Please come say “shalom”