Linda Bergman

She has two talented beautiful daughters that share her love for Judaism and for children. Her adorable All American rescue dog Honey trains in canine agility classes and has competed in a few dog trials. Other hobbies include dancing and reading and taking long walks with Honey at the many parks in WNY.

Marc Brown

Originally from Buffalo, Marc graduated from Binghamton University with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics & Judaic Studies, and, later, a Master’s degree in Business Administration. After attending the University at Buffalo Law School, Marc worked in Rochester for several years before moving back to Buffalo in 2003. He began working for Goldberg Segalla in 2013. Marc is also an adjunct professor at UB Law School, where he teaches Real Estate Litigation. Marc currently lives in Buffalo with his wife, Shira, and three children, David, Deborah, and Joshua, all of whom attend Ohr Temimim Jewish Day School.

At Goldberg Segalla, Marc is the vice-chair of the Business and Commercial Group, in which he represents clients who are involved in disputes over real estate or business contracts. He decided to become a lawyer while he studied abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during the Fall of 1993. While there, he interned for the Mayor of Jerusalem and the Peacewatch nonpartisan organization that monitored the recently enacted Oslo Peace Accords. “It was through those experiences where I recognized that law was the best field to effectuate change and make a positive impact on society,” Marc said.

Marc is also a member of the Niagara Business Associates, a group of business owners and senior executives in the Buffalo/Niagara region who provide a forum for professionals to share their ideas, knowledge, and experience among members.

Most recently, Dr. Brown graduated from the joint global executive MBA program with Brown University in Rhode Island, and IE Business School in Spain. Her approach to knowledge acquisition, adoption and practice, while serving patients and leading a team of physicians during the pandemic led her to be recognized as one of the top 102 “Best & Brightest” Executive MBA graduates from across the world. Dr. Brown continues to provide leadership and frontline care to patients and their families while balancing a career and life as a wife and mother of three children.

Prof. Sergey Dolgopolski is the Gordon and Gretchen Gross Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Jewish Thought at UB. He specializes in the Talmud and its interpretation with an emphasis on engagements between Talmudic and philosophical thinking. His most recent book is Other Others: The Political After the Talmud (Fordham University Press, 2018; available for purchase on Amazon), which puts contemporary political theory and the Talmud into conversation with one another. During the Buffalo Day of Jewish Learning he will discuss the forthcoming book When Jews Argue: Between the University and the Beit-Midrash, which he coedited with Dr. Ethan Katz of UC Berkeley and Dr. Rabbi Elisha Ancselovits of Pardes Institute in Jerusalem. This work is a product of cooperation between academic scholars and rabbis, revealing how both productive engagement and tension between the university and the beit-midrash can co-exist in the study of rabbinic texts.

Meredith Dragon became CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester in April of 2016. She served from 2009 to 2016 as Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts. Prior to that Meredith was the Assistant Director at the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville, Florida for 13 years. Meredith lived and worked in Israel at the beginning of her career for Britain’s Joint Israel Appeal.

During her time with Federation, Meredith has worked on bringing donors, agencies, synagogues, and institutions together for the greater good of the Jewish community. Increasing awareness and support for the work of the Federation and its various departments and enhancing the role of Federation in the community motivates her professionally and personally. Meredith is married to Ze’ev and is the very proud mother of three boys, Matan, Ori and Etai.

Prof. Gerhard Falk is a former professor at Buffalo State University until his retirement in late 2016. The author of 30 books and 42 journal articles, Dr. Falk taught criminology, sociology of religion, juvenile delinquency, and the treatment of offenders. He has been awarded the New York State Research Foundation’s Award for Scholarship; the Buffalo State College President’s Award for Creativity; and The New York State University Chancellor’s Award for Excellence. He is the author of over fifty scholarly works, including the following titles: Murder: An Analysis of its Forms, Conditions and Causes (1990), American Judaism in Transition: The Secularization of a Religious Community (1994), Hippocrates Assailed: The American Health Delivery System (1999), Stigma: How We Treat Outsiders (2001), and Man’s Ascent to Reason (2002). Dr. Falk’s book The Jew in Christian Theology (1992) traces the origins and history of Christian teachings about Jews and includes the only English translation of Martin Luther’s notoriously antisemitic booklet, Vom Schem Hamphoras (Of the Hidden Name). During the Buffalo Day of Jewish Learning, Dr. Falk will be recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his extraordinary contributions to scholarship, learning and the Jewish community.

Rob Goldberg is currently the CEO of the Buffalo Jewish Federation. For 15 years prior to Federation, Rob was a senior leader for Hillel International: Foundation for Jewish Campus Life working from both Washington D.C. and for the last 10 years working remotely from his hometown of Buffalo. During his time at Hillel, Rob led multiple Birthright trips, advised and mentored dozens of young professionals, led a system-wide strategic planning process and worked with volunteer leaders from around North America to energize and strengthen Hillel’s global footprint. In 2015 Rob was invited to lead a renaissance at Buffalo’s Federation where he had been serving on Federation’s Executive Committee. Under Rob’s leadership, Federation has rebranded, dramatically expanded its asset pool, and absorbed 4 community agencies into its operation. Today, Federation’s 25 person staff is now working completely remotely. Moreover, Rob and his team approach their work from an engagement mindset, connecting with hundreds of formerly uninvolved community members in problem solving, planning and building initiatives designed to create a flourishing and connected Jewish Buffalo. Rob received a BA in Religious Studies from Brown University and an MBA from Bryant University. He and his wife Shira live in the Buffalo suburbs and enjoy spending time with their three married children and six grandchildren.

Rabbi Heschel Greenberg is the Director of the Jewish Discovery Center and Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Jewish Studies. Rabbi Greenberg has authored over one hundred books on Bible, Talmud, Maimonides, Jewish law, Kabbalah, Chassidic philosophy, Jewish Holidays and more. He has also written over fifty scholarly papers in rabbinic journals. He is a sought-after speaker who has lectured extensively across the USA, Canada, Australia and South Africa. The Buffalo Day of Jewish Learning will culminate with the first Rabbi Heschel Greenberg Lecture, to be given yearly by a distinguished speaker to honor Rabbi Greenberg’s contribution to Jewish Buffalo. The inaugural lecture will be given by Rabbi Greenberg himself to celebrate his fifty years in Buffalo. He will be speaking on the topic “The Rational Mystery of Mashiach.”

Rabbi Gutmann is the Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth Zion. He was born in Westchester, New York and raised in Dayton, Ohio. He is an alumnus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2013, where he received a Masters in Hebrew Letters along with Rabbinic Ordination. He served as Rabbi of Beth Shalom Progressive Congregation; Auckland, New Zealand, until 2016 and as Senior Rabbi at Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield, Michigan, from 2016 until he joined Temple Beth Zion on July 1, 2022.

In the past, Rabbi Gutmann has held positions on the Hazon Detroit Advisory Council for sustainability, and as an Executive Board Member of the Auckland Interfaith Council. He is a fellow of the National Council for Jewish Learning and Leadership’s Rabbis Without Borders program and of the American Jewish World Service. In congregational settings, he has distinguished himself with his strong commitment to community building, social justice and Torah learning, as well as with his warmth and dedication.

Rabbi Gutmann’s family includes his wife, Jill, and 4 adorable daughters ages 3 to 10. He frequently opens his family home to congregants for meals and socializing as they welcome everyone to be a part of their own and the TBZ family.

Kohava Howard  is the founder of Emerging Vibrant Woman and the leader of the soul sisterhood collective. She is a certified Integrative life coach, a certified holistic nurse for over 37 years, a women’s empowerment mentor, an Intuitive master healer, and a Spiritual Teacher.

As an intuitive empath entrepreneur, her passion and mission is helping introverted feminine spiritual empath who are serving others to heal but experiencing life’s challenges in showing up fully. She guides them to build a courageous mindset, get unstuck, break free of their limiting beliefs, and awaken their soul’s purpose, so they can courageously flourish with ease, communicate assertively, fearlessly speak up and confidently show up as an empowered leader.

Cathy Jones is currently an Elementary Special Education TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment) in the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District. In her current role, she contributes to the development of instructional practice and facilitates and supports special education teachers and their students with the use of resources to support the continuum of services.

Educating young learners has been her passion and career for twenty years. Prior to her current role, her varied teaching experience includes working with children in grades K-6 in both the general education and special education settings.

Yehudis Khanin teaches science, social studies, art, novi and chassidus at Ohr Temimim School. She has a demonstrated history of working in the education management industry, is an energetic leader and is skilled in contemporary art, art education, and classroom management.

Natalie Korchowsky is currently pursuing artistic endeavors in beautiful Buffalo, NY. She enjoys experimenting with all kinds of mediums. Her style is ever evolving, going from realistic rendering to the non-objective pattern play, seen throughout her most recent work. She graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelors in Studio Art and is a licensed K-12 art teacher, so she loves to take young people on a journey of self-discovery through the artistic process.

Chana Revell Kotzin, Ph.D. is the historian for the Jewish Buffalo History Center powered by the Buffalo Jewish Federation. Chana was born and educated in Britain, and initially followed a career in the field of geological science. After retraining in Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies of the University of Oxford, UK, she studied at the University of Southampton in the UK and received a Ph.D. in History. Since relocating to the United States, she has worked in public history at the Jewish Museum of Maryland and as director for the Jewish Buffalo Archives Project (JBAP) funded by the Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies. This decade long project established a unique repository of Greater Buffalo archival materials through a partnership with the Archives and Special Collections, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. An awardee of the Debra E. Bernhardt Award for Excellence in Documenting New York’s History, she is the author of Jewish Community of Greater Buffalo (Arcadia, 2013), as well as author of articles for Jewish newspapers, Jewish scholarly journals, archives journals and special commissions. She was awarded the Ruth H and Milton E. Kahn Leadership Award by the Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo in 2011, the Community Service Award for contributions to Western New York by Temple Beth Zion in 2014, and part of a team recipient for the Community Service Award by the Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies in 2017. She has taught as an adjunct Professor at Daemen and Medaille Colleges and is currently writing a history of Jewish Buffalo from 1950 as a successor to Selig Adler and Thomas F. Connelly. From Ararat to Suburbia: The History of the Jewish Community of Buffalo. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1960.

Robin Kurss is a proud lifelong Buffalonian and has been active in Jewish Buffalo for the past 35 years by serving in multiple volunteer leadership positions and as a member of many communities and congregations. Professionally, she has had an eclectic series of careers working as a Pediatric Physical Therapist, a Senior Account Manager for a publishing company, and as an Executive Pastry Chef. She raised her family of three, now adult children, and is enjoying the thrill of being Mimi to three adorable grandchildren. In her role as Director of Jewish Experience with LiNK Jewish Buffalo, she is excited to engage with a new generation of parents, their young children and with adult learners as well. She always looks forward to providing meaningful opportunities for learning about Jewish culture and values while building and supporting relationships with and among individuals and families throughout Jewish Buffalo.

Chani is the co-director of the Center for Jewish Life, bringing the beauty of Jewish life to the Buffalo Jewish community. She is also the head of the Chai Hebrew School, and serves as the director of the Chai Early Childhood Center.

Chani started her Buffalo teaching career at Jewish Heritage Day School (Ohr Temimim) in 1995, and then at Kadimah day school, where she taught for many years. Chani taught at the BJE Hebrew High as well.

She created the Kosher Mini Chef, an exciting club for Jewish children to join together to cook, bake, create fun foods while learning about Jewish themes and mitzvahs.

Chani is a mother of 12 beautiful children and a grandmother too. Still, she finds time to open her home to hundreds of Jewish families to experience Shabbat and holidays throughout the year. In her unique, friendly and personal way, she positively impacted hundreds of lives in the community; Many seek her advice and guidance. Chani’s passion is teaching children and adults about their Jewish heritage.