Who We Are / Leadership and Staff
Executive Committee
| Halacha Committee
| Education and Curriculum Committee
| Science and Action Committee
| Administrative/Publicity Committee
| Eitz Chayim Hee Production Team
Executive Committee :
Comprised of the founders of the organization, who are responsible for overall coordination and direction.
Executive Committee : Evonne Marzouk: Executive Director
In addition to her role as Canfei Nesharim's first part-time staff person, Evonne Marzouk works part-time in EPA's Office of International Environmental Policy, where she is responsible for coordination with advisory committees and policy activities under the North American Agreement for Environmental Cooperation. She was responsible for coordinating speaking points and negotiating policy positions on numerous environmental topics for the 2003 Council Session of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation. On the EPA's policy coordination team for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which she attended as a member of the U.S. delegation in August-September 2002, she was responsible for text negotiation, speech-writing, and deliverables development. Evonne coordinated outreach to congregations in EPA's Energy Star for Congregations program in 2000, and she served as the Legislative Assistant for the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life in 1998-99. She has also worked in EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection, the Office of Western Hemisphere and Bilateral Affairs, and the Water Division of EPA's Regional Office in San Francisco, where she worked on projects involving outreach to Indian tribes.
Evonne launched and currently leads the "Green Group" at Kesher Israel Congregation in Washington, DC, where she lives with her husband and son. As part of her work with Kesher Israel, she has coordinated Torah learning sessions, camping Shabbatons, Tu b'Shevat seders, fundraisers, and activities to reduce the environmental impact of the shul. She has served on the executive board of Shomrei Adamah, the local Jewish environmental group in Washington, DC, where she acted as an advocate for engaging the Orthodox community in environmental protection. She has given presentations at the Institute for the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life on how to engage the Jewish community, and the Orthodox community specifically, in environmental concerns. She has also given numerous speeches and presentations on the importance of protecting the environment from a Torah perspective. In 2003, she received an "Unsung Hero Award" from EPA for her work with Canfei Nesharim.
Executive Committee : Ora Sheinson: Associate Director and Chair, Halacha Committee
Ora Sheinson is a founding board member of Canfei Nesharim, an environmental litigation associate at Patton Boggs, LLP, an international law firm, and the mother of four children. Ora has pursued the intersection of environmental activism and Halacha from her days in University at Stern College, where she actively lectured on the relationship between Halacha and the Environment. She advanced her knowledge of the public health implications of environmental contamination during her studies for her BA in biology at Stern College, and published several papers on the topic. While in Columbia Law School, Ora published a paper in the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, discussing the laws of Harchakat Nezkin and how those laws relate to modern American environmental and property laws.
She continues to lecture in communities across the east coast on Tu Bishvat and other environmental issues, and has been quoted in several Jewish newspapers. After graduating Columbia, she worked in New York City for several AM 100 law firms, and has settled in the Environmental department at Patton Boggs in Newark, NJ. Her firm serves as Pro Bono counsel to Canfei Nesharim, and is supportive of her work.
Ora continues to expend significant time working to extend the resources and reach of Canfei Nesharim. She currently resides in Hillside, NJ and is raising four
wonderful children with her husband, Baruch.
Executive Committee : Atara Weisberger: Chair, Education/Curriculum Committee
Atara received an M.A. in Natural Resource Management from Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs. After graduate school, she began working in the area of environmental policy at the U.S. EPA in Washington, D.C. but then quickly moved into environmental education. She has taught for community groups as well as in the public schools in New York City and taught at Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in Teaneck, N.J. Atara learned in Israel at Neve Yerushalayim and Midreshet Rachel and has been studying the connection between Torah and the environment since 1996. She currently lives in Passaic, N.J. with her husband, Avromy, daughters, Balia and Yaella, and son, Yaakov.
Executive Committee : Shai Yisroel Spetgang: Business Committee
Shai Yisrael Spetgang is a resident of Thornhill, Canada with a background in Environmental Studies from York University, Toronto. He is a past participant of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel. While at Yeshivat Dvar Yerushalayim in Israel, he had a special 'environmental chevrusa' where he reviewed many key environmental sources.
Shai Yisrael is currently the Manager of Member Recruitment and Sponsor Relations at the Ontario Environment Industry Association and Administrative Manager at Buttcon Energy. He serves on the board of Canfei Nesharim and the Jewish Nature Centre of Canada - Torat Hateva. He and his wife Sarah are the proud parents of Re'uel Chaim Tzvi and Rivka Tamar Chana.
Executive Committee : Chana Leika Beltz, Organizational Development Coordinator
Chana Leika (Lisa) Beltz, Has been involved with grassroots environmental movements and organizations for over 20 years. While holding the position of CFO for an academic non-profit, she began her professional environmental career working for The National Zoo's environmental education program as a part-time educator. In 1992 she moved to Nairobi, Kenya where she provided consulting services to local community-based, non-formal education NGOs. She sat on the board of BirdLife Kenya and worked with USAID, UNDP, The Uganda National Parks, African Wildlife Foundation, (AWF) Peregrine Fund, World Conservation Union(IUCN), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), National Museums of Kenya, and The Gilman Company Okapi Research Station. She sat on the Board of the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation (an Orthodox Shul) led their Education Committee and was editor of their newsletter. In 1998 she returned to the states to work for The Wilderness Society as an internal consultant to facilitate strategic planning for 18 regional programs.
In 2001, she built on her extensive volunteer activities in the Jewish community and began providing her professional services to Jewish outreach organizations. She has provided her expertise in strategic planning, grant writing, fund raising, publicity, event management and business development to Agudath Israel, Isralight, AJOP, Etz Chaim-Baltimore, Aish HaTorah, Torah One-on-One, and others. She has also written for HaModia. Currently, she is based out of Baltimore.
Executive Committee
| Halacha Committee
| Education and Curriculum Committee
| Science and Action Committee
| Administrative/Publicity Committee
| Eitz Chayim Hee Production Team
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