Who We Are / Leadership and Staff
Board of Directors
| Halacha Committee
| Education and Curriculum Committee
| Science and Action Committee
| Administrative/Publicity Committee
| Eitz Chayim Hee Production Team
Board of Directors :
Our Board of Directors page is under construction! Check back soon for more of our board members and their biographical details.
Board of Directors : Evonne Marzouk: Executive Director
Evonne Marzouk is the founder and Executive Director of Canfei Nesharim. Evonne has spoken worldwide on the Torah-environment connection, and also currently leads “Maayan Olam,” a Torah-environment committee serving three synagogues in Silver Spring, MD, where she lives with her husband and son. In addition, Evonne has worked for ten years in the Office of International Affairs at EPA.
In 2002, Evonne served on EPA's policy coordination team for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which she attended as a member of the U.S. delegation. 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, and the Water Division of EPA's Regional Office in San Francisco, where she worked on projects involving outreach to Indian tribes.
As part of her work with Canfei Nesharim, Evonne has coordinated Torah learning sessions, camping Shabbatons, Tu b'Shevat seders, fundraisers, and activities to reduce the environmental impact of synagogues. 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 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. In 2009, she was selected as one of The New York Jewish Week's "36 under 36."
Board of Directors : Ora Sheinson: President and Board Chair
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.
Board of Directors : Rabbi Yosef Blau: Chair of Rabbinic Advisory Board
Rabbi Blau has been the spiritual guidance counselor at Yeshiva University’s Rabbinical School since 1977. He is also the spiritual guidance counselor for students at the University's undergraduate schools and colleges for men.
Rabbi Blau has served as national president of Yavneh, the National Religious Jewish Students Association, and as a member of that organization's National Advisory Board.
Board of Directors : Dr. Shlomo Shinnar: Chair of Professional Advisory Board
Shlomo Shinnar MD PhD is Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Population Health as well as the Hyman Climenko Professor of Neuroscience Research and Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Management Center Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is well known for his research on childhood seizures as well as autism and has served in a variety of roles in national professional organizations.
He has also been active in the local Jewish community, having served in the past as Gabbai and president of the Young Israel of New Rochelle. Professor Shinnar has a long standing interest in the environment and serves on both the Scientific Advisory Board and the Board of Directors of Canfei Nesharim.
Board of Directors : Dr. Daniel Weber: Chair of Science and Advisory Board
Professionally, Daniel is a fish neurobehavioral toxicologist. In that capacity, he conducts studies that evaluate the behavioral effects of toxic chemicals that act primarily on the nervous system, including the brain. Over the years he has studied the effects of lead, mercury and other metals, as well as stormwater effluents in urban streams. The focus of the research is to both understand why chemicals have specific effects and provide a framework (legal, medical, etc.) for establishing methods to minimize these effects. Their research center is also actively creating science modules for middle school students which allow them to actually study live animals, a practice becoming more rare in schools today in favor of "virtual" science experiences. To date they have created and tested over 10 such modules and have trained over 60 teachers. Fortunately, Daniel does more than laboratory work and has been active in community outreach work involving enhancing environmental awareness. He has talked to lay groups ranging from churches to business groups on topics as diverse as global climate change and the state of the North American Great Lakes.
Jewishly, Daniel has been very active in the community. Having taught religious school, he has since extended that role through involvement in organizations that promote Jewish learning at various age levels, including day school, college and adult.
Board of Directors : Dr. Gilbert N. Kahn
Gilbert N. Kahn is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Kean University, in Union, NJ. His academic interests and publications concentrate on American Government decision-making, with an emphasis on executive-legislative relations and the institutional tensions between Congress and the President in foreign policy decision-making.
Professor Kahn was a consultant to the Council for the Rescue of Syrian Jews and led the lobbying effort to rescue Syrian Jews. He was also a consultant for many years to the domestic affairs department of Hadassah and a political consultant to the Synagogue Council of America (both in NY and Washington) until its demise. Professor Kahn helped create and manage many of the first pro-Israel political action committees. He also helped develop, organize, and administer Shvil Hazahav for almost 10 years.
Professor Kahn has been involved in a wide-range of political consulting activities primarily, though not exclusively, within the Jewish community. Professor Kahn has worked on political campaigns at the local, state, and national level performing a variety of tasks including candidate outreach to the Jewish community. Some of his recent work has involved studying the impact of the Holocaust on contemporary decision makers, as well as assessing the nature and political impact of modern day anti-Semitism.
Board of Directors : Rabbi Barry Kornblau
Rabbi Barry Kornblau has been the rabbi of the Young Israel of Hollis Hills-Windsor Park, in Bayside, Queens, NY since 2003. He has served as Director of Committees and Operations at the national offices of the Rabbinical Council of America in Manhattan, NY since 2005. He is also a member of the Va'ad Harabonim of Queens.
Rabbi Kornblau received a B.A. in music theory and composition from Yale University in 1988 and was ordained by the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in 2001. In addition, he worked for many years on Wall Street as a fixed income analyst, primarily at Goldman Sachs & Co.
Rabbi Kornblau is married to Dina, a pediatric neurologist who practices in the Bronx, NY. Together, they are blessed with five children, including a set of twin girls.
Board of Directors : Menachem Ely
Menachem Ely received a B.S. in Accounting and Business & Management, and a J.D. with honors from the University of MD. He is a Partner in The TAARP Group, LLP’s Washington DC office. Prior to starting the firm, Menachem was the National Partner-in-Charge of Practice, Procedure & Tax Administration Services in KPMG’s Washington National Tax Practice, responsible for all technical practice and procedure matters.
Menachem was a Branch Chief for the Assistant Chief Counsel (Income Tax and Accounting) in the IRS National Office. Also at the IRS, he worked for three years in the Office of Chief Counsel’s Interpretative Division (honors program), where he drafted and published more than 30 General Counsel Memoranda and many other internal legal opinions. Menachem has also served as adjunct professor in the LLM program at Georgetown University Law School, teaching Federal Tax Practice and Procedure (Administrative Practice).
Menachem is a member of the Young Israel of Potomac, MD and a board member of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington.
Board of Directors : Judy Adler Sheer
Judy Adler Sheer was an Assistant Executive Director at the Council of Jewish Federations from 1993-1995. She spent 1975-1993 at national United Jewish Appeal, where she directed the University Programs and the Business & Professional Women’s departments, and was Associate Director of the Major Gifts Department. She trained lay leaders and staff, organized and led conferences, spoke at small and large venues, produced Jewish educational materials and led over 25 missions to Israel, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Austria, and the Former Soviet Union.
Judy was the founding Executive Director of Edah and the organizer, with Edah Director Rabbi Saul Berman, of its landmark first international conference in 1999. She was the Director of Volunteer Programs and Fellowships for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 2003-05.
As a consultant for Hadassah, she published Jewish text studies with leadership skills exercises. She has written brochures for the New York Organ Donor Network on Jewish perspectives on organ donation.
Judy is a leader in the Green Team of the Riverdale Jewish Center, implementing projects to encourage the community to recycle and reduce its energy usage. For Canfei Nesharim’s 2008 Chanukah campaign, she developed an extensive study program packet for children and adults on the importance of saving energy. She is married to Rabbi Charles Sheer, Director of the Department of Studies in Jewish Pastoral Care of HealthCare Chaplaincy. She has three married stepchildren and twelve grandchildren.
Board of Directors
| Halacha Committee
| Education and Curriculum Committee
| Science and Action Committee
| Administrative/Publicity Committee
| Eitz Chayim Hee Production Team
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