Meet our Wonderful Teachers at Kesher School...

Jewish Families LIVE!
students 4-5 years old

Rabbi Ruth Smith graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1994. She spent 9 years as a congregational rabbi during which time she developed and participated in programming for families with young children. While a pulpit rabbi, she was a teacher to students of all ages. Among the adult classes she has taught are: Exploration of the Ethical Teachings of the Jewish Holidays, A Spiritual Introduction to the Jewish Prayer Service, and a discussion group for intermarried couples. Currently she is a Jewish chaplain at the University of Maryland Medical Center. As a member of Congregation Beit Tikvah, she runs the monthly children's service for elementary age children. With the new Jewish Families LIVE program, she brings her experience building community with young children and their families to the Beit Tikvah Community. Rabbi Ruth and her partner, Larry, have twin 9 year old sons.

Judy Gerb earned her B.A. from McDaniel College. In addition to being a long time member of the Kesher School Committee, she is also an active member of Hadassah of Greater Baltimore. She has two children in middle school, and enjoys pottery and knitting. Judy is a licensed Occupational Therapist and received her training at Towson University. She has worked with pre-schoolers for several years and taught pottery to campers at Camp Louise. She currently works at the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation's Preschool.

Kesher School
Aleph, Bet, Gimmel Classes

Lisa Libowitz, better known as Morah Shira, (B.A., Indiana University, in
history and journalism) has taught Tanach and Values for the Kesher School
for nine years. Although she has no formal training in education, she has
devoted her life to the art of storytelling, and she approaches her teaching
at Kesher with a passion for the stories of our people. Through
storytelling, drama, music, games, art, and other modalities, she shares the
Torah with children in a meaningful, memorable way. When she is not teaching
at Kesher, she is usually performing, writing poetry, playing with her
whippets, driving her three daughters around town...or trying to find a few
quiet minutes with her husband, Steve.

Maia Meeron teaches Hebrew & Prayer Study. Maia Meeron teaches tefilah and Hebrew. She holds a B.A. in sociology and education from Beloit College, graduating with honors in sociology and Wisconsin state K-8 teacher certification, and has almost completed an M.A. in education, with specialization in Waldorf education, from Antioch New England Graduate School. She completed a two-week training course in the Orton-Gillingham method for teaching reading to those with dyslexia. Her teaching experience is in a variety of settings: an outdoor environmental education school, a class of multi-handicapped deaf young adults, Waldorf Schools, an adult education chanting class and Hebrew language class, and fourteen years at Kesher School. Because she attended first grade in Israel, Hebrew was the first language she learned to read and write. Maia brings her love of Hebrew and Israel, and the holiday songs she learned as a child, to the children at our school. Teaching through music, games, body gestures and
movement, worksheets and textbook exercises, some art and a drop of drama, Maia's students learn in chevruta pairs and perform prayers in preparation for leading them at synagogue. Maia strongly believes in learning by doing. If she's having fun teaching, the children will have fun learning. During the week, Maia helps development directors raise funds for The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. When not working, she organizes Torah readers for the congregation, chants and leads services a bit herself, sings in the choir, volunteers for the Baltimore Interfaith Hospitality Network, goes to theater performances with her mother, hikes, swims, reads, and sometimes gets a chance to knit, do yoga and pilates, and dance.

Deborah Buffalin teaches Zemanim. Biography Forthcoming.

Shorashim
Pre-teens at the B'nai Mitzvah age

Debbie Rosenberg is a Maryland State certified teacher with a decade of
experience in Maryland middle and high schools. She is currently the
Department Chair of Social Studies in a Maryland non-public school, and is
an adjunct instructor at the Center for Adult and Family Literacy at the
Community College of Baltimore County. She holds a B.A. from Beloit College,
an M.A. in American History from Portland State University, and her
educational certification courses were taken at the Johns Hopkins
University. Morah Debbie grew up in New York City, and attended Reform
synagogues and Workman's Circle sunday schools (which is where she got her
love of Yiddish and Jewish history). Through her adult life, she has
pursued increased knowledge of Judaism, culminating in her choice to pursue
a Jewish topic for her Master's Thesis (entitled Agricultural Aliyah: The
Am-Olam Movement in the United States), and her shift into Reconstructionist
Judaism. She continues her studies into Jewish Civilization by auditing
courses at the Baltimore Hebrew University in Biblical Jewish History and
Biblical Scholarship.