CNS Summer Camp 2022 "Hope - From Darkness to Light"

Wed July 27:

The Sh’mittah Year: The Torah’s Template for Hope - Speaker: Rabbi Marianne Novak
Marianne will help us connect our daily life to the torah. She will speak to us about how the torah can help us live a more fulfilling and Jewish life.
Zionism & Hope from Herzl to Today - Speaker: Gil Troy
Gil, who will be speaking to us from Jerusalem, will present his perspective on Zionism from the past through today.

Wed. Aug 3:

Saving Jewish Lives in the Ukraine - Speaker: Daniel Elbaum
Dan will share with us his trip to Ukraine in aiding refugees he helped immigrate to Israel.
Israel: The Hope for Saving the Planet - Speaker: Leah Polin
Leah will share her perspective about the innovation happening throughout the state of Israel.

Wed. Aug 10:

Music from Around the World
Cantor Matan Mental. Cantor Matan, with his rich background as a native tenor, will provide a glimpse into the multi-ethnic musical traditions of Israeli society.
Cantor Rachel Rosenberg. With strong ties to all three major Jewish denominations, Cantor Rachel will provide musical perspectives for innovative and meaningful expressions of Jewish life.

*Proof of COVID-19 vaccination status, including booster, if eligible, is required to attend this event. Please have your vaccination card with you or on your smartphone. You will be required to show it in order to enter. You will also be required to sign a Hadassah waiver form at the time of entry. Also, you may be required to wear a mask to attend this event. For everyone’s health and safety, there will be no exceptions to this policy.

Rabbi Marianne Novak

Rabbi Marianne Novak received her semikha, rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Maharat in 2019. She served her rabbinic internships at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, New Jersey. Rabbi Novak has been on the faculty of the Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning for over 25 years and has served as gabbait and Bat Mitzvah tutor for the Skokie Women’s Tefillah Group. She has served as Scholar-in-Residence and lecturer at various congregations. She received her B.A. cum laude from Barnard College and has a JD from the School of Law of Washington University in St. Louis. This fall, Rabbi Novak joined the Judaic studies staff at Akiva-Schechter Jewish Day School. Additionally, she is an educator with the Jewish Learning Collab and has recently joined the Hadassah Foundation Board. She lives in Skokie, IL with her family.

Gil Troy

A Distinguished Scholar in North American History at McGill University currently living in Jerusalem, Professor Gil Troy is an award-winning American presidential historian and a leading Zionist activist. Designated an Algemeiner J-100, one of the top 100 people "positively influencing Jewish life," Troy wrote The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s, and eight other books on the American presidency. One leading historian called Age of Clinton “the best book on the man and his times.” His latest book, co-authored with the former Soviet Prisoner of Zion and human rights activist Natan Sharansky, Never Alone: Prison, Politics and My People, was published by PublicAffairs of Hachette. Troy’s previous book, The Zionist Ideas was a 2019 National Jewish Book Award Finalist. Troy’s book Moynihan’s Moment: America’s Fight against Zionism as Racism, describes the fall of the UN, the rise of Reagan and the spread of Anti-Zionism.  Jewish Ideas Daily designated it one of 2012’s “best books.” Troy just completed writing the introductions as Editor-in-Chief for an exciting new edition of Theodor Herzl's Zionist Writings, to be published by Koren Books in launching its Library of the Jewish People. And he has served as consultant and writer for a series of videos based on the Zionist Ideas for OpenDor Media, to be released this spring. Troy was a featured commentator on CNN’s popular multipart documentaries, The Eighties, The Nineties, and The 2000s. He has been interviewed on most major North American TV and Radio networks, with recent essays in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, the Hill, The Daily Beast - and a weekly column for the Jerusalem Post.

Daniel Elbaum

Dan Elbaum is the Head of North America for The Jewish Agency and President and CEO of the Jewish Agency International Development. In this role, he leads and oversees the over 90-year-old organization’s work in all of North America. Elbaum has appeared in media outlets ranging from NBC Dateline to Al Jazeera, and has published opinion pieces in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and other publications in the U.S. and Israel. In the course of his responsibilities, he regularly interacts with the over 1,500 Israeli Shlichim (Israeli emissaries) who work for The Jewish Agency in North America.Prior to assuming his current position, he was Chief Advocacy Officer for the American Jewish Committee where he oversaw the organization’s advocacy efforts around the world. He had previously served as AJC’s Director of Regional Offices, and before that as Regional Director of AJC Chicago. He came to AJC after six years as Civil Rights Counsel and Director of Development for the Anti-Defamation League’s Midwest Region. Before entering Jewish communal life, Elbaum was a felony prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.

Leah Polin

LEAH GOLDSTEIN POLIN is a Chicago native and a graduate of Roosevelt U, Northwestern U and what is now Spertus Institute, formerly the College of Jewish Studies. After years of teaching elementary school she founded and was the director of the Dawn Schuman Institute for Jewish Learning which provided people in the metropolitan Chicago area an arena in which to learn a variety of Jewish subjects and share Jewish ideas and thought in comfortable informal settings. She has organized Jewish heritage tours to many interesting and exotic countries and has visited Israel over 60 times. Hadassah has been her major area of interest for over 50 years and she has also held leadership positions in many Jewish, educational and community organizations in the Chicago area. She is the mother of 4, and the grandmother of 14 grandchildren, 11 of whom currently live in Israel.

Cantor Matan Mental

Jerusalem native tenor Matan Meital has a rich background in Jewish music. Following his bar mitzvah he started leading services at Kehilat Moreshet Avraham. Growing up in Israel, he absorbed the multi-ethnic musical traditions of Israeli society. His interests include Sephardic and Ashkenazic music, piano and Arab instruments, as well as opera and show tunes. Cantor Meital studied chazzanut under Ner Tamid Ezra Habonim Cantor Emeritus David Brandhandler, z”l and is a proud member of the Cantors Assembly, the contorate association of the Conservative Movement and the largest professional cantorial organization in the world. He also studied music and voice production at Northwestern University where he was a member of ShireiNU, the campus Jewish a cappella group. Cantor Meital holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and a Masters of Engineering Management from McCormick School of Engineering, both at Northwestern University. Cantor Meital has led Shabbat and holiday services and has performed concerts across the Midwest over the past twenty years. He is the former cantor of Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob, and for the past five years has helped lead High Holiday services at Congregation Beth Shalom, alongside CBS Cantor Steve Stoehr. Cantor Meital believes that caring for and preserving the earth is a basic Jewish value. When not engaged in musical activities, Cantor Meital works in clean energy, promoting sustainability for the next generation as an expert in battery energy storage. He has given lectures and presentations on the topic at various universities, including the University of Illinois in Chicago and the University of St. Thomas at St. Paul. Cantor Meital lives in Chicago with his beloved wife Sarah Bier, and three beautiful children Arava, Orelya, and Cole.

Cantor Rachel Rosenberg

Hazzan Rachel Rosenberg has served as the cantor at Congregation Rodfei Zedek in Chicago since 2011. She is a member of the Cantors Assembly, has served on its Executive Council and has long been a member of its Education Committee. Rachel studied psychology and music at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Jewish studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and earned her Masters of Management degree at Northwestern University. Rachel grew up with strong ties to each of the three major Jewish denominations and seeks to cultivate innovative, meaningful expressions of Jewish life with diverse communities of all ages. Rachel and her husband, Chuck, are founding members of the well-known Chicago-based musical ensemble, “Shakshuka,” featuring Israeli, Sephardic, and original music “spiced with jazz.” The group has performed at many concerts and festivals including the Greater Chicago Jewish Festival and Chicago’s City Winery. They were also welcomed as artists-in-residence by the Jewish community of Alaska! Rachel is looking forward to sharing her music as she returns to Hadassah’s summer event.