Our Leadership

OUR LEADERSHIP

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RABBI ADAM FRANK , SPIRITUAL LEADER Was born and raised in a Zionist, non-observant household in Atlanta, Georgia.  Profoundly, his parents gave Adam and his brothers (Joshua, Aaron and Isaac) biblical names, and a weekend with Rabbi Yitz Greenberg inspired his parents to send their children to Jewish day school.   While he was in second grade, Adam's parents decided to keep a kosher home and Friday night Shabbat dinners became the norm. Upon entering public high school, Shabbat dinners gave way to Adam's participation in football, basketball and baseball games for the Raiders of Riverwood High.  The choice of Emory University allowed Adam to stay in Atlanta to attend the wrestling matches and golf tournaments of his brothers.  While at Emory, Adam was elected captain of the school's varsity basketball team. Post -college Adam worked in his father's chemical and equipment

manufacturing firm for 4 years. Adam traveled to Israel several  times during his early adult years and in 1993 he left his family's company for the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) year program in Israel. 

Post -college Adam worked in his father's chemical and equipment manufacturing firm for 4 years. Adam traveled to Israel several times during his early adult years and in 1993 he left his family's company for the  WUJS year program in Israel.

 Upon return to the U.S., Adam pursued a master's degree in Jewish education at the University of Judaism, now the American Jewish University (AJU) in Los Angeles.  Eventually, he entered the institution's Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and was part of the school's first ordination class in 1999.  

Adam's first work after seminary was as director of Ramah Darom's year-round Jewish retreat center.  In the summer of 2001, Adam came to Israel in response to the increased terrorist activity against the country.  

Rabbi Frank is married to Lynne Weinstein and they are blessed with children Nadav (Oct. '03), Ella (Apr. '05) and Tamar (Aug. '08). Since 2005, Rabbi Frank has been engaged as the third rabbi in the history of Beit Knesset Moreshet Yisrael.  

Rabbi Frank can be reached at:   rabbi@moreshetyisrael.org
Rabbi Frank's weblog:  Click Here

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RENE FEINSTEIN, ROSH VA'AD Rene made Aliyah in 2006 from Las Vegas, Nevada where she was active in the Jewish Community.  She served on the boards of Conservative synagogue Temple Beth Sholom, the Hebrew Academy and the Women's Division of the Jewish Federation.  She served on the Federation task force that brought together the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform segments of the community for form a community day school.  Her first trip to Israel was in 1994 with a UJA mission.  Rene returned in 1996 to scout out yeshivot and in 1997 began her studies at Yeshiva Neve Yerushalayim, living in Har Nof for a year before buying her own apartment in the German Colony.  She left Neve to found the Executive Women's Learning Center at Aish HaTorah in the Old City.

From 2000 to 2008 she served on the International Board of Governors of Machon Schechter and, when the organization divided into a graduate school and a rabbinical school, she served on the International Board of Governors of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary.From 2000 to 2008 she served on the International Board of Governors of Machon Schechter and, when the organization divided into a graduate school and a rabbinical school, she served on the International Board of Governors of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary.

 Rene began her legal career in 1979 as a staff attorney for the Supreme Court of Nevada, and did criminal defense work until returning to law school for a master's degree in tax law.  She spent the last 15 years of her career doing bankruptcy and commercial litigation, working on nearly all of the chapter 11 cases filed by Las Vegas casinos.  Rene's legal sideline has been the representation of rabbis and cantors in their contract negotiations with their congregations and she continues that work from here, via telephone and email.

 When she lived in Nevada, Rene was an avid skier.  During her many trips to Israel between 1998 and 2006, when she made aliyah, Rene enjoyed hiking the length and breadth of the land of Israel with her friend Tova, a tour guide.  Her favorites were the water hikes, and the cliffs with ropes and ladders.  For the last several summers she and a group of friends (mostly women rabbis and cantors) have braved the whitewater of the major U.S. rivers for 4 alternately relaxing and exhilarating days of rafting and camping.  

 Rene is a regular at the Moreshet Yisrael morning minyan and says that the warmth and good will that the minyan provides on a daily basis is an important part of the life she loves here.

Rene can be reached at: roshvaad@moreshetyirael.org