From President Delaney:

It’s my privilege to announce that Rachel Kanter and Jennifer Moses, two extraordinary members and volunteers, will be this year’s Honorees at our annual fundraising event celebrating Shomrei members for their service to our community. I’m also thrilled to share that Suzanna Grobman will be our Rising Star Honoree for her extraordinary contributions to family programming and Zamru. This year’s fundraising will support our thriving preschool, JLC, and continued staff development.

Save the Date! Please join us at Art and Soul to celebrate their accomplishments at Shomrei on Saturday night, February 7th at 7:30 pm

Please also place an ad honoring Rachel, Jennifer, and Suzanna for all they have given our community in our annual event Ad Journal.

Tickets and Event Ad Journal sales will begin next week. 

Here is an introduction to these amazing volunteers:

Rachel Kanter

Rachel, an acclaimed fiber artist and an active synagogue leader, has brought forward-thinking ideas to Shomrei. When she first joined 16 years ago, Rabbi Greenstein asked her to help him encourage women to wear Tallit and Kippot at services. Rachel responded by organizing a workshop teaching women to design and sew their own tallit.

Rachel soon joined forces with the author and painter Jennifer Moses to create art showings in our gallery space upstairs.

Under their guidance, the gallery has grown from exhibiting a handful of Shomrei artists to being a sought-after space for local and international Jewish artists. In the fall of 2024, Shomrei had the first gallery exhibition in the U.S., displaying the work of a group of Israeli photographers called Hayseret who documented protests in Israel. Thanks to Rachel and Jennifer’s curatorial skills, we are the only synagogue in Montclair with an art gallery. A committee of Shomrei artists works diligently with Rachel and Jennifer to design and implement three gallery shows a year.

Having grown up in a thriving Conservative Jewish community in Syracuse, Rachel is committed to Shomrei’s future. She was a key member of the 2020 Committee, a synagogue strategic group that, a decade ago, recommended creating a Hebrew School on Shabbat and a new voluntary dues model. More recently, she worked on the rabbi search committee and chaired the transition committee, which set up small conversational gatherings for congregants to meet Rabbi Julie. Over the years, Rachel has welcomed the community into her home to participate in social and educational programs like Women and Wine and By the Light of the Moon, and she has been an engaged and thoughtful Board member.

Rachel and her husband Andy Ely, an executive at Bloomberg, say their children Siona, Pacey, and Avital grew up feeling loved at Shomrei. They credit our congregation with inspiring all of their kids to value synagogue life and Jewish community.

Jennifer Moses

Jennifer Moses, a writer and painter, and her husband, Stuart, a criminal law professor, also joined Shomrei around 2008 when their son, Sam, was a sophomore in college and their twins, Rose and Jonathan, were ready to start high school.

They moved to Montclair after living 13 years in Baton Rouge. Jennifer says it was attending a Shomrei Taste of Shabbat that gave her the feeling she had found a Jewish home in New Jersey.

A prolific author of novels and memoirs, as well as many award-winning short stories and nonfiction articles, Jennifer is dedicated to sparking learning and creative endeavors at Shomrei. Both Jennifer and Stuart have been devoted participants at Torah study and have generously funded a project to illuminate our glass windows. In addition to initiating our gallery space, Jennifer illustrated a former Hine Ma Tov prayer book with her artwork and spearheaded the Shomrei Hebrew conversation group Chug Ivrit that now meets weekly. She engages our community with her intellect and humor by offering readings and book discussions while also sharing her insightful Times of Israel essays in Shomrei Week.

As a longstanding member, Jennifer feels great joy at seeing the growing number of young families joining our community, and she’s now thrilled as a grandma to bring her grandkids to Shomrei’s vibrant song and prayer services.

Suzanna Grobman

Suzanna grew up attending B’nai Jeshurun synagogue and the Heschel School in New York City. When she moved to Montclair with her husband, Travis Weiss, and daughter Rafa, she was determined to recreate the joyful, nourishing Jewish community she grew up in.

Once Rafa joined the preschool, Suzanna immediately advocated for a twice-a-month tot service and for

more ways to make Judaism accessible to young families. She reached out tirelessly to young parents, encouraging them to bring their kids to Shabbat and Kiddush, and she personally hosted fun get-togethers like Friday night potlucks at her home. And along the way, she and Travis added two children to their family, Mack and Frankie.

While initially focused on engaging young parents, Suzanna recently became co-VP of Programming, creating events that brought our various generations together as one big Jewish family. Whether recreating a 1920s Speakeasy for a Saturday night Purim party, an Israeli Shuk for Yom Ha’atzmaut, or a Saturday night social dinner at Marcels, Suzanna used her skills and creativity to make the food plentiful, the activities engaging, and the decor glamorous.

In addition to her organizational talents, Suzanna’s soulful singing energizes our Zamru services. This year, she was chosen for Hadar’s Sha’’tz Fellowship at the Rising Song Institute to enhance her skills in prayer leadership. I am deeply grateful that Suzanna has also made the time to join the Board as well as the Strategic Implementation committee. With her enormous talents and energy, Shomrei is destined to thrive.

Join us at Art and Soul!
I hope that you can join me, Rabbi Juile, and the whole Shomrei Board in celebrating Rachel, Jennifer, and Suzanna on the evening of Saturday, February 7th, at our Art and Soul event. I also hope you can express your gratitude to them in your own words by placing an ad honoring their contributions in our event ad journal.

Tickets and Event Ad Journal sales will begin next week. 

Warmly,
Aaron Delaney
President
Shomrei Emunah