Dor l’dor – generation to generation – weaves a common thread through our young Jewish leaders’ profiles. For leaders raised with cherished experiences at Jewish summer camps and youth programs, their involvement continues lifelong friendships, family ties and traditions. For Jews by choice who have taken on leadership roles, their involvement has yielded the unique benefits of joining a community and tradition that has remained vital and engaging for at least 4,000 years.
Our dynamic cover couple – Denise and Eric Kaye – radiate well-balanced energy. Denise shares answers even before the questions begin to flow, while Eric carefully contemplates what questions might be heading his way.
Both are Jewish communal professionals – one in a congregational setting, the other in a Jewish agency – who also volunteer for a variety of Jewish organizations and events.
Their paths to Jewish leadership from opposite ends of the country both began in strong Jewish families, were cultivated in youth programs and flowered when they quite literally bumped into each other at Jewish camp.
“Jewish summer camp has given me my husband and my best friends,” says Denise. “My maid of honor, Staci Segal, was my roommate my first year at camp.”
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Denise grew up outside the small town of Wheeling, WV, closely connected to an intimate Jewish community of about 100 families.
“My parents were always involved with the Jewish community. My mother and father served as presidents of the congregation (Temple Shalom). And my mother was religious school principal. I began attending Camp Joseph and Betty Harlam in the Poconos by the age of 7,” Denise explains. “Friday night dinners were always special. Our Jewish upbringing kept us connected to the community, which cultivated my sister Erica’s aspirations to become a rabbi.”
The family’s first link to Arizona was forged when Erica decided to study abroad in Israel for her junior year of college. One day Erica decided to sit with students she didn’t know and met Craig Weiss, a University of Pennsylvania student from Arizona.
“They fell in love,” says Denise.
Wanting to be near Craig, in 1997 Erica became the student rabbi at Camp Charles Pearlstein, now known as Camp Daisy and Harry Stein.
Meanwhile, with a natural inclination to multi-task, motivate and teach, Denise decided to emulate her mother’s example as an educator. After earning her teaching degree in Tampa in 1998, her sister suggested she serve as unit head at Camp Pearlstein.
“And the song leader is really cute,” Denise says Erica told her.
Planning a short trip to Arizona, Denise instead found her future and her destiny.
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Eric grew up in the much larger greater Phoenix metropolitan area, where he attended Temple Solel. “Both my parents taught Sunday school, and we were very involved in the Jewish community as a family,” recalled Eric. “I can remember my parents taking me to synagogue every Friday night.”
Like Denise, Eric’s Jewish foundation included summer camp. He attended both Camp Swift and Camp Charles Pearlstein in Prescott, AZ. His involvement in Jewish youth programs fostered his love of music. “Musical abilities run in our family,” says Eric. “I started playing the piano when I was 5 and studied with a teacher who graduated from the Julliard School of Music. I’ve always loved it.”
His talent for music did not go unnoticed. He was asked to be the NFTY-SW song leader at age 15 and was the song leader at Camp Pearlstein for several years. He was a music teacher at Temple Solel during high school and more recently at Temple Chai.
“My older sister Eve Goodman (the administrative assistant at Temple Kol Ami) plays the piano, and my younger sister Emily Kaye Geraci, with whom I created a music CD, is a cantorial soloist,” says Eric, adding he often joins Emily singing on the bimah at Temple Chai.
The CD, “E2Kaye Magadlu” (How great are Your works), reveals this humble man’s remarkable accomplishments in music. The harmony and instrumental perfection of the siblings’ performance attests to their shared passion for music and Judaism.
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As Denise was preparing to drive to Phoenix, Eric agreed to volunteer just a few days to help out at Camp Pearlstein. As a young man with a budding career, his mind was set on things that did not involve camp, so a few days was all he could spare.
During staff orientation Denise took slight notice of Eric, the song leader her sister had said was cute. She was focused on the responsibilities of her new role as unit leader. As the two left orientation, each with their own thoughts and own direction, they literally bumped heads. Denise laughs as she recalls the moment, “We bumped heads and just started talking. All it took was for us to meet just that once.”
“The camp atmosphere really cultivated the relationship,” recalls Eric. “A day is like a week at camp, so we got to know one another fast – it was like speed dating.”
Eric decided to extend his stay at camp as the song leader for the whole summer. As camp came to a close, Eric’s friend and fellow camp staffer Brian Schanerman helped Denise get a teaching position in the school District where he teaches. Brian’s wife, Susan, is the cantorial soloist and religious school director at Tempe’s Temple Emanuel, which is where Eric and Denise began their dynamic life of Jewish action as a team. The two became youth group advisors for Temple Emanuel.
Married in 2001, their involvement has continued to expand. Denise says they have a connection with every congregation in town through friends and family.
Denise is now the program director at Congregation Beth Israel. She is responsible for all programming, annual fund-raising gala and the family education program at CBI.
Eric is the first (and only) director of Jewish Family Home Care of Arizona, a program of Jewish Family & Children’s Service. He is a professional musician and a volunteer who conducts Shabbat services for various independent and assisted living facilities, such as Arizona Grand and Vi Greyhawk. For the past five years, he has been the cantorial soloist for Congregation Beth Israel’s free community High Holy Day service.
Eric was inspired to start the Jewish Family Home Care of Arizona through his relationship with his grandmother Emily Koen, a Holocaust survivor and Sephardic Jew. “When my grandfather died, the same year I met Denise, she (my grandmother) was uncomfortable accepting help from outsiders. So I started caring for her, helping her with driving, taking care of her home and so forth,” says Eric.
He found that his grandmother was most comfortable with his help, or that of another Jewish community member. Thinking there may be other seniors in the community with similar needs and preferences, he started the Home Care services in 2010.
“Denise and Eric live, work, play and volunteer in everything Jewish,” says Jodi Woodnick, the director of the camp where the couple met. “They embody what it means to be involved in the Jewish community.”
Despite Denise and Eric’s busy schedules, they find plenty of time for their children, Asher, 8, and Lirit, 5. Asher began sounding the shofar at services when he was just 3. Their lives are entwined in their parents’ myriad activities.
The entire family participates in events Denise plans at Beth Israel.
“I get my whole family involved at Temple,” says Denise. “It’s more than a job, it’s my community too.”
In fact, Eric has taken a leading role in Temple’s Welcome Home Project that Denise planned with CBI Senior Rabbi Stephen Kahn. “Eric was instrumental with other volunteers to create the process for the Rachamim (caring) Committee, to make sure when people are sick, or in need of a meal or need people to sit shiva …we have volunteers.”
Eric has been joined in that volunteer project by Denise’s mother, Linda Burech. Linda and Stan Burech moved to Arizona soon after their first grandchild was born to join Eric’s parents, Julia and Harvey Kaye, in being grandparents actively involved in raising another generation of children confident in their Jewish identity.
“I love the fact my kids feel so comfortable with their Jewish identity, which I think is because we have modeled it,” says Denise. Noting Asher and Lirit attend a secular school, she says that Asher’s teacher has told her how wonderful it is to have a student so confident and comfortable in his Jewish identity that he teaches his classmates about the Jewish holidays.
Since Erica and Craig married and also have two children, the Burechs now have four grandchildren in Arizona.
“Two girls from Wheeling, West Virginia, ended up married and raising kids in Arizona all because Erica decided to sit with students she didn’t know one night in Israel,” says Denise.
But their family is even bigger thanks to their participation in the community.
“It’s an automatic second family,” says Denise. “We all share the good times, the simcha, and celebrate when something good happens. But in times of need, you know these people will be there for you in the hard times too.”
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ANGIE GOORMAN
Executive Board of the Jewish Federation of North America and Jewish Foundation; Co-Chair for Connections 2013
As one of Southern Arizona’s ambitious young Jewish leaders, Angie Goorman is well known for her enthusiasm and commitment to service in the Jewish community. Whether advocating for Israel or chairing a committee for the betterment of the Jewish community, she can be found at the forefront of the mission.
Angie’s decision to convert to Judaism was influenced by her mother-in-law, Mickey Goorman. She says Mickey’s genuine and complete acceptance of her opened her eyes to the compassion she has found in Jews. One of her fondest memories is of Mickey showing her how to light the Hanukkah candles. “My love for Mickey and Judaism is similar to the heart of Ruth,” says Angie. Since her conversion 12 years ago, Angie has embraced every opportunity to take on leadership roles in the Jewish community.
She began her involvement with the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona in 2007, when she was asked to be on the Young Women’s Cabinet. She jumped into Super Sunday, making calls to community members for campaign contributions. She spearheaded events and promoted outreach efforts, such as coffee tastings, fashion shows, kugel bake offs, and Yoga and Yogurt for the Women’s Philanthropy branch of JFSA.
Her first trip to Israel in 2010 changed her view of life and gave her an “overwhelming passion about Israel,” which prompted her to join the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
After becoming a Lion of Judah, which entails a donation of $5,000 or more to a Jewish federation annual campaign, she says she “felt compelled to … join other Jewish female leaders in endowing my Lion pin.” The endowment ensures her annual gift will continue into perpetuity.
Angie, her husband, Scott Goorman, and their two children have been active members of Temple Emanuel in Tucson for more than eight years. The children attend religious school and consistently receive awards at school for their contributions to “making the world a better place.”
Angie described the greatest benefit of her involvement in the Jewish community with the words, “The Jewish community has been like a trusted friend, and everything I have given has been returned to me five-fold.”
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JON HAUER
Author, Musician and Attorney
Author, musician and attorney Jon Hauer is a man of many talents who is actively involved in the Jewish community. As secretary and personnel committee chair at Temple Kol Ami, his involvement is a natural path, given his Jewish upbringing.
He recalls attending Tucson’s Congregation Chaverim, where his parents were presidents of the congregation. He led prayers from the young age of 7, gave a speech at his older brother’s bar mitzvah at the age of 10 (much to his brother’s horror), and attended religious school, BBYO, and summer camp at Camp Pearlstein (known today as Camp Daisy and Harry Stein). He says his parents kept him connected by engaging him in Jewish social events and rituals. The Jewish friends he made in religious school and at camp decades ago are still close friends today, although many left Tucson for other cities and states.
For example, he interpreted a midrash for his bar mitzvah, which, he says, “evoked creativity, critical thinking and practice at questioning everything.” He attributes becoming a musician to his fatherhood because, in his own words, “As a parent of two, I started dreaming of being a rock star.” This dual passion has led him to author two books and perform regularly with a band in its members’ living rooms.
He described Inside Passage, his first book, as “a breezy and funny kind of thriller that involves an attorney who helps out a cruise line – where people mysteriously begin to die.” His second book, which is in progress, involves the complexities of parental relationships in a ghost-town setting. Although he would enjoy staying home to finish the sequel he has been working on, and strumming a few songs on the guitar, he works in law to make a living, which his wife, Maggie, appreciates. Maggie is also actively involved at Temple Kol Ami, where she has been instrumental in the progress of the preschool program as a member of the temple’s Preschool Parents.
When asked what he has gained in life through his involvement with the Jewish community, Jon said, “In Judaism, I have found a place that I feel I innately belong. Even better, I get to share that feeling of belonging with my family and community.”
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ANDRE IVORY
Youth Director at Congregation Or Chadash
As a Jew by choice, Andre Ivory says he found his life when he converted to Judaism. When Andre was 13, his father passed away – but not before urging Andre to find a foundation to build his life upon. The youngest of four children and the only one left at home with his mother, he was thrust into the role of man of the house at the same time he was struggling with his identity.
He was raised in a Christian home in the mid-city Crenshaw District in California, but gravitated to Jewish friends in high school. Through many hurdles and triumphs, Andre converted to Judaism 13 years ago with the help of a Jewish friend and mentor, Rob Freedman. This year is his bar mitzvah year.
Following conversion both spiritual and professional opportunities began to surface. As a hockey coach he was asked to attend Camp Ramah in Toronto, Canada. He says, “It is in Toronto that I grew up Jewishly – that’s my home.” He attributes his 11 years as the camp’s hockey coach as a key to his understanding of living and growing with other Jews. Due to his passion for youth programs, hockey and Judaism, he was asked to direct the youth program at Toronto’s Beth Tzedec, the largest synagogue in North America serving 2,400 members.
He decided to make Scottsdale his new home in July 2011 to be closer to his mother and sisters who live in Arizona. But he says he became involved in Arizona’s Jewish community because his Jewish family is where his heart is.
“The Jewish culture, ethics and traditions refine us and makes us much happier people,” explains Andre. “Being involved in any way means so much to the Jewish community; we all need one another.”
When asked what he would miss if he were not involved in the Jewish community, he said he would “miss the beauty of Judaism, Shabbat candles, the small things that bring so much joy, and the feeling of being a part of a great people.”
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ALEX SACHS
Owner of Itty Bitty Sports
Youth Sports Director and Maccabi Delegation Head at Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center
A silver medalist in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Alex Sachs serves as a leader and role model for the Jewish community’s most precious resource, our children. Through her passion for sports and Judaism she teaches little athletes about personal values, teamwork and the fundamentals of sports while fostering their self-esteem and self-discipline at Itty Bitty Sports, a business she launched in 2009.
Throughout her childhood, her family moved for her father’s education and career aspirations. She was born in Brazil, but her family moved to New Jersey when she was 2. Her mother is a Jew by choice; her father, an Egyptian Jew.
“My mother always kept Judaism active and alive in our home when were growing up,” she recalls. “When we moved to Paris when I was 16 years old, we had to keep our Jewish heritage a secret. It was dangerous to be a Jew in that time and place; however, we still observed quietly.”
Later she returned to Brazil where she earned her master’s degree in sports psychology. She began her professional soccer career playing for Brazil’s first professional soccer team for women – the Corinthians. Her professional training, experiences and accomplishments paved the way for her expertise in coaching and mentoring young athletes today.
While she has been active and observant in the Jewish community throughout her life, she says a trip to Israel for the JCC Maccabi games in 2011 changed her life. She says she “came back as a different person, and now I’m even more proud of my Jewish heritage.”
As the youth sports director and Maccabi delegation head at Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, Alex has an opportunity to influence those she coaches in positive ways. “The skills students learn can be used both on and off the field,” she says.
Reflecting on why she continues to stay connected to the Jewish community, she says the greatest benefit is the way everyone makes up a unique community. She adds, “I think people who don’t get involved miss out and have misconceptions about the Jewish community. It’s all about helping one another.”
