Volunteer Leaderships

Karen and her husband Andrew joined Beth El in 2013 and enjoy the full range of its Youth and Family Education programs. Their daughter Sydney attends Kadima, and Karen’s step-daughters Abigail and Clara have been involved in the B'nei Mitzvah program, and have spent many summer sessions at Camp Kee Tov. Karen co-chaired Beth El’s annual gala for two years, and previously acted as Vice President-at-Large on the San Francisco Fog Rugby Football Club’s board of directors. Professionally, she is the Director of Human Resources for Rubicon Programs. Karen has a Master of Science degree in Organization Development and the Senior Professional in Human Resources certification from the Human Resources Certification Institute.

Lorianna Seidlitz-Smith has been a member of Congregation Beth El with her husband, Nicholas Smith and two sons Elijah and Joshua, since 2011. Lorianna was also a member as a child with her great grandmother, Sally Seidlitz. Lorianna started out being active in the BENS community while their son Elijah was attending. He now attends Camp Kee Tov and is enrolled in Kadima. Along with serving on the gala committee for four years, Lorianna has also been on the membership committee and active in many other programs. She has been working hard to revamp the Women of Beth El program. Lorianna has a background in business operations and recently went back to college to pursue her Business degree. Lorianna is a bay area native with strong ties to the greater community.

Marc and his family have been members of Congregation Beth El since their first Shabbaton, in 2012. Since then, they've been hooked and his kids are deeply committed members and ruach-bringers of the Kee Tov community. His older daughter is also training for her Bat Mitzvah at Kadima. Marc grew up in a conservative synagogue and went to a Jewish day school out east and loves the religious inclusiveness and diversity at Beth El. He currently also serves on another nonprofit board dedicated to research and education for Veterans health. He has a PhD in Linguistics from UC Berkeley and by day works in analytics and data science.

Jeremy and his wife Suzanne, son Miles and daughter Sophia have been members of Congregation Beth El since 2009. Both Miles and Sophia have been active members of BENS, Kadima and Camp Kee Tov since they arrived in Berkeley. By day, Jeremy is Chief Operating Officer of the Global Health Group at the University of California San Francisco, where he works to help guide overall strategy, fundraising, and strategic planning of the Group. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Director of Global Viral, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the exploration of the microbial world, where he oversaw the organization’s day-to-day administration and operations. He has almost 15 years of experience managing international health projects, including 3 years living in Cameroon and 1.5 years in Botswana, where he was the Deputy Country Director for ITECH Botswana, dedicated to building clinical capacity for the care and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS. Jeremy holds an MA from George Washington University and a BA from McGill University.

CONTACT JEREMY

My first introduction to Beth El happened soon after I moved to Berkeley from Havana, Cuba in April of 2001. My wife Becky was Bat-Mitzvahed at Beth El and also worked at Camp Kee Tov as a counselor for many summers, so Beth El preschool was a natural choice for our daughter when she turned two. Soon we started making friends with other families, and I immediately felt welcomed and accepted by the community without even being Jewish. I was touched by that welcoming feeling. Many of the people we met at BENS are still our closest friends, and I think of them as family. (Which is why they get to tease me for singing really loud in services even though I don't know a lick of Hebrew.)

I'm a cabinet maker by profession, so over the years I have helped out in that capacity here and there, from making zig-zag menorahs for the preschool kids to decorate (oops--not kosher!), to assembling a cardboard cruise ship facade for the Gala one year, to building the acacia Torah study table that resides in the Beit Midrash. I'm very humbled by this opportunity to serve as a board member and look forward to being able to continue contributing to the success of our Temple.

Our family has been a member of Beth El since 2007-2008. My husband Andy is Jewish by birth and we raised our two daughters in the Jewish tradition. We attended Chug Mishpacha, the Saturday family program and both children became Bat Mitzvah at Beth El. They also have been ardent Kee Tov campers and staff members. I am not Jewish but have sought to make a meaningful connection to the community that so nurtured my children and family. I became involved in the refugee resettlement efforts initiated at Beth El (in conjunction with JFCS - East Bay) and have helped to resettle several refugees and asylum seekers. I also attend Torah study. I find personal resonance with the Jewish tradition, the holiday cycle, and with a spiritual community that is so diverse in its approaches to the idea of God. Professionally, I am a visual artist and member of the collective gallery, Mercury20 in Oakland.

Jennifer has been a member of Beth El since 2008. A native of Los Angeles, Jennifer has lived in Northern California for most of her life where she worked as a middle school English teacher for the past 17 years. Last year, Jennifer started a job as a middle school Jewish studies teacher at The Brandeis School of San Francisco. She has also worked as a Room Representative for Kadima. Jennifer’s family is well connected with Beth El with strong ties to the community. Her two daughters- ages 9 and 12 have both been at Beth El since nursery school and both attend Camp Kee Tov.

Miriam Schultz is a psychiatrist in Berkeley who has worked primarily with pregnant and postpartum women in her almost-15 years in private practice. At Stanford School of Medicine (Dept. of Psychiatry) where she's an associate clinical professor, she treats patients with medically-complicated pregnancies in the Lucille Packard obstetrics clinic. She completed training in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in 2021, and has integrated this medicine into her treatment offerings. 

Miriam has acted as clinical consultant and advisor in various capacities, from working on statewide health education initiatives, to helping build programs for Dignity Health that increase access to mental health care at a national level, to advising on pharmaceutical development for postpartum depression.  She has given talks and trainings throughout the western U.S. about maternal mental health. As a volunteer she has consulted for JFCS's Fussy Baby program and served as a board member at Tehiyah Day School. 

She and her family have been Beth El members since 2012.

Bonnie Cooperstein

Bonnie has been a member for almost 30 years. She has served on the Ritual, Gala, and Shabbaton committees, and is presently Co-Chair of the Gift Shop, she has also helped in the office when needed. It was Bonnie's pleasure to have set up the Chardonnay Shabbats for 7 years. Bonnie's first and only Bat Mitzvah was at Congregation Beth El in 2018. Bonnie is now honored to serve as a Trustee on the Board of Directors and will continue to help any way she can.