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For information about the TBY Professional Staff, please make sure you are logged into your TBY Member Portal above or call the TBY Office at (949) 644-1999

TBY Board of Trustees President

Adrienne Cohen grew up in Orange County when the Jewish community was smaller and more spread out. Her parents Char and Sam Salkin nurtured her Jewish identity and encouraged her participation in Jewish activities. She was the president of Shoshana BBG and was active in the Temple Beth Tikvah youth group. She maintains several friendships from her B'nai Brith and Beth Tikvah days. Her first trip to Israel was with NFTY where she celebrated her 17th birthday and became a Bat Mitzvah on Masada.
 
In August 1995 Adrienne Cohen joined Temple Bat Yahm. She gave birth to her first daughter Sara shortly thereafter. Her daughter Haley was born three years later. Both daughters participated in Parent & Toddler classes at the Temple and were graduates of TBY Preschool. They then went on to religious school and each had their Bat Mitzvah at TBY. Adrienne counts their b'not mitzvah as two of the most joyful days of her life.
 
Adrienne started her journey as part of TBY leadership on the Membership Committee before Sara’s Bat Mitzvah. She later served as membership chair and religious life chair. Modeling participation at Temple for her daughters has always been important to Adrienne as she strongly believes that we all have a responsibility to contribute to and support our Jewish community. In addition, the connectivity and friendships that come with active participation feels wonderful.
Adrienne is an insurance defense and coverage lawyer who runs a 10-attorney firm with offices in both Southern and Northern California. She is both honored and humbled to be the President of Temple Bat Yahm.

 

Our Staff

Rabbi Miriam Philips - JCAL (Religious School) Director

Rabbi Miriam Philips enjoys serving as the Director of Youth Education and Family Engagement (also known as the JCAL Director) for Temple Bat Yahm. JCAL, the Jewish Center for Arts and Learning, encapsulates Rabbi Miriam’s learning philosophy: that children learn best in community and through doing. After all, the world - and Judaism - stand on three things: Torah (love of learning and questioning), Avodah (service to God) and G’milut Chasadim (acts of loving kindness). In Judaism, learning and doing are intertwined.

Rabbi Philips grew up in rural Washington State, where her family had to work to be Jewish, and so started her on her path toward the rabbinate. She also spent part of her childhood in  Seal Beach, CA, from which Orange County town her husband Danny also hails. Rabbi Philips attended Brandeis University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a major in History. After college, Rabbi Miriam volunteered in Israel for a year with Project Otzma (sponsored by the Long Beach Federation) and worked for congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area. For rabbinical school, she attended Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC) in Jerusalem and LA. While there she earned her Master’s degree in Education.

Before joining Temple Bat Yahm, Rabbi Philips served as the Director of Lifelong Learning at Temple Emanuel in Andover, MA, for four years. Then she and her family moved to Silicon Valley so she could take a position as Director of Family Learning at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, CA. Rabbi Miriam and her family now consider themselves home in Orange County and at Temple Bat Yahm.

Rabbi Miriam is the proud (and busy) mom of two children. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, gardening, reading and dancing, which have now become family activities. Her blessing for her children is her same wish for all the children (and human beings) at TBY: may you be curious and kind.

      

Lesa Hodgkins
Accounts Receivable
lhodgkins@tby.org
Contact Lesa about membership financial status, Preschool and/or JCAL School payments, or high volume ticket sales.

Debbe Katz
Clergy Administrator
dkatz@tby.org
Contact Debbe about clergy appointments, bereavement
simchas, oneg sponsoring, or Cantor's Concert.

Matthew Ross
Technology Integration Specialist
mross@tby.org     Contact Matthew about Audio/Video needs, general scheduling, your TBY Member Portal, or All streaming & Technology  questions.

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784