The Kehilat Hadar Board
All incorporated non-profit organizations are required by law to have a board of trustees that is formally and legally responsible for them. For religious congregations, the members usually invest the trustees with the authority to run the congregation by electing them to serve on the board, and the trustees are therefore accountable to the members.
As of February 2018, Kehilat Hadar’s board oversees the community’s strategic vision, high-level planning, and fundraising efforts, and it also supervises the Steering Team. (The Steering Team focuses on the operational side, running Kehilat Hadar services and other programs from day to day.) New trustees are elected at Kehilat Hadar’s statutory annual meeting, at which voting members can vote either in person or by proxy. After each election, the board determines which of the trustees will serve as officers for that year.
View the bylaws (revised as of 8/8/2019)
Board Members
Emily Scharfman
2018-2024
President, 2018-
Emily lives on the UWS with her husband John, her son Eli, and her daughter Odelia. She has been a lawyer in the tech start-up space for over three years. She has been involved in KH since 2005, as well as Mechon Hadar. She is also a Wexner Heritage Fellow, and will be completing her 2 year fellowship in the summer of 2018.
Before college, Emily spent a year on the Nativ program, including spending 5 months at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Emily holds a BA from Yale, and a JD from NYU.
Steven Melzer
2018-2024
Vice President, 2018-
Steven is Director of Strategic Initiatives at The New School, exploring the future of higher education. He has worked over a decade in strategy, planning, and operations in the K-12 education space, leading school budget strategy, class size policy, and curriculum logistics at the NYC Department of Education; operations including HR, organizational strategy, finance, and IT at Expeditionary Learning, a national education reform nonprofit; and education technology and process innovation at Uncommon Schools, a public charter school management organization. In the private sector, he was a business strategy consultant with IBM and operations advisor with Amplify, an education technology firm. Steven also serves on the executive board of The LAMP, a media literacy nonprofit.
Steven has participated in Kehilat Hadar since 2005. He has served the community on the Shavuot retreat team, Scotch Whisk(e)y club, and Purim trivia night team. He dreams of running a kosher deli and perfecting the art of smoking meat and curing fish in a tiny NYC apartment he shares with his infinitely patient wife, Tracy. Steven received his BA in economics, political science, and music from Columbia; and his MS, focused on nonprofit management strategy and education policy, from Hunter College.
Meir Schecter
2018-2023
Treasurer, 2018-
Meir has been coming to Hadar on a regular basis since 2002. He has attended all but the first Hadar Shavuot Retreat. He has been arranging the classes given at the retreat since 2007 and has taught a class at each retreat that he has attended. He has been on the Shamash Team since its inception. Meir is the first, and current, CEO of the Hadar Scotch Club/Whisk(e)y Society.
Meir started his 45+-year professional career working for NASA on the Apollo program. Software that he developed was instrumental in the safe return of the Apollo XIII astronauts. He later worked on Skylab and various other satellites. Subsequently, he worked on US Navy defense systems, and finally went to work as a consultant to governmental pension systems.
Meir is married to Mary Federico and has four children and fourteen grandchildren. Nine of his grandchildren live in Israel and Meir enjoys visiting them at least twice a year. Meir also enjoys golfing and travelling with Mary.
Allison Kapusta
2021-2024
Secretary, 2021-
Allison has been involved in Kehilat Hadar for 10 years, and, in the last few years, have become particularly involved with family engagement and education. She worked to re-establish a regular Tot Shabbat program, first bi-weekly, and then weekly, and created a meaningful and joyful prayer service for families. She currently serves as a co-chair of kids programming and have empowered other parents in the community to join a roster of Tot Shabbat leaders. She has also helped to plan and implement family holiday celebrations and have led High Holiday family services for the past 2 years.
Allison is currently the Manager of the Department of Synagogue Leadership at United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Previously, she spent several years as Assistant Director of Family Life and Learning at B’nai Jeshurun where she created innovative educational experiences for families. In 2018, she received the Young Pioneers Award from the Jewish Education Project. Allison holds an MA in Jewish Education from JTS.
Max Arad
2018-2023
Max is the Assistant Director of Operations at the Rabbinical Assembly. He earned a BA in International Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. Max has been involved with Kehilat Hadar for over four years, first serving as Chair of the 2014 Shavuot Retreat, then joining the Shamash team and serving as a member of the Steering Team for the last three years. During that time, he has continued to chair the Shavuot Retreat each year, managed KH's relationships with the facilities it uses (Schechter, JTS, High Holiday spaces), and been heavily involved in KH's finances and fundraising efforts.
Max is honored to be a part of this exciting transition in Hadar's organizational structure, and looks forward to continuing to help it grow and thrive.
Miri Pomerantz Dauber
2022-2025
Miri is currently the associate director at Jewish Book Council, where she has held various roles since 2004. Her work involves creating and implementing programs, conferences, and events; providing resources for various constituents; assisting with the broad strategies of running a not-for-profit; and focusing on community development, all with a focus on Jewish literature.
Aaron Kasman
2018-2025
Aaron has been an active member of the Kehilat Hadar community for over 15 years, and has served as board member and on KH's steering team. He currently acts as KH's technology leader and co-chair of fundraising.
By day, Aaron works as a Product Manager at Google where he brings diverse teams together to build tools to solve tough business challenges -- always with a focus on effectively managing change.
Rabbi Ashira Konigsburg
2018-2025
Rabbi Ashira Konigsburg is the Chief Operating Officer for the Rabbinical Assembly and Chief Program Officer for United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. In this combined role, she is leading the Conservative Movement in reenvisioning the future of Jewish life and Jewish communities for the next generation. Rabbi Konigsburg graduated with an MA in Talmud and Rabbinics and Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. A native of South Florida, she spent her undergraduate years at the University of Maryland and has spent many summers in a variety of roles at Ramah Darom in Georgia, including directing the climbing program. Ashira currently serves as a member of both the Board and Steering Team of Kehilat Hadar. Find her on Twitter: @ashirak.
Stefan Krieger
2020-2023
Stefan is a law professor at Hofstra School of Law. For over 40 years, he has taught in law school clinics training students in the representation of low-income clients in civil rights and housing cases. In both his clinical work and writing, Stefan focuses on the issues of effective advocacy on behalf of community organizations. Stefan was a member of Havurat Shalom in its founding year and is on the Academic Council of Open Hillel.
