Our People - Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center

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Our Clergy & Staff

Rabbi Joshua Ratner | Rabbi

Cantor Ruth Berman Harris | Cantor

“Align yourself with people that you can learn from, people who want more out of life, people who are stretching and searching and seeking for higher ground.” - Les Brown (adapted)

cantorruth@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Rabbi Jill Gold Wright | Director of Education

״כִּי הַיָּמִים מְגִלּוֹת כִּתְבוּ בָּהֶם מָה שֶׁתַּחְפְּצוּ שֶׁיִּזָּכֵר לָכֶם״ | "Days are like scrolls. Write on them what you wish to be remembered." - Duties of the Heart, Eighth Treatise on Examining the Soul 3:90

rabbijill@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Melissa Levy | Executive Director

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." - Maya Angelou

melissa@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Theresa Brekan | Operations Manager

“The purpose of my life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

theresa@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Lisa Lam | Controller

"Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true". - Ralph Waldo Emerson

lisa@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Emily Catalano | Asst. Director, Youth Engagement & Education

“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement...get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

emily@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Daniel Platt | Office Manager, LBSRS

"The laws of morality are also those of art" - Robert Schumann

daniel@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Claire Gorfinkel | Chaplain

"May the Source of strength, who blessed the ones before us, help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing." – Mi Shebeirach prayer

claire@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Jessica Donath | Administrative and Program Assistant

"Everything is hard before it is easy." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

jessica@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Robert "RJ" Brown III | Facilities

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

info@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Our Rabbi Emeritus

Rabbi Gilbert Kollin | Rabbi Emeritus

שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת לְדָוִד הִנֵּה מַה־טּוֹב וּמַה־נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אַחִים גַּם־יָחַד׃

A song of ascents. Of David. How good and how pleasant it is that brothers dwell together. - Psalms 133:1

rabbiemeritus@pjtc.net | Click for bio...

Our Leadership

Clark Linstone | President

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Kristine Garroway | VP Programs

Jeremy Schoenberg | Treasurer

Laurie Hunt | VP Management

Ira Blitz | Secretary

BOARD MEMBERS

Erich Schlecht | VP Planning

Sue Hogan | Past President

Jack Singer | Past President

BOARD MEMBERS (continued)

Adriana Quinn | Member-at-Large

Veronica Andersen | Member-at-Large

Brett Blumstein | Member-at-Large

Maureen Gelberg | Member-at-Large

Rachel Neumann | Member-at-Large

Aty Rotter | Sisterhood President

Stu Miller | Men's Club President

GROUPS & COMMITTEES

To get in contact with the contact for any of the groups or committees listed below, please call (626-798-1161) or email (info@pjtc.net) the PJTC office.

Adult Education | Judy Callahan

Aesthetics | Nancy Carlton

20s/30s | Emily Catalano

Cemetery | Victor Zlotnicki

Facilities | Todd Levine

JEDI (Jewish Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) | Diane Burr, Carey McIntosh