Temple Beth Am

Rabbinic Search Committee

Welcome to the Rabbi Search Committee information page. Below you will find updates from the Committee. Stay tuned for more information as the search continues. If you have a specific concern or question, please reach out to the Committee cochairs at rabbinicsearch@templebetham.org.

Read Rabbi Jason’s sermon on his time at Beth Am from the Shabbat Barbecue here.

Read Project Bina’s Rabbinic Search Survey findings here.

November, 2023 update:

Your Rabbinic Search Committee has been busy. Here’s what we’ve been up to: 

  • We’ve met several times in person and over Zoom to get to know each other and fully understand the process by which we will assess and ultimately recommend our newest rabbinic team member to the Board. 
  • We all learned Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles from committee member and DEI professional, Alicia Tieder. We will put these principles into place to ensure that our hiring process is inclusive. 
  • We started discussions to determine our process for reviewing and ranking candidates.  
  • We worked with the Project Bina Committee and posted a congregation-wide survey. The Committee is grateful to each and every community member who responded! We were very impressed with the thoughtful responses we received. We also extend our deep gratitude to the Project Bina Committee for their excellent work helping to turn this community’s feedback into insights we can use in the hiring process! Some selected slides from the survey results are below.   
  • We incorporated insights from the Survey into our application.  
  • We wrote, revised, completed, and submitted the rabbinic job posting to the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The posting went live on November 8th. If you’re curious to see the application, please reach out to Ben or Dita at rabbinicsearch@templebetham.org.

We have started receiving resumes and will be reviewing them and moving on to appropriate next steps. 

We are open to discussing any of the non-confidential aspects of the search process with members. Contact us at rabbinicsearch@templebetham.org.

Selected Project Bina Rabbinic Search Survey results:

Rabbinic Search Committee Members

Dita Appelbaum (she/her) (co-chair)
Dita and her husband, Fred, joined TBA 34 years ago. They have two grown sons, one of whom is a member of Beth Am and one a member of Beth Shalom. Dita is a past Temple Beth Am Board president (2006-8) and a retired cancer nurse.  

Ben Glatstein (he/him) (co-chair)
Ben and his wife, Theresa, joined Beth Am about 15 years ago when they moved to Seattle. They have three kids, the oldest will have his bar mitzvah next year. Ben’s a lawyer and Microsoft and a past Temple Beth Am Board President.  

Greg Berkman (ex officio) (he/him)
Greg joined Temple Beth Am in the late ’90s. He was born and raised in Seattle’s north end. Over the years, he and his family have been involved in most aspects of temple life.  Greg is a retired CPA, financial planner operations executive. Currently serving as Temple Beth Am Board President.  Greg and Ruth have four children and an aging boat that keeps them busy

Alan Schulkin (he/him)
Alan and his wife Susan have been Beth Am members since 1984. They raised their two sons here, now the parents of four grandchildren all in Seattle, two of whom have gone to the SEED preschool from infancy. Alan is a retired lawyer, former Temple Beth Am president (in the early ‘90s) and has volunteered at Temple in numerous capacities, the most audible of which was blowing the shofar for 25 years. 

Alicia Tieder (she/her)
Alicia and her husband Joel joined the Beth Am community in 2016. They have 4 children aged 20, 6 (enrolled in the Gan), and 3-year-old identical twins. Alicia is the Chief Diversity Officer at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Joel is a Pediatric Hospitalist at Seattle Children’s as well. Alicia is dedicated to supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion at TBA and ensuring everyone has a true sense of belonging in the community. 

Allison Opson-Clement (they/them)
Allison has been around Beth Am for a decade. Currently, they also serve as Co-Chair of the Hearth Committee for small groups. A Seattleite born and raised, they love stories, learning, and new experiences. 

Lauren Young –Dudakov (she/her)
Lauren and her husband Jarrod have been members of Beth Am for around 6 years. Originally from Australia, they moved to Seattle in 2016 after a 7 year stint in NYC. They have two kids, aged 10 and 8, both enrolled in the Gan. Lauren works in vaccine clinical trials at The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and is the current Board Secretary. 

Liz Mizrahi (she/her)
Liz and her husband Joe have been members of Temple Beth Am for the past 12 years.  They have three daughters (Shoshana, Miriam and Simone) who have been involved at the Temple since birth from their naming ceremonies to SEED, to the Gan, and next year, Shoshana will have her Bat Mitzvah.  Liz is the principal of an elementary school and Joe is the leader of a local labor union.     

Michael Berman (he/him)
Michael and his wife Terri Buysse (she/her) joined Beth Am 17 years ago when they moved to Seattle from Oakland. They have two children: Alissa (she/her) is a senior at Whitman College and Iz (they/them) is a sophomore at the University of California Santa Cruz. Michael works for Sound Transit, and he has served on the board and on two previous clergy search committees.  

Olivia Huie (she/her) (Youth Leader representative)
Olivia has been a member of Temple Beth Am since moving back to Seattle 8 years ago. She had her Bat Mitzvah here in 2019 and has been a Madricha for 2 years.  She is an incoming junior at Lincoln High school in Wallingford. She is a lifeguard during the summer and after school. 

Non-voting, advisory members: Rabbi Ruth Zlotnick (Senior Rabbi), Davida Sims (Executive Director)

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