Electives Department - Faculty List

Mrs. Tammy Rubin Abramowitz teaches Spanish Language and Literature I and II at Ma’ayanot. Mrs. Abramowitz has a B.A. in Spanish Literature from Washington University, and an M.A. in Jewish Education from JTS. She has lived and worked in several Latin American Countries. Working for the U.S. government, she established an International Development office in Costa Rica. Mrs. Abramowitz has taught all grades in high school, as well as at the university level as Adjunct Professor at Montclair State University. She teaches her class all in Spanish, and uses drama to convey new subjects. 

Mrs. Minna H. Heilpern teaches the senior elective "HEMSHECH: Inspiring the Next Generation of Jewish Educators." She has been a Jewish educator for over thirty years, receiving her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts in Judaic Studies, and her M.A. in Contemporary Jewish Studies/Jewish Education from Brandeis University. Mrs. Heilpern is also the Director of Teacher Education at Jewish Educational Services (JES) at the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey, and a Mentor at the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey with the Jewish New Teacher Project. She was the founding director of JES's Teachers' Center, and the creator of an intensive semester in-service teacher education course entitled B'YACHAD: The Teacher Development Institute. Prior to coming to JES in 1984, Mrs. Heilpern was a staff member at the Teachers Center at the Board of Jewish Education in Manhattan. In addition, she was a teacher at the Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies for a number of years, and an instructor for the Jewish Teacher Corps. 

Mrs. Rachelle Landau pioneered the American Sign Language elective class last year and now offers both ASL I and ASL II to our students. The holder of two Master’s Degrees, one from NYU in Special Education for the Deaf and another from Columbia Teachers College in teaching American Sign Language as a foreign language, Mrs. Landau is sharing her signing skills with our juniors and seniors. Mrs. Landau teaches both high school- and college-level sign language, and with her husband has run numerous programs for the Jewish deaf people.