Electives Department - Faculty List

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. Amy Kanarek teaches Spanish at Ma'ayanot. She has taught Spanish and French since 1998, in both private and public school settings. She also taught English to native French speakers in France, as part of the Fulbright Teacher Exchange. She has a BA in French Language and Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and completed graduate studies in Spanish and French at Middlebury College and Florida Atlantic University. She also studied at Hebrew University and has an MA in Jewish Education from JTS.

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.

Mrs. Peshi Neuburger joins the Ma'ayanot faculty this year to teach one section of the senior Tanakh Seminar elective. Mrs. Neuburger will also continue as a teacher of Tanakh at Bruriah High School, a position she has held for the past twelve years. She taught the "kallah classes" at Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan for 25 years, and has taught tefilla to eighth graders at RYNJ for the past five years. Mrs. Neuburger received her BA from Stern College. She is married to Rabbi Yaacov Neuburger, the Rav of Congregation Beth Abraham in Bergenfield.