CCAR Hakarat HaTov 2026 Honorees

RABBI MELANIE ARON

Dues Chair, Budget and Finance Committee

Rabbi Melanie Aron retired in 2021 after thirty years at Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos, California, where she now holds the title of Rabbi Emerita. She previously served congregations in Brooklyn, New York, and Morristown, New Jersey, and is especially proud of Shir Hadash’s alternative Shabbat service, interfaith community organizing, and annual Health Fair for the uninsured. Known for her creative approach to Jewish learning, she developed innovative programs such as putting Jewish historical figures on trial and a “March Madness”—style text study. Now living on the East Coast, Rabbi Aron serves as Co-Chair of the Jewish Earth Alliance, Program Committee Chair of NAORRR, and a steering committee member of JAMAAT (Jews and Muslims and Allies Acting Together).

RABBI ALLISON BERRY

Co-Chair, Convention Fundraising Committee

Rabbi Allison Berry is Director of the Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for Jewish Healing at Jewish Family & Children’s Service in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she provides spiritual leadership rooted in Jewish tradition to support individuals and families through illness, loss, and life transition. Her work includes bereavement and suicide-loss support, end-of-life pastoral care, and programs for older adults, people with disabilities, and Holocaust survivors. She also leads the Community Synagogue Social Worker Program, expanding mental health access in partnership with Boston-area synagogues. Previously, Rabbi Berry served for fourteen years at Temple Shalom of Newton as part of the first all-female co-senior rabbinic team in the United States, and she remains deeply committed to interfaith collaboration, teaching, and writing on grief, healing, and inclusion.

RABBI JEFFREY BROWN

Chair, Convention Committee

Rabbi Jeffrey Brown has served as Rabbi of Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El in Scarsdale, New York, since 2012. Ordained by HUC–JIR in Cincinnati in 2005, he previously served on the clergy team of Temple Solel in Encinitas, California, and completed his Doctor of Ministry on the New York campus in 2021. Rabbi Brown has been actively involved in CCAR leadership, including several years as Chair of the Annual Giving Campaign, and currently serves on the Convention Committee. He is honored to chair the CCAR’s 2026 Convention in the San Francisco Bay Area.

RABBI LOREN FILSON LAPIDUS

Chair, Ethics Committee

Rabbi Loren Filson Lapidus, APC (C ’08), is Senior Associate Rabbi at The Temple in Atlanta, where she has served since ordination. Drawing on her experience growing up in an interfaith family, she fosters inclusion and engagement through the Leven Family Jewish Identity Institute and is active in teen education, supported by an MEd from Xavier University earned during her HUC studies. In 2025, Rabbi Lapidus earned an MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Mercer University. Alongside her rabbinic work, she offers clinically informed pastoral counseling, coordinates The Temple’s ShalomCare program for mental and spiritual wellness, and provides child and adolescent counseling at Jewish Family and Career Service of Atlanta while pursuing play therapy certification. She chairs the CCAR Ethics Committee, serves on several communal boards, and is married to Rabbi Micah Lapidus (C ’08); they are the parents of Hadara and Caleb.

RABBI DR. JOAN FRIEDMAN

Chair, Responsa Committee

Rabbi Dr. Joan Friedman served congregations in Toronto, Laconia, New Hampshire, and Bloomington, Indiana, before becoming Jewish Chaplain at Colgate University in 1994. After earning her PhD in Jewish history from Columbia University in 2003, she pursued an academic career and retired in 2024 as Lincoln Professor of Religion and Professor of History Emerita at the College of Wooster. Rabbi Friedman joined the CCAR Responsa Committee in 1995 and has served as its Chair since 2019. Her book, “Guidance, Not Governance”: Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof and Reform Responsa (2013), was a National Jewish Book Award finalist, and she continues to write in retirement.

RABBI IRWIN GOLDENBERG

Chair, Hesed Committee

Rabbi Irwin Goldenberg was ordained at HUC–JIR in New York in 1969 and served for thirty-five years as Rabbi of Temple Beth Israel in York, Pennsylvania, following earlier service at Temple Emanuel in Dallas. He also served as a rotating rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Rabbi Goldenberg has held numerous leadership roles within the CCAR and NAORRR, chaired Hesed and Mitzvah committees, and was active in civic life, including serving as President of Planned Parenthood of Central Pennsylvania and teaching at York College and Gettysburg College. His many honors reflect a lifelong commitment to pastoral care, justice, and community leadership.

RABBI RACHEL GREENGRASS

Chair, Conference Positions and Resolutions Committee

Rabbi Rachel Greengrass was ordained at HUC-JIR in New York in 2008 and has been part of the Temple Beth Am, Pinecrest, Florida family ever since. She holds a Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature and a Master of Religious Education from HUC, is a certified Prepare/Enrich Counselor, and has been granted the title of Reform Jewish Educator (RJE). Rabbi Greengrass is the President of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami. Her fellowships and leadership roles include RAC Balfour-Brickner Fellow, Rabbis Without Borders Fellow, member of the Hartman Institute’s first all-female Rabbinic Fellowship, founding member of RAC-FL, and Clergy Leadership Incubator Fellow. She is the recipient of T’ruah’s 2021 Rabbinic Human Rights Hero Award. Deeply committed to meaningful prayer, education, and social justice, Rabbi Greengrass has written prayers and created rituals featured in the CCAR Rabbi’s Manual and on Ritualwell.com. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, and she has been a featured panelist on NPR’s All Things Considered. She has also been quoted or featured in outlets including the Miami Herald, Jerusalem Post, Time, and The New York Times.

RABBI BONNIE KOPPELL

CCAR Chair, Jewish Welfare Board Chaplains Council

Rabbi Bonnie Koppell was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1981 and served for eighteen years as Rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom in Mesa/Chandler, Arizona. She is currently Associate Rabbi of Temple Chai in Phoenix and Director of the Shalom Center. Rabbi Koppell has chaired the CCAR’s delegation to the Jewish Welfare Board’s Jewish Chaplains Council for more than a decade and served for thirty-eight years as a Chaplain (Colonel) in the United States Army Reserve, becoming the first woman rabbi to serve in the US military. Her distinguished service includes deployments overseas and numerous military and civic honors, including offering the opening prayer at the White House in 2007.

RABBI WILLIAM KUHN

CCAR Co-Chair, Commission on Rabbinic-Congregational Relations

Rabbi William Kuhn was ordained at HUC-JIR in Cincinnati in 1994. He became the Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June of 2017, after serving as Senior Rabbi of the congregation since 1998. Throughout his tenure, Rabbi Kuhn initiated and oversaw Rodeph Shalom’s ambitious and wide-ranging efforts to create a Jewish community of profound connections through transformative study, prayer, and urban engagement. Nationally, Rabbi Kuhn served as the Vice President of Financial Affairs for the CCAR, and he is active in the URJ. In Philadelphia, Rabbi Kuhn was an active member of the boards of Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Jewish Family and Children’s Services and the National Conference for Community and Justice. He has served on Mayor Street’s Transition Committee as co-chairman of the Volunteer and Faith-Based Organizations Sub-committee, as well as, Commissioner on the Human Relations Commission for the City of Philadelphia.

RABBI DR. AYALA RONEN SAMUELS

Chair, MARAM

Rabbi Dr. Ayala Ronen Samuels grew up on a kibbutz in northern Israel and founded a Reform community in Caesarea sixteen years ago, serving the Carmel Coast region. She served for nine years on the board of MARAM, the Council of Reform Rabbis in Israel, including five years as Chair. During her tenure, Rabbi Ayala guided MARAM through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and years of war, strengthening it as an independent professional organization committed to liberal, Zionist Jewish values. “Leading MARAM,” she says, “was a rare opportunity to work in Israel’s national public sphere — a great privilege for which I am deeply grateful.”

RABBI RACHEL SAPHIRE

Co-Chair, Annual Giving Campaign

Rabbi Rachel Saphire was ordained at HUC–JIR in Cincinnati in 2009, receiving awards for outstanding community contribution and creative pulpit leadership. She has served Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, Massachusetts, as Assistant and Associate Rabbi, where her work has included reimagining the B’Mitzvah process, expanding multigenerational engagement, transforming family worship, and leading social justice and interfaith initiatives with national impact. A CCAR member since ordination, Rabbi Saphire recently completed five years as Co-Chair of the Annual Giving Campaign, helping raise more than $325,000 annually. In July 2026, she will assume the role of Senior Rabbi of Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia.