Rebecca Teitelbaum - Kindergarten & 1st Grade
Rebecca was born in Milwaukee, WI where she lived for 11 years before moving to Fresno, CA with her family where she was Bat Mitzvah-ed and confirmed at Temple Beth Israel under the rabbincal leadership of Rabbi Rick Winer.
She is currently in her third year at Sonoma State University where she is a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, majoring in Liberal Studies with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies and plans to become an elementary school teacher.
Rebecca is very excited to be joining the STaRS team this year and to be spending it with your little ones teaching them the wonders of Judaism!
Ilana Stoelting - 2nd & 3rd Grade
Ilana was born and raised in Sonoma County where she grew up an active member of the local Jewish community. She attended college at UC Davis where she got her degree in Biological Sciences. After college Ilana moved to Israel where she lived in Tel Aviv and worked for the ambulance company Magen David Adom. She ran Hillel of Sonoma County for a year and now enjoys working as a full-time park ranger along the coast. Ilana looks forward to returning to STaRS this year as the 2nd & 3rd grade teacher.
Channah Zeldin - 4th & 5th
Shalom Chavarim! I am looking forward to returning to STaRS this year as the 4th/5th Grade Teacher.
I grew up in Yardley, PA (just outside Philadelphia) with a Jewish upbringing including regular Hebrew School classes and my Bat Mitzvah at Har Sinai Temple under the guidance of the amazing Cantor David Wisnia (look him up!). In the last 10 years I’ve participated in Birthright and subsequently staffed 2 Birthright trips and lived for a year in Tel Aviv where I took graphic design courses and studied Hebrew at Ulpan.
Deborah Zitrin - 6th
Deborah grew up in Brooklyn, New York and attended religious school at Temple Beth Emeth in Flatbush. Her family moved to San Mateo when she was in high school and she attended U.C. Santa Cruz where she studied Educational Psychology, University of San Francisco School of Law where she earned her J.D., and San Jose State University where she earned an Education Specialist Credential.
Deborah’s family belonged to Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos and her son and daughter attended Gideon Hausner Day School in Palo Alto prior to moving to Portland, Oregon in 2004. After teaching in public schools for 20 years, Deborah turned her focus to working with struggling readers. She returned to California in February of 2017 and joined Shomrei Torah shortly thereafter. Deborah is delighted to be joining the STaRs teaching staff, and looks forward to a fun and exciting year with your children!
Malcolm McElheney - Youth & Music Coordinator
Malcolm McElheney is originally from Sacramento and graduated from New York University where he studied “Jewish Youth Programming”. He is a proud alum of NFTY and has spent 13 summers at URJ Camp Newman. Malcolm loves to watch television and loves to laugh. He is very excited to continue his professional life with Shomrei Torah and can’t wait to work with everyone. Email Malcolm at [email protected].