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Meet Our Team

Rebecca Milder
Founding Director, Middle/High School
Rebecca Milder is a rabbi and veteran Jewish educator with a Masters degree in educational administration. Her extensive leadership experience spans across formal and informal Jewish education throughout the religious spectrum. Rabbi Rebecca’s professional work has focused on innovative approaches to Jewish learning and community-building. She has revitalized religious schools, reimagined family education programs, and created new educational tracks at camp. In addition, she worked for four years at a central agency for Jewish education, building collaboration among Jewish day schools. She is honored to be building this Jewish Enrichment Center with the children and families of Hyde Park, and our outstanding professional team.
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Sara Grossman
Director of Teaching and Learning
Sara is excited and honored to be stepping into the role of School Director of the Jewish Enrichment Center. For the last seven years, Sara has been the lead educator for first and second grade, a role she has treasured. As Assistant Director, Sara oversaw the Enrichment Center's Hebrew program, camps and Special Days, and learning for infant/toddlers through second grade.
 
Sara grew up in Memphis and earned a Masters degree in Child Studies from Vanderbilt University. Before working at the Enrichment Center, she designed family programming for the Country Music Hall of Fame and was a research assistant for the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations of Early Learning at Vanderbilt. Sara is a graduate of the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute, a two-year professional development program for Jewish educational leaders. In her spare time, Sara enjoys baking and spending time with her family. 
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Jenna Pollock
Managing Director

Jenna (she/her pronouns) is a graduate of Agnes Scott College and Northeastern University School of Law. Jenna is thrilled to bring her commitment to Jewish life, sense of humor, and stellar organizational and interpersonal skills to bear at the Jewish Enrichment Center. Previously she served as an immigration lawyer, nature camp counselor, and Avodah program director. In her spare time Jenna can be found exploring the world around her, singing nigunim, and tending her garden.

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Mayim Bourget
Administrative Assistant

Mayim (any pronouns) is very excited to be an Administrative Assistant for the Jewish Enrichment Center. Having grown up in Michigan, they moved to Chicago for college and have a BA in both Theatre and Gender Studies from the University of Chicago. Mayim has worked in many different capacities, most recently as a nanny and a compliance specialist. Mayim can often be found working with textiles, spending time with their cats, and contributing to the Jewish community of Hyde Park and greater Chicago.

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Aliza Geller
Nursery & Kindergarten
Aliza has an MA in Jewish Education from The Jewish Theological Seminary, a BA in Jewish History, and has studied at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Aliza has taught children in pre-k though 12th grade in day schools, synagogues and camps. Aliza has worked as a resident advisor and a student life professional at a Jewish pluralistic boarding school, and has served as Jewish Programming Director at a JCC overnight camp. Aliza enjoys spending time in nature, baking challah and singing.
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Maisie Smith
1st & 2nd Grades

Maisie grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. In the spring of 2020, she graduated from Smith College with a degree in Sociology and Mathematics. One of her favorite aspects of her life at Smith was being a part of the Jewish student community where she often helped lead Shabbat services or songs. Maisie has taught Hebrew school at her local synagogue and has been a teacher at a homeschooling community program, and is now thrilled to be joining the Enrichment Center team. In her free time, she loves to draw, spend time with animals (dogs and hamsters are her favorite), and cook delicious food for herself and her friends. 

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Ezra Kiers
3rd, 4th, & 5th Grades
A rabbinical student at Hebrew Seminary in Chicago, Ezra (they/them) is thrilled to be joining the Jewish Enrichment Center as Lead Educator for Anafim V'Alonim. Born and raised in Southern California, Ezra earned their Bachelor's in Judaic Studies from the University of Oregon in 2020 and has lived and worked in various progressive Jewish communities in the Pacific Northwest before their recent move to the Chicago area. Outside of Jewish education, Ezra's passions include dance and aerial arts, LGBTQ+ activism, and caring for their menagerie of pets alongside their husband.
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Baci Weiler
Yetzirah Specialist

Baci is joining the Jewish Enrichment Center as an Educator, with a special focus on yetzirah (art/creativity). They grew up in Riverdale, NY and have spent years making art, learning Torah, and playing with children. After studying Visual Arts at the University of Chicago, Baci spent a year and a half studying at Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva in New York. For the past two years, Baci has been working as a nanny for a family of four children outside Philadelphia. They are thrilled to be back in Hyde Park, swimming at the Point and shaping ritual life in the local independent Jewish community.

Emily Branton
Curriculum and Jewish Text Consultant
Emily enjoyed four exciting, transformative years as an assistant and then lead educator at the Jewish Enrichment Center. She is now a doctoral student in Religious Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, but gets to stay engaged with the Enrichment Center community by collaborating on curriculum development and text translation with the education team, and by leading occasional micro-units exploring archaeology, the history of the ancient Near East, and texts from the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). She has a BA in Religion from Smith College and an MA from the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. When not teaching or studying, she loves backpacking, bluegrass music, and craft projects. 
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