Elana Rivel
Chief Executive Officer
Elana Rivel joined JLV in 2021. She is an experienced leader of nonprofit Jewish educational organizations. Rivel previously worked at JLV for over 12 years, last serving as its Associate Director.
Rivel has served as a leader in Jewish nonprofit organizations ranging from Camp Ramah in the Poconos, Penn State Hillel, Congregation Shearith Israel in Dallas, TX, and most recently as Director of Ramah Day Camp, Philadelphia. In her tenure at JLV, Rivel helped to develop and manage numerous innovative initiatives that became national models, such as One Book, One Jewish Community, jkidphilly and LeV: Getting to the Heart of Jewish Education.
Rhona Gerber
Chief Development Officer
Rhona Gerber joined JLV in 2021. She brings more than two decades of nonprofit and political fundraising expertise to her role as Chief Development Officer, recently spending six years as Development Director of CeaseFirePA, a statewide gun-violence prevention organization. Long committed to the Philadelphia Jewish community and particularly to Jewish education, Rhona was the founding chair of the BZBI preschool and was active on many committees at Kohelet Yeshiva, PJDS, JBHA, and Mekor Habracha. She is Chair of the Center City Kehillah.
Molly Wernick
Director, jkidphilly
Molly Wernick joined JLV in 2023. She leads the jkidphilly team at Jewish Learning Venture, with nearly two decades of expertise as a Jewish community builder and experiential educator. She’s worked with top national Jewish organizations like Jewish Federations of North America and Repair the World, as well as local favorites like Habonim Dror Camp Galil and Tribe 12 in Philadelphia. Molly‘s creative work has been published in the pages of Hey Alma, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Lilith Magazine, and the 2014 textbook Experience and Jewish Education.
She holds an MA in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a BA in Speech Communication and Women’s Studies from Ithaca College. Currently, she lives in South Philadelphia with her husband, baby, toddler, and dog named Ducky. Molly loves listening to podcasts and audiobooks, singing to her kids, seeing friends, and spending time with her extended family in Elkins Park.
Robyn Cohen
Director, PJ Library in Philadelphia
Robyn Cohen joined JLV in 2014. She is Director, PJ Library in Philadelphia. In addition to Robyn’s PJ Library work for our Greater Philadelphia community, she loves serving on the jkidphilly team and working with families and organizational partners. Along with the jkidphilly Director, Robyn supervises our jkidphilly Parent Ambassador program. She also supervises our Grandparent Ambassador initiative, and works with the coordinator of our Get Together program. She and her husband are the proud parents of four wonderful jkids. Robyn has a B.S. in Psychology from Binghamton University, an M.A. in School Psychology, and a Ph.D. in School and Counseling Psychology from Northeastern University.
Sarah Kolker
Director, jkid4all
Sarah Kolker joined JLV in 2023. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Moore College of Art and Design and was born and raised in Philadelphia. Sarah has extensive experience providing healthy creative learning environments for youth in Philadelphia, Jamaica, SF Bay Area, and New York City. Her use of art and social justice-centered educational practices have been employed by both private and public institutions. Sarah continues to teach and support community art with Mural Arts in Philadelphia, which is the nation’s largest public art program that engages the community to ignite change through mural-making.
Sarah lives in Germantown with her two children. When she is not busy supporting youth and families, she enjoys spending time in her garden or creating nourishing food in the kitchen and artwork in the studio or in the community.
Robin Matthews
Director, jkidpride, PJ Our Way Engagement, and Graphic Design
Robin Matthews joined JLV in 2017. After spending over 15 years as an English Professor, Robin joined Jewish Learning Venture so that she could contribute to enriching the lives of families in the Philadelphia Jewish community. Originally from Boston and having earned a B.A. from Wheelock College and an M.F.A. from Emerson College, Robin is a jkidphilly parent who also teaches the K-1 Bonim class at Temple Sholom in Broomall. She lives in Media with her wife and their son.
Erin Beser
Director, Whole Community Inclusion
Erin Beser joined JLV in 2024. She hails from Baltimore, Maryland, but now lives on Philadelphia’s Main Line with her husband Ethan, who serves as the Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El and her two children, Aldo and Sage. She is a passionate Jewish educator who has worked in a variety of Jewish educational spaces from synagogues and summer camps to Jewish day schools and currently teaches 6th grade Jewish studies at the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy in Bryn Mawr. Erin is also the founder and CEO of Adoughma Dough Play Events, a sensory education initiative working to bring dough and sensory play into Jewish educational and communal spaces. In her free time, she enjoys running, playing the ukulele, and eating Indian and Ethiopian food.
char hersh
Director, Administration
char hersh joined JLV in 2020. char is a former museum educator who has worked at institutions including the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia and the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City. They hold an M.A. in Public History and a B.A. in Religion, both from Temple University. Outside of JLV, char is active at their synagogue, where they are a frequent leyner and shaliach tzibur, and serve as co-organizer of TransHallel, a virtual, trans-led Rosh Chodesh minyan. They live in West Philly with their two cats.
Bari Jacobson
Parent Ambassador, Lower Bucks County Area; Coordinator, Get Together Grants; Social Media Manager
Bari is the Parent Ambassador for the Lower Bucks County area, Coordinator, Get Together Grant and Social Media Manager. Bari enjoys planning events, creating Jewish community, teaching, and sharing all of the wonderful opportunities Jewish Learning Venture has to offer! She and her husband have two wonderful children. Bari has a Masters Degree in Elementary Education and a bachelor’s degree in Sports and Recreation Management.
Julia Weekes
Director, Professional Learning
Julia Weekes joined JLV in 2021. She is an educational management leader, educator, and artist. Julia has over thirty years of experience in leadership and management, professional development, arts education, integrated curriculum development, early childhood education, project-based learning, cooperative learning, and progressive education practices. She also has decades of experience in family engagement through her various roles in school, institutional, and community-based education.
Julia is a Philadelphia-area native and resides in the Mt. Airy section. She is the mother of two Black biracial teenage sons, Judah and Isaiah. Julia has been a congregational school teacher at Mishkan Shalom for over ten years. She has integrated her secular education knowledge and training into her congregational education role, creating classroom communities that focus on kindness, creativity, and collaboration.
Alanna Raffel, OTD, OTR/L
Whole Community Inclusion Specialist
Alanna Raffel, OTD, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist and accessibility consultant. She graduated from the University of Maryland with dual degrees in Psychology and Dance and from Thomas Jefferson University with a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy. Alanna has worked as an occupational therapist in acute rehab, early intervention ages 3 to 5, outpatient, and school-based settings. Alanna has facilitated accessibility in a variety of ways including autism-friendly Broadway performances in New York City, open captioning at People’s Light in Malvern, and organizing mapping events to collect data on physical accessibility. Her company, Access Point, strives to increase inclusion in Philadelphia and beyond by advocating for access, creating solutions, and promoting awareness of accessible opportunities for people with disabilities and their friends and family.
Ashley Dziados
Parent Ambassador, Delaware County
Ashley Dziados lives in Havertown and is a registered nurse at Lankenau Medical Center. Originally from Connecticut, she has moved all over the northeast, making Havertown her home five years ago with her husband, Joe, and two children (Nina and Noah). She enjoys exploring the surrounding area in her free time, cooking, all things plants and gardening, family hikes, going to the beach, and spending time with her family and dog Bruce. She is ecstatic to plan meaningful events as Delaware County’s jkidphilly Parent Ambassador and can’t wait to meet other Jewish families in her area!
Melanie Gerchberg
Parent Ambassador, Center City
Melanie has been living and working in Philadelphia for nearly her entire life, and she’s a proud and passionate Philadelphian through and through who enjoys supporting her community through multiple philanthropic causes. She works in Real Estate and is co-owner of the Gerchberg Real Estate Team with her husband, Eric. Before entering real estate, she graduated with a BA in Philosophy from Binghamton University and has lived abroad in both Israel and China. When not working on Real Estate transactions, she enjoys traveling the world to experience new cultures, being a tourist in her own city, seeing live music, cheering on all Philadelphia sports teams, and most of all spending time with her husband Eric, son Lev, and dog Prudence. She’s thrilled to be Center City’s Parent Ambassador and she can’t wait to meet other families in the City!
Yael Rhode
Parent Ambassador, Plymouth Meeting Area
Yael Rhode is the co-founder of Philly Spin In, a charity for the Cardiac Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Since its inception, in 2016, Philly Spin-In has raised nearly $5 M to fund lifesaving research at CHOP. In addition to Philly Spin-In, Yael has taught fitness at Flywheel Sports, SoulCycle and is currently teaching Remix Fitness where she continues to build a strong community of men and women from all different backgrounds. In addition to philanthropy, Pilates, cycling, and barre, Yael is also a certified health coach, focusing on integrative nutrition as a tool to optimal health and longevity, working with clients with diverse backgrounds and needs.
In addition to health, wellness, and philanthropy, Yael is a mother of two and is on a personal mission to “keep Yiddishkeit alive,” not only for her family, but for generations to come. She says that being a Jew is a gift and shouldn’t be taken advantage of. Since sending her children to Jewish preschools and Jewish Day schools, Yael has found herself hosting Challah bakes, fundraisers and intimate gatherings all in the name of spreading the love and light of Torah.
Yael has earned her B.S. in Communication from SUNY at Buffalo and her M.B.A. from CUNY Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business. Yael lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband and two children. When she’s not at the studio or fundraising for CHOP, you can find her hiking, gardening or cooking.
Jessica Slutsky
Parent Ambassador, Lower Merion
Jess (she/her) is the jkidphilly Parent Ambassador for Lower Merion. She lives in Bala Cynwyd with her wife and three children and enjoys baking, hiking, and playing with her kids. Jess was born in Russia and lived in Israel prior to putting down her roots in the Philadelphia area. She is excited to plan meaningful events for the Jewish community and get to know you better!
Ashley Wick
Parent Ambassador, Chester County
Ashley Wick lives in Malvern with her husband and three children. She has a background in Fine Art, works as a doula and community health worker, and is continuing her education to become a nurse. Ashley has lived in the Philadelphia area for over 10 years and loves exploring all that this wonderful region has to offer. In her free time she loves to spend time with her family and friends, cook, paint, and explore Chester County’s hidden gems. She is thrilled to be Chester County’s Parent Ambassador and meet other Jewish families in the area!