Staff

Brett Reid Parker is thrilled to come home to Kolot Chayeinu as Executive Director. Most recently, he served in a similar capacity at a shul on Long Island. In previous incarnations, he has been a social worker, a public interest attorney, a recruiter, and a manager of large teams/offices/divisions for international corporations. He brings his extensive background in operations and people management, as well as his love of Yiddishkeit and deep commitment to Am Yisrael, to bear to help ensure that Kolot continues to be the warm, welcoming, inspiring, heymish place that members of the community love and cherish. Many Kolotniks may remember Brett, as he and his family were active and involved members of Kolot from 2006 to 2012.

Brett grew up in the Bronx, Detroit, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and has lived and worked in California, Connecticut, Texas, and New York, as well as in Paris and London. He also spent a year studying and traveling in Asia, where he indulged his passions for cultural exploration and comparative religion. He was raised in a Conservative Jewish community and—following a period of estrangement from Jewish practice—has been a member of, and a lay leader at, a number of synagogues across the “denominational” spectrum, so wherever you are in your Jewish journey, he can probably relate, at least a little bit.

Brett received his BA in Philosophy and Asian Studies from the University of Puget Sound, his Certificat de la Langue Française (niveau supérieur) from the Université de Paris IV, and his JD (with honors) from the University of San Francisco School of Law. He lives in Crown Heights with his wife Paula and their children, and he loves reading (especially learning Torah), music (especially proto-punk and roots reggae), traveling, and inadvertently yet decisively butchering the French language.

Born into a progressive Jewish community in Hong Kong, Hara came to the U.S. to study art history and politics. Here, Hara became committed to building bridges of understanding across cultures and spent four years driving the development efforts of One To World, a non-profit dedicated to connecting international students and scholars with Americans. There she helped to develop a strong culture of philanthropy amongst the staff, leadership, and wider community, successfully driving numerous fundraising and engagement campaigns, including their large annual gala. Hara is a lifelong learner, wholeheartedly committed to education and inclusivity, having taught and mentored youth in Hong Kong, the Philippines, China, Italy, and the U.S. Hara's experiences both abroad and here in the U.S. developed in her a passion for social justice and political action, and so she is especially excited to bring her skillset to work for Kolot. Hara spends her free time hiking upstate or enjoying live music in Prospect Park with her dog.

Jessica is a Brooklyn native with over seven years of experience in education with Brooklyn public schools and supplementary Jewish programs. After receiving her MAT (Masters in the Art of Teaching) from Relay Graduate School of Education, she continued the joyous journey of converting to Judaism. After receiving an MFA from City College of New York, she taught Jewish Studies (rituals, holidays, and Torah) for three years at Yachad – Congregation Beth Elohim’s Jewish Education Program -- where she later worked as the Assistant Director. As a classroom teacher, Jessica used culturally responsive and inclusive text sources and techniques to create a welcoming environment for all learners. She has always shown a passion for life-long learning through participating in adult education programs; such as Pardes, Svara, and Ammud. Jessica strives to impart the joys of learning for the sake of learning itself, and believes in equitable education for all. Jessica believes there’s no single way to be Jewish and has always appreciated the values of Kolot Chayeinu, a place to think critically about Judaism in a progressive way, and to make the world a better place.

Jen is a multidisciplinary performance-maker, mom, and anti-racist activist. She has coordinated more than 400 events in her many years, producing her own performances and those of other artists. In 2018 she was privileged to be the Gala Coordinator for Kolot’s retirement party for Rabbi Lippmann. Her family has been involved with Kolot since 2014. She is fully dedicated to Kolot's intentional, meaningful B-Mitzvah process, and really enjoys making the road as smooth as possible for all Kolot's B-Mitzvah families.

Malkie Grozalsky has spent all but 5.5 years of her life in Brooklyn, NY, and is proud of both her accent and her attitude. Malkie was raised in an ultra-Orthodox home, belongs to a Conservative synagogue, and has a graduate degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. When Malkie is not at her job as a synagogue administrator, she can be found writing, cooking, baking, and managing her spouse, three sons, and a dog.

Thomas Conklin is the Livestream Tech at Kolot Chayeinu, where he coordinates and manages the technical aspects of live-streamed and online worship, including video recording, camera and sound balancing on site.

Thomas has worked with media outlets such as Sports Illustrated, Essence Magazine, and MSG Networks, among others. Thomas helps trouble-shoot with the clergy team about ways to enhance the online worship experience for participants.

Thomas is a TV and movie podcaster and a comic book creator from Brooklyn, NY.

Chase is a writer living in the center of the world, Queens. For the past 3 years Chase has worked at NYU as a hospital administrator and is excited for the transition to education as Youth & Family Programs Administrator and as a Teacher’s Assistant. A role that makes his mother, a veteran teacher with 35 years and going under her belt, very happy. He looks forward to assisting your child excel in their education! He writes fiction and does freelance copywriting when not at Kolot Chayeinu. Despite being more of a pool person he tries to make his way to Riis beach as much as possible.

Ty is a Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer who writes, performs and teaches music across the spectrum of jazz, rock and contemporary classical music. He has been leading Jewish music in synagogues for twenty years; he is a founding member of the irreverent chamber jazz quartet Gutbucket; he leads the radical Jewish quartet Bop Kabbalah; and he writes chamber music that’s been performed by JACK Quartet, Anti-Social Music, Sara Schoenbeck and Bearthoven. In his secular music life, he has played with the American Composers Orchestra, John Zorn, Ethel, Glenn Branca, Kaoru Watanabe, Frank London, Rhys Chatham, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Brian Chase and many others. His music appears on Cuneiform Records, Tzadik Records, Cantaloupe Music, Enja, Knitting Factory, NRW, and Gut Records. He has been featured on National Public Radio, Radio Free Europe and numerous college and independent stations across the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Europe. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the London Jazz Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, Belgrade Jazz Festival, Jazz a Vienne, the Bang on a Can Marathon, Earshot Jazz Festival, Jazz Saalfelden, Worldport Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, and Warsaw Summer Jazz Days. Guitar Player called Ty's music for Gutbucket "kinetic punk jazz opuses" that “reveal an explosive concoction containing lethal doses of Ornette Coleman, King Crimson, John Zorn, Black Sabbath, Stravinsky, and Fugazi."

Victor is a loving husband and father of two. He enjoys traveling and sports. Family is very important to him, and he appreciates the family-like environment that he has experienced during his time at Kolot.

Jalen was born and raised in Brooklyn and is new to the Kolot team. He is a big fan of music!