Youth & Family Program Educators

For B-Mitzvah Tutors, please click here!

Maya Almogy (she/her),

Kitah Bet

Maya graduated from Scripps University in 2019 with a major in Middle Eastern Studies. She previously worked for a binational NGO committed to bringing together Palestinian and Israeli teenagers through a pursuit of technological and entrepreneurial disruptions to the status quo. Maya is fluent in Hebrew, and loves learning new languages. In her free time, she is a writer, comedian, and artist. She is excited to join Kolot and engage in a radical and anti-racist approach to Judaism. Contact Maya@kolotchayeinu.org.

Ty Citerman (he/him),

Shabbat Sheli

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." Contact TyCiterman@gmail.com.

Pauline David-Sax (she/her),

Elementary Learning Specialist

Pauline David-Sax is dually certified in English and Special Education. She has worked in the New York City public schools for twenty years as a teacher, literacy coach, lead teacher, assistant principal, curriculum developer and school consultant. She has focused on adapting curriculum to increase accessibility for all learners; fostering collaboration among educators; and promoting school and classroom practices that support student inclusion and engagement. In addition to being an educator, Pauline is a playwright and amateur folk violinist. Pauline and her husband Adam Conner-Sax have been Kolot members since 2012 and live in Park Slope with their two daughters, preschooler Sadie and college-aged Kylie. Contact Pauline@kolotchayeinu.org.

Dovy Ehrenreich (he/him)

Kitah Hay

My name is Dovy (he/him), I’m 25 years old and I’m a musician and music educator living in Brooklyn! I attended Berklee College of Music and am currently a song leader with the non-profit Tkiya, where I lead fun Jewish musical events for children and their families at temples and schools throughout NYC. I am also a Jewish vinyl and CD collector, and have a passion for studying the rich history of both radical Judaism and Jewish radicals! Contact DovyE@Kolotchayeinu.org.

Aviva Gerwein (she/her),

Kitah Daled Teaching Assistant

Aviva Gerwein is a Jewish educator, writer, and comedian living in Queens. Originally from Berkeley, California, Aviva has called New York home for the last four years. She has worked in Hebrew schools and Jewish summer camps since 2018 and believes that passing down Jewish culture and knowledge through the generations is sacred work. She also loves painting, cooking, exploring the city, and finding new kinds of cheese at Trader Joe’s. Contact AvivaGerwein@kolotchayeinu.org.

Cathy Kamin (she/her),

Torah Tots, K'tanim & Kitah Bet Teaching Assistant

Cathy has a background in art and preschool edu. Having been married to a Rabbi for many years, though, she seems to always be teaching in a synagogue! Cathy moved to Brooklyn from San Diego, California recently to be near her children. One daughter and family live in Park Slope and the other daughter lives down the street from Lincoln Center. She has twin granddaughters in the City and a delicious baby grandson in Park Slope. She is thrilled to be here, working at Kolot Chayeinu. Contact CathyKamin@kolotchayeinu.org.

Tempest Karliner-Li (she/they)

Kitah Hay & B-Mitzvah

Hi! It's a pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Tempest Karliner-Li and I'm an experienced Hebrew educator for young adults. I prioritize student well-being and holistic jewish education in my practice. Your kids are wonderful and deserve to grow into incredible jewish adults with a tight-knit community. My approach to my work is to be a conduit for that growth and community building. Contact TempestKL@kolotchayeinu.org.

Amanda Miller (she/her),

What's Up?! & Shabbat Sheli

Amanda Miller is a Jewish educator, writer, actor, yoga instructor, and licensed massage therapist who has been teaching in New York City’s Jewish community since 2011. She seeks to uncover what matters most to her students and connect that to the content they explore together. 

Since 2010 Amanda has served as an educator at Kolot Chayeinu in multiple capacities. In addition to her work as a B’nai Mitzvah tutor, she tutors students in Hebrew and teaches What’s Up and multiple classes in the B’nai Mitzvah program including A History of Israel/Palestine, Yoga and Judaism, Living Torah, God Talk and Hebrew. Amanda also co-leads Kolot’s early childhood family programs K’tanim and Torah Tots, develops and facilitates High Holiday youth and family programs, and for many years taught Kitah Bet. She has also co-created and performed Kolot’s annual Purim Spiel for a number of years.

Outside of Kolot, Amanda trains B’nai Mitzvah students for Lab-Shul, performs original family-friendly Torah-themed scripts for Temple Emmanu-El, and leads early childhood family programming at Union Temple. She has taught Jewish values through drama and yoga at Sprout Brooklyn Day Camp and JCC Manhattan. 

Amanda is also the creator of the interactive solo play The Jew in the Ashram (www.thejewintheashram.com), about traveling to an ashram in India to study yoga and  ending up reconnecting to her own cultural roots. She has performed the show in a variety of spaces around the country including Temple Beth Shalom in Hastings, The Kings Bay Y in Brooklyn, Brandeis Collegiate Institute in Simi Valley, CA, Whitefire Theatre’s Solofest in Sherman Oaks, CA, and Minnesota Fringe in Minneapolis. 

Amanda has performed her original theater and comedy in venues and festivals across NYC, nationally and internationally. She has writing forthcoming in JewishFiction.net and in 2013 published her memoir One Breath, Then Another on Lucid River Press. Amanda’s writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Freerange Nonfiction, Quaranzine, Cratelit, Runaway Parade and more. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and a BFA in Acting from NYU. She lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Contact Amanda@kolotchayeinu.org.

Chase Montavon (he/him),

Kitah Gimmel Teaching Assistant

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. Contact Chase@Kolotchayeinu.org.

Hye mee Moon (She/They)

Kitah Daled & B-Mitzvah

Hye mee (pronounced: heh-mee) Moon is a teacher and Jewish professional who holds an Ed.M. in ESL Education from Rutgers University and an M.A. in Judaic Studies from HUC-JIR. She grew up in New Jersey, and has experience working with children and adults in various educational settings, including Kolot Chayeinu, Flatbush Jewish Center, and Rutgers University.

Judaism is a centerpiece of Hye mee’s life. Her other areas of interest include Torah study, midrash, writing, reading, adoption and adoptee rights, and LGBTQIA+ inclusivity. She lives in Brooklyn with her black cat named Asher. Contact Hyemee@kolotchayeinu.org.

Irene Siegel (she/her),

Torah Tots & K’tanim

Irene Siegel loves to teach, learn, dance and DANCE; and sing; and write (though she much prefers “having written"); and translate; and organize communally. She especially loves organizing with JVP and JFREJ; & doing human rights work, research and teaching over many years in Palestine/Israel. Some favorite projects past and present include: a dance project with refugees in Greece; teaching dance and yoga to a small community of Jewish Kenyan subsistence farmers amidst roaming sheep and cows; being part of the awesome Aftselakhis Purimspiel (see Zachary’s bio!), the Butoh Rockettes, Sarah Cameron Sunde’s creations, and There's No Law improv collective; teaching college literature, gender and cultural studies. Irene also loves teaching Arabic, and delights in sharing the connections between Arabic and Hebrew with her lovely Kolot students! Irene holds a PhD in Comparative Literature (Arabic/French) from UC Berkeley. Lots of love to Kolot CLP, my favorite place to work yet. Contact Irene@kolotchayeinu.org.

Mandy Sigale (she/they),

B-Mitzvah 1 & 2

Morah Mandy Sigale is so excited to be joining the teaching staff this year! She is a recent MFA graduate from the Savannah College of Art and Design and has been working in Jewish education in Savannah, GA for the last two years. Morah Mandy is looking forward to sharing her knowledge with your students and is looking forward to a great school year! Contact MandySigale@kolotchayeinu.org.

Zachary Wager-Scholl (he/him),

Kitah Gimmel

Zachary is an artist and cultural organizer going into his 9th year teaching at Kolot Chayeinu. He is currently in the MFA program at City College for creative non-fiction. Zachary is a Yiddishist, studier of folk singing traditions, believer of diasporic Jewishness, language nerd, lover of food and cooking, and always looking to dance. Contact Zach@kolotchayeinu.org.