Clergy Biographies
Rabbinical Staff
Rabbi David Schuck joined the Beth El team in 2015 after serving as the spiritual leader of the Pelham Jewish Center for 11 years. He is an adjunct lecturer in the Professional and Pastoral Skills Department of the Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary and a former faculty member in the rabbinical school of the Academy for Jewish Religion where he taught Professional Skills.
Rabbi Schuck grew up in Mt. Laurel, NJ, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Middle East History from Rutgers University. Rabbi Schuck was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2004 where he was awarded the Lillian M. Lowenfeld Prize in Practical Theology and the Israel H. Levinthal Prize in Homiletics.
Rabbi Schuck was privileged to visit Russia on a rabbinic mission with the UJA Federation of NY, as well as participate in the Young Rabbis Delegation service-learning trip to Ghana with the American Jewish World Service. He has served on the UJA Federation’s Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal for the Former Soviet Union as well as the boards of the Westchester Jewish Council, Pelham Guidance Council, the Westchester Inter-Religious Clergy Network, and the Mount Vernon Soup Kitchen.
David Schuck
Rabbi
(914) 235-2700, Ext. 230
dschuck@bethelnr.org
Rabbi Zachary Sitkin joined the Beth El clergy team in 2016 on a part-time basis, and recently became its full-time assistant rabbi. Rabbi Sitkin had served as Rabbi at Congregation Eitz Chaim in Monroe, NY, and participared in a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Rabbi Sitkin’s love for Judaism was sparked by his participation in his local and regional USY chapters in high school, and was further cultivated when he left for Israel on the Nativ gap-year program, where he studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and worked on a Kibbutz in the South. Rabbi Sitkin attended the University of Pittsburgh and received dual Bachelors degrees in both Psychology and Religious Studies. While at Pitt, Rabbi Sitkin co-founded a Beit Midrash, led the conservative minyan on Shabbat, and beat-boxed in Hillel’s a cappella group, the VoKols, where he met his wife, Lisa.
Zachary Sitkin
Associate Rabbi
(914) 235-2700, Ext. 338
zsitkin@bethelnr.org
Rabbi Jessica Fisher joined the Beth El community as a rabbinic fellow in 2019 and is thrilled to be continuing on as a full-time member of the clergy team. Prior to Beth El, Rabbi Fisher interned in a number of Conservative synagogues in the New York area and in Chicago. She also worked at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, completed a unit of clinical pastoral education in prison chaplaincy and elder care, and had a fellowship in interfaith and community relations with the Jewish Community Relations Council in Cincinnati, Ohio. Before rabbinical school, she ran the Chicago Diller Teen Fellows program at the Jewish Federation and worked in SNAP outreach for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Jessica Fisher
Assistant Rabbi
(914) 235-2700, Ext. 427
jfisher@bethelnr.org
Cantor
Cantor Gaby Schvartz joined the Beth El Community as a Cantorial Intern in February 2020. Prior to Beth El, Gabriela served as a Shelicha Tzibur in several Conservative Synagogues in Argentina and Chile. She also participated in Interfaith dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews in the Bridge Builders program in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a member of the URI (United Religions Initiative), a global grassroots interfaith network that cultivates peace and justice by engaging people to bridge religious and cultural differences and work together for the good of their communities and the world.
Gabriela worked in several Jewish schools in Buenos Aires as a music teacher in primary school and kindergarten. She was honored to spend a year singing with Nava Tehila in Jerusalem Israel in 2017-2018.
Read More About Cantor Schvartz
Cantor Schvartz
Cantor
(914) 235-2700, Ext. 326
gschvartz@bethelnr.org
Prayer Team
Jack Klebanow, Music Director, is excited to be part of Beth El’s prayer team, helping to build community and to create deep, aesthetic and spiritually moving experiences. Jack is a multi-instrumentalist with a broad musical background, including composing and arranging as well as performance in classical, pop and Jewish repertoires. Important music teachers have included Laurence Honan, Luise Vosgerchian, and Al Goltzer.
Jack Klebanow
Music Director
