About Us

Our Mission

Our Vision

Our Philosophy

Lior Ben Hur:  Founder & CEO

Lior Ben-Hur is a performing artist, composer and award-winning educator born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel.

Since moving to the Bay Area in 2004, Lior has been working in music education, teaching and presenting engaging programs for children and adults. With a deep passion for creating new, enhanced, innovative music curricula, Lior is dedicated to using music as a tool to connect people to their souls and bring communities closer together. He has broad span of experience in both religious and secular environments and worked professionally as a touring artist, band leader, formal and informal music teacher, theatre score composer and music director.

In 2013, Lior won the national Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education for his new, innovative methods of integrating music as part of the educational experience. 

Lior is constantly performing with his San Francisco based band, Sol Tevél, and has released three studio albums. His first album, World Light, is a collection of faith-based songs that aims to shed a new light and contemporary interpretation on old Jewish texts, ideals and mysticism. His latest album, So I Wander, is an eclectic Reggae album released in 2017 which debuted at #14 on Billboard charts for Top Reggae Album.

Lior also currently serves as the Music Director of Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos, CA.

Zvi Weiss (Board Chair)

Zvi Weiss currently serves as Head of School at San Diego Jewish Academy, early childhood through 12th grade. He has devoted over forty years of his career to Jewish education, teaching in religious schools, working as an informal educator with teens and as a family educator. As an administrator, he has served as Associate Director of both the Bureaus of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco (now Jewish LearningWorks), as the Director of Early Childhood and Family Engagement at the OFJCC Preschool in Palo Alto and as the Head of School at Yavneh Day School (K-8) in Los Gatos, CA. 

Mindy Berkowitz

Mindy Berkowitz recently retired as CEO of Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley.During her tenure, she increased the agency’s budget from $750K to over $7 million.Her prior background in the JCC movement, particularly camping, helped foster her strong beliefs in the power of children’s creativity and community collaboration. At JFS, she engaged the agency in celebrating diversity and empowering people to live their best lives.

Etai Freedman (Secretary)

Etai Freedman is a nonprofit professional with more than 13 years of experience working for some of the most cutting-edge NGOs in the world. Currently, Etai is responsible for the Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow’s donor relations, fundraising and creative development strategies. He has previously served a variety of organizations and projects, including Burning Man, the New Israel Fund, the Global Hunger Foundation, Bienvenidos, and the San Francisco Children’s Day School.

Rabbi Laurie Hahn Tapper

Rabbi Laurie Hahn Tapper is currently an Associate Dean for Religious & Spiritual Life and Campus Rabbi at Stanford University. She previously served as the Rabbi and Director of Jewish Studies and Integrated Learning at Yavneh Day School, a K-8 Jewish school in Silicon Valley. Rabbi Hahn Tapper is particularly committed to working with diverse faith communities and examining the intersection between faith and justice. She lives in Redwood City with her partner Aaron Hahn Tapper and their two children.

Rabbi Jessica Kirschner

Rabbi Jessica Kirschner is the Executive Director of Hillel at Stanford.  She has deep roots in the synagogues, summer camps, and youth organizations of the Union for Reform Judaism. She graduated from UC Berkeley, where she had been a student leader at Hillel and studied at the Hebrew University. After five years of rabbinical school in Jerusalem and Los Angeles, she was ordained by Hebrew Union College in 2007. She served for seven years as a Rabbi at Temple Sinai in Washington DC, and as a board member of Jews United for Justice, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and the  Washington Interfaith Network.

Dr. Evan Kletter

Dr. Evan Kletter was born in Queens, New York but has lived in San Francisco for fifty years. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of San Francisco and went on to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Alliant University.
In 2017, Evan retired from a 30 year career at a healthcare company where he held positions as a clinician, an operator and, lastly, an executive.
Evan became a bar mitzvah at Sherith Israel in San Francisco and later, Jewish Life came full circle as he was elected to their board, serving twelve years—three years as its president. He currently serves on the board of trustees of his alma mater, the University of San Francisco, and the Jewish Partisans Educational foundation (JPEF). 

Diane Tobin (Treasurer)

Diane Kaufmann Tobin is the founder and executive director emeritus of Be’chol Lashon, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about the ethnic and racial cultural diversity of the Jewish people through educational resources, diversity training and media. Be’chol Lashon is an initiative of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research, a non-profit think tank where she was the Associate Director (1998-2009) and President (2009-present).