Our Clergy / Executive Director

Rabbi

Rabbi Jesse Gallop
Email

Rabbi Jesse Gallop came to our community six years ago, as the founding director of Camp Pinebrook. Rabbi Jesse built a summer home for over 200 children in Westchester County incorporating his Rabbinic training and skills creating the only Reform Jewish camp curriculum in our area.

His rabbinical calling has been to create a community using the toolboxes of our text and traditions. Rabbi Jesse has shown his commitment to partner with congregants, staff, and board members, to create a home based upon Reform Jewish ethics, care, support, and respect. “Together, we’ll create a sacred space to explore spirituality, wrestle with tradition, and strive to make the world a better place.”

Before coming to Temple Israel, Rabbi Jesse was Rabbi at Beth Chaverim Reform Congregation in Ashburn, Virginia, and then Associate Rabbi at Congregation Beth Ahabah Richmond, Virginia. He has served on community boards battling issues of homelessness and poverty and has sat on the boards of several Jewish organizations. He currently is a board member of Hillels of Westchester.

Rabbi Jesse grew up in the Minneapolis metro area. He graduated from the University of Denver with a degree in social sciences. In 2008 Rabbi Jesse was ordained at the New York campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He has received his Master’s in Business Administration on May 2022 from SUNY Oswego.

Rabbi Jesse has twin sons, Holden and Parker, who attended The Kehillah School and who are now 2nd graders at Chatsworth Elementary School in Larchmont.

You can contact Rabbi Jesse at RabbiJesseGallop@tinr.org

Click here for Rabbi Jesse and Cantor Rita’s first service together

Cantor

Cantor Rita Glassman
Email

Cantor Rita Glassman grew up in Mamaroneck, New York where she attended the Westchester Day School and Mamaroneck High School. Cantor Rita was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and is a Board Certified Chaplain through the National Association of Professional Chaplains. Cantor Rita is a knowledgeable teacher of Torah and brings a depth of spirituality, insight, and wisdom to all of her Cantorial Endeavors.

Cantor Rita is also a composer with a particular interest in music and prayer that lifts the heart, builds community, and brings joy, healing, and a feeling of deep spiritual connection to all. She is a long-time member of the Helfman Composers Group based in Los Angeles, writing new music for the synagogue. Her music for both children and adults has been published in several URJ anthologies. In her Cantorial role, Cantor Rita has served Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco, and most recently Philadelphia’s Reform Congregation Rodeph Shalom. In addition, Cantor Rita has produced and recorded six CDs (www.RitaGlassman.com).

With her interest in interfaith connection, Cantor Rita was honored to have her original “Song For Peace/Oseh Shalom” performed at the White House for President and Michelle Obama at an interfaith holiday gathering in 2015. She has sung the National Anthem at a San Francisco Giants’ game and at two Golden State Warriors’ games on their Jewish Heritage Nights.

As an experienced Chaplain/Pastoral Caregiver, Cantor Rita brings to her Cantorial role at Temple Israel of New Rochelle a caring, supportive, and compassionate presence for anyone who may be going through any of life’s transitions. She deeply appreciates and embraces diversity. Cantor Rita believes in the notion that “we are all one and responsible to one another,” and that every person who enters a synagogue is welcome “at the table,” has a voice, and is essential to the life and well being of the congregation. Cantor Rita is the proud mother of a daughter, Rebecca Shira, who lives in Manhattan and is happy to have her mom “back in the neighborhood” – as is her mom.

You can contact Cantor Rita at CantorRitaGlassman@tinr.org

Click here for Rabbi Jesse and Cantor Rita’s first service together
Click here for Cantor Rita’s first sermon (pdf)
Click here to find out how Cantor’s strength has inspired others!

Cantor Emeritus

Helene Shifrin Reps

Known as the “Cantor’s Cantor,” Helene Shifrin Reps serves as our Cantor Emerita.

Cantor Reps’ musical training began in Oakdale, Pennsylvania, where she pursued lessons in piano, theory, elocution, dance, and clarinet during her childhood. Her musical studies continued at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon. As a college junior, Cantor Reps made her performance debut with William Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony, as soloist in the Mozart Requiem. After college, Cantor Reps taught music in Harlem, while studying with Jennie Tourel and performing in Manhattan. Again she sang with the Pittsburgh Symphony, as well as opera companies and ensembles. She toured both nationally and internationally with the Antiqua Players of the University of Pittsburgh.

Along with her husband, David, and their young family, Cantor Reps relocated to White Plains. She attended Hebrew Union College, and, in 1979 became one of the world’s first female cantors to graduate. The following year, she joined Temple Israel of New Rochelle, first as Cantorial assistant and then as Cantor and music director. She served Temple Israel actively for 17 years, bringing her beautiful voice and musicality, warmth and charm to our community.

While Cantor Reps retired in 1997, she remains active at Temple Israel. Cantor has four children and eight grandchildren.

Executive Director

Anita Aronoff
Email

Rabbinic Intern

Gabi Cohn

It is so wonderful to join the amazing team at Temple Israel of New Rochelle. My name is Gabi Cohn and I am your new Rabbinic Intern for the 2023-2024 school year! I am originally from Northern Virginia, but currently call Manhattan home.

I am a 5th and final year rabbinical student on the New York campus of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion where I will be ordained in May of 2024. Prior to attending rabbinical school, I lived in Jackson, Mississippi where I worked at the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life as an Education Fellow, traveling around the Southern United States, consulting with congregational religious schools of all sizes. I first moved to Manhattan back in 2012 when I began college at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Joint Program, List College. I majored in psychology and modern Jewish studies.

As I begin my final year of rabbinical school and the High Holidays quickly approach, I have been thinking a lot about how to welcome people into our spaces. This summer I took a week-long intensive on Jewish Peoplehood. I learned about various Jewish communities present in New York City as well as the demographics of the wider New York Metropolitan Jewish Community. While this was an immersive class that went to different parts of the city to learn about communities such as the Russian Speaking Jews, Bukharian Jews, and Satmir Chassidic Jews, we also learned from the UJA Federation about the shifting communities and poverty levels within the Jewish community. I have been thinking about how to welcome people into our spaces, without judgement, and with open arms no matter their backgrounds or understanding of Reform Judaism.

I hope to help continue to foster the warm welcoming community at Temple Israel of New Rochelle this year, getting to know as many of you as possible and really getting to know the community around us. I look forward to meeting you, whether for coffee, at services, or at Torah study. And I hope to help build our community trust, one coffee at a time.