Rabbi Applbaum will succeed Rabbi Ed Snitkoff, who has directed Seminar for 11 years. Rabbi Snitkoff is leaving the position at the end of summer 2018 to pursue other ventures, including teaching and guiding in Israel. Rabbi Applbaum will begin her work with Seminar this spring and will play a significant leadership role with Seminar for the 2018 summer season.
A seventh-generation Jerusalemite, Rabbi Applbaum has a wealth of experience in Jewish education, Israel education, and running programs in Israel for North American teens. She spent her first summer post-Army as a shlicha at Ramah Wisconsin in 2002. "That experience changed my life, opening up opportunities for egalitarian prayer and equality in Jewish leadership that I didn't know existed."
Rabbi Applbaum currently serves as Director of Community Engagement for Mechon Hadar in Israel. She served on the leadership team at Washington Square Minyan in Boston and at Minyan Sod Siach, in Jerusalem. Rabbi Applbaum worked as Program Manager for The Israel Experience for four years, coordinating long- and short-term programs in Israel and in Eastern Europe, and became the Director of Israel Programming at Golda Och Academy (a Solomon Schechter School) in New Jersey, directing their 9th grade trip as well as their semester-long 12th grade experience.
Rabbi Applbaum studied in a post-army beit midrash program at Midreshet Lindenbaum. She received a BA in Jewish History, Philosophy and Contemporary Judaism at Hebrew University in 2006, studied Talmud and Halakhah in the MA program "Mishlei" at the Schechter Institutes and in the Pardes Kollel, and received her rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes in 2016. She also served as the Rosh Tefillah at Ramah Berkshires in 2016. Rabbi Applbaum lives in Jerusalem with her husband Ari and their four sons.
We look forward to seeing Seminar, under Rabbi Applbaum ’s leadership, continue to serve hundreds of Ramah’s graduating campers each year. Seminar alumni return to our camps as better leaders, more deeply in love with the land and the people of Israel, and with a greater understanding of the strengths and challenges facing Israelis and Israeli society today.
