Rabbi Search Committee for Bet Haverim
Appointed by the Board of Directors of CBH
Robin Kulakow (co-Chair)
Robin Kulakow joined CBH as a UCD graduate student in 1984. Robin and her husband, Bill Julian, married at CBH and their three children attended religious & Hebrew school, had their B’nai Mitzvahs and confirmations, and participated in the synagogue youth group, DRTY. Robin has served on the CBH Board of Directors and on the Tree of Life Committee. Most recently, Robin served on the hiring committee to select our new Executive Director. Robin’s professional background includes: Co-Founder of Putah Creek Council, serving on their Board for 15 years and Founder of Yolo Basin Foundation and leading the effort to create the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, serving as their Executive Director for 25 years.
Rob Egel (co-Chair)
Rob Egel and his wife, Dotti, have been members of CBH for 24 years. Their children attended CBH religious & Hebrew school, had their B’nai Mitzvahs, confirmations, and participated in the synagogue youth group, DRTY. Rob served on the CBH Board of Directors for 5 years, managed the Progressive Dinners for 4 years and Friday night onegs for 2 years (both with Dotti), and helped to establish and manage the CBH Men’s Club. Rob recently retired after 36 years working for the State of California, including having served for the Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs for the State Water Resources Control Board for the last 16 years of his career.
Liz Bader-Natal
Liz Bader-Natal and her family moved to Davis in the spring of 2019 after over a decade in the Bay Area. Professionally, she is the Director of Styling at Dia&Co, a subscription and ecommerce business focused on women who wear plus size clothing. Outside of work she’s dedicated to establishing her family’s place in the Davis Jewish community and helping to plan for the future of CBH.
Michael Bobell
Originally from Los Angeles (and then Berkeley, San Diego, and Chapel Hill), Michael came to Davis in 1997 where he, his wife Rochelle and his daughter Rebecca, and once he was born in 2000, his son Ben, became active in the CBH Community. He has served in many different roles at CBH, including being the Treasurer, being on the Education and Youth Committee, the Finance Committee, and on the hiring committees for the Executive Director and Director of Education. He worked as a Disability Consultant, planning and running programs for a large healthcare organization. Currently, he is also involved in Medicare counseling and studying classical guitar.
Alan Brownstein
Alan Brownstein has been a partner at Congregation Bet Haverim for almost 40 years. He has served as co-president (one year), vice-president (two years), and served on the Board for 4 separate terms (around 12 – 15 years). He has also served on many different committees including the Dues Committee, the Donor Recognition Committee, and the Social Action Committee. He currently serves on the Social Justice Committee and the Security Committee. Alan is a regular part of the minyan that attends Shabbat Services each week. Both of his children, Ben and Meredith, attended religious school at CBH. Meredith lives with Alan and his wife, Beth, in Davis and is very actively involved in CBH activities.
Alan was employed as a professor of law at UC Davis School of Law from 1981 – 2014. He is now a professor emeritus at the law school. In that capacity, he continued teaching at the law school until 2020. His primary area of expertise is constitutional law with an emphasis on First Amendment doctrine. (He is a nationally recognized scholar in this area of law.) He has worked with numerous civic and community organizations including, by way of example, the Legal Committee of the Northern California ACLU and the Yolo County District Attorney Multi-Cultural Council.
Jane Credland
Jane Credland and her partner, Rabbi Cyn Hoffman, moved to Davis in 2018 and joined CBH shortly afterwards. Before that, they were in and out of Davis to visit with Cyn’s family, attending CBH services with Cyn’s grandmother and by themselves. Jane was born in the UK, lived in Canada for many years, before moving to the US. She’s currently a technical documentation manager with a tech company in the Bay Area and is looking forward to using those skills to help with the CBH rabbi search.
Natalya Eagan-Rosenberg
Natalya Eagan-Rosenberg has been a CBH member since 2001, when she began bringing her children Tazio (20) and Arianna (18) to tot Shabbat and Jewish play group. Natalya has been active in her children’s Jewish education and involved with several interfaith groups at CBH. She has been in a Rosh Hodesh group for many years, participated in CBH’s leadership training course, and is currently serving on the Diversity and Equity sub-committee. Natalya works for the Air Resources Board on legislation related to community air protection and climate change. Natalya and her husband Matthew are looking forward to reconnecting in person on our beautiful campus!
Ilana Golin
Ilana joined CBH soon after moving to Davis in 2020, hoping it could be a place of Jewish connection and inspiration for her. She was raised by an extended community of New York Jews — heavy on effusive love and Jewish culture, light on religious education. Her husband, Seth, was raised in a progressive Lutheran church in San Francisco — heavy on ritual and spirituality, light on, well… Judaism! They consider themselves to be a Jewish family and are raising their daughter, Talia, in a way that celebrates their eclectic backgrounds. Ilana’s professional experience is in higher education. She has led initiatives in program development, community partnerships, operational efficiency, and communications at a variety of institutions, including Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Mills. As a proud alumna of the Greenlining Institute’s Leadership Academy, Ilana strives to bring an equity and inclusion lens to all that she does. In her spare time, she enjoys reading memoirs, swimming, and watching competition shows where people are kind to one another.
Orit Kalman
Orit Kalman came to Davis in 1994 to study at UC Davis, met her husband, Don and settled in Davis. The CBH community has always been part of our family life. We have three children who attended the religious school program and celebrated their bnei mitzvah and confirmation at CBH. Don and Orit both served on the Board of Directors and participated in numerous offerings at CBH including adult education and meditation programs. Orit most recently served as the co-chair of the Rabbi Process Team. In her professional life, Orit is a facilitator who works with state agencies on a diverse set of state policies and with communities on local issues.
Barry Klein
Barry Klein hails from the Bronx and his wife, Gail, is from Northern New Jersey, but they have transformed into Davisites since 1992. Barry and Gail have 4 children, two in Davis with five grandchildren and two in the Washington, D.C. area where they lived for many years. After retiring from UC Davis in 2016 Barry has devoted his time to serving the community including serving as a current CBH Board member (Gail served, too) and past co-President, and Vice President of Hillel. At UC Davis Barry was a faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and served as Vice Chancellor for Research. He continues with a number of professional activities, and he also pounds a golf ball much too many times for 18 holes.
Hallie Morrow
Hallie Morrow has been a member of Congregation Bet Haverim for almost 20 years. She has been involved in leadership at the synagogue for much of that time. She celebrated her adult bat mitzvah with her CBH family and friends, and subsequently became a lay leader for Shabbat morning services as well as a Torah chanter. She has served on the Board and many committees (including Ritual Committee, Building and Grounds, Sisterhood), and is a past co-president of the congregation. She also co-leads quarterly Chant Services and monthly Chant Circles. She has leadership and administrative experience from her professional career as a Public Health Medical Officer with the California Department of Health Care Services and as the Medical Director of the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program.
Stephani Shanske
Stephani Shanske and her family have lived in Davis for 7 years, since moving from Berkeley. She and her husband are parents of an eight year old and a five year old. Stephani is a convert to Judaism, having completed her conversion ceremony in Oakland in 2012. Stephani’s immediate upcoming projects include making her first cinnamon babka.
