After serving for 7 years as our first Reconstructionist rabbi, Daniel Brenner left String of Pearls to become Vice President of Education at Taglit-Birthright Israel.  This non-profit organization provides the gift of first-time, peer group, educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26.

While we searched for Rabbi Brenner's replacement this past year, Rabbi Vicki Tuckman has served as our Interim Rabbi and Director of the Hebrew School.  

Now, our search is completed and we are happy to announce that our new Rabbi and Education Director is Donna Kirshbaum.  A 2008 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College ("RRC"), she holds a B.A. in Ancient Greek from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in Latin Literature from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.  While at RRC, she held internships at CLAL (the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership), the Academic Coalition for Bioethics, and Greenfaith (New Jersey's interfaith environmental coalition).

In 2003, she received the Birnbaum Award for her "extraordinary dedication to Klal Yisrael and distinguished service to the Baltimore Jewish community," especially as principal of a once-weekly congregation-based school.  In 2004, she received the Whizin Prize in Jewish Ethics for her study of genetic testing.  At RRC, she was awarded the 2004 Driesen Prize in Science and Judaism; in 2007, the Prize for Tikkun Olam in the Community and  the Bartnoff Prize for Spiritually  Motivated Social Action; and in 2008, the Stamm Prize in Jewish history.

In addition to her years of experience as a teacher and Hebrew School principal, she was a cellist with the Annapolis Symphony and a member of Womenfolk, an a capella group in Baltimore.

She brings to our congregation her warmth, sensitivity and spirituality.  "I am eager to help grow String of Pearls  in two directions at once:  outward into the Princeton community and downward so that everyone - from our smallest children to our oldest members - can mine the depth of our shared tradition with its profound emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and ethical riches."

String of Pearls Cooperative Leadership:

At String of Pearls our Wise Fools (leaders) serve in the traditional capacity of Congregation Co-Presidents. They give their time, dedication, wisdom and membership support to our congregation. Larry Cohen and Robert Friedman share in serving the congregation as Wise Fools.