Educator Melissa Cohavi

Director of Education Melissa Cohavi, M.S.W., R.J.E.

Director of Education Melissa Cohavi is a graduate of The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and has a B.A. in Judaic Studies. She also has a Masters in Social Work from Yeshiva University, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, in New York City, and a Master of Arts in Religious Education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Melissa is the winner of the 2003 Behrman House Award and scholarship for Jewish educators. Melissa has extensive experience in the field of Jewish education. She has taught at a number of synagogues in the New York area. She was the Religious School Coordinator at Temple Beth Shalom in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, and was also the Director of Education and Temple Programming at both Riverdale Temple in the Bronx and at Greenwich Reform Synagogue in Greenwich, CT. She has written curriculum for all ages, from youth through high school and has extensive youth group experience. Melissa also lived in Israel for three years, where she completed her Masters in Social Work, and then worked as a community social worker in the Neve Yonatan neighborhood of Ramla. Melissa is the 2004 winner of The Rabbi Edward E. Klein Memorial Prize in Education from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and the 2005 winner of the Marilyn Scheffler Award for Excellence in Education from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Melissa was also a participant in the Leadership Institute for Congregational School Principals. Melissa lives in Rye Brook, New York with her husband, Ilan, and two children, Talia and Adam.