Allison A. Atterberry was born on a military base in Japan and grew up in South Korea and Germany before moving to the United States for university. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri and worked in family planning/reproductive health until 2012. Allison began working for NAJC as Administrative Assistant in 2018 and has been delighted to work her way up to Interim Executive Director. Allison is pleased to continue her work with NAJC and is always happy to hear from members and chaplaincy friends. She and her husband, Gabriel, live in Greater Miami. Allison may be reached at execdirector@najc.org or by the email envelope at the end of this paragraph.
Chaplain Hagar Ben-Eliezer, BCC is the Chaplain/Wellness Therapist for Hillel at UC Berkeley. She has worked in pediatric chaplaincy at both UCSF and Stanford hospitals and has served as chaplain for her synagogue. Hagar maintains a small, private practice and is a passionate domestic violence advocate within her Jewish community serving as a consultant and expert witness. Hagar is a native of San Francisco, California and enjoys living within walking distance to the Golden Gate Bridge. Always looking for new ways to connect people to spirituality, Hagar lectures to medical school students on Trauma Informed Care, Somatic Healing and created workshops in veterinarian chaplaincy she leads for staff at animal hospitals. When not working Hagar loves to travel, head to the spa with friends or go on adventures with her dog, Theodore.
Rabbi Kamil is a Staff Chaplain at M Health Fairview in Minneapolis, MN. Rebecca was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2016, and is a Board Certified member of NAJC. Rebecca lives in the suburbs of Minneapolis with her husband (also a rabbi), and their son.
Rabbi Frederick ‘Fred’ Klein, a board-certified chaplain, is Senior Director of Mishkan Miami: The Jewish Connection for Spiritual Support, a program of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and serves as Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami. In this capacity he oversees Jewish pastoral care support for Miami’s Jewish Community, trains volunteers in friendly visiting and bikkur cholim, consults with area synagogues in creating caring community, and organizes conferences on spirituality, illness and aging. Rabbi Klein is also the Director of the Interdenominational Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami.
Rabbi Edward Bernstein serves as Chaplain of Boca Raton Regional Hospital in Boca Raton, Florida. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly. He served as a pulpit rabbi in three Conservative congregations over an 18-year period prior to moving to chaplaincy. He is the host of NeshamaCast, NAJC’s podcast on Jewish spiritual care. Ed is an NAJC Board Certified Chaplain (BCC). He and his wife Ariella Reback reside in Boynton Beach, FL and have three children.
Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn is a Board Certified Chaplain at NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She specializes in Palliative Care, Critical Care, and Emergency Psychiatric Care. Rabbanit Alissa is the Rabbanit at Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, NJ and for NNJ Moishe House Based-In. A prolific writer and speaker, she received her ordination from Yeshivat Maharat and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brandeis University with a degree in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Classical Studies Archaeology and Ancient History. She lives in Teaneck, NJ with her husband Akiva and daughter Ella.
Rabbi Jodie Futornick, BCC, has been the specialty palliative care chaplain since October, 2023 at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, WA. Prior to that, she was a staff chaplain at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle for eight years, and before that, at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington IL. Earlier in her career, Jodie was the rabbi of synagogues in South Carolina and Illinois.
Jodie has been board certified by the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) since 2006, with additional certification from Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC). Jodie also holds a Doctor of Bioethics (DBe) degree from Loyola of Chicago and holds Healthcare Ethics Consultant Certification (HEC-C) from the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities.
Rabbi Nancy H. Wiener, D.Min., BCC, serves as founding Director of the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Center for Pastoral Counseling and Dr. Paul and Trudy Steinberg Distinguished Professor in Human Relations at HUC-JIR/New York. Her publications include: “Insights into Moral Injury and Soul Repair from Classical Jewish Texts,” Journal of Pastoral Psychology, 2018 and in Military Moral Injury and Spiritual Care: A Resource for Religious Leaders and Professional Caregiver (Chalice 2019; Maps and Meaning: Levitical Models for Contemporary Care (Fortress 2014), “Pastoral Care in a Postmodern World: Promoting Spiritual Health Across the Life Cycle,” and “Seminary-Based Jewish Pastoral Education,” Judaism and Health (Jewish Lights, 2013).
Chaplain Daniels is the Lead Chaplain and Manager of Spiritual Services at Cohen Children’s Medical Center (Northwell Health) in New Hyde Park, NY. He has been at CCMC for seven years and had been affiliated with other hospitals in the NYC area prior to coming here.
Mark is married to the love of his life and together they have two sons, two daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren.
Chaplain Russell Braman is a clinical chaplain at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, IA. He primarily works with the pediatric population, and also serves as an Independent Living Donor Advocate with the hospital's kidney transplant program. Russell holds master's degrees in Jewish education and nonprofit management from the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree in history and Spanish from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to exploring chaplaincy, Rusell was a high school Spanish and geography teacher in Texas.
Rabbi Eliana Falk is the Rabbi-Chaplain at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Ct, ensuring the needs of Jewish patients are met, and as an attending oncology chaplain in the Yale Smilow Cancer Hospital. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion (NY) and is Board certified through NAJC. Before accepting her position at Yale, she worked as a per diem chaplain with Seasons Hospice. Earlier, she enjoyed a 17-year career serving congregations in Connecticut, and as Communications Director for the Connecticut ADL. She currently serves as the Visiting Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Shalom in Putnam, CT. Her interests include care and equity for patients of minority religions in the US.
Joel Finkelstein is a board certified staff chaplain iii at Methodist Germantown Hospital in the Memphis area. He is also the Rabbinic Scholar at Baron Hirsch congregation in Memphis. He previously served at the Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth congregation in Memphis for 25 years as well as congregations in NY, NJ, and St. Louis. He grew up in Far Rockaway, NY and spent many years at Yeshiva University where he was for high school, college, rabbinical school, and graduate school. Joel enjoys walking in the outdoors, researching family history and learning Torah. He enjoys spending time with his wife, Bluma, their 4 children and their 3 grandchildren.
Rabbanit Tamar Green Eisenstat is a staff chaplain at New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital. Tamar completed a year long chaplaincy residency at NYP-Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Tamar is an alumnus of Yeshivat Maharat and is a graduate of Oxford University and Northeastern University School of Law, and is a former Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York. Tamar lives with her husband, Abe, and her children in the Bronx, New York, and in her free time can be found walking her dog in the Riverdale Forest.
Chaplain Pitegoff is Staff Chaplain at Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, NY, serves as the NAJC Volunteer Webmaster (a/k/a "najcwebmaven"), and is certified by the Red Cross in Disaster Spiritual Care Services. Chaplain Pitegoff transformed 25+ years of volunteer chaplaincy at hospices and hospitals into professional chaplaincy with a BCC from NAJC. Chaplain Pitegoff holds a BBA in Statistics from Baruch College / CUNY, an MBA from Adelphi University, and graduate studies in Theology and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of South Florida. Chaplain Pitegoff is the Chair of the Planning Committee for "Through a Jewish Lens," a day of virtual support for Jewish survivors of suicide loss, a project of AFSP, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Rabbi Kinzbrunner is the owner of New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC, helping people on the journey through the waves of life. Bryan is an experienced Spiritual Care chaplain with over 15 years of experience working in Senior Care and Hospice. He has semicha/ordination from Yeshiva University. Bryan has spent his career working closely with people on areas of spirituality, grief and loss and transitions. He is passionate about helping others discover their authentic, spiritual selves.
Rabbi Chaplain Suzanne Offit is a spiritual leader, teacher, and focused witness to the suffering of a human. Directed and energized by a theology of presence, Suzanne practices deep listening with patience, compassion and curiosity to accompany the one before her into a sacred moment of understanding and transformation.