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New BJ Staff Bring Expertise, Unique Perspectives, and Their Best Advice

In recent months, BJ has welcome a diverse group of new staff members to our team: Sinead Carucci, Rabbi Deena Cowans, Anina Dassa, Michael Harlow, Robert Jameson, Rabbi Sammy Kanter, Calle Schueler, and Kai Segall. While their roles span various departments, they all share the same common objective: to enhance the lives of our community in both Jewish and spiritual pathways and beyond. We’re delighted to introduce some of them to you below, and you’ll hear from other new staff members in our next Kol Hadash. We’re thrilled to have everyone on board!

Rabbi Deena Cowans: Director of Family Life and Learning

(She/Her)

What are you most excited about in your new position?
I’m excited to meet families and learn and grow together! Every morning when I daven, I say a prayer by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: “Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of your universe. Each day, enrapture me with your marvelous things without number. I don’t ask to understand the reason for it all, I ask only to share the wonder of it all.” Working with children and families helps me to connect to this prayer and feel it in my life, and I am so lucky to be able to join them on their spiritual journey.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
“You catch more flies with honey.” My bubbe is the nicest person I know, and she always reminds me that being nice is free and is also more likely to make my life better, even when I’m upset with someone.

What’s the most unexpected part of your life or work experience that you think will help you with your new position?
I’m a five-time marathoner, so I’ve got energy for days and will always be happy to chase kids around and play! I also worked in Nepal and Uganda in my twenties, so I’m used to adapting to a new place and a new culture.

What’s the most unique aspect of working for a synagogue/Jewish community in NYC?
Everybody has so many options for how and where to do Jewish. So when someone comes to us, I am so grateful that they made a deliberate choice to be here!

Which person in history would you like to have as your doubles partner in tennis?
This question is so hard! I am not a history buff AND I am terrible at tennis, so I guess someone who would be willing to laugh with me and tell me about their life and their time while we chase the ball around?

What’s your favorite word/phrase in Hebrew?
Either “chai beseret” or “hoshekh Mitzrayim.” “Chai beseret” literally means “lives in a movie,” and it means someone is misguided/delusional/imagining a world that is completely impossible. “Hoshekh Mitzrayim” means “Egyptian darkness”—what we would call in English “pitch black.” It’s a reference to the ninth plague of the Exodus, and I just think it’s so cool to see how Tanakh makes its way into modern Hebrew. (Fun fact: I lived in Israel for two years, and I speak Hebrew fluently!)

If there were a Broadway musical about your life, what would it be called?
And For My Next Trick.…I’ve done a lot of different things and lived in a lot of different places. I love learning and figuring out something new or different.

Crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
For sure creamy.

Kai Segall: Youth and Teen Coordinator

(She/Her)

What are you most excited about in your new position?
Meeting all the teens and community members.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
To always assume good intent with others.

What’s the most unexpected part of your life or work experience that you think will help you with your new position?
I worked in the service industry for a while, and there have been some stressful situations that I have had to pull the team together to handle.

What’s the most unique aspect of working for a synagogue/Jewish community in NYC?
How vibrant and engaged everyone is in their own personal way of practicing Judaism.

Which person in history would you like to have as your doubles partner in tennis?
Magnus Hirschfeld, although I don’t know how good either of us would be at tennis!

What’s your favorite word/phrase in Hebrew?
תעשׂה לי טובה (ta’aseh li tovah), which literally means “do me a favor” but is the Israeli equivalent of “give me a break.” I also like that Instagram is called “Instoosh” in Hebrew.

If there were a Broadway musical about your life, what would it be called?
It would probably be called L’Kaiim!

Crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
Creamy!

Rabbi Sammy Kanter: Senior Rabbinic Fellow

(He/Him)

What are you most excited about in your new position?
I am excited for the opportunity to create, build, and engage NYC’s Jewish young adults in meaningful Jewish experiences that feel alive and relevant to our generation. On top of that directive, it is such an honor to be able to build these experiences within the context of BJ. My husband and I have fond memories of being involved in the community before I went to rabbinical school, and we are incredibly excited to become more deeply engaged in this amazing community.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
You are the author of your own story.

What’s the most unexpected part of your life or work experience that you think will help you with your new position?
I used to be a bartender at TGI Fridays in my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Our restaurant wanted to create the vibe of the bar from Cheers, so the bartenders were required to create a family life feel at the bar. This was my first dip into what pastoral care looks like. I got to speak to people I never would have encountered, and I witnessed their ups and downs of life. I also learned how to do “flair,” which is putting on a show with bottle flipping and other tricks. I think this will come in handy when working with those in their 20s and 30s!

What’s the most unique aspect of working for a synagogue/Jewish community in NYC?
A Jewish community in NYC has the ability to be a part of a neighborhood in unique ways that most places in the country can’t replicate without the density and walking culture. I love that I live within walking distance of BJ, and it’s such a blessing to see members of the community on the streets of the Upper West Side. I also love feeling the beauty of the Jewish calendar in the neighborhood through the other Jewish communities that exist around us.

Which person in history would you like to have as your doubles partner in tennis?
Pete Sampras…because he used to be my favorite tennis player, and why not set myself up to win?

What’s your favorite word/phrase in Hebrew?
Ma pitom. Directly translated to “what suddenly,” it’s more commonly used to mean “what the heck?” or “no way” or “OMG.” I mostly just love the way Israelis use it in conversation with such astonishment and emotion!

If there were a Broadway musical about your life, what would it be called?
Glee Backstage: Sammy’s Story. Much of my life was displayed before my eyes on the TV show Glee. This musical could be a spinoff focusing on my story within the context of a high school choir.

Crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
Crunchy all the way!

Calle Schueler: Assistant Director of Family Life and Learning

(They/She)

What are you most excited about in your new position?
I’m looking forward to empowering my students and their families to explore their spiritual connection to Jewish traditions in new ways.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I’ve ever received is simple: Always pay attention to the little details!

What’s the most unexpected part of your life or work experience that you think will help you with your new position?
I grew up on my grandparents’—now my father’s—nursery in Upstate New York and come from a family of dairy farmers, so I grew up with a deep appreciation for nature, a keen understanding of where our food comes from and why that matters, and the ability to properly repot a parsley plant in under 45 seconds. This experience won’t only enhance what I can offer our families in terms of programming for nature-focused holidays like Tu Bishvat and Sukkot, but will also allow me to guide my students through conversations around food justice and environmentalism and how these values are entrenched in our Jewish tradition.

What’s the most unique aspect of working for a synagogue/Jewish community in NYC?
The number of Jews! Having grown up in Upstate New York, I am constantly floored by the vibrancy, diversity, and sheer size of the New York City Jewish community.

Which person in history would you like to have as your doubles partner in tennis?
Ray Frank—or, as her contemporaries called her, “The Girl Rabbi of the Golden West.”

What’s your favorite word/phrase in Hebrew?
Currently, my favorite Hebrew word is “zerizut,” which literally translates to “swiftness” but in religious literature is meant as “zest or zeal for learning.”

If there were a Broadway musical about your life, what would it be called?
Gold Rush

Crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
Crunchy peanut butter.