Summer Speaker Series 2025

Saturday mornings, June 28 through August 16

During the summer months, we invite members of our community to speak on Shabbat mornings and address the congregation about the interesting ways that they connect special experiences to their Jewish identities. All presentations take place during Shabbat services, at approximately 10:45 AM.

June 28

3 “Aha” Moments: How Do We Connect to Israel?
with Tali Arnolf Wohlgemuth 
In this reflective talk, Tali looks back on her first year leading the DC Delegation. Through three personal stories and meaningful encounters, she explores how cultural symbols, human connection, and a commitment to open dialogue help build lasting bridges between Israel and the Jewish world. Join her as she shares insights on strengthening Jewish identity, navigating complexity, and empowering the next generation to connect with Israel in real and resonant ways.

Tali Arnolf Wohlgemuth serves as the Senior Shlicha (Israeli emissary) and Head of the Israel Delegation at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. Born and raised in Kibbutz Revadim, Tali is a second-generation Israeli with Argentinean roots. She holds an MBA in Social Leadership and a BA in Social Work from Ben-Gurion University. Tali has worked extensively in Israel's pre-army Mechinot programs, Jewish Peoplehood education, and community leadership initiatives. She currently lives in Rockville with her husband and their three young children. Two of them are students of B'nai Israel Schilit Nursery School. Click here for more information.

July 5

Reflections from March of the Living
with Craig Strent & Sammy Strent
Craig & Sammy Strent were part of the B’nai Israel delegation, led by Rabbi Safra to travel to Poland in April and participate in the International March of the Living. There, they joined 80 Holocaust survivors, recently released hostages, the Presidents of Poland & Israel, and Jews from around the world to march from Auschwitz to Birkenau to commemorate the end of the Holocaust and the survival of the Jewish people. Come hear the story of this incredible father and son journey through Jewish sites in Poland as they bear witness to the horrors of the Holocaust and celebrate the resurgence of Judaism in Poland today. 
 
Craig Strent has been a member of B’nai Israel since 2002 and has been actively involved in synagogue life, including chairing the Golf Tournament for seven years and serving on the Immigrant & Refugee Committee. He is a recipient of the Men’s Club Shamash Award and serves on the Jewish National Fund’s Greater Washington Board and Housing Development Task Force. Craig has participated in multiple JNF missions to Israel and recently joined B’nai Israel’s delegation to the March of the Living with his son Sammy. A longtime mortgage banker, Craig co-founded Apex Home Loans in 1998 and sold the firm in 2021. He now serves as Head of Faculty at Loan Atlas, an online platform for mortgage professionals, and lives in Bethesda with his wife Amy, sons Sammy and Oliver, and their two (Jewishly converted) rescue dogs, Pavarotti and Butters.

Sammy Strent is a lifelong member of B’nai Israel, having attended nursery school, Talmud Torah, and confirmation, and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah both at the synagogue and atop Masada with his family. While at Walt Whitman High School, he represented the Jewish community through the JCRC’s Student to Student program. At the University of Miami, he was active in Hillel and joined a Birthright trip in 2023. Sammy graduated with a double major in musical composition and Spanish and is now pursuing a music career in New York City. Click here for more information.

July 12

Centennial Summer Speaker Presentation
with Rabbi Jonathan A. Schnitzer
Join Rabbi Jonathan Schnitzer, Rabbi Emeritus, for a special Summer Speaker presentation celebrating 100 years of B’nai Israel Congregation. He will reflect on the people, values, and milestones that have shaped our community over the past century. With wisdom and vision, Rabbi Schnitzer will also offer his hopes for the next 100 years of Jewish life at B’nai Israel.

Rabbi Jonathan A. Schnitzer served B’nai Israel for twenty-eight years before becoming Rabbi Emeritus in July 2017. Rabbi Schnitzer received a BA from Columbia College and then studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he received his Master’s Degree and was ordained in 1974. In 2001, the Seminary awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Divinity. Rabbi Schnitzer has been very active on the local and national Jewish scene. He is currently co-Chair of the Rabbinical Assembly Morasha (Legacy) campaign. A voracious reader, avid traveler and biking enthusiast, Rabbi Schnitzer also has a special passion for Israel. Click here for more information.

July 19

From Belmar to Jerusalem and Back: The Journey of a Spiritual Seeker, Zionist, and Tropical Medicine Doctor
with Dr. Stephen Hoffman
In April 1969, while sitting in the Valley of the Cross in Jerusalem, Dr. Stephen Hoffman made the decision to become a doctor. Three years later, in Manhattan, he realized that the people who most needed a doctor were those suffering from tropical infectious diseases. His journey—from the house where the E Street Band originated and a small Orthodox shul in Belmar, NJ, to living and working on five continents, serving as a U.S. Navy officer for 21 years, leading a biotech company, and serving on B’nai Israel’s Board of Governors—has been shaped by deep spiritual forces. In a few weeks, he will return to Jerusalem to give a seminar at the Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at Hebrew University on his work developing a malaria vaccine, 43 years after first presenting there.

Dr. Stephen Hoffman is the Founder and CEO of Sanaria Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing vaccines and antibodies to prevent malaria. A physician and scientist, he earned his MD from Cornell University Medical College and trained in tropical medicine in London. He served for 21 years as a U.S. Navy medical officer and later held leadership roles in academia and industry. Dr. Hoffman is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has authored over 530 scientific publications. He lives in Maryland with his family and continues to lead groundbreaking work in global health. Click here for more information.

July 26

Think Jewishly, Act Locally: Stories from 10 Years of Organizing and Advocacy
with Laura Wallace
Blurb: Jewish tradition calls upon us to take care of our neighbors. What does this mean in practical terms? What is possible when we advocate for change at the local level? What does it look like to organize within the Jewish community while creating deep relationships with partners from different backgrounds? Laura will reflect on highlights and challenges from the last 10 years and look ahead to where we go from here.  

Laura Wallace is the Director for both Maryland and Montgomery County for Jews United for Justice (JUFJ). Laura has helped lead successful campaigns at the county and state level for paid family and medical leave, earned sick leave, increasing the minimum wage, stabilizing rents, funding programs to address homelessness, and ensuring our immigrant neighbors have access to healthcare and a college education. Laura began her organizing and advocacy journey as a volunteer with Action in Montgomery. Prior to JUFJ, Laura worked for the Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies and the Masorti Foundation. Laura and her family have been members of B'nai Israel for 12 years and Laura serves as the chair of the B'nai Israel Ritual Committee. Click here for more information.

august 9

Reflecting on a Semester in Israel
with Lily Rulnick 
Every year, the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School’s graduating class travels to Israel for the three-month Irene and Daniel Simpkins Senior Capstone Israel Trip to tour, learn, and culminate their time at JDS. Join Lily to hear about her reflections on her recent experience in Israel with her grade after having attended JDS for 13 years. She will share the valuable lessons she learned about pride, community, hardship, and the resilience of the Jewish people, especially amidst the Israel-Hamas War.

Lily Rulnick is a recent graduate of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School and is a rising freshman at Washington University in St. Louis. Lily has been a member of B’nai Israel since she was born, having celebrated her Simchat Bat in 2007 and her Bat Mitzvah in 2019. Click here for more information.

august 16

Studying Tanakh Together: Celebrating a Siyyum for 929
with Tovah Reis & Wendy Fanaroff
929 is a project of the Israeli Ministry of Education that invites participants to read one chapter of the Hebrew Bible each day. The most recent cycle began on February 3, 2022, and will conclude in August, 2025. A group of B’nai Israel members have been participating these past three years, and two of them, Wendy Fanaroff and Tovah Reis, will share their reflections to celebrate the completion of the cycle. Although Tovah studied Tanakh in Israeli public schools from Grades 2-8, and took college-level courses on the subject, the experience of studying Tanakh as an adult, as a retiree, and with a new hevruta (study partner), Wendy Fanaroff, made this a particularly rewarding experience. Wendy knew that there were gaps in her Judaic knowledge, and used 929 as an opportunity to narrow those gaps through daily study of Tanakh. 

Tovah Reis was born in Brooklyn and spent her early childhood there before her family moved to Israel in 1949. After returning to the United States, she attended Abraham Lincoln High School and Brooklyn College, and later earned a graduate degree in Library Science from Hebrew University. Her professional career included work at Camp Ramah and libraries at institutions such as the Jewish Theological Seminary, Tel Aviv University, MIT, Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Brown University, and Rhode Island College. Her husband, Avraham Reis, was born in Romania, made Aliyah in 1944, worked as an administrator, and passed away in Rhode Island in 2013. Tovah moved to the Washington, DC area in 2018 and has lived at the Ring House since 2021.

Wendy Fanaroff has been a member of B’nai Israel for most of her adult life. While she did not grow up at the synagogue, she raised her family there and enjoys participating in many aspects of congregational life. Wendy is a nurse and a graduate of both the University of Maryland and the University of Pennsylvania. Over the course of her career, she held several roles in nursing and proudly served at the National Institutes of Health until her retirement from active practice in 2022. Click here for more information.