habaim!

Professional Staff

Sherry Gutes - Religious School Principal, sgutes@shjc.org

South Huntington Jewish Center welcomes Sherry Gutes as the Principal of our Religious School.

Sherry is a good fit for our school and for our congregation.  In fact, she may be something of a ‘poster child’ for Conservative Judaism.  She grew up in Temple Beth El in Poughkeepsie, NY (the same synagogue where Hazzan Joseph Wieselman z’l, beloved father of Suri Jacknis, was the cantor for many years).  She attended Camp Ramah for five consecutive summers, forming what would become a lifelong love and appreciation for the importance of informal Jewish educational experiences as a key to leading a meaningful Jewish life. Throughout high school, she was active in USY on the local, regional and international level.

Following college, Sherry married her husband Greg, a sports copy editor for Newsday.  Their two sons Adam and Joshua attended the Solomon Schechter Day School of Suffolk County, where Sherry served several years on their Board of Directors.  The family joined a local Conservative synagogue, and Sherry became active in the synagogue, in the Sisterhood, and in Eastern Long Island Branch for Women’s League for Conservative Judaism.  She was also among the first group to be inducted into Kolot B’kdusha, a group of women recognized by WLCJ as being capable of leading Shabbat, holiday and midweek services.

Sherry came to Jewish education as a second career.  (For 15 years she ran her own Jewish cultural arts business, representing Jewish performing artists – singers, comedians, bands, etc., and managing numerous concerts and other special events. For more than 25 years she has been a freelance comedy writer.) Sherry began working for SAJES, the central agency for Jewish education, in 1998, where she served as the Director of Communications. She is also a graduate of its three professional certification programs: Morasha Teacher Preparation Institute, Principals Leadership Institute, and Jewish Family Educators Training Institute. As part of SAJES Mentor and Protégé Program, she has been trained to provide ongoing support to new and novice teachers. Her two trips to Israel with SAJES, as part of a group of Jewish educators, have been highlights of her career.

Sherry taught religious school at synagogues in Huntington and Commack (she admits to missing being a classroom teacher) and served as the Principal of Temple Beth Sholom of Smithtown for four years before coming to SHJC.

Sherry is a person of great energy, and she is passionate about her work on behalf of the children and families of SHJC.  She sees her position as Principal as multi-faceted: teacher, learner, administrator, convener, role model, consensus-builder, conversation starter.  She finds great joy and satisfaction in living life Jewishly, and understands the challenges that face Jewish families today.  Sherry believes that her work in Jewish education is holy work – a sacred responsibility that she takes very seriously.  She also loves to schmooze and share a good laugh.

SHJC looks forward to many years of holy work and great laughs with Sherry.

Visit the SHJC Religious School.

Randi Alexander - Nursery School Director, ralexander@shjc.org

Randi joined our staff in the summer of 2005 as Nursery School Director.  Raised in East Meadow, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Hofstra University.  Randi holds New York State Permanent Certification in Early Childhood Education, Kindergarten and Elementary Education.  

Randi is a member of the Board of Jewish Education (BJE), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Suffolk Association for Jewish Educational Services (SAJES).  

Before coming to SHJC, Randi was a Nursery School teacher at the Mid Island Y - JCC in Plainview for twelve years before moving up to the administrative level where, for five years, she was the Assistant Director for the Early Childhood Department.

Randi has been married to Jeffrey for the past 29 years.  They are the proud parents of three wonderful sons: David, Steven and Howard.

Randi is dedicated to providing our nursery school children with a nurturing environment that will offer many age-appropriate experiences for emotional, intellectual, social and physical growth, in addition to developing a positive Jewish identity and to instill in them a love for Israel.  

We are very fortunate to have Randi in our synagogue family! 

Read more about the SHJC Nursery School.

Phyllis Hilf-Pellman - Family Educator, ppellman@shjc.org

Phyllis has been the Jewish Family Educator at SHJC since 1998, and is responsible for Religious School student-parent workshops and congregational family programming. She received a certificate in Jewish Family Education from JFETI, the Jewish Family Educator Training Institute at SAJES (the Suffolk Association of Jewish Educational Services) and attended the Whizzin Institute of Family Education at the University of Judaism.  She brings great enthusiasm and deep commitment to her programs, and is continuously refining them and looking for new and even more exciting ways to instill an even greater understanding and appreciation of Jewish teachings in her students, both children and parents alike.

Previously a social work supervisor at the Day Hospital at Queens Hospital Center, Phyllis received her Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania.  She lives in Roslyn with her husband Elliot and daughters Rachel, Danielle and Emily.

Learn more about SHJC Family Ed program.

Phyllis Simon - Librarian, psimon@shjc.org

Phyllis Simon is a professional librarian and has been working in the SHJC library for over 15 years.  She presides over a collection that includes books for all ages on a variety of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction, including Israel, ritual, history, biography, theology, Kaballah, folklore and the Holocaust.  The library also houses the Jack & Harriet Schwartz Jewish Heritage Video Collection, a compendium of videos on subjects of Jewish interest.

Phyllis was educated at Brooklyn College, she received a Masters Degree in Education from Hofstra University, and a Masters in Library Science from C. W. Post.  In addition to supervising our library, she developed the collection at Long Island School for the Gifted, where she has worked for eighteen years.   She is the grandmother of three, a member of the SHJC choir, and enjoys film, theater and reading (of course!), and has combined her love of travel with an interest in genealogy by organizing "roots" trips to eastern Europe.  Phyllis also enjoys folk music and was a self-described "nut" about folk dancing until her arthritic knees intervened.  Even with all this, our lovely librarian says people are her primary passion.

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Rabbi Simcha Zamir - Bar/Bat Mitzvah Tutor, szamir@shjc.org

Rabbi Zamir was born and raised in Far Rockaway, New York and attended the Hebrew Institute of Long Island. After attending Yeshivha Marbitzei Torah and Queens College, Rabbi Zamir moved to Israel. After twelve years, he returned to the United States with his wife Batya and their six children. 

Rabbi Zamir has been affiliated with Congregation Tifereth Israel in Glen Cove, where he taught in and was the Director of the Religious School, as well as being the Bar/Bat Mitzvah tutor.  While at Tifereth Israel, Rabbi Zamir instituted a mentoring program for the B’nai Mitzvah candidates as well as B’nai Mitzvah seminars for both the students and their parents.  

Rabbi Zamir was the Rabbi at the Sayville Jewish Community Center, and is currently the Rabbo of Congregation Temple Sholom in Westbury. 

We are most fortunate to have a friendly, hard-working team in the SHJC Office.  Elissa Spiegel runs the accounting office, Carol Frisa is the warm voice on the other end of the phone, and Carla Amato assists in the office and helps keep the Nursery School running smoothly.

With facilities that serve as many different functions and host as many different programs as ours do, we couldn't do without the assistance of our fine Custodial and Maintenance Staff.  We greatly appreciate the efforts of Don Stanton, Pedro Flores, Patrick Jean, Eddy Jean, Bose Francois and Guillermo Aguirre.  

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2600 New York Avenue, Melville, NY  11747
Phone: 631-421-3224; Fax: 631-549-4130; e-mail: mail@shjc.org

© 2003, South Huntington Jewish Center, Inc.