“Congregation B’nai Israel really feels like home,” he says. “Our community is warm, creative, alive, thoughtful and engaged. You can be yourself here, while at the same time you can discover new aspects of yourself and your Jewish identity. Everyone has a voice in this community, and together we engage to create a space where all feel welcome and excited about Jewish life in Greater Bridgeport.”
Rabbi Schultz has a passion for engaging B’nai Israel community members through learning, song, prayer, conversation and social justice. His impact reaches into the greater community, having served on the board of the Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County and the Strategy Team of CONECT (Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut).
A graduate of Brandeis University, Rabbi Schultz was ordained from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, where he was selected as a Bonnie and Daniel Tisch Fellow. He also served as student rabbi at B’nai Israel Synagogue in High Point, N.C., and led monthly Shabbat Unplugged services at Shaaray Tefila in New York City.
Prior to attending HUC-JIR, Evan piloted a full-time teacher program at Central Synagogue in Manhattan, spent a year volunteering in Izmir, Turkey, with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), and worked as a Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow at MIT Hillel.
Evan and his wife, Jenny, are parents to sons Koby, Elie and Roie. He is an avid runner, guitar player, reader and traveler.
Associate Rabbi Sarah Marion’s journey to the rabbinate began at age 12, when a relative reminded her that she would be the first woman in her family to have a Bat Mitzvah. She felt a newfound sense of purpose and belonging, and that moment ultimately empowered her to set her sights towards the rabbinate.
At Congregation B’nai Israel, Rabbi Marion leads worship and lifecycle events, facilitates Jewish learning for children and adults and helps oversee our various Tikkun Olam initiatives. Rabbi Marion especially enjoys creating pathways to help women and girls grow into their fullest selves.
A Westchester, N.Y., native and Brandeis University graduate, Sarah worked as a youth educator at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, Mass., before entering rabbinic school. She spent several summers as a counselor and unit head at the Union for Reform Judaism’s Eisner and Crane Lake Camps, before and during her rabbinic studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Over the course of her rabbinic training, she earned her M.A. in Religious Education and completed two units of Clinical Pastoral Education while serving as a multi-faith chaplain at two New York City area hospitals. As a rabbinic student, Sarah served congregations in Fort Smith, Ark., Stamford and Larchmont, N.Y. Before joining B’nai Israel, she served as assistant rabbi at Temple Oheb Shalom in Baltimore.
Sarah currently is pursuing her degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Fairfield University, with the goal of becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor.
Sarah and her husband, Seth, have two children, Michaela and Levi. She enjoys cooking, yoga and traveling.
He joins B’nai Israel after serving as the senior cantor at Temple Beth Hillel in Windsor.
The Malden, Mass., native earned a degree from the Academy of Jewish Religion. He then served as the assistant cantor at Temple Israel in Westport and for more than a decade on the URJ camp faculty as the head song leader, summer administrator, and Limud – Jewish Values Instructor – for Crane Lake Camp and Six Points Sports Academy.
Scott’s wife, Sharon Manasevit Harris, grew up here at B’nai Israel. Their two children, Danny and Sarah, both graduated from Kehilah and Merkaz. The Harrises are overjoyed to return to B’nai Israel, a place they call their “Jewish home.”
Prior to joining B’nai Israel, Alexa led early childhood education programs in Stamford, Hamden and Bridgeport. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with a concentration in Early Childhood, from Southern Connecticut State University.
Alexa is actively involved in the Jewish community, participating in the Women of B’nai, Hadassah and numerous committees.
Alexa lives in Trumbull with her husband and has two grown children, Jake and Maddie.
Rabbi Emeritus James Prosnit served as Senior Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel from 1990 to July 2019.
He currently teaches as an adjunct lecturer in the Religious Studies Department at Fairfield University, where he was appointed as the university’s first Jewish Chaplain in Campus Ministry. He also is a member of the advisory board of the university’s Bennett Center for Judaic Studies.
Prior to Congregation B’nai Israel, Rabbi Prosnit served as Associate Rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City and Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto.
A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, Rabbi Prosnit holds M.A. degrees from New York University (Education) and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Hebrew Literature), where he serves on the Board of Governors. He was ordained from HUC-JIR in New York in 1981 and received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 2006. He serves on HUC–JIR’s Presidents Council and chairs the Rabbinic Alumni Association.
Rabbi Prosnit has been a board member and chair of Bridgeport Prospers, a Collective Impact Leadership Team organized by the United Way; Connecticut Against Gun Violence; and Operation Hope, a homeless shelter and social service agency in Fairfield.
Rabbi Prosnit lives in Fairfield with his wife, Wendy Bloch. They have three sons, three daughters-in-law and 8 grandchildren.
Cantor Sheri Blum retired in June 2020 after 26 years at Congregation B’nai Israel, where she ensured that music plays a central role in temple life.
“Music is very powerful,” she said. “When we hear the special melodies of each holiday, it makes us feel that the holiday is here. It inspires us. Music is an integral part of our worship services.”
Cantor Blum, who arrived at B’nai Israel in the summer of 1994, would go on to prepare more than 1,300 Bet Mitzvah students, lead a dynamic music program that included our Junior Choir and Adult Choir, and teach weekly in our preschool.
Cantor Blum was ordained from the Hebrew Union College-School of Sacred Music in 1982. She served as student cantor for four years at the Union Reform Temple in Freeport, N.Y., and then became the full-time Cantor at Temple Emanuel in Worcester, Mass., for 12 years, before joining B’nai Israel.
In 2007, Cantor Blum received an Honorary Doctorate from the Hebrew Union College for 25 years of outstanding service to the Reform Movement.
Director of Education Emeritus
Ira Wise led Education at Congregation B’nai Israel from 1995 to 2022.
Each summer, Ira serves on the faculty of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Eisner and Crane Lake camps. He also chaperones teens on the NFTY L’dor V’dor trip to Eastern Europe and Israel.
Ira has served in the leadership of the Association of Reform Jewish Educators, who bestowed on him the title of Reform Jewish Educator (RJE) and the Distinguished Educator Honor.
He serves a mentor and staff member for the Elaine Breslow Institute (EBI) of Beit T’shuvah, the first Jewish residential addiction recovery center. EBI is a program that brings Jewish clergy, educators and other professionals for an immersion into the factors and treatment of addiction, helping them to become first responders and to create programs in their own communities.
Ira is a graduate of the M² Senior Educators Program and has earned a certificate in Spiritual Counseling from Beit T’shuvah in Los Angeles. He has published several Jewish educational texts and articles.
He received his B.A. in Public Administration from the University of Illinois and his M.A. in Jewish Education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at HUC-JIR in Los Angeles. In 2016 he became a Doctor of Jewish Religious Education (DJRE), conferred by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
He lives in Fairfield with his wife Audrey. They have two sons.
Please visit his education blog, Welcome to the Next Level.