About us
Our People
The clergy, staff, musicians and volunteer leaders who make Temple Emanuel the community it is. Reach out any time.
Rabbi Michael Farbman
Rabbi
Born in Vitebsk, Belarus, Rabbi Farbman received his semicha (rabbinic ordination) at Leo Baeck College, the Reform rabbinical seminary in London. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in Hebrew and Jewish Studies and a Master of Sacred Theology from Yale Divinity School.
Since his ordination in 2001 he served the West London Synagogue of British Jews, helped build Sha’arei Shalom Progressive Jewish Community in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was Rabbi-in-Residence at Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, DC.
He is an active member of the Orange Interfaith Clergy group, the immediate past President of the New Haven Board of Rabbis and Cantors, and was appointed by Governor Lamont to the Connecticut Hate Crimes Advisory Council.
From the Rabbi
Slach lanu…forgive us before the High Holy Days?
In our tradition, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as the most awe-inspiring and powerful Holy Days of the…
Read more →Looking back, and looking ahead – celebrating a milestone.
Twenty-five years ago this month, I stood with my classmates on the bimah of West London Synagogue and received my…
Read more →Counting our days…
Each year, almost quietly, we enter one of the most meaningful stretches of the Jewish calendar: the counting of the…
Read more →
Leadership and staff
Lindsey Sussman
President
A TE member since 2013 and former Chair of the Membership Committee, Lindsey lives in Woodbridge with her husband, Scott, and their two girls.
Olga Markus
Religious School Director
A Jewish educator with more than 20 years of experience in the UK, Russia and the US, Olga leads the TE Religious School.
Music
Laurel Shader & Anna Zonderman
High Holy Day Cantorial Soloists
Laurel has been a High Holy Day cantorial soloist since 1996 and leads the TE house band; her daughter Anna has sung at TE since 2004 and leads the children’s High Holy Day services.
Susan Pinsky Bleeks
Cantorial Soloist, B’nei Mitzvah
Education Director of the Religious School for 25 years and soloist at 185 Temple Emanuel simchas.
Board of Directors 2026–27
Officers
Lindsey Sussman
President
Naomi Rosenstein
First Vice President
Marcia Landesman
Second Vice President
Sara Steinberg Forman
Secretary
Len Farber
Treasurer
Melissa Perkal
Assistant Treasurer
Directors
Lewis Shaffer (Immediate Past President) · Jill Gulliford · Morgan Hushion · Howard Koenig · Aron Pinkussohn · Holli Shanbrom · Ann Teller · Jeff Levick · Lily Katsovich · Marianna Rothbard
Community representatives
Susan Pinsky Bleeks
Sisterhood
Ava Berkowitz
Youth representative