JCR Staff
Staff
Gary A. Tobin, Ph.D.
Dr. Gary A. Tobin is the president of the Institute for Jewish &
Community Research in San Francisco. He is also director of the Leonard
and Madlyn Abramson Program in Jewish Policy Research at the University
of Judaism in Los Angeles. He earned his Ph.D. in City and Regional
Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. He was the director
for eleven years of the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern
Jewish Studies at Brandeis University. Prior to joining Brandeis, Dr.
Tobin spent eleven years on faculty at Washington University, St. Louis.
He has worked extensively in the area of patterns of racial segregation
in schools and housing. He is the editor of two volumes about the effects
of the racial schism in America, What Happened to the Urban Crisis?
and Divided Neighborhoods.
Gary Tobin is the author of numerous books, articles, and planning
reports on a broad range of subjects about the Jewish community.He has
published widely in the areas of Jewish organizational planning, foundations,
and philanthropy. His latest books include Jewish Perceptions of Antisemitism,
Rabbis Talk About Intermarriage and Opening The Gates: How Proactive
Conversion Can Revitalize The Jewish Community.
Diane Tobin
Diane Tobin is the associate director of the Institute for Jewish &
Community Research. In addition to managing projects and the publication
series at the Institute, she is involved in research and writing. She
is the co-author of Jewish Family Foundations, and A Study of Ethnic
and Racial Diversity in the Jewish Community to be released in the Fall
of 2003. She is currently the project director of the study of ethnic
and racial diversity in the Jewish community.
Before joining the Institute in 1991, she was the owner and president
of Kaufmann Design for more than fifteen years that specialized in graphic
design as well as event production.
Ms. Tobin was the President of the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco
from 1986-1989.
Diane and her husband Gary have six children, Adam, 33; Amy, 29; Sarah,
27; Aryeh, 24; Mia, 20 and Jonah, 6.
Alexander Karp, J.D., Ph.D.
Alex Karp is the managing partner of the Jewish Philanthropy Partnership
and a Senior Research Associate of the Institute for Jewish & Community
Research. After graduating from Stanford Law School, Alex became a research
fellow at the Sigmund Freud Institute in Frankfurt, Germany. He published
extensively in German periodicals on anti-Semitism and in his area of
specialty, European sociological thought. Alex received a doctorate
in sociology Magna cum Laude from the Wolfgang Johann Goethe University
in Frankfurt. Alex then worked in private equities, specializing in
the evaluation of the commercial value of intellectual property in Europe
and the United States.
His expertise is wide-ranging, including the academic treatment of
racism and anti-Semites as well as business and philanthropy. Alex is
a co-author of Mega-Gifts in American Philanthropy.
Pamela Hagler
Before joining the Institute for Jewish & Community Research, Pamela
was the event Coordinator for 12 years at Congregation Sherith Israel,
a large reform synagogue in San Francisco. After graduating with a degree
in Women’s Studies from the University of California, Davis, she
returned to school for a Hotel and Restaurant Management Degree from
City College of San Francisco. Upon completing three years of service
with the Marriott Corporation in the business food service division,
Pamela returned to San Francisco to work in the Jewish community.
Dana Mirman
Dana Mirman is a research associate with the Institute for Jewish &
Community Research. Dana's research is focused on anti-Israelism and
anti-Semitism in America's educational systems and the study of ethnic
and racial diversity in the Jewish community. In addition, Dana handles
media and communications projects for the Institute.
A native New Yorker, Dana's background is in the news media. She was
a researcher and producer for ABC News, working on the magazines shows
20/20 and PrimeTime Live, and producing hour-long news specials. She
also worked in print journalism as an assistant magazine editor. Dana
graduated summa cum laude from New York's Binghamton University with
a degree in English and general literature.
Danielle Mosherer
Danielle Helene Meshorer is a research assistant at the Institute for
Jewish & Community Research. Her research is focused on ethic and
racial diversity in the Jewish community and anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism
in America's educational systems.
She has an M.A. in international and inter-cultural management from
the School for International Training with a concentration on conflict
transformation across cultures.
Before coming to the Institute, Danielle worked at the Palestine-Israel
Journal in Jerusalem and the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies
in Tel Aviv, Israel. She also lived and worked in Cameroon.
Aryeh Weinberg
Aryeh Weinberg is a research associate with the Institute for Jewish
& Community Research. Aryeh began interning at the Institute in
2000 while attending the University of California at Berkeley where
he studied international relations and peace and conflict studies. While
at Berkeley, Aryeh had the unfortunate opportunity to experience the
first signs of the rising anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism on college
campuses. After graduating in 2001, he began working as a research assistant
on a number of projects including the Israeli/American Dialogue Forum,
ethic and racial diversity in the Jewish community and anti-Israelism
and anti-Semitism in America's educational systems.
Adjunct Staff
Stephen Mark Dobbs, Ph.D.
Stephen Dobbs is a native San Franciscan and received his B.A. and Ph.D.
from Stanford University. His first career was as a university professor
in the humanities. He is currently adjunct professor at San Francisco
State University. His second career has been in the foundation world.
He was a former program analyst for the John D. Rockefeller III Fund
and a senior program officer at the J. Paul Getty Trust. He served as
CEO of the Koret Foundation and the Marin Community Foundation. Dr.
Dobbs is currently the executive vice president of the Bernard Osher
Foundation and also serves as the executive director of the Taube Foundation
for Jewish Life and Culture. His third career has been in Jewish community
organizations. He is a former president of the Brandeis-Hillel Day School,
vice president of the Bureau of Jewish Education, and vice president
of Congregation Emanu-El. He was the founding director of the JCF’s
Board of Leadership Institute. He is president of Mount Zion Health
Fund and on the board of the Jewish Community Federation. In the general
community, Dobbs serves as director of Guide Dogs for the Blind and
Words on Dance. He and his wife, Victoria, have four sons.
Rabbi Capers Funnye
Capers Funnye is rabbi and spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B’nai
Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, in Chicago and a senior research
associate at the Institute for Jewish & Community Research. He earned
a Bachelor of Arts in Hebrew literature and rabbinic ordination from
the Israelite Board of Rabbis, New York, NY. Rabbi Funnye also earned
a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish studies and a Master of Science
in human services administration from Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies,
Chicago.
Rabbi Funnye is involved in many local community organizations. He
is the president of Morgan Park High School and the vice president of
East Bay Beverly Civic Association in Chicago. Rabbi Funnye serves on
the board of directors of the following organizations: Chicago Board
of Rabbis, American Jewish Congress, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs,
Boys-To-Men and the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce.
Rabbi Funnye and his wife Mary have four children.
Sid Groeneman, Ph.D.
Sid Groeneman is a senior research associate at the Institute for Jewish
& Community Research and head of Groeneman Research & Consulting,
an independent survey/marketing research practice in Bethesda, Maryland.
Dr. Groeneman’s main areas of interest and expertise are public
opinion, consumer research, and survey methodology. He received my Ph.D.
in Political Science from the University of Minnesota.
Zev Hymowitz
Zev Hymowitz has almost 30 years of experience in Jewish communal work
in both the United States and Israel. Mr. Hymowitz has held numerous
positions within Jewish community centers (JCCs), including as executive
director in Northern New Jersey, and most recently, San Francisco.
From 1988 to 1995, Zev Hymowitz worked as a consultant for the New
York-based Jewish Community Centers Association of North America. He
primarily worked as a consultant to JCCs in about 30 cities, including
St. Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, Montreal and Toronto. As a consultant,
he offered advice on financing, staffing, programming and public relations.
He was also in charge of the JCC Association’s training for lay
leaders.
From 1977 to 1984, he worked for the American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee as associate executive vice president in the United States,
and later as director in Israel. He moved on to direct an Israel-based
consulting firm for Jewish agencies from 1984 to 1988.
Gershom Sizomu
Gershom Sizomu, the spiritual leader of the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda,
is a fellow at the Institute. He has a B.A. in education from Islamic
University in Mbale, Uganda. He attended a semester of rabbinical studies
at Hebrew Union College in New York in 2002. His dream was to study
Judaism in the West and be officially recognized as a rabbi. He currently
a rabbinic student at Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University
of Judaism, Los Angeles.
Gershom Sizomu is the grandson of community elder "Rabbi"
Samson. He is married to Tziporah and has two children. He plays guitar
and writes music for the community. Gershom speaks Hebrew, leads the
community's religious observances, and is the Abayudaya's mohel. He
is headmaster of the community's high school, where he teaches history,
economics, Hebrew and Judaism. He was youth leader of the Abayudaya
community from 1988 to 1998. He lives near the Moses Synagogue which
he and others from the community's early 1980s "Kibbutz movement"
built with their own hands.
At the community’s request in the spring of 2002, four Conservative
rabbis from the United States and one from Israel joined Gershom Sizomu
in supervising the conversion of most of Uganda’s 600 remaining
Jews in the synagogue’s mikva, the local Namatala River. Sizomu
is thrilled that the 83-year-old Jewish community has converted according
to halachah, or Jewish law.
