Staff Biographies

 

Rabbi Brad Bloom   Rabbi Bloom  became the Senior Rabbi at Temple Shalom of Naples Florida on July 1, 2006.  He is presently the Senior Rabbi at Temple B’nai Israel in Sacramento, California, where he has been for 10 years. Before that, he was the Rabbi at Sinai Temple in Champaign, Illinois for 8 years and earlier he was an Associate Rabbi for 3 years at Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills, California.  In addition to a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin, he has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland. He was ordained in 1984 after graduating from the HUC-JIR (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.)   Some of his noteworthy accomplishments include: His congregation sent 8 children to Israel this last summer. He spends two weeks each year working at the UJR camp in Northern CA. He has established a midweek school for all the Reform Temple teens in the Sacramento area. He developed a program that unites all B’Nai Mitzvah students and families in a given year. As a student at the HUC-JIR he wrote an award winning paper title “The Roll of the Rabbi in a Nursing Home.” He has been the chairman of the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbi) Committee on Aging. He was the Editor of a CCAR publication entitled “Journal of Issues Related to Judaism and Aging.” He has been a member of the CCAR committee on Continuing Rabbinic Education.     Rabbi Baht Yameem Weiss   Rabbi Baht Weiss graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2001 from Brandeis University, with a major in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. In 2005, she went on to graduate with a Masters of Arts degree in Hebrew literature from HUC-JIR.   Her professional experience has included rabbinic internships at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life (Hillel) of New York University, Bellevue Hospital, Makor/Steinhardt, and Kent State Hillel, to name a few.   She has demonstrated a strong interest in the education of children and youth, including a bi-weekly internship at Temple Sinai where she participated in the children’s education program, led Tot Shabbat, and worked with the youth group. She has led youth trips to Prague, Poland and Israel.   She was ordained as a Rabbi at HUC-JIR in New York in May, 2006.   NOTE: Naples Daily News wrote a wonderful article on Rabbi Weiss on March 15th/08. Click here to read.       Rabbi Emeritus James H. Perman D.D.   Rabbi Perman has been the Rabbi of Temple Shalom since September 1993. He came to Naples after serving the Free Synagogue of Westchester, Mt. Vernon, N.Y. for over 21 years. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Rabbi at the prestigious Stephen Wise Free Synagogue of New York City. He started his rabbinic career in 1967 as an Air Force Chaplain serving in California and Turkey. Rabbi Perman received his B.Sc. degree in 1962 from Columbia University, and was ordained at the Hebrew Union College – J.I.R. N.Y. in 1967, receiving the Human Relations Prize.   He received a Diplomate in Psychotherapy in 1981 from the Alfred Adler Institute of New York City and received his Doctor of Divinity from the Hebrew Union College in 1992.    Executive Director, Lori Cohen   Lori joined the Temple Staff in 2000. She came to Temple Shalom from Palm Harbor, Florida, where she and her husband Ed, and their two children resided for 23 years.  Lori received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  She recently received Senior Member Status in The National Association of Temple Administrators and is studying for a fellowship in Temple Administration.   Lori has extensive background in healthcare operations, including budget planning and execution, program development, customer service training, and development of policies and procedures.   Lori served as the Cantorial Soloist for 12 years at Temple Ahavat Shalom in Palm Harbor, Florida     Cantorial Soloist, Anne Newman Anne Newman has a bachelors degree in Fine Arts in Music from the Florida Atlantic University. She has studied Cantorial Liturgy for over fifteen years. She has participated in numerous cantorial workshops and folk music presentations.   She came to Temple Shalom after six years as a Cantorial Soloist at Temple Shaarei Shalom of Boynton Beach Florida.