Temple Staff

Rabbi Barry Block

Rabbi

Rabbi Barry Block has been our rabbi since 2013. A Houston native, Rabbi Block received his undergraduate education at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he graduated magna cum laude and phi beta kappa. He was ordained in 1991 at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, from which he received an honorary doctorate in 2016.

Rabbi Block has served Reform Judaism nationally and regionally as a Vice President and Trustee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and Chair of its Resolutions and Nominating Committees, and as President of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis. He is Dean of the faculty at Union for Reform Judaism’s Henry S. Jacobs Camp, a role he held for 21 years at the Union’s Greene Family Camp in Texas, while serving at Temple Beth-El in San Antonio. He is a member of the President’s Rabbinic Alumni Council of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Rabbi Block is the editor of The Mussar Torah Commentary and The Social Justice Torah Commentary, both from CCAR Press. His writing appears in chapters and articles in several CCAR Press anthologies and other publications. He blogs at the CCAR’s Ravblog.

A board member of Our House in Little Rock, Rabbi Block is Past Board Chair of Planned Parenthood of South Texas. In 2013, he completed long service to Methodist Healthcare Ministries, the largest non-governmental provider of indigent health care in south Texas, and Methodist Healthcare System, the largest hospital group and second largest private employer in San Antonio. His service there included several terms as Chair of the Healthcare System’s Ethics and Compliance Committee. In 2012, Human Rights Campaign bestowed its Equality Award upon Rabbi Block at its annual gala in San Antonio.

Rabbi Block is the proud father of Robert and Daniel.

Rabbi Barry Block

Rabbi

Eileen Hamilton

Director of Administration, Education, and Youth Engagement

ehamilton@bnai-israel.us

Eileen Hamilton was born and raised in Allentown, PA and attended Congregation Keneseth Israel where she became Bat Mitzvah and later Confirmed. She attended SUNY – The College of New Paltz where she earned a BA in Political Science and a minor in Jewish Studies. After college and moving to Washington, DC, Eileen began a program at The College of Jewish Studies and George Washington University for a graduate degree in Education with a concentration in Jewish Education. All through this time of study and working, she worked at assorted congregations (New Paltz, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia) teaching religious school and mid-week Hebrew school. She always had a passion for teaching and sharing her love of Jewish learning to children of all ages.

In 1993, after joining ARJE (formally NATE), Eileen moved to New Orleans, LA to serve as the Director of Education at Touro Synagogue for over 21 years. Her work experience included religious school, youth group, camp, and many other facets of congregational life. For one year in 2015, Eileen served as the Coordinator of Jewish Life at the Jewish Community Day School of New Orleans. She has been at Congregation B’nai Israel in Little Rock for over 7 years as the Director of Administration, Education and Youth Engagement.

Eileen and husband, Larry, have two grown sons, Todd and PJ.

Eileen Hamilton

Director of Administration, Education, and Youth Engagement

Aleksandra Dubov

E. Lee Ronnel Student Cantor

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Aleksandra Dubov

E. Lee Ronnel Student Cantor

Lane Boyd

Administrative Assistant and Facility Manager

templesecretary@bnai-israel.us