Biographies
Rabbi Ira L. Korinow
Rabbi Ira L. Korinow has served as spiritual leader of Temple Emanu-El in Haverhill, Massachusetts since September 1981. A native of Newton, Massachusetts, he received his B.A. Magna Cum Laude in Religion from Boston University and continued his studies at the Rabbinic School of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York where he received his M.A. in Hebrew Literature in 1976 and was ordained a rabbi in 1978. In 2003, Rabbi Korinow was awarded the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by his rabbinical school in New York. Prior to his coming to Haverhill, Rabbi Korinow served congregations in Glencoe, Illinois and Laconia, New Hampshire.
Rabbi Korinow is a Past President of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis, which is the organizational body of all (Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Orthodox) rabbis in the state. In 1996, as President of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Korinow traveled with several Catholic and Protestant clergymen and community leaders to visit and bring aid to burned churches in the south. He is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the organizational body of Reform rabbis in North America and served a two-year term on its National Board of Trustees from 1999-2001. He is also an Associate Member of the Rabbinical Assembly, the organizational body of Conservative rabbis in North America. Rabbi Korinow is a past President of both the Northeast Region of the CCAR and the Greater Haverhill Clergy Association. He has also served as Chaplain of the Haverhill Police Department from 1995-2002.
Rabbi Korinow has served on the Executive Board of Action for Soviet Jewry in Waltham, Massachusetts and on the Board of Directors of the National Conference for Soviet Jewry in New York. Rabbi Korinow was also co-chairman of the Rabbinic Action Committee of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews in Washington, D.C., which he represented at a private meeting with President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office in March 1985. To enable the plight of Soviet Jews to remain in the public eye, Rabbi Korinow was arrested in an act of civil disobedience, protesting in front of the Soviet Embassy in Washington in October of the same year.
In 1994, Rabbi Korinow participated in a peace mission with other rabbis meeting with political, academic and business leaders in Israel, Jordan and Egypt. He is a member of the National Rabbinic Cabinet of the United Jewish Communities, working for the humanitarian needs of people around the world. In November 2007, Rabbi Korinow participated with the Rabbinic Cabinet of the UJC on a special mission to New Orleans where he helped rebuild a home damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Rabbi Korinow was the prime organizer and serves as the current Chairman of the Greater Haverhill Civil Rights Commission, which he began in response to the appearance of the Ku Klux Klan in Haverhill and surrounding communities in 1990. He was the 1993 recipient of the B’nai B’rith Award in Haverhill. In recognition of his work in the area of civil rights, Rabbi Korinow was presented the Liberty Bell Award by the Haverhill Bar Association in 1999.
Rabbi Korinow was also a recipient of the 2005 Distinguished Citizen Award presented by the Yankee Clipper Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
The Rabbi and his wife, Gail, received the Spiritual Leadership Award from the Solomon Schechter Day School of the Merrimack Valley (now known as the Kadima Community Day School) in 1993 in recognition of the role that he and Gail played in helping to establish the first non-Orthodox Jewish Day School in the Merrimack Valley. The Rabbi was also the recipient of the “Healer of the World” Award presented by the Kadima Community Day School in May 2008.
In January 2008, Rabbi Korinow was elected to the Board of Friends Forever, a non-profit organization working out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire and which is dedicated to bringing Catholic and Protestant teens from Northern Ireland and Jewish and Arab teens from Israel to this part of the United States where they engage in a program to help build upon issues of trust and respect for each other.
In February 2008, Rabbi Korinow traveled to Israel and met with Arab Rotarians from Nazareth and the Arab village of Ein Mahil that will be helped to sponsor the group of Israeli Jewish and Arab teens that came here in the fall of 2008.
In addition to being an ex officio member of the Temple Emanu-El Board of Directors, Rabbi Korinow also serves on the Board of Directors of the Kadima Jewish Community Day School of the Merrimack Valley and is a Director of the Haverhill Rotary Club in which he will serve as President in 2009-2010.
Rabbi Korinow, his wife Gail, and son, Morry, resides in Haverhill. A second son, Raanan, is a student at Binghamton University and a third son, Doron, is married to Elana Fein and living in Tel Aviv where he is a student at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.
President - Kevin R. Miller
Kevin Miller is currently the President of Temple Emanu-El. He is a graduate of Drake University, in Des Moines, Iowa, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a specialty in Actuarial Science. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from New Hampshire College (now Southern New Hampshire University), with a specialty in International Business. He has also attended Clark University and Boston College.
A native of Revere, Massachusetts, Kevin came to the Merrimack Valley in 1980. After investigating the various congregations available in the Valley, he and his family joined Temple Emanu-El and immediately became actively immersed in both the Temple and the Solomon Schechter Day School of the Merrimack Valley. At Temple Emanu-El, he has served on virtually every committee, and has served on the Board of Directors for many years.
Prior to his current position as President, Kevin served the Temple as the First Vice President and Chairman of the Board. Currently, along with serving as President, he also is the chairman of the Windows to the Future renovations committee, which is the committee planning the renovation of the Temple building.
Kevin lives in Salem, NH, with his wife, Eunice, a teacher at the Temple religious school, and his son, Samuel, a high school student who is both a madrich (teacher’s aide) in the religious school, and a very active Vice President of HEFTY. Kevin’s older son, Arthur, who also served as a madrich and HEFTY member, lives in North Carolina.
Cantorial Soloist - Mindy Harris
A native of Los Angeles, Mindy Harris has served congregations on both coasts. Recently, Harris enjoyed five years on the pulpit at Temple Aliyah, a Conservative congregation in Los Angeles, where she explored new genres of music in liturgy, including jazz and bluegrass, together with colleague, Hazzan Mike Stein.
Harris has traveled with the Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale for world concert tours in Israel and Germany. A classically-trained soprano, Harris has been a finalist for both the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Tanglewood Chorus. Her approach to Jewish music is energetic, inclusive and contemporary.
After a transformative visit to Warsaw in 2003, Harris became founding Vice President of a non-profit organization in Los Angeles called Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland, and speaks nationally about the redevelopment of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. During her tenure on the pulpit in Los Angeles, Harris was recognized for her work with the Women’s League Pacific Southwest region, and is the author of a Women’s Seder and Rosh Hodesh liturgy.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Music from Northwestern and a Master’s degree in Education from Harvard University, Harris has recently stepped down from full-time pulpit work and relocated back to New England to pursue a career in non-profit marketing. Harris recently served as Director of Admissions at Gann Academy, Boston’s New Jewish High School. She has also recently taught cantillation at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, and served as visiting cantor at Congregations Beth Israel of Andover, and Beth El, in New London, Connecticut.
As Cantorial Soloist, Harris will officiate at Sabbath and holiday services and teach Bar and Bat Mitzvah students. In addition to her part-time duties, Mindy will serve as an educational resource to the community and will be available for lifecycle and community events. Harris believes in engaging and uplifting musical experiences in a prayer service. Looking at new, participatory and fun models of musical worship will engage the Temple Emanu-El members and enhance their spiritual experience.
Administrator - Nancy J. LaFleur
Nancy LaFleur first came to work at Temple Emanu-El as the Administrative Assistant in August of 1998. In July of 2007, Nancy was promoted to Administrator where she oversees the facilities, manages the office, coordinates the bulletin, maintains the calendar, process receivables and invoices, schedules Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and prepares the temple for the High Holy Days.
Prior to working for Temple Emanu-El, Nancy worked in the corporate world. With her first child her priorities and obligations changed. Although she did not work outside the home, she stayed active doing volunteer work within the Hampstead school system. She was extremely involved in the Hampstead PTA, chairing and working on many committees and was past president of the 1996-97 school year.
Nancy and her husband, Michael have been married 26 years and live in East Hampstead, NH. They have two sons, Russell and Craig. Russell recently graduated from Lyndon State College and now lives in Burlington Vermont where he is the director/photographer for FOX44 TV. Their youngest son, Craig, recently graduated from Pinkerton Academy and will be attending UNH to study Biology.
Religious School Director - Debra L. Levasseur
Debra L. Levasseur (Morah Devorah) is a native of Lawrence, Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Lowell State College (now University of Massachusetts Lowell) achieving a double major Bachelor Of Arts degree in Elementary Education (Kindergarten to grade 8)and Art Specialist. She received her religious education from the Lawrence Jewish School.
Debbi has been active in the Jewish Community of the Merrimack Valley for most of her life. She worked in Temple Administration and taught Hebrew School for many years at Temple Emanuel in Andover as well as 13 years here at Temple Emanu-El. Debbi was the Arts and Crafts Director of Camp Hadar for 25 happy summers. Most recently, Debbi taught general and Judaic studies for 20 years at the Solomon Schechter Day School, whose home was here at Temple Emanu-El. In recognition of her dedication and valuable service to the Jewish community, Debbi was a recipient of the Solomon Schechter Award in the 1990’s. Her thoughtful giving and caring manner has made a difference to many students over the years.
Debbi’s goal for the religious school is to make it a place not only where children come to learn in a happy, comfortable atmosphere, which encourages questioning and critical thinking, but also a place where parents will come and partner with their children for religious learning and activities.
My name is Barbara Sirois and I am the Administrative Assistant to the Religious School Director, Debra Levasseur. I started working here in September, 2009. I live in Haverhill with my husband Arthur, and our 11 year old daughter Alisha who is a 6th Grade Student here in Haverhill.
Prior to taking the Administrative Assistant position here at the Temple, I was employed for most of my career in the Corporate World in the High Tech Field as a Computer Technical Analyst. I have also been employed as an Office Manager and a Bank Teller.
I am excited about the opportunity of working here. I hope to bring many of my skills to this position and I am looking forward to learning so many new things from all of you along the way.