About Us

Alvin Mars
Director, Mandel Center for Jewish Education

Rabbi Alvin Mars, Ph.D., director of the Mandel Center for Jewish Education, has more than forty years of experience as a Jewish educator working within many different formal and informal settings. He has been both a youth director and educational director in a synagogue setting, headmaster of an elementary day school and of a boarding high school, dean of a graduate school of education, vice-president for academic affairs of a university and director of two camps—Camp Ramah in California and the Brandeis Bardin Institute.
Tel: 212-786-5110
E-mail: Alvin@jcca.org

Jennifer Tobenstein
Assistant Director, Mandel Center for Jewish Education

Rabbi Jennifer Tobenstein, assistant director of the Mandel Center for Jewish Education, brings unique educational, congregational, and organizational experience in both national and international Jewish communities. She has taught at day schools, synagogues, and JCCs in the U.S., Canada, France, and even Ukraine. She has served both as a congregational rabbi and a chaplain, and has worked with special-needs populations at camps in the U.S. and Canada.
Tel: 212-786-5123
E-mail: Jennifer@jcca.org

Lana Ifraimova
Administrative Assistant, Mandel Center for Jewish Education

Lana Ifraimova, program associate for the Mandel Center for Jewish Education, is an honors graduate of Hunter College in New York with a double major in psychology and media communications. Her Jewish education and professional involvement in the Jewish nonprofit world makes her a great asset for MCJE.
Tel: 212-786-5145
E-mail: Lana@jcca.org