Beth Astor Freeman is a proud mother of four remarkable adults—Jenna, Gabriel, Maya, and Ava—and a passionate advocate for Israel, where she studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during her junior year abroad.
Beth has held leadership roles on the boards of various organizations, including Women's Philanthropy for the LA Jewish Federation, University Women, Camp Ramah of California, the Zimmer Children"s Museum and The Rape Treatment Center. Currently, she facilitates grief support groups at KARA in Palo Alto for children who have lost close family members, and she actively manages her family's non-profit, the Jeff Astor Legacy Fund.
Beth holds a BA in English from UCLA and a master's in education from Pepperdine University. She is a retired advertising copywriter and former high school English teacher. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, biking, baking and playing pickleball.
Corey Cherkas
Corey Cherkas is a former lawyer who moved from Los Angeles to San Mateo 30 years ago after getting married. She has served on the boards of Peninsula Temple Beth El, the National Charity League and the Young Men's Service League, and served as a liaison for the San Mateo Medical Center, supporting patients and their families. She is currently involved with the engagement and the caring committees for her temple and is looking to find meaningful new ways to engage in the Jewish community as a newly minted free bird.
Corey enjoys traveling with her husband, especially to see her three out-of-state kids, seeing friends and playing Mah Jonng, visiting her parents in Southern California and finding Jewish joy in many spaces. She is excited for the opportunity to make new connections and learn with new friends through Kol Isha.
Adele Gershater
Adele Gershater is an active member of the OFJCC and Congregation Kol Emeth. An accountant by training, she is currently the CFO for a small company. Having lived in Europe and Latin America before coming to university in the U.S., she was lucky to learn new languages and be comfortable in various cultural environments.
Adele has served as the treasurer for the founding board of Kehillah Jewish High School, which both her children attended, as well as on the board of Congregation Kol Emeth and South Peninsula Hebrew Day School (Sunnyvale). She is now the treasurer for the Jewish Democratic Coalition of the Bay Area.
Liza Hausman
Liza Hausman is looking forward to the Kol Isha program and getting to know the other members. She grew up with a rabbi uncle in a family that loves Jewish tradition and was active in youth programs and torah study (particularly anything musical) at Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles. During her four trips to Israel including an MBA study program that included visiting the Techion, and having worked for several startups in the U.S. with Israel-native founders, Liza developed an abiding love for all things Israeli.
Liza has lived in Palo Alto with her husband and dog since 1998 and is mom to two kids, Cole (22) and Leigh (19) who grew up as part of the Congregation Beth Am community. She loves diving into languages, art, food, music, books, tennis, skiing and any activity she can enjoy with good friends. A graduate of Cal and Kellogg (Northwestern) Liza has run marketing at Houzz for 13+ years.
Sandy Hirsh
Sandy Hirsh lives in Palo Alto with her husband Jay. She has two adult daughters, and feels extraordinarily lucky that her nine-month-old granddaughter lives just one block away!
Sandy's background is in library and information science, just like her mom’s. She has worked in higher education administration at San Jose State University for nearly 15 years, first as the Director of the School of Information and currently as Associate Dean in the College of Information, Data and Society. Prior to joining SJSU, she worked in Silicon Valley companies in R&D and user experience. Earlier this year, she published a book about the future of libraries called
Library 2035: Imagining the Next Generation of Libraries.
She has been a long-time member of Congregation Beth Am. She has visited Israel several times and lived there for a summer as a teenager through the American Field Service and in her junior year of college at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In her personal time, Sandy enjoys traveling, spending time with her family and riding her bike with her husband and friends. Her biggest biking accomplishment was riding down the Pacific Coast from the Canadian to Mexican border; this summer, she rode her bike along the Erie Canal.
Cynthia Litchi
Cynthia Litchi is a seasoned engineer and chief technology officer. She is originally from Mexico City and has been based in Silicon Valley for over a decade. With a deep passion for computers, she has dedicated her career to building businesses from the ground up. Her expertise lies in addressing the challenges of rapid growth and transformation.
Cynthia's career began in design, development and marketing, where she honed her business acumen and gained valuable insights to drive organizational growth. She is committed to mentoring the next generation, actively supporting a high school robotics team and helping various entrepreneurial ventures. Cynthia thrives on creatively meeting evolving business needs and fostering innovation within her teams.
In addition to her professional pursuits, Cynthia is deeply involved in the Jewish community. Growing up in Mexico, she participated in numerous community projects and spent five years as the delegation head for the JCC Maccabi Games, where she helped inspire young athletes. Having competed as an athlete in four Maccabi Games, Cynthia's experiences have strengthened her connection to Israel and its cultural values, further fueling her commitment to community engagement and mentorship.
Erica Pelavin
Erica Pelavin, teen psychologist and co-founder of My Digital TAT2, a media literacy non-profit, has dedicated her career to amplifying teen voices and promoting digital safety. Passionate about social action, Erica is committed to fostering inclusive communities and empowering youth through her work in teen psychology and digital wellness.
At home, she is a mother to two avid gamers and wife to a tech enthusiast. Erica loves discovering new cultures and places, whether through spontaneous weekend getaways or international adventures. She also enjoys hosting themed event parties and engaging in deep conversations. Raised with a strong foundation in Jewish values, she integrates her rich heritage into both her personal and professional life, finding meaning in connection, education and exploration. Erica is excited to join Cohort 4 of Kol Isha.
Relli Siegel
Relli Siegel grew up in Israel and moved to San Mateo in the year 2000 with her family. She is married to Aviv and has four beautiful children, the youngest in high school. Relli is passionate about connecting people around art and spirituality.
Before moving from Israel, Relli had an HR career in the IDF. When she moved to the U.S. she found her way back to her childhood love, flowers and art. She currently owns her own business offering art workshops for women allowing one to explore the inner world through art in a loving safe space.
Relli is active in her local Jewish and Israeli community and serves as a Camp Newman board member. In her free time, Relli loves to create art, take walks in nature, spend time with her family, be by the bay and the ocean, read, listen to music and Israeli dancing.
Jennifer Taxay
Jennifer Taxay is an elementary school educator who has worked in both public charter schools and Jewish day schools for the past 20+ years. This year, she is working with the nonprofit Peninsula Bridge, teaching highly motivated, low-income students academic and social-emotional skills to support them for long-term success, with the goal of college graduation.
Jennifer holds a BA from the University of Michigan and a master's in teaching from the University of Pittsburgh. She and her husband Marc have two children (ages 19 and 22), both of whom attended Jewish day school. She lives in Belmont and is an active member at Peninsula Temple Beth El. In her spare time, she loves hiking, travel, live music, reading and a cozy movie night at home.
Rachel Tirosh
Rachel Tirosh moved to the Bay Area from Israel with her husband in 1994. Initially, she pursued her career as an electrical engineer. Over the years, she discovered her voice in non-representational abstract and interdisciplinary conceptual art.
In the Bay Area, Rachel became actively engaged with the local art scene, joining various co-op galleries and art groups. She has participated in numerous exhibitions throughout San Francisco and Northern California and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts.
Rachel resides in Sunnyvale with her husband, while her two children have flown the nest to live in New York and Colorado.
Faryl Ury
With a mother from Toronto and a father from London, Faryl Ury has always appreciated how Jewish culture and traditions help create community across the globe. Inn fact, at her bat mitzvah, Faryl spoke about the importance of l'dor va-dor, from generation to generation—a speech that was referenced in a newspaper column by her relative, Gunther Plaut, who helped bring reform Judaism to Canada. And now, as a fairly new mum, these values—kindness, tzedakah, tikkun olam and tradition—still guide her.
Professionally, Faryl has spent her career telling the stories of industry-defining companies. She's currently the head of Corporate Affairs at General Motors and before that, led communications teams at places like Meta, Uber and Square. She got her start in Washington, DC where she served as a Senate press secretary and journalist at NPR and the Associated Press. Faryl also leads Harvard's SF School Committee and founded the junior board of the non-profit 826 Valencia.
Faryl lives in the Bay Area with her husband, toddler and new baby. With a love for learning, community and service she couldn't be more excited to join Kol Isha!
Maya Yaniv
Maya Yaniv serves as Z3's head of planning and operations at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto. In this role, Maya oversees the production of the annual Z3 Conference as well as all operational aspects of the Z3 Project department, supporting both the Leadership Lab and the Z3 Institute with their respective activities.
Previously Maya held operations leadership positions in several startups in the Bay Area and was the Admissions Director at South Peninsula Hebrew Day School where she served for 6 years. Prior to that Maya founded her own company representing and importing original Israeli art.
Sarah ZichermanSarah Zicherman is a Palo Alto transplant and a new mom. She grew up in the Southeastern U.S. and moved to the Bay Area in 2014. She runs analytics for a business unit within Salesforce.
Sarah grew up as a conservative Christian and deconstructed in her mid-20s. In 2020, she met her husband, Brad, which is when she was introduced to Judaism. She converted shortly before they were married in 2022. She looks forward to developing her knowledge of Jewish traditions and culture as she raises her son, Hank, in the Jewish faith. She is also mom to two silly pugs.