Temple Beth Torah

About Us!

Rabbi Avi M. Schulman:

Teaching Torah is at the center of my being a rabbi. I hope to enhance synagogue life at all levels by engaging the attention of teenagers in a Confirmation class; delivering a sermon that reaches the hearts and minds of adults; telling a story to preschoolers; and counseling individuals in need. I am committed to working with clergy of other faiths to promote understanding and respect; and to representing the principles of Reform Judaism both locally and throughout the Bay Area.

I believe that a synagogue should be warm, welcoming, and inclusive. A congregation is more than a sum of its programs and activities, its members and its staff. It’s a sacred community, a “kehillah kedushah,” where people have concern and care for one another. I want Temple Beth Torah to be a congregation that feels like an extended family. Interfaith couples should have a sense of kinship and participate in all aspects of congregational life.

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Rabbi Avi M. Schulman is a native of Long Beach, California, and graduated with highest honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a degree in Modern Jewish History and Thought. Ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1984, he has served congregations in Ohio, Colorado, and Texas. He is a Past President of the Houston Rabbinical Association, as well as the Rocky Mountain Rabbinical Council. Rabbi Schulman is the author of Like A Raging Fire: A Biography of Maurice N. Eisendrath. In 2009, Rabbi Schulman was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity degree from his seminary, the Hebrew Union College.

In the summer of 2007, he became the rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Fremont. Rabbi Schulman is married to Rabbi Eve Ben-Ora, Jewish Educator at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. They are the proud parents of three children: Naomi, Carmi, and Rebecca.

You have a place at Temple Beth Torah and Rabbi Schulman is always glad to meet with current or prospective members, as well as anyone curious about Judaism.

Director of Education Andrea Fleekop:

Andrea Fleekop became Director of Education at Temple Beth Torah in July 2005. She has had a passion for Jewish education for many years. Growing up in New Jersey she attended Jewish day school through high school and participated in Jewish youth group, summer camp, and Israel experiences. As a result of her love for Jewish learning and teaching, she dedicated her professional life to Jewish education. In 2000 she received a bachelor's degree in Near Eastern Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. While at Brandeis she met her husband Joel, who is the new assistant Rabbi at Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos. In 2003 she received a masters degree in Jewish Education and a masters degree in Jewish Communal Service from Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, the Reform Movement Seminary. From June 2003-2005, she served as Director of the Tartak Learning Center of Hebrew Union College. She looks forward to a year of Jewish learning and living.

Rabbi Steven B. Kaplan:

Rabbi Steven B. Kaplan, born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio graduated in 1970 from Hiram College with a B.A. degree in general science. He was ordained at HUC-JIR, in Cincinnati in 1976 and was awarded the Rabbi Stephen N. Levinson Memorial Prize for Significant service to the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and its student body. Following ordination he served as Assistant Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham, Alabama from 1976 through 1979.

He held the position of Rabbi of Temple Beth Torah from 1979 until 2007 and is now Rabbi Emeritus. He has three daughters and two stepsons.