Our Board

Rabbi Yehuda Albin (Founder)

Rabbi Albin founded The Ember Foundation.

Raised in Scarsdale, NY, in a Reform home, and educated at Bowdoin College, with BA in Chemistry & Economics, he earned his rabbinic ordination during a decade of Torah study in Jerusalem.

Steven Feiger

Vice-President

Steven Feiger has been the CEO of The Crawford Supply Group and Charger Water treatment since 1990. Active in many Jewish and political causes, as Vice-President of The Ember Foundation, he has been the strategic coach of the organization. His love of the Jewish people is so important to him that he communicated the importance of that love in an ethical will to his family as one of his four main values. He has been learning Torah with Rabbi Albin since 1999.

Peter Kupferberg

Treasurer

Peter Kupferberg has been an investment advisor at Gofen & Glossberg since 1990. He began learning Torah with Rabbi Albin when the rabbi moved to Chicago in early 1994. He is The Ember Foundation’s most recent board member and he has joined as the treasurer and overseer of the organization's finances. Peter has always described his attachment to Judaism as being on the train traveling in the right direction.

Joel Friedland

Secretary

Joel Friedland has been a partner in the real estate brokerage business since 1991, as well as syndicating ownership interests in commercial real estate and running a commercial real estate managing business. He has been learning Torah with Rabbi Albin since 2002 and as secretary of The Ember Foundation, he actively and frequently advises Rabbi Albin.

Sanford Barr

Sandy Barr is dentist par excellence – well known to many downtown business people and professionals. He had been an active student of Torah well before he began learning with Rabbi Albin in 1999. Sandy’s warm heart extends to all he knows – and those he does not. He is a generous supporter of many Torah teaching causes.

Gary A. Greenberg

Gary A. Greenberg was the president of Sage Enterprises for decades until he finally sold it. Since then he has been a board member and consultant in numerous businesses and is currently a managing director at Feldman Advisors. He met Rabbi Albin in 2005 and their warm relationship led to his joining the board of Ember. Gary senses the importance of Torah and has successfully referred students over the years.

Andrew Lappin

Andrew Lappin has been the principal of Shetland properties for nearly 40 years. He is one of Rabbi Albin’s first students going back to early 1994. As an extremely pro-active supporter of Israel, Andrew’s interest in learning Torah and seeing others have the same opportunity are both dependent and independent of his love of Israel.

Jorde Nathan

Jorde Nathan was a managing director at Lehman Brothers and then at Barclays for many years. His interest in the FIDF is well known and an integral part of his personality. His love of the Jewish people motivates his interest in FIDF, is mirrored in his love for seeing Torah taught. He has been learning with Rabbi Albin since 2001 and recently began learning every free day with a rabbi in Skokie

Jeffrey Nemetz

Jeffrey Nemetz has been a consultant since 1980 – most of the time specializing in health care. His company participated in helping TORAHUB and the Ember Foundation with its initial strategy and designed all of the materials that are still being used to this day. He first met Rabbi Albin in 2004 and they learn when his schedule allows for it.

Michael Rose

Michael Rose was the president of The Rose Group for twenty-seven years. After moving to Florida he started MDPrevent and has also re-entered the real estate market as well. He has been one of Rabbi Albin's most successful “student-finders” since he started learning with Rabbi Albin in 1996. His accomplishments learning Torah has, from time to time, set him up as a Jewish guide for his friends.

Jacques Aaron Preis

Jacques Preis served as a public accountant for 40 years before becoming the CEO of Swap-O-Rama. As the sole trustee of the Phillip Leonian and Edith Rosenbaum Leonian Charitable Trust, he has begun to support many worthwhile Torah teaching institutions. He has been a student of Rabbi Albin's for over twenty years.