Our Staff

Gary Fifer comes to Congregation Beth Emeth after having served as both an Executive Director and an Interim Executive Director for diverse congregations in 5 states. Prior to that, while raising a family in Roanoke, Virginia, Gary served in numerous volunteer leadership roles in the Jewish community, including Board President, Secretary, Building Committee Chair, Ritual Committee member, and Chevra Kadisha member. Previously, Gary held senior leadership roles in the direct marketing industry, with responsibilities that included operations, personnel management and training, strategic development, customer service, and change management.

Gary’s passion for building Jewish community and his belief that synagogues are essential to helping our Jewish communities flourish prompted his career change. He believes that his contributions as an Executive Director draw on a combination of lessons learned from business, and lessons learned from Torah.

Gary has earned certification from the Jewish Leaders Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and from the National Association of Temple Administrators as a Senior Executive Director.

Gary and his wife Hope Trachtenberg-Fifer met in New York City, and started their family there.They have four adult children and three grandchildren. They are proud that their children all contribute both professional and volunteer time to bettering the communities in which they live.

Rabbi Shara is the Director of Lifelong Learning, which includes the oversight of our magnificent school, the Einhorn Center for Jewish Education. She has been an inspiring force here at Beth Emeth since May 2013. A Jewish educator with many years of experience teaching in various local Jewish institutions, she is both knowledgeable and passionate about Judaism and brings great enthusiasm to her position. For 15 years prior to starting at Beth Emeth, she taught middle school Judaics, implemented new curriculum, and mentored teaching staff at the Bet Shraga Hebrew Academy, Jewish Day School, where she joined the faculty while still in college. She taught 4th grade at Congregation Ohav Shalom and Temple Israel, where she was the Director of the Midrasha High School Program, as well as taught high school Hebrew, local Jewish history and a preparatory course for Hebrew SAT 2 exams. During the summer of 2012, she was the Director of the Hebrew Immersion Cafe at Camp Ramah New England. From the summer of 2013 until Covid struck, Shara spent summers as the Director of Education at Camp Ramah.

Shara holds a B.A. in Jewish Philosophy from the University at Albany, an Executive Masters in Jewish Educational Leadership with a concentration in Israel Education from the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, a Masters Certificate in Israel Education from The George Washington University, and Rabbinic Ordination from the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary.

A native of the Albany community, Shara is the daughter of Mel and Jane Waldman. She and her husband, David, reside in Loudonville and are the parents of four children and an incredibly loving dog, Ellie.

You can reach Rabbi Shara by phone at 518.436.9761 x231

Andrea comes to us from Los Angeles, where she was the Director of Jewish Learning Community at Temple Beth Am. Andrea has a Master of Arts in Jewish Nonprofit Management and Master of Arts in Jewish Education, both from HUC. She is responsible for developing, implementing, facilitating programming and other initiatives for current and prospective CBE members.  

Andrea collaborates with the Director of Lifelong Learning, Clergy and CBEYG advisors to implement and execute fun and educational programming to engage students in grades 7 - 12. Andrea is also the staff liaison to selected committees.

She can be reached by phone at 518.436.9761 x236

Lita is the Executive Assistant to the Clergy. She may be a familiar face to our religious school families as she served as an Educational Administrative Assistant at the Einhorn Center for Jewish Education in 2019-2020 before working in Online Learning Services at The College of Saint Rose. Lita and her husband, Theo, are members of REYUT and help deliver bereavement bags for loved ones. When not involved in activities at CBE, Lita participates in local theater productions and is a company member of Will Kempe's Players, a local Shakespeare cooperative that tours the Capital Region.

Lita can be reached by phone or call 518.436.9761 x224. 

Manya serves as the Educational Administrative Assistant, providing support to our Director of Lifelong Learning and all educational programming from Infant through Adult Education. Our Religious School has classes from Kindergarten through grade 10; Sunday School, Wednesday Hebrew School, and Confirmation (grade 10). Manya can be reached at School@CBEAlbany.org or call 518.432.1392.

Steve is our Director of Maintenance. His e-mail is Steve@CBEAlbany.org.

In an emergency, Steve can be reached at 518.229.1284.