Meet Our Tutors

Athene Goldstein

Athene Goldstein has been teaching  bnei mitzvah for 40 years. Educated at Barnard College and Johns Hopkins University, she has made her home in Rochester since 1970.

Rabbi Silvana Bacman

Rabbi Silvana Bacman is a Jewish Educator who has many years of experience teaching about Jewish topics to a wide variety of audiences from young children to the elderly.  She started being a Bar/Bat Mitzvah tutor in 2010.

As a Jewish Life and Learning Coordinator at Jewish Senior Life, she teaches employees about Jewish traditions, leads activities for the residents and coordinates intergenerational programs.

Before working at JSL, Silvana taught at Heintz Preschool, Keshet Preschool, Inda Postner Religious School at Congregation Agudas Achim, Temple Beth El’s Religious School and Hillel School.

Silvana was honored to be the recipient of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education in 2008 and to be recognized as a “Woman of Inspiration” by Jewish Family Services in 2012.

She was born in Argentina and attended Rabbinical School at the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano.

Silvana loves singing and dancing and her passion is teaching.  You can find her at @morahsilvana on youtube and instagram.

Shoshana Germanow

Shoshana Germanow has been tutoring B’nei Mitzvah students for close to 15 years and has taught Hebrew school locally. She loves working one-on-one with students, getting to know them and discovering their unique gifts, while helping them to prepare for their special day.

Shoshana grew up in Alexandria, VA, in a family full of yiddishkeit and music. She and her two siblings all played violin, following in the footsteps of her father and uncles. Synagogue life and USY were important parts of her formative years. Shoshana’s Hebrew skills got a lift during a year abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she also studied Chinese and French, translated into Hebrew.

Today, Shoshana enjoys participating in shabbat and holiday services, chatting away with her Hebrew conversation group, and singing with the Rochester Jewish Chorale.