​Debbie Blyn joined the Temple Chai staff as Executive Director in 2019. Prior to that, she had been an active lay leader, serving as President of the congregation, member of the Board, and Chair of the Religious School Committee. 

Debbie is passionate about building community. She loves welcoming new families to our synagogue. Her favorite times at Temple Chai are when big groups gather for the High Holy Days, Mitzvah Mall, Peanut Butter & Fluff, and busy Sunday mornings with Religious School.

When she relocated to Arizona, it was at Temple Chai where her family met their closest friends. She and her husband Gary raised their two sons, Jared and Ethan, at Temple Chai. It was here that they attended Religious School, became Bar Mitzvah, and participated in youth groups. 

Debbie was born and raised in New York. She holds a BA from Binghamton University and an MBA from New York University. She had a career in financial services marketing prior to relocating to Arizona in 2006. She lives in Phoenix with her family and Cody, their Golden Retriever. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, travel, and spending time with friends and loved ones.

Debbie can be reached via email at dblyn@templechai.com.

​Kelly holds the Accounts Receivable position for Temple Chai in the accounting office where her responsibilities include all incoming funds, member accounts, and the Early Childhood Center accounts.  Kelly also helps assist in a minor role with other various accounting duties.  Formerly working in the property management field along with medical and law enforcement support has given Kelly a wide range of knowledge and experience in working with many different personalities.    
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Together with her husband Bryan, Kelly has a combined total of 5 children and 4 grandchildren living throughout California and Arizona.  Kelly enjoys spending time with her grandchildren and catching up on her favorite sports teams, particularly baseball where she enjoyed watching her son play professionally for 8 years. (Now retired).  Kelly and her husband also have a small catering business where her husband can expand on his creativity as an Executive Chef.  

Cantor Sharona Feller's innovations began with Temple Chai's development from a tiny congregation of some 180 families. Her involvement ranged from teaching b'nai mitzvah students to creating Bat Chai, the temple's women's study program, to leading its adult and children's choirs to organizing its Thanksgiving ecumenical service.

Two of her greatest accomplishments as Temple Chai's first Cantor were the development of the temple's family school and its retreat programs as well as collaborating with Rabbi Berk to create the temple's Kabbalat Shabbat service. (Temple Chai was one of the first Reform congregations in North America to eliminate the late Friday night service and to recover the tradition of Kabbalat Shabbat.)
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Cantor Feller majored in ethnomusicology at the University of California in Los Angeles and went on to study at Hebrew Union College, making connections with area rabbis and freelancing as a cantor.

Sharona and Daniel Feller were married in August 1978. They share a deep commitment to Jewish life, devotion to family, including children Rachel, Avi and Jonathan, and a love of music.

Rabbi Bill Berk grew up in southern California. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. He holds a Life-time California Teaching Credential which he earned at California State College at Hayward. He earned an MA in Hebrew and a Doctor of Divinity from the Hebrew Union College. Rabbi Berk was ordained at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati where he won awards in homiletics and social action.

Rabbi Berk served for twenty-three years as the Senior Rabbi of Temple Chai in Phoenix, Arizona. This was a time of enormous growth and expansion for the congregation.  Rabbi Berk did pioneering work in the area of recovering prayer and Kabbalat Shabbat, adult learning, assisting Jews with special needs, developing the caring/healing congregation, and using retreats to strengthen community. In 2003 he won the Covenant Award which is given to three top Jewish educators in North America. From 2004 to 2010 Rabbi Berk was the Director of the Center for Rabbinic Enrichment for the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Rabbi Berk joined Keshet, The Center for Educational Tourism, in September 2010. He serves as an educational consultant, outreach coordinator, and directs Keshet's Bar/Bat Mitzvah Trip programs.
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Rabbi Berk made aliyah to Israel in 2006, and was subsequently named Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Chai. He has five children.​

Cantor Ross Wolman is blessed to serve Temple Chai in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Originally from Lancaster, PA, Cantor Wolman grew up in Congregation Shaarai Shomayim’s youth choir and led religious school services beginning after his bar mitzvah. He studied Music Education at Temple University in Philadelphia and upon graduation, entered the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College to pursue ordination as a Cantor. He was fortunate to have spent two years of his cantorial studies in Israel, serving Kehillat Bavat Ayin in Rosh Ha’ayin as student cantor. Cantor Wolman has been an active leader and organizer of the Riding4Reform cycling fundraiser, which benefits the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism.
 
In May 2007, he was ordained as Cantor from Hebrew Union College and is a proud member of the American Conference of Cantors (ACC). Cantor Wolman has previously served Congregation Sukkat Shalom in Wilmette, IL and Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim (BJBE) in Deerfield, IL.
 
Cantor Wolman has spent a summer in chaplaincy at Jeanes Hospital in Philadelphia, summers on staff at the URJ’s Kutz Camp, OSRUI, NFTY in Israel as well as six summers on faculty at OSRUI and five summers on faculty at URJ Camp Newman. He is past president of the Reform Cantors of Chicago and has proudly served the American Conference of Cantors and HUC’s Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music Alumni Association.
 
Cantor Wolman has performed throughout North America, Israel, France, Russia, and Ukraine.
 
Along with his passion for music, Cantor Wolman has a strong love for film, the outdoors, education, Israel, and the Hebrew language. He lives in Scottsdale with his wife Malka, their three children, and cats Giuseppe & Jürgen.
 
Cantor Wolman can be reached at cantorwolman@templechai.com.

Rabbi Bonnie Koppell serves as Associate Rabbi to the Temple Chai community in Phoenix, Arizona, where she also directs the Deutsch Family Shalom Center.  A native of Brooklyn, New York, she is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where she received a Doctor of Divinity degree in 2006. She holds a Master’s Degree in Religion from Temple University. She was granted a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University and graduated Magna Cum Laude with High Honors in Philosophy. In 2013 she earned a Master of Strategic Studies from the US Army War College.  Rabbi Koppell was one of the first women in the United States to be ordained as a Rabbi.

Rabbi Koppell was recognized as “Outstanding Young Leader of the Year” for the City of Mesa, Arizona in 1994.  She was the recipient of the City of Mesa Martin Luther King Celebration’s “Spirit of Unity” award and received the “Celebration of Success” award from Impact for Enterprising Women. The Arizona Cactus Pine Girl Scout Council awarded Rabbi Koppell its “World of People” award.  She has served as Grand Marshal for the City of Mesa Veteran’s Day Parade and was Mesa’s “Woman of the Year” in 2004.  In 2007 she was invited to the White House to offer the opening prayer at a meeting of Jewish leaders with the President of the United States, George W. Bush. In 2010 she was named as one of the Forward’s “Sisterhood 50 – America’s Influential Women Rabbis.”

Rabbi Koppell is very active in the greater Phoenix community.  She has served as president of the Board of Directors of the East Valley Child Crisis Center and is Past President of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix. She helped to draft the City of Mesa’s ethics code, served on the Boards of the Jewish Family and Children’s Service, as well as the Jewish Community Relations Council.

Rabbi Koppell served as a Chaplain (Colonel) in the United States Army Reserve for 38 years.  CH Koppell was commissioned as a 2LT Chaplain Candidate in 1978.  Upon her ordination in 1981, she became the first female Rabbi to serve in the U.S. Military.

Chaplain (Col) Koppell has received many military awards, including three Meritorious Service medals, two Army Achievement medals, Army Physical Fitness Excellence awards, and an Army Commendation medal. She served a year of active duty in support of Operation Noble Eagle and was awarded the Global War on Terrorism medal for her service in Iraq in 2005.  She is also a member of The Quartermasters Association Honorable Order of St. Martin. Chaplain (Col) Koppell spent Passover in Iraq in 2005, Chanukkah 2005/2006 with Jewish service members in Kuwait and Afghanistan, and was deployed to Iraq for Passover 2006. She returned to Afghanistan in 2008/2009, celebrated Passover in Kuwait in 2010, and in 2014.  In 2012 she was awarded the Legion of Merit by the 63D Regional Support Command.  She received a second Legion of Merit from the 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support) in 2016.  Rabbi Koppell received the annual Jewish Military Professional’s Award from the JWB Jewish Chaplain’s Council in 2018.  She was inducted into the Army Women’s Foundation Hall of Fame in March 2019.

Rabbi Koppell’s writings have been published in numerous books and journals. She is a frequent newspaper columnist and much sought-after speaker. She was married to David Rubenstein, PhD., of blessed memory, and is the parent of two daughters, Jessie and Sarah, and grandmother of Helena Ruth, Michael David, Leon Brom, and Lily Phyllis.   She married Ron Kushner in December 2016.

You can contact Rabbi Koppell at rabbikoppell@templechai.com.

Rabbi Mari Chernow joined the Temple Chai team in 2003 and was installed as Senior Rabbi in 2009. Her rabbinic passions include the Jewish healing movement, the study of Biblical literature and the power of vibrant worship. Rabbi Chernow graduated from UC San Diego and was ordained from the Los Angeles campus of the Hebrew Union College (HUC-LA).

She is a graduate of the Shalom Hartman Institute three-year Rabbinic Leadership Initiative. She currently serves on the Board of Overseers of HUC-LA, the Reform Movement Think Tank and the Board of Directors of Pardes Jewish Day School. She is the treasurer of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix.
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You can contact Rabbi Mari Chernow at: rabbichernow@templechai.com.