listen to music, bargain hunt,
exercise and work her many
side hustles.
RACHEL
WALL
Rachel is the
communica-
tions and devel-
opment manag-
er at the Jewish
Federation of
Greater Ann Arbor. In this role,
Rachel is proud to facilitate
the philanthropic efforts that
enrich Jewish life in greater Ann
Arbor, strengthen civil society
in Israel and support the most
vulnerable Jews around the
world.
Rachel has long been
passionate about Jewish
communal life, with nearly 20
years of involvement in Jewish
volunteer and professional
activities. The vast majority
of Rachel’s post-college career
has been spent in the Jewish
nonprofit world: She previously
worked at JARC, where she was
manager of the Independent
Living Services program. Before
that, she did her graduate
school internship at the Jewish
Federation of Metro Detroit and
worked in the office at Hebrew
Day School of Ann Arbor.
In addition to Jewish
communal work, Rachel’s
professional passion is
supporting adults with
developmental disabilities.
Rachel holds a BS in
education and social policy
from Northwestern University
and a master’s of social work
from University of Michigan,
where she also earned a
certificate in Jewish communal
leadership.
Originally from California’s
Bay Area, Rachel has lived in
Ann Arbor for over a decade
with her husband and their two
young daughters, where they
are members of the Ann Arbor
Orthodox Minyan.
AARON
MARKOVITZ
Aaron
Markovitz is
working at
Temple Israel
as the Burton
A. and Sandra
D. Zipser foundation artist
in residence. He frequently
works with clergy to create new
musical pieces for the Jewish
community. They are often
debuted at Shabbat services,
Sunday school assemblies or
recorded in the studio to be
released as projects, such as
the temple’s “Come on Home”
video that encouraged people
to come back to services for the
High Holidays after being used
to staying away from gatherings
for so long.
Aaron also spends time
working with teens at temple,
getting them more involved
with music programs
and leading songs for the
congregation at services and for
the religious school on Sunday
mornings. Aaron teaches a song
leading class along with Cantor
Michael Smolash with hopes of
encouraging future generations
of singers and spiritual leaders
in the community.
Plans have also been made
for an upcoming album release,
in partnership with Temple
Israel, that will include many
of the songs that Markovitz
has composed during his
time at temple. He sees this as
a wonderful opportunity to
strengthen his Jewish roots and
hopes to become an important
voice in contemporary Jewish
music. He sends out a big
thanks to the Burton A. and
Sandra D. Zipser Foundation
for making this possible.
When he isn’t busy writing
and recording music, you will
likely find Aaron attending a
show with his lovely fiancée,
Ashley, at venues like Otus
Supply in Ferndale, Wiltsie’s
in Clarkston or Berkley
Coffee in Oak Park. You may
be surprised to know that
among everything else, Aaron
spends some time doing string
instrument repairs at Pursell
Lutherie in Ferndale.
ANDREW
LAPIN
Andrew Lapin
is a reporter
and editor
for the Jewish
Telegraphic
Agency, a
leading, historic global news
source covering the Jewish
world. His stories about
antisemitism, Israel, and Jewish
arts and culture are syndicated
to dozens of Jewish news
services across the globe and
translated into Hebrew and
other languages.
In 2021 Andrew completed
his first podcast, “Radioactive:
The Father Coughlin Story,
”
an immersive history of the
antisemitic “Radio Priest”
who founded the Shrine of
the Little Flower in Royal
Oak. Co-produced with Tablet
Studios and Exploring Hate,
the critically acclaimed podcast
has been downloaded more
than 50,000 times, received
major media coverage and
helped prompt Shrine’s recent
re-examination of its own
founding history.
Andrew was raised in
Huntington Woods, became a
bar mitzvah at Temple Emanu-
El, was an active member of
NFTY and the Kidz Klez Band
of Michigan, and attended the
University of Michigan and
Northwestern University. He
was previously the editor of the
Detroit Jewish News and was
named “The Future of Jewish
News” by Jewish Currents
magazine. He has also worked
as a film critic for NPR, The
Economist, Vulture and other
outlets, covering the Cannes,
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UNDER
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