Board of Trustees

Alisa Boymelgreen, one of Luria's founding members dreamed of creating a school over a decade ago. Her shared vision of a warm inclusive environment where education and Judaism are taught in inspiring ways to children of various backgrounds has made her experience as a parent and board member deeply rewarding. Her work in clinical psychotherapy with families and children has informed Luria's approach of teaching to and learning from children. " I think children are magical and often misunderstood. Their schooling should be filled with magic and understanding". She is the mother of 3 children, 2 of whom attend Luria.

Sam Boymelgreen is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Boymelgreen Developers, one of the leading and most active development companies in New York City, Miami, and Texas. He is responsible for overseeing all phases of development and construction. Sam first dreamed of starting a school when he married his wife Alisa and they made plans for their future kids. With Mila, 6, and Lev, 3,now attending Luria Academy, Sam is grateful that he was able to help create this unique learning experience.

Elka Deitsch is the Senior Curator at the Herbert & Eileen Bernard Museum of Judaica at Temple Emanu-El. She was a member of the curatorial team that established the inaugural exhibition in 1997 and continues to produce exhibitions centered on Jewish material culture and history. Ms. Deitsch began her curatorial career in the Special Collections Department of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary where she focused on exhibitions featuring medieval and early-modern Hebrew manuscripts and prints. She received her B.A. from Barnard College and her M.A. from the Bard Graduate Center for Decorative Arts. She and her husband, George Hambrecht, have two daughters.

Revital Gazal joined the Luria family a year after its inception impressed with its holistic views on education and religion and its creative child-centered focus. After earning a BA from New York University, Revital started a career in entertainment, working in the music industry and doing some independent film production. She later decided to pursue another passion studying chefs training in healthful cooking and nutrition at the Natural Gourmet Cooking School in NYC and opening a vegetarian café and juice bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. When her oldest son was unexpectedly born extremely premature, she shifted her full time focus to her family and eventually sold the café. Finding in Luria a progressive yet comprehensive Jewish education that nurtures each child's individuality has been a dream come true. Revital currently has 2 sons attending Luria, Isaac in the elementary school and Micah in preschool.

Ronen Glimer is an experienced marketer, business-builder and community "creator." Together with his wife, he built a weekend artist market in Williamsburg Brooklyn to provide local artists and entrepreneurs with a community gathering place in which to sell and market their creations. He spent several years building and marketing consumer brands and developing a national marketing organization to support those products. He recently joined a Denmark-based innovation consulting firm in their expansion into the US market. Ronen enjoys the challenge of creating and growing entities that bring people together. He is the proud father of Ruby (4) and Noa (2) and lives in the neighborhood.

Jacob Septimus is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law and is an attorney admitted to the New York Bar. After a short stint practicing intellectual property law, he left to found MIC Media, an entertainment company with music, television, film and Internet properties. Since leaving MIC in 2004 he has worked as a film and television director and producer. He currently works as a Creative Director for WPP in NY and is heading up a new media platform called chunnel.tv for WPP. He is the proud father of Ella, a 4 year-old girl who is in her second year at Luria and Leonel, a future Luria attendee.