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.

Shia Papkin

Shalom,

I am Shia Papkin and I am a native of Rochester, New York. I have a degree from Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel and I volunteered at schools in Ramle and Kiryat Gat. For the past seven years, I have been teaching Judaic Studies at Hillel Community Day School. I have experience teaching Judaic Studies to students as young as kindergarten snd all the way up to adults. In my spare time, I enjoy bass fishing and spending time with my dog Ruby.

Silvana Bacman

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 is attending 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.