Ryan Perlman - President
Shalom, and welcome to KI’s Lay Leadership page. I’m humbled and excited to be the President of this Congregation. It’s an honor to follow in the footsteps of Andrew Altman and our other past presidents.
When I was a child growing up at Adath Jeshurun, lots of people would ask me if I was going to be a Rabbi. I found that a bit far-fetched, but my connection to Israel and Judaism has always been integral in my life. Through my formative years at Adath Jeshurun, I was heavily involved in reading Torah as well as running the Shomrei Nusach program, which taught lay leaders to lead shabbat afternoon services under Cantor Davidson. After confirmation, I attended Gratz college where I earned my teaching certificate.
In college and after, I taught Hebrew school, tutored Bar/Bat Mitzvah students, and led youth groups. Living in CA, I managed a reggae band, owned a record label, toured the US with 3 of our bands, and had a #1 hit in Hawaii. After that, my producer partner and I launched Orange Table Entertainment, a music production company that placed music in film/tv.
After meeting my better half Tracy, we moved back to PA in 2010 with our son Joah, then 9 months old, and I joined Wexler Packaging Products; a family-owned business focused on banding and labeling equipment.
At KI, I first started in leadership when Cantor Amy asked me to be on the rabbinic search committee, a fantastic group, led by Janice Schwartz Donahue and Karen Sirota. This unique experience during Covid, gave me a deeper understanding of the inner workings at KI. I joined the board of directors shortly thereafter, and led the Religious Practices committee for 3 years. That period afforded me a close up view of KI, our approach to problem solving, our strong leadership, and solid infrastructure. When I coupled that with our upward trajectory along with the current state of our people, it made the decision to say yes to being our next president easy, but necessary. I look forward to the honor of working with all of you during this exciting time in our history!
When not working, I love spending time with my family, traveling, eating cheesesteaks, bike riding and of course, sushi from OOKA!
Contact Ryan via email: kipresident@kenesethisrael.org