Day School Teachers
Morah Yaffa BarYam
Hebrew Language Teacher
[email protected]
Morah Yaffa has been teaching Hebrew and early childhood for over 30 years. She has been a teacher at Torah Day School since 1992, and taught Hebrew at Beth Israel's Religious School for 10 years, which she greatly enjoyed.
Yaffa completed her teaching certification from the Shine School of Education, a division of Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv, for early childhood education and Hebrew as a Second Language.
Yaffa and her husband Kobi, enjoy traveling, especially to Israel to visit family, and spending time with their daughters and grandchildren in Houston.
She greatly values her friendships, and makes time to meet with friends regularly.
Mrs. Elisa Goldstein
1st Grade Judaic Teacher
[email protected]
Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Elisa Goldstein received her Teaching Certification from Bnos Yisrael Seminary in Yerushalayim, Israel and graduated with a BA degree in Psychology.
Elisa has been a teacher in Torah Day School since she moved to Houston in 1998. She has taught various Judaic subjects to middle school and has been the Kita Aleph teacher for over 12 years.
She, together with her husband and family, are Chabad Shluchim to Houston and run the Chabad CHAI Learning Center of West Houston which serves the West Houston Jewish Community with Services, Adult Education, Hebrew School and Holiday Programs. Her involvement in the community includes the founding of Friendship Circle, directing the annual Friendship Walk and directing Camp Gan Israel for the past 11 summers.
Elisa is married to Rabbi Dovid Goldstein and has 5 children Sima, Avrami, Chaya, and Zalmi (all TDS Alumni), and Rozie, a student at TDS.
Mrs. Menuchi Cagen
2nd Grade Judaic Teacher
[email protected]
Mrs. Connie Dotan
2nd Grade Secular Teacher
Mrs. Gila Barnett
3rd Grade Judaic Teacher
Mrs. Chani Wilschanski
4th Grade Judaic Teacher
Mrs. Rivka Fishman
Middle School Judaic Teacher
[email protected]
Rivka Fishman grew up in Pittsburgh and is a graduate of Touro College. Rivka began teaching at Torah Day School in 1998. In 1999 she initiated the TDS Girls' Organization (G.O.) which is an after school theater program that puts on performances that are written, directed, and choreographed by the middle school girls.
In 2000, Rivka began teaching at Chabad of Sugar Land's Sunday School. Soon after, Rabbi Feigenson asked Rivka and her husband, Danny, to run a teen program for graduates of the Hebrew school. Danny and Rivka formed the Chabad Teen Club. They keep in close contact with graduates from their program who have gone on to play active roles in Jewish life on their college campuses. Rivka has taught at the Merfish Teen Center, Yom Limmud, and the BJE Night of Learning. She also learns privately with several women from across the community.
Rivka is on the national editorial board for the Jewish Learning Institute's teen program. Rivka is a recipient of the Irving L. Samuels Outstanding Teacher award for Judaic Studies and of the Grinspoon - Steinhardt Award for excellence in Jewish Education.
Rivka's husband is a TDS graduate. Four of her children are graduates of TDS as well and the other two are current students.
Mrs. Sherilyn Jones
Middle School Secular Teacher
[email protected]
Mrs. Jones was born in North Louisiana, and moved to Texas when she was four. She grew up in Lake Jackson, near the Gulf of Mexico, until 8th grade when she moved to Houston. She graduated from University of Houston with a Bachelors in English and is certified to teach both English and History. She has taught Middle school and High School English and History in both Atlanta Georgia and Houston, TX. She stumbled into TDS looking for a part time teaching position in 1992, and that turned out to be where she has spent most of her adult life. Mrs. Jones says "I will begin my 21st year at TDS this fall, and I can truthfully say I have loved every single one." She has three sons and two grandchildren that all live in Texas.
Rabbi Zally Lazarus
Middle School Judaic Teacher
rlazarus@tdshouston.org