J-LOFT's Advisory Board
J-LOFT’s inaugural Advisory Board kicked into action in September of 2024, and we are still open to welcoming new members, both adults and teens! The Advisory Board meets on the third Thursday night of every month, September through May.
The objectives of the Advisory Board are:
1) Represent the needs and interests of all member families, students, and partnering synagogues.
2) Help grow and expand the program and its offerings.
3) Assist with fundraising efforts and identify development opportunities.
4) Oversee the financial aspects of the collaboration.
5) Provide programmatic and operational assistance and support.
6) Broaden J-LOFT’s visibility in the community and its collaboration with local partners.
Adults and teens who are interested in making an impact on the trajectory of J-LOFT are warmly invited to get in touch with Shoni Aronovich to learn more.
Please note that since J-LOFT is not its own 501c3 (nonprofit organization), Advisory Board members do not assume any fiduciary responsibility.
Advisory Board Members
Ruth Feiner Burman
Ruth Feiner Burman lives in Maynard with her husband and sons, a college freshman and high school sophomore. Her younger son joined J-LOFT last year. Ms. Burman has been an educator in Wayland for almost twenty years. Involvement in a board capacity on J-LOFT appealed to Ms. Burman after seeing the Jewish pride and identity J-Loft fosters for our teens in Metrowest.
Jenifer Goldman Fraser
Jenifer Goldman Fraser lives in Harvard with her husband and their teenage daughter. Jenifer’s two daughters participated in HiBuR (her older daughter was in the first cohort from Kerem Shalom). Her younger daughter also had a terrific experience doing the L’Taken program and is tremendously excited to participate in the first J-LOFT senior trip to Berlin and Warsaw. Jenifer is a research developmental psychologist and looking forward to supporting this invaluable program's development and impact.
Sarah Green Vaswani
Sarah Green Vaswani lives with her husband and two sons in Sudbury. They are members of Congregation Beth El, where Sarah serves as Co-VP of Youth and Family Education. Her sons have been J-LOFT participants for the past 3 years, traveling to New Orleans and Israel with the program and participating on the Leadership Team for the MLK Day of Service.
Jessica N. Levenson
Jessica is a member of and Board President of Ma’yan Tikvah. She lives in Southborough with her family, including her three children. Jessica joined the J-LOFT board to help foster growth after seeing her daughter’s J-LOFT experience over the past year. She feels strongly about the need for continued Jewish programming for teens post-b’nai mitzvah. In addition to her board positions, Jessica is VP of Digital Strategy and SEO at Oracle and the founder of the Southborough Free Fridge.
Sara Matias
Sara Matias is a local business owner for almost thirty years. She currently owns and runs Thoreauly Antiques in Concord. Her son Levi joined J-LOFT in 2022 in the hopes to continue his Jewish connections. He attended the first New Orleans trip in 2023. Sara joined the board to help spread the knowledge that our community has this wonderful program for teens to grow beyond their b’nai years. She has been involved in non-profit arts sector and plans to use her experience to help grow the organization both financially and socially. Sara Matias lives in Maynard with her husband and her son.
Jill Maxwell
Jill lives with her husband and three kids in Acton. Oscar, the youngest, has been involved with J-LOFT and helped work on houses in New Orleans. Jill enjoyed a robust youth group experience at her large temple in New Jersey when she was a kid, and sees the value that J-LOFT brings to teens in Massachusetts towns with smaller Jewish communities.
Lisa Schwarzwald
Lisa Schwarzwald lives in Sudbury with her husband and 3 children. They are members of Congregation Or Atid in Wayland. Lisa’s oldest son was part of the group of HiBur students that helped create the program that has now grown into J-LOFT. Her youngest daughter is now in the program and she is thrilled to be a part of helping the program grow and thrive to provide Jewish connections for teens in the area.
Ethan Sonnenberg
Ethan Sonnenberg joined J-LOFT three years ago and has loved the program ever since, he went on the New Orleans trip last year. He lives in Framingham and is a student at Framingham High School. He has really enjoyed being on the J-LOFT program and wants to help the program grow.