Rabbi Dr. Steven A Moss has served B'nai Israel since 1972. His dedication, enthusiasm and community involvement have had a major influence on the growth and development of our congregation.

Rabbi Moss is a community leader in the truest sense of the term. He ministers to the Jewish life cycle needs of the congregation and the surrounding community. He chairs the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission (since 1992) and is co-chair of the Suffolk County Anti-Bias Task Force and chair of the Islip Town Anti-Bias Task Force in the battle against anti-Semitism and other bias crimes. He is also Director and Founder of STOPBIAS, an educational program for bias/hate crimes offenders. He serves as chaplain to the Suffolk County Police Department (since 1986) and holds the rank of Deputy Chief, and at various hospitals, and skilled nursing/assisted living homes in the community. Rabbi Moss is President of the Suffolk County Board of Rabbis and is past-president of numerous local and county organizations. He is also Vice-chair of the Center for the Holocaust, Diversity and Human Understanding located in the library of the Selden Campus of Suffolk Community College. He is a student of Kabbalah and meditation and has led workshops in these areas of Jewish life and study. He has had articles printed in the Journal of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and in other publications. He is also the longest sitting member on the Islip Town Board of Ethics.

The Rabbi enjoys cycling and travelling.

 
Cantor Ilana received her Master’s Degree in Sacred Music and was invested in 2000 from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion-Sacred School of Music in New York. During her years at HUC, she served as student cantor at The Community Synagogue in Port Washington, NY, The Hartford Jewish Center in Havre de Grace, MD, and Temple Beth Tikvah in Madison, CT. Her Master’s Thesis, "Refuat Hanefesh", Healing of the Soul, was a study of music in nursing homes which led her to an internship with the Joint Chaplaincy Committee of MetroWest-National Association of Jewish Chaplains in NJ. She was the first cantor to participate in this program and it has since attracted other cantors to be involved. In 2006, she sang as Cantor at the North Shore Synagogue in Syosset.

Before entering HUC-JIR-SSM, Cantor Ilana attended the University of Rochester, where she earned a BA in Psychology and Theatre. She has worked in several Union of Reform Judaism summer camps including Eisner, Harlem, Newman and Kutz, the Jewish youth leadership camp in Warwick, NY, teaching music, cantillation and Jewish education. She has also worked for many Jewish organizations including B'nai Brith Hillel, ARZA, UJA-Federation and the 92nd Street Y, as well as the Association for the Help of Retarded Children.

Cantor Ilana was born and raised in the Bronx and lived in Queens and Manhattan. She has two daughters Liora and Hannah, and lives in Melville.

She is a member of the American Conference of Cantors and the Association of Jewish Chaplains.