Daniel Goldwasser: President
Dan Goldwasser came to Florida over 20 years ago after moving from New Jersey. He works as a travel executive but he is definitely a Jack of all Trades. Temple Beth Shira would not survive without Dan. He oversees all projects, making sure everything goes smoothly, and does whatever he can to contribute to the Temple. From working our sound system to building our ark, he does it all.
Rick Alovis: Past-President
Rick Alovis has been blessed with three wonderful children, Jake, Jenny and Bari. Rick is the President of ARK Teleservices with offices in NY and Florida, and specializes in controlled circulation.
Rick is also a licensed Optician and in NYC founded the Optical Exchange chain of eyewear stores. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and moved to Florida as a teen where he attended Miami Beach High School, followed by the University of Florida. He then moved back to New York only to return to Florida with his family in 2002.
Although they found Saturnia to be a home, Rick felt something was missing from their corner of the world. Rick strongly felt that the West Boca community was in need of a warm, hamish congregation,with strong connections to the community. He is extremely proud of being a founder and the first President of Temple Beth Shira. His unending energy and enthusiasm have surely helped the Temple reach the point it is at today as well as the heights it will reach in the future.
Joel Tepper: Vice President (Past-President)
Beverly Sanders: Recording Secretary
Sheila Holtzman: Treasurer
Sheila J. Holtzman was recently elected to the TBS Board as Treasurer. She describes herself as a self-starter, and needing very little supervision to complete any task. She is a take-charge person, and a team player, with extensive office administration and computer background. She has many years of business experience in various aspects, including marketing.
Originally from Philadelphia, Sheila has resided in South Florida (Coral Springs, Parkland, and Delray Beach) since 1982. She has served on the boards of several synagogues as treasurer, and served as co-president and also treasurer of a sisterhood. She has been a board member and liaison with Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ).
Sheila is licensed in the State of Florida to sell Life, Health & Variable Annuities, and Certified Long-Term Care Specialist (CLTC).
Mel Nass: Membership Director
Mel Nass is our Membership Chairperson at Temple Beth Shira. His strength comes from a background of agriculture, technology, and marketing. Mel founded a family farm with his wife and 3 children, and in 40 years it grew into a large international produce company, Venture Vineyards Inc. out of Lodi, NY. They became growers/packers/shippers of Concord Table Grapes to the major supermarkets. During this time, Mel served on Cornell’s Agricultural Life and Science Advisory Board as the Grape Specialist.
As a farmer, Mel is knowledgeable and concerned about natural resources, forestry, and water features. He also spent his first 20 years working for IBM as a systems engineer which involved leading programming teams to automate work flows
At Century Village in Deerfield Beach, Mel has been an Area Chairperson for many years. In that capacity, he has brought in many speakers to keep the residents informed of happenings at CVE and the community. He was the Vice President and Treasurer of his building, Oakridge U. When he was involved with the Landscaping Committee of our building, they won the Nature Club’s award for most beautiful landscaping for that year out of 253 buildings!
Mel holds a Coast Guard Captain’s License and has boated extensively throughout the Florida waters and the Bahamas. He has served on the Deerfield Beach Marine Advisory Board, an appointment by the City Commissioner of his District. Socially, he has been involved in organizing events for various clubs, such as BBQ’s, Pool/Pizza parties, Shuffleboard, Wine Tastings and many Tour Bus trips. Currently, he is involved in developing a new Century Village Deerfield Community Garden Project; in addition to embarking on a new project with his son, Andrew. They are baking and selling Concord Grape Pies thru restaurants, farmers markets and e-commerce.
Lynn Ratoff: Sisterhood President
Lynn Ratoff serves as Sisterhood Co-President at Temple Beth Shira. She is also a director-at-large on the Board of Directors, and Co-Chair of the TBS Concert Committee. An active member of TBS, Lynn and her husband have been members since 2009. After their son’s bar mitzvah, they stayed with TBS thanks to the many friends they made there. Lynn became an adult b’nai mitzvah in 2013 at TBS.
Lynn’s professional experience includes nearly 20 years at Tyco as an administrator and analyst. Her early work experience was as a travel agent and she was able to take many interesting trips, including a safari in Kenya, and trips to Israel, Italy & Switzerland. She obtained her license as a real estate broker in 1980. She also completed a paralegal certificate program at Florida Atlantic University in 2008.
A Florida native from Miami Beach, Lynn met her husband Bruce through a Jewish matchmaker. They reside in West Boca Raton. The couple also has an adult daughter who is a speech language pathologist.
Steve Sanders: Director at Large and President of Men’s Club
Lisa Haber: Director at Large
Lisa Haber has been a director-at-large on the Board of Directors of Temple Beth Shira for several years. She founded, and runs, You Had Me at Chai, the temple’s Jewish singles group. She is also a member of the temple’s Sisterhood.
A resident of Broken Sound Club, in Boca Raton, Lisa is active in the community. She founded, and organizes a very successful meetup group for widows & widowers. Lisa served for a number of years as president of her HOA, and volunteered on one of the standing committees at her club. She also volunteers for a dog rescue group.
Lisa has been a resident of Boca for almost 20 years & has been widowed for five years. She & her late husband were members of Temple Beth Shira, then they took a hiatus, and she rejoined the temple after her husband passed away, when she was looking to reconnect with her faith, and the warm, loving, caring community that Temple Beth Shira and Rabbi Sharon Steinberg have created.
Bob Freedman: Director at Large