Ellen M. Klein
After joining Temple B’nai Abraham in 1972, Ellen was quickly recruited by PTA and soon became its treasurer, followed by Sisterhood donor treasurer. She served on the Temple’s Board of Education, and her interest in gardening led her to the Building and Grounds Committee in 1986. She co-chaired Building and Grounds for almost twenty years and mentored new chairs until resuming a co-chair role in 2023. Since 1986, Ellen has been a major factor in planning and implementing every major change in our building, grounds, and landscaping. She had a similar impact at the Memorial Park, serving on that committee from 2010 to 2019.
Ellen co-chaired TBA’s Nominating Committee and the Sodowick Museum Showcase Exhibit Committee and mentored successors.  She has always been an advocate of passing the torch to new leadership. A member of the Board of Trustees since 1989, she looks back on her years of TBA service as enjoyable and rewarding experiences.
TBA activities did not keep Ellen from other community service. Public school PTA and Home & School leadership roles led to the presidency of the town-wide Livingston Parent-Teacher Council in 1977. In 1979 she was elected to the first of two three-year terms on the Livingston Board of Education, on which she served as vice-president and then president. She has served on the boards of and has held many chair and co-chair roles at the National Council of Jewish Women Essex County Section and the Jewish Community Center of MetroWest.
Ellen was honored by the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2011 for her wide-ranging services to the community; received the NCJW Hannah G. Solomon Award for community service in 2004; the American Cancer Society, Essex County Reach to Recovery Volunteer of the Year Award in 1996; Livingston Township Women of Achievement honors in 1995; and, the Martha Lehman Leadership Award at the Jewish Welfare Board Biennial National Meeting in 1989.
Born in the Bronx, NY, she grew up living at various times in Allentown and Easton, PA; Fresh Meadows, Great Neck, and Roslyn Heights, NY; and Richmond, VA. A 1955 graduate of Great Neck High School, she received a BA in Psychology from Westhampton College, University of Richmond in 1959. Married in 1961, she and her husband Peter lived in New York, NY, Washington, D.C., and Great Neck, NY before moving to Livingston in 1970. They have two children, Amy and Steven, and grandsons Brian, Max and Eli.

Ruth M. Ross
A member of Temple B’nai Abraham for 48 years, Ruth is a tireless Co-Chair of TBA’s Social Action Committee as well as Recording Secretary of Sisterhood—The Women’s Connection. She is a vital part of the learning programs sponsored by the Temple and is a graduate of the Florence Melton Jewish Adult School, where she continues to study today. She is also on the Temple’s Ways & Means Committee and Board of Trustees. Ruth served as Chair of the Board of Education for several years, and she and her late husband Gary worked to resettle Russian Jews in the 1990s.
Born and raised in Bound Brook, NJ, Ruth graduated from Bound Brook High School in 1959, attended Penn State University for one year, and graduated from Douglass College in 1963 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Secondary Education. She taught secondary school English for 34 years, in Maryland, at Solomon Schechter Day School (now Golda Och Academy), Chatham Middle School, and Chatham High School, where she developed and taught a senior English course, “Holocaust & Genocide Through Literature.”
Ruth started her social activism early. As one of just a small number of Jews in Bound Brook, she and her friend founded a local Young Judaea chapter; she served as the President of the Central NJ region.
In addition to her TBA roles, Ruth is active on The Period Project Committee (NCJW-Essex); the New Jersey Jewish Film Festival Committee (JCC MetroWest); the JCC Life-Long Learning Committee; and New Jersey Together. She is the Secretary of the Board of the Sister Rose Thering Fund and a Co-Chair of their Literary & Visual Arts Competition. She is a member of the Mark E. Schonwetter Foundation, helping to award grants to teachers all over the U.S. to further Holocaust education. In 2023, she helped organize the first Kristallnacht commemoration held at Seton Hall University.
Ruth cooks and delivers two lasagnas every month to needy families through Lasagna Love. She has written for local newspapers as a drama critic and since 2010 has published her own blog, the NJ Arts Maven.
Ruth is the mother of two daughters, Natalie Sherman and Leslie Nordin, and the grandmother of four: Olivia and Abby Nengel and Sawyer and Riley Nordin. She has lived in West Orange for 54 years.

Abby R. Silverman
Shortly after Abby and her husband, Barry, moved to Livingston 22 years ago, a neighbor told them they should enroll their toddler in “Love Time.” Abby called Temple B'nai Abraham to sign up and also inquired about membership. After a warm and welcoming call with Rabbi Cliff Kulwin, Abby cleared the wait list for the Early School, setting the stage for her four future graduates: Matthew, Daniel, Justin and Amanda. TBA soon became her second home and part of her extended family. Simply put, it was b’shert. 
Abby was quick to volunteer her time to give back to the community she loved. It started with Bagel Lunch Chair for the Early School and soon expanded to Parents’ Council Vice President and then Parents’ Council Co-President. She has also served as a Sisterhood Board Member and a Ways and Means Committee Member. She was part of the Search Committees for Religious School Director and for Senior Rabbi, both of which she would say were her greatest TBA accomplishments.
She is currently a member of Sisterhood, the Ritual Committee and the Board of Trustees. She has been Co-Chair of the Board of Education for the past 12 years.
Abby graduated from the University of Michigan and SUNY-Stony Brook School of Medicine. She completed her pediatric residency at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. After practicing pediatrics in the community for 17 years, she is currently the Medical Director for Timber Lake Camp and a Physician Reviewer at FairCode Associates.

A special thank you to Jan Press for the honoree portraits.

Ways & Means Committee

Erica Facktor & Illana Lebersfeld, Co-Chairs
Tara Heyderman & Melanie Wurtele, Officer Liaisons
Barbara Birnbaum, Ad Journal Chair

Tara Abella
Michelle Barishaw
Pamela Blumhof
Cathy Fischberg
Merle Kalishman
Peter Klein
Rachel Nass
Alyce Sands Miller
Mara Silber
Julie Silbermann
Barry Silverman