Seattle Hebrew Academy ALUMNI

1980's

SUSAN ABOLAFYA: CLASS OF 1980 Dear SHA Alumni,  I attended SHA for several of my Elementary School years.  I have  many fond memories too!  I attended Franklin high school (and still  live to tell about it!).  Following high school I earned my nursing  degree and have even continued my education throughout the years to  the present time.  (I realized I love school!)  I have worked in many capacities in the nursing field, mainly with  senior adults.  I have worked in hospitals, emergency rooms and  have even carried the Title of Director of Nursing at area Nursing  Homes.  I am married to my wonderful husband, Tom and we have a home in   Everett, WA.    My lifelong best friend and SHA classmate, Lea "Behar" Hanan comes  to visit us often with her husband and three wonderful boys!   Although I have no children of my own, I consider Jacob, Albert and  Joey "My" little ones and try to spoil them as much as I can.  Recently I toured the new SHA and was simply amazed at the  architectural design, beauty of the surroundings and most important  the many adorable children learning and playing throughout the   school.  If you would like to be in touch with me, send me an email at   murphybear@comcast.net  Susan Abolafya JEFF MERRIMAN-COHEN: CLASS OF 1980 After I graduated Yeshiavat Or Hatzafon (YOH) (for some reason they changed the name of the School to some silly thing like NW Yeshiva High School) I moved to New York and attended Yeshiva B'nei Torah and Queens College for two years.  I returned to Seattle in 1985, where I finished college with a bachelors degree in Business Administration. In 1988 I went to work with my father, Paul Merriman, in the investment management business (www.merrimancapital.com).  In 1990, I met my wife, Barrie.  She was foolish enough to accept my proposal, and we were married in February of 1991.  In 1994, Barrie and I became the very proud parents of our son Aaron. Aaron is the picture of generational improvement; He is bright, witty and great fun.  He currently attends 4th grade at University Child Development School, is an avid chess player (no, I can't beat him any more), and is growing up to be a game geek, just like me (I'm so proud). UPDATE FROM JEFF COHEN: Some of you may know that I helped with a film called Inheritance over the last few years, and am an Executive Producer on the project. Inheritance was recently  released and I am  very proud of the project. Also, what a trip to watch the your own name roll onto the screen! Check out the website (www.inheritancefilm.com). You can view the trailer, get details on the story, and see some of the really fine praise that the film has already received. STEVE FRIMER: CLASS OF 1980 After finishing 9th grade at SHA, I went on to finish school at Mercer Island High School, and then jumped around a bit before finally finishing right back at the University of Washington.  I ended up working for Boeing, which after many years finally landed us a job that has had us travelling as a family.  Every few years, Boeing packs us up and relocates us to our next assignment.  So far, we have enjoyed 2 years in Beijing, China, 5 years in Panama, and 2 years in Mexico City.  Finishing Mexico City, we were looking for a great assignment and finally landed our dream location. Although maintaining our Jewish home was somewhat of a challenge in Beijing, we were more than pleased with our surroundings in Panama and Mexico City, both of which had tremendous Jewish communities to integrate into.  However, none of these countries could offer what we had been longing for over the years.  Today, we find ourselves living in Israel (still working for Boeing) and working closely with El Al Israel Airlines (among others).  Since arriving here in July, 2005, all of us are excited to be here, and we are having the time of our lives.  We couldn't ask for more!! We certainly would love to see our friends when they come through Israel.  Although we are off the beaten path in Herzlia-Pituach, we hope we can see as many of you as we can as you visit Israel.  It's a great place to be!!! Feel free to contact us at:  frimer4@bezeqint.net ROD FISHER: CLASS OF 1981 I got married to Lauren in summer of 2000. We met on a blind date in Seattle, which Dana (Stern) Azose set up. Who knew blind dates work! We live in Bellevue and have expanded our family to include Daniella (Dani) age 1. I currently work at Microsoft in Business Development for the digital media division. I also spend my time raising money for ovarian cancer research, which is a cause that has touched my family. One of my favorite memories of SHA was playing guitar with Mrs. Hogland and performing at the Kline Galland Home. I thought we sounded pretty good. E-mail me at   r_fisher66@hotmail.com LEA (BEHAR) HANAN: CLASS OF 1981 I got married to Kevin Hanan in 1990, we met at Ezra Bessaroth on Yom kippur! I now live in the Renton Highlands and have been blessed with three boys, Jacob 9, Albert, 6 and Joey 2.  Jacob and Albert are students at SHA and LOVE it! What do I do? What don't I do!? I earned my degree in Recreational Leadership and work with children throughout the Seattle area in both   synagogues & Schools. I thrive on doing lots of volunteer work at SHA (I owe them for all the stress I caused). My Favorite SHA memory: I will share a more current memory: I was in the 1st grade classroom at SHA with my son, Jacob during the Nisqually earthquake.  That was quite an experience!  My children and I are so excited as we anticipate the 2004-2005 school year in the newly remodeled SHA building on Capital Hill. Got kids?  Bring them to SHA!!  They will be part of an amazing community of caring teachers and lifelong friends! Lea can be reached at leahanan@hotmail.com DAVID VAILLANCOURT: CLASS OF 1981 David sent us this lovely photo of himself with his wife Deborah Levinger and their son Andrew at 6 months - David owns and runs DA Graphics.  They live in Seattle.  David can be reached at dave@dagraphics.com My daughter Talia (& friend) My son Jake (& friend). MICHAEL ISRAEL: CLASS OF 1982 E-mail me at  michael.m.israel@comcast.net After graduating from the 9th grade in 1982, I took the summer off before deciding to continue my education.  I attended high school, and subsequently, college.  I graduated from the University of Washington in 1989 with a doctorate in astro-physics....okay, actually it was a BA in marketing. My wife, Barbara, and I have been married since September of 1991.   We're the proud parents of Jacob, 11, and Talia, 3.  We're not so proud of our adopted cats - Cyrus, 8, and Zena, 2 - primarily because of a spraying problem we haven't been able to solve.  Would anyone like a couple cats? Since growing up in the Seward Park area, I've gradually been moving further and further north.  We now live in Lake Forest Park.  For others who grew up in Seward Park and think of the U District as the north end of town, Lake Forest Park is at the northwestern tip of Lake Washington.  Gimme a few years and I'll live in Bellingham. I'm a client executive for The Cobalt Group.  Cobalt is the leading provider of websites and CRM applications to car dealers and manufacturers.  I've been in the auto industry for about 6 years, though I still cling to the dream of parlaying my resounding victory in the Academy's first ever Poetry Contest into some sort of high-paying career. I still recall my shining moment as though it were yesterday, or perhaps last Thursday.  It was my victory in SHA's first ever - and as far as I know, last - Poetry Contest.  I believe I was in 4th or 5th grade.  I recited a poem by Shel Silverstein.  I remember the exploding flash-bulbs, the red carpet, the paparazzi.  In many ways, I, like other child stars such as Danny Bonneducci and Jerry Mathers, have been trying ever since to live up to the my lofty reputation.  But alas, I've been living a modest, work-a-day existence in relative anonymity with my wife and children.     MOSHE SHOLLAR: CLASS OF 1982 Greetings all!  So after moving to New York in 1981 I hadn't been back to Seattle until last year, and the people traveling with me had thought it a bit strange that I insisted on stopping by my old school. The place looks great and brought back a lot of memories. After leaving Seattle, we moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn where I proceeded through the Lubavitch educational system culminating with a year in Israel where I got smicha (no, I don't use the title!) Soon after my return, I met my wife, Leah (nee Shapiro) who is from Palo Alto, CA. We actually shared a classmate who is also an alum - Rochie Londinski. We moved to Pittsburgh in 1993 and have six children, Chaim, Ella, Masha. Esther Chana, Yissachar and Manny. I spent a lot of time doing startup fundraising for technology companies and then founded my own company, e-Cruise, in 1999. This was a loyalty marketing platform for the cruise line industry. This led to my forming Chosen Voyage, my current endeavor, which is the first kosher cruise program to charter full ships and offer upscale programs to the kosher-observant. It's a lot of work/fun. It's great to see this site, and I look forward to reconnecting! I may be reached at mshollar@chosenvoyage.com DAVID STERN: CLASS OF 1983 David Stern SHA '83 writes that he lives in San Francisco and is currently  President of eKnowledge Institute, a technology education company. Over the past few years he has been quite busy with  law school, working for Universal Studios & idealab.  If you want to reconnect with David, you can email him at dsjunk@gmail.com   AARON KATSMAN: CLASS OF 1984 I live in Jerusalem Israel with my wife Yael and our 3 children, Tzivia and Moshe Arieh and our new baby girl Penina Chana. I have been living in Israel for more than 11 years now, coming here immediately after graduating from Yeshiva University in '92. After more than 3 years heading up the International Personal Banking unit for Citibank Israel, I have decided to move on. I have joined Profile Investments as the President of Global Investment Services. aaron@profile-financial.com CYNTHIA (KRAVETTE) GAMEL: CLASS OF 1985 I am married and have two boys.  I have an MSW from Wurzweiler School of Social Work in New York.  I am living in Seattle, though we are temporarily relocating down to Miami for work. E-mail me at cynth613@yahoo.com     REBECCA OSMAN  POLYAKOVSKY: CLASS OF 1985 Rebecca now lives in N. Seattle with her husband of 5 1/2 years, Dmitry Polyakovsky, and their 18 month old daughter, Edee. Rebecca just finished a successful run of “The Chosen” at the Lakewood   Theater in Tacoma .  Following is her program bio for The Chosen:   The Chosen is Rebecca's first foray into the realm of directing since college, when she directed the odd little one act, The Theatre of the   Soul, by Nicolai Evreinov.  Rebecca  was last seen on stage as Laura in The Glass Menagerie at Renton Civic Theatre.  Other theatre credits include:  Felicityin in The Farndale Avenue Christmas Carol at TAG; Murial in Ah, Wilderness! (Spokane Interplayers); Liuba in Ghetto (Seattle Public Theatre); Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (Seattle Shakespeare Company); Ruth in The Book  Of Ruth (Seattle Children's Theatre ); Ensemble in Owen Meany's Christmas Pageant (Book-It Repertory Theatre);   Cassandra/Electra/Pythia in Eleutheria Restored, directed by Marcus Walker (Off Broadway Productions); Bianca in Othello and Luciana in Comedy of Errors (Washington  Shakespeare Festival).  Film/Television credits include:  Shirley Temple in the independent short film Matinee Delight; Gail Halloran in Kid Colter; Soldier in The Nutcracker: the Motion Picture;  Young Storytellers in Russia (KCTS/PBS documentary); and the Twin Peaks pilot.  Rebecca has trained  with the Moscow Art Theatre School and locally with Aaron Levin and at Freehold. She holds a degree in Russian Language and Literature from Columbia University. ABE RAPHAEL (AKA CARMI): CLASS OF 1986 It's Abe Raphael AKA Carmi from the class of 1986. Although I didn't get to graduate 'cause my parents took off, I still think about the times at SHA. What an awesome experience it was to be there. It seems to me that my class was very special there was Benjy Owen, Naomi Behar, Joy Alhadeff, Yechiel Levine, and many others. How can I forget a school where I learned to break dance with Richard Goral? Anyways, I live in Los Angeles with my wife and two daughters, I work at Sony Pictures Studies producing behind the scenes videos. I still like gymnastics but I sort of keep that to myself.  I can be reached at abe@reelix.com NAOMI (BEHAR) SOLAM: CLASS OF 1986 Hello to all my SHA friends!   I told ya I would be a PE teacher!  I taught PE at SHA for five years and Mr. Clapper's office became my own!  I married Jeffrey Solam in 1992.  Following my years teaching at SHA I taught PE at JDS for three years until the birth of our daughter, Mira Lea.  Yes, at age 3 she is quite the athlete!! I now  work together with my sister Lea, running youth programs for the community including School's Out Programs at SHA and after school programs at SBH.  I also teach Sunday school at Sephardic Religious School. Let's all keep in touch! jsolam@comcast.net YOSSI AZOSE: CLASS OF 1987 We spotted Yossi at the "Three Synagogues BBQ" on August, 22, 2004.  If you know how to reach Yossi tell him to fill us in on the rest of the details of his post SHA life. We know that Yossi is married with children, is a Rabbi and a teacher and that he lives in New York.   NEIL NORMAND CLASS OF 1987 e-mail: nachmanyak@yahoo.com After graduating SHA, I attended Northwest Yeshiva High School, graduating in 1991.  I then attended Yeshivat Sha'alvim in Israel for two years and then went on to Yeshiva University, graduating in 1996.   I have been working for the past few years as a research technician, currently studying genetic factors related to preterm birth, at Cornell Medical College.  I live in Riverdale with my wife Teri and 2.5 year old son Shalom.   Some of my memories from SHA include playing on the basketball team, spring olympics at montlake park(Tel Aviv, Yerushalayim, Be'er Sheva and Haifa), purim carnival, color war, serving on the student council and working on the yearbook.   SHLOMO BABANI CLASS OF 1988 e-mail: sbabani@optonline.net Hi Everyone, Just wanted to give a quick update... My wife and I are living in Wesley Hills, NY with our three kids: Yaakov (8), Elisheva (6), and daniella (3).  I currently work for Novartis Pharmaceuticals in East Hanover, NJ, where I am managing the business relationships between the Novartis clinical trial teams and the outside companies that help us conduct our clinical studies.  And, yes, you can still call me Momo! (Updated - May 2006)