Congregation B’nai Amoona has hired Avital Ostfield as Director of Religious Education. She started the position June 1.

Ostfield comes to St. Louis from Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor, Mich., where she was first a teacher and then for the past two years served as Director of Congregational Services. 

In her new position at B’nai Amoona, she will collaborate with Andy Schwebel, Director of Experiential Education, and Anita Kraus, Director of Early Childhood Education, “to enhance the quality and depth of learning for all of the synagogue’s students,” according to a news release. 

Ostfield was born in Israel and raised in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. She received an undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon in 2010 and a master of social work degree with certification in Jewish Communal Leadership from the University of Michigan. Prior to her graduate studies, Ostfield participated in Teach for America, working for two years as an educator in Detroit public schools.