Our Principal

Karen Lipschutz Goodis has been the Principal of our Hebrew School since 2005.  Karen was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York.  Both of her parents were very active in their congregation and both served as Presidents.  They were also active in other Jewish organizations in Poughkeepsie.  Karen attended the Eisner Camp Institute in Great Barrington, Massachusetts for many summers. As a high school student, she was active in her Temple Youth Group and region.  Karen was an Eisendrath International Exchange student in Tel-Aviv, Israel in 1967.  She lived with a family in Tzahalal, a suburb of Tel-Aviv and attended classes at Tichon Chadash.  One of the highlights of that experience was being driven to school on a regular basis by Yitzchak Rabin, who was the head of Tzahal at the time. Her experiences in Israel led her to a career in Jewish education.

Karen graduated from Vassar College with honours and has a Masters of Arts in Hebrew Education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and a Master of Science in Education from the University of Southern California.  She moved to Toronto after receiving her Masters Degrees to work at Leo Baeck Day School in its early years of operation. 

She worked at Holy Blossom Temple, co-ordinating Youth Programs, special school programs and developing curriculum for six years.  Karen has served as Director of Education at Temple Har Zion in Thornhill and as Principal at Shaar Shalom.  She is a Past Chairperson of the Supplementary Principals Council and is involved in numerous other Jewish educational activities in the city.  She has served as faculty at the Goldman Union Camp Institute in Zionsville, Indiana and at Camp George in Parry Sound, Ontario.  She chaperoned March of the Living in spring of 2005 and served as the Liberal religious leader on that trip.

Karen is married to Michael Goodis and has two adult children.