Leadership Team

Liron Taub, Chair

Liron Taub is a lawyer for the Government of Ontario. Liron was born in Toronto and as a child was raised in a grassroots liberal Jewish community in the west end. Liron serves as a gabbai and sings in the Shira Harmony Group.

Liron believes that liberal Judaism is not “Judaism lite” but rather demands genuine active, critical, and creative engagement with Jewish text, practice, and ethics.

Anne Sealey, Vice-Chair

Anne grew up in and around Toronto, with a brief foray in Ohio, where she solidified her love of Judaism and buckeyes. Anne and her family have been members of City Shul since 2012 (or in one case, since birth). Anne was one of the first head ushers for the Shul, which was a hands-on effort in community building and audacious hospitality. After "retiring" from being a head usher after the birth of her daughter, she is excited to contribute to the City Shul community in a new way and to help grow and solidify our inclusive, vibrant community.

On Saturdays, Anne can often be found in the prayground or being assisted in reading Torah by her daughter Naomi. On non-Saturdays, she works for the provincial government and can often be found in playgrounds or reading books.

Barbara Wade Rose, President

Barbara Wade Rose is the child of an army family and has lived throughout Canada and in Britain. She and her family, Jonathan, Jessica and Hannah, now reside in Toronto. Barbara has been a Judeophile since she was twelve years old, and became a member of tribe in May, 1982. She has worked both as a journalist and author but her greatest privilege was serving as an interviewer for the Survivors of the Shoah Foundation in Toronto and northern California, recording testimonies of Holocaust survivors.

She hopes to help City Shul maintain its beautiful balance of growth and gemutlich in coming years.

Rob McCready, Treasurer

Rob grew up in small-town Ontario an hour north of Toronto. He earned a BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, followed by an MASc from U of T. Since then he has worked as a software developer and consultant in the industrial machine vision industry. Outside of work, Rob has been active in parent advisory committees at his kids’ schools, including three years as Chair.

Rob converted to Judaism through Rabbi Goldstein (then at Kolel) in 2001 before marrying his partner Carly Ziniuk and starting on the journey of raising two boys together. After going to Kolel classes and high holiday services for over a decade, Rob and Carly jumped at the chance to join the City Shul experiment. Rob has served as a Gabbai for several years in addition to helping with IT and joining a committee or two from time to time. Most recently he has upgraded to taking on the role of Treasurer.

Carly Ziniuk, Secretary

A teacher for over 25 years, Carly is "well-known" by the pet name her students have given her: "Zin". Her true love is talking to kids about Math. Carly is heavily involved in Math education, presenting at conferences around the world. She has created materials for TVOntario and the National Gallery in Ottawa, and writes a regular column for The Gazette. In 2016, she was awarded the Descartes Medal for Excellence in Mathematics Education and in 2024 she received the OAME/AOEM Award for Exceptional and Creative Teaching in Mathematics. She has received certification in Science Communication from The Royal Canadian Institute for Science, Seneca Polytechnic, and Let’s Talk Science at their highest levels. 

She believes strongly in the importance of relational learning. Previously the Chair and Principal of Hillel Children’s Workshop, a co-operative supplementary school, Carly was the Chair of City Shul's Education Committee before moving to the City Shul Leadership Team as Education Liaison and Secretary. 

As a member of the NASA Space Apps Collective in 2023-4 and now a NASA Navigator, Carly has demonstrated widely how to use NASA resources as part of Building an Inclusive Global Space Community.  She has spoken to varied groups on Jews in Space and the Historical, Mathematical and Astronomical underpinnings of the Jewish Calendar. If you are curious about whether a given quotation is from Taylor Swift, the book of Exodus, or spoken by an astronaut (and why wouldn't you be!), Carly will be able to tell you: that’s exactly her kind of thing. 

Shelley Albert

Shelley is an internist and nephrologist at North York General Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. She and her partner Cindy Grief have been members of City Shul from the beginning after a decade or so of Shul-shopping. It is definitely the place they were always looking for. Her son Seth had his B'Mitzvah in 2018 and her daughter Faye had her B'Mitzvah in 2022.

Shelley grew up as a “youth grouper” in the Toronto Reform community, was previously a leader at the Downtown Reform Minyan back in the 90's. She did some cool Kolel courses in the aughts and has been active at City Shul as a Torah reader, a member of the Shira Harmony Group and the Siddur Task Force. She is honoured to help City Shul grapple with the challenges we're facing in the coming years.

Jon Arnold

Jon has been active with City Shul for several years, and going back to Kolel times, has been in Rabbi Goldstein's orbit for much longer. Raised Reform in Boston area, he has stayed on that track since moving to Toronto with his family at age 11. Toronto remains Jon's home, where his two adult sons, Maxwell and Dean, still live with him. Sara Belmont is Jon's long-time partner, and both have been active with City Shul since joining together. Jon's primary involvement has been leading with adult education program for the past three years, where he draws on his love of culture to enrich our membership with programming that appeals to the cultural side of Judaism.

By day, Jon is an independent technology analyst, where he is widely-published and speaks regularly about trends in communications technology and how they impact the workplace. His practice has been running since 2005, and holding an MBA from York (now Schulich), is well grounded in the realities of being self-employed. By night, Jon is avidly interested in playing music, loves cooking, art, literature and cinema, and is a fitness fanatic. Within the music community, Jon has been a long-standing Board member of the Toronto Blues Society, and has been with them since inception back in 1985.

Ottie Lockey

Ottie Lockey is a retired arts consultant and former managing director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Choir where she shared leadership responsibility with music director Jeanne Lamon from 1981 to 2000. Then as an independent consultant, she advised some of Canada’s leading arts organizations including The Toronto Consort, National Arts Centre, Banff Centre for the Arts, Toronto Dance Theatre and Early Music Vancouver. In a coaching capacity, she worked with artistic directors, executive directors, and boards of directors of performing arts organizations in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, and Germany. For the past 45 years, her home has been in Toronto with her life partner, mystery writer Eve Zaremba.  About a year ago, prompted by the death of a cousin/sister in New York, Ottie felt the need for Jewish community, and joined City Shul. The welcoming volunteers, the inspired leadership of the Rabbi, and the robust musical atmosphere made her feel at home. This is the first time she has regularly attended shul in 60 years, since childhood days in the Bronx and Queens, NYC. She’s very grateful for all that she’s learned about Judaism this year with her Adult B’Mitzvah group, and looks forward to continuing the journey. 

Kaeli Macdonald

Kaeli is a social worker/psychotherapist specializing in perinatal mental health and trauma. Much of her time is spent with new parents who are asking the question “Who am I now?” Kaeli hopes to bring enthusiasm for this beautiful question to the Leadership Team at City Shul as we continue to navigate through periods of change together.  Drawing on her previous work as an artist and expressive arts therapist, Kaeli is excited to engage with the City Shul community in shaping and reshaping our vision for ourselves as we continue to grow.  Kaeli and her partner, Joel Borgida, are parents & step-parents to 4 fantastic kids.  Kaeli has been a member of City Shul since 2016 and cares deeply about this vibrant and thoughtful community.

Amy Madras

Amy grew up in Toronto as an avid reader, got a degree in Linguistics, and then turned to accounting as a more employable skill. She currently works as an accountant for a not-for-profit organization. Amy has been attending City Shul since 2018. She has volunteered as a Shul Buddy and on the Finance Committee. During our time as “City Shul in the Cloud”, Amy was part of the security and tech teams. Amy has made excellent friends here, and hopes City Shul will continue being a home for friendly community and for the ruach they bring to davening.

A.M. Matte

A.M. Matte is an award-winning writer, playwright and public servant. Sole parent of two boys, one who celebrated his B'Mitzvah at City Shul in 2023, and the other who is a frequent participant in City Shul’s prayground, A.M. is often involved in City Shul's Purim programming (you can read some of her spiels here: https://www.ammatte.ca/?page_id=1264 ) Proud surrogate for another Jewish francophone 2SLGBTQIA+ family.