Staff and Officers
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The Shul. The People. The Community.
Stony Brook Hebrew Congregation (SBHC) is a warm and inviting community synagogue serving the Orthodox community in Stony Brook and the surrounding areas. We are a diverse bunch: professionals, students, retirees, young families, empty nesters, rationalists and seekers. A warm group providing support and community to all those who enter our doors.
Rabbi Philip Kaplan
Rabbi
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Rabbi Kaplan is a native New Yorker, who grew up in Queens and Long Island. He earned his B.A. in Jewish Studies from Queens College in 2012 and received his semicha from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in 2019. After ordination, Rabbi Kaplan and his wife Abra moved to Sydney, Australia, where he served as Associate Rabbi and Hazzan of The Great Synagogue. In Sydney, Rabbi Kaplan enjoyed teaching, leading musical services with the synagogue choir, and providing pastoral support. In 2022, the Kaplans returned to the U.S., and Rabbi Kaplan became the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in New Orleans, where he served through June 2025. During his time there, Rabbi Kaplan found his niche in adult education, supporting people through conversion, ritual leadership and pastoral care.
Rabbi Kaplan has now returned to New York and serves as the rabbi of the Stony Brook Hebrew Congregation and the Campus Rabbi at Stony Brook Hillel. Rabbi Phil and Abra, along with their three young sons, Roee, Shemaya, and Amiel, love hosting guests in their home for Shabbos meals and community events.
Dr. D'vora (Deborah) Richman
President
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Dr. D'vora Richman grew up in a small community in South Africa. She studied medicine at the University of Cape Town and after earning her MBChB she continued onto specialize in Anesthesia. Soon after that she made Aliyah and settled on Kibbutz Shluchot. She began working at HaEmek Medical Center regional hospital in the northern Israeli city of Afula where she met her future husband Paul. In 2001 they moved to Stony Brook where they have lived ever since, bringing up 5 amazing kids.
Dr. Richman ran the Stony Brook Medicine Pre-operative clinic from 2006 to 2023. She is now retired but continues to teach medical students/ residents and allied health care professionals and still plays an active role in many professional medical associations. Being retired has given her the opportunity to spend more time on the things she loves such as, visiting her grandchildren, traveling the world, and partaking in various hobbies. Dr. Richman and her family have been members of Stony Brook Hebrew Congregation for several years and she is currently serving her second term as president. She is truly dedicated to the shul and plays a big part in making sure everything runs smoothly whether it be organizing the weekly kiddush, running bigger events or just keeping the congregants engaged and feeling welcomed.
Dr. David Ebin
Founder and Vice President
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Dr. David Ebin is a native of Los Angeles. However, he traveled to the East Coast for his education, receiving his Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Harvard and his Ph.D. in
mathematics from MIT. Dr. Ebin accepted a professorship at Stony Brook University in 1969 and served as the Chairman of the Math Department from 2004 to 2009. In addition to his love of mathematics, Dr. Ebin has been involved with fostering the growth of the Jewish community for most of his tenure at Stony Brook. He served as the local chairperson for the UJA and worked with others to found a Jewish high school in Suffolk County. However, his labor of love over the years has been the Stony Brook Hebrew Congregation. Together with Dr. Paul Poppers and Dr. Thomas Netzel, z”l, Dr. Ebin established this congregation in 1981 in response to a growing need in the Stony Brook community. He and his wife Barbara have been the warm, loving, and tremendously dedicated backbone of the SBHC community since its founding. David met and married his wife Barbara while at Stony Brook, where they raised four children and now are the grandparents of ten. The Stony Brook Hebrew Congregation has provided the religious community foundation for their four children and a second home for many of the grandchildren as well.