RZA Leadership

Martin Oliner is an attorney who has engaged in private practice since 1972. Mr. Oliner received a J.D. in 1971 and an L.L.M. in Taxation in 1977 from New York University Law School. He is a member of Phi Betta Kappa and the Order of the Coif, and has taught at both Touro Law School and New York Law School.

Mr. Oliner’s legal practice principally involved international tax and workouts. He has extensive experience in international finance, investment banking, real estate, corporate organization and reorganization matters. His clients have included HSBC and the Saudi British Bank. He has published numerous articles and spoken to many professional groups.

Since September 1992, Mr. Oliner has served full time as Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Lincoln Holdings, an insurance and real estate holding company. He has also served as a Director of Regency Equities, Asian Oceanic Capital Corporation, and New Navy LDA.

Mr. Oliner serves as one of six members of the Executive Board of Touro College. He is a founder of the San Francisco School of Osteopathic Medicine and has served as a director of the New York School of Podiatry.

Locally, Mr. Oliner served as President of Congregation Sharray Tefila for three years, co-chairman of the Village’s Board of Design since its inception, and a member of the HAFTR Board for many years. He has provided extensive pro bono assistance to many local organizations and has regularly opened his home for fundraising events. He currently serves as a Trustee of the Village of Lawrence and as chairman of the Religious Zionists of America.

Martin Oliner is married to Reva. They have enjoyed raising their family in Lawrence since 1983.

Ernest H. Agatstein, MD FACS, is a founding member of West Coast Urology a  large  private  practice  urology  group  serving  Southern California  since  1987.   Dr. Agatstein is a Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles where he also received his medical degree and was admitted to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society. He completed his surgical internship, general surgery training and urologic surgery residency at UCLA Medical Center.

Board-certified and Board-recertified by the American Board of Urology, Dr. Agatstein is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and has served as Chief of Staff at Centinela Hospital Medical Center and as the Chief of Urology of   Downey Regional Medical Center.He has served  as  President  of the Los  Angeles  Urologic  Society. He is a board  member  of Verity Health , the  owner/operator of  6  large  hospitals  in California. He is  the Chief  Medical Officer  of  Spinal Singularity, a  bio-tech  start up , actively involved  in designing  new  urologic  devices  to help  spinal cord  injured  patients.

Dr Agatstein  has  been  the President and Chairman of the Board  of  Young Israel  of  Hancock Park. He  served  as the  President of the Religous Zionists  of Los  Angeles  from 1995-2016 . He  has  been teaching Daf  Yomi  continuousy  since  1989 , being  honored  with   publicly completing the Shas for the  Los Angeles  community   at the  Los  Angeles Siyum Hashas  in 2012.   He  received  Smicha  from Yeshivat Pirchai Shoshanim  in 2015 .

He  and  his wife  Suzanne, an attorney, live in Hancock Park and  have  5 children and  10 grandchildren .

Rabbi Leonard Matanky received rabbinical ordination and a master’s degree in Religious Education from Hebrew Theological College. That year, he began teaching Judaic studies at Ida Crown Jewish Academy, a coeducational Modern Orthodox high school in Chicago. Matanky subsequently earned a Masters in Educational Administration from Loyola University in 1982, and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences New York University in 1989.

In 1994 he assumed the pulpit of Congregation K.I.N.S. in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood. He was appointed Dean of ICJA in 1996. In 2013, he succeeded Rabbi Shmuel Goldin as President of the Rabbinical Council of America. Rabbi Matanky has served as President of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, and is on the boards of the Religious Zionists of Chicago and Camp Moshava. He is also co-Chairman of the Rabbinic Action Committee of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and serves on the rabbinic advisory committees of the YU Torah MiTzion Kollel of Chicago, and World Bnei Akiva.

Rabbi Shloush is a young charismatic leader who has been an important part of the remarkable resurgence at Congregation Adereth El. Located in the heart of New York City - serving the Murray Hill, Gramercy Park, and Kips Bay neighborhoods of Manhattan -this Synagogue is New York’s oldest Congregation on the same site. He has become the inspiration and coordinator of a wide variety of Jewish learning programs, lecture series, beginner’s services and social events at the historic Synagogue, bringing in large groups of young singles and families. Under his leadership the Shul membership has tripled, a magnificent Beit Midrash has been built and the Synagogue recently underwent a major restoration for just the third time in its 155 year history. He also played a major role in the planning of the glorious 150th Anniversary celebration.

In 2002 Rabbi Shloush was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America. The following year he was appointed as the Director of Rabbinic Learning and Enrichment at the RCA. In this capacity he is credited with the creation and overseeing of the Rabbi Steven M. Dworken Continuing Rabbinic Education program which offered a wide variety of Torah learning and professional development opportunities for nearly one thousand member rabbis around the world

In 2006 he was hired by RIETS to oversee the Rabbinic Internship and Training Program at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. In this capacity he is responsible for guiding students with the transition from the world of the Yeshiva to become professionally trained leaders within the Jewish community.

In April 2016 Rabbi Shloush was elected as the new President of the New York Board of Rabbis. The NYBR is comprised of more than 750 members across the tri-State area spanning the denominations: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist. A sampling of activities of the NYBR include close ties with leadership at the United Nations, warm relations with the Cardinal and interfaith communities, training in family violence protection, solidarity missions to Israel and support for chaplains (hospital, military and prison) to enable them to offer compassionate care. The NYBR is committed to helping those in need while at the same time being the face of the Jewish community to the broader public.

Rabbi Shloush is an adjunct professor at Stern College where he teaches Tanach and Jewish Studies. Also, over the past decade he has served in leadership capacities within the RCA, the New York Board of Rabbis, RIETS Rabbinic Alumni and the Beth Din of America.

Rabbi Shloush is a descendant of a long line of distinguished Rabbis. He follows in the path blazed by his father Rabbi Eliahu Shloush (KBY ’65-’69), a respected Rav and scholar. His grandfather, Rabbi David Shloush is the Chief Rabbi of Netanya in Israel. His great-grandfather, Rabbi Yosef Shloush, was the Rosh Av Beit Din and Rosh Chevra Kadisha of Jerusalem. He is also the great-grandson of Rav Meir Vaknin, the long-time Chief Rabbi of Tiberias. Rabbi Shloush’s mother, Dr. Rita Shloush was the founder and Head of School of Yeshivat Rambam in Baltimore, MD. Several years ago, she was the recipient of the Jerusalem Prize from the President of the State of Israel.

Rabbi Solomon F. Rybak was ordained by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and earned a PhD in Semitic Languages and Cultures from Yeshiva University. He has been the rabbi of Congregation Adas Israel in Passaic, NJ since 1984 where he has played a leading role in revitalizing the community. Rabbi Rybak is a past president of the Rabbinical Alumni of RIETS, former chairman of the Geirus Commission of the RCA, and the former chairman of the RCA Educational Centers in Israel. He has also served on the Rabbinnic Kashrus Commission of the RCA overseeing the kashrus operations of the OU. Rabbi Rybak helped organize the RCA’s Manhattan Beth Din for Conversions and served as its head working closely with the office of the Chief Rabbinate in Israel.

A board member of RIETS at Yeshiva University, Rabbi Rybak also serves locally as a board member of the Passaic-Clifton Jewish Family Services and the Daughters of Miriam Geriatric Center. He has been honored by many organizations including the RZA in the year 2000 at its national dinner held at the Sheraton Hotel in NYC. Rabbi Rybak is the author of numerous publications and has taught at Yeshiva University High School and Touro College.