Interim Head of School
Mrs. Rivy Poupko Kletenik

Rivy Poupko Kletenik, a 2002 Exceptional Jewish Educator Covenant Award Winner, completed her eighteenth and final year as leader and Head of School at the Seattle Hebrew Academy in 2022. During her tenure she transformed the school academically and enhanced its position in the community – creating a school overflowing with warmth, meaning and belongingness. Shaping its Mission, Core Values and direction, Rivy is proud of the work that she was able to lead along with the staff and school community.
Born in Pittsburgh, Rivy moved to Seattle in 1994 together with her family, having studied at Michlalah, Touro College, Yeshiva University, University of Pittsburgh, and Hebrew University. She is a sought-after lecturer of all things Jewish. As an educator Rivy embraces the craft of teaching with fervor and intentionality. She has a keen love of Torah and passion for the nuances and craft of pedagogy, “there is nothing quite like the thrill of the expert delivery of a lesson well-taught.”
Rivy is an enthusiastic writer and devotee of poetry and literature. She is reading her way to complete the “Best 100 Novels” and is up to “Crime and Punishment” – #83. Her column “What’s Your JQ” appeared for years in the “JT News” and then “Jewish in Seattle Magazine” and she is thrilled to have been awarded the Simon Rockower American Jewish Press Association Excellence in Commentary. Her writing has appeared in national and international media.
Over the years, Rivy, a dynamic and engaging speaker, has enjoyed serving as a scholar-in-residence, as Limmud presenter and teacher at CAJE, NewCAJE and in the Mussar Institute’s Kallahs. She teaches a continuing weekly Talmud and Parsha class for women and a community-wide ongoing study in Navi each Shabbat.
Having an insatiable curiosity for Jewish history, Rivy has devoted time to learning, training, and teaching about the Holocaust, participating in Centropa, Yad Vashem and March of the Living. Her trips to Europe in search of family roots have been deeply meaningful as reflected in her articles.
Rivy participates in the community at-large, most recently serving on the board of the Epiphany School and representing Jewish day schools on the Executive Committee of the Washington Federation of Independent Schools for five years.
Since 2013, Rivy has been a passionate member, engaged volunteer and is currently serving as Vice-President at Minyan Ohr Chadash. She is in her second year on the board of Jewish Family Service and the Jewish Community Relations Council where she chairs the Intergroup Committee.
On a personal note, Rivy is fluent in Hebrew, is devoted to the study of Daf Yomi and loves to walk through the forests in the Pacific Northwest. Rivy is married to Rabbi Moshe Kletenik. They have four adult children and have been blessed with eight remarkable grandchildren!