York State Assemblyman Sharon Kleinbaum (born 1959), Senior Rabbi of New York City's Congregation Beit Simchat Torah Jared Kushner (born 1981), businessman, real estate investor and senior advisor to his father-in-law President Donald Trump Arthur Lenk (born 1964), Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan, 2005–2009 and South Africa, 2013–2017 Daniel S. Nevins (born 1966), Dean of the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America Michael Salzhauer (born 1972), plastic surgeon and social media celebrity Rick Schwartz (born c. 1968), film producer Rena Sofer (born 1968), actress Regina Spektor (born 1980), singer and songwriter, attended the school for freshman and sophomore years Gil Student (born 1972), rabbi and publisher Controversy In 2018, students were invited to participate in a voluntary letter writing campaign thanking President Trump if they "believe[d] that the president's decision was correct" regarding the relocation the U.S Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They were informed of the letter-writing campaign by the school's then-director of Israel education and faculty adviser of the school's Israel advocacy club, Rabbi David Sher. However, the letter-writing campaign itself was initiated by the Israel Advocacy organization NORPAC. Instructions for participating in the campaign included a reminder to "sign your name at the bottom," while NORPAC's boiler-plate letter praised the president's "courageous leadership" for the embassy decision. Sher's email stated twice that the campaign was voluntary. The email was sent to students without prior parental consent, and some parents at the school lodged complaints in private forums, stating that the move was "sycophantic" and that the school should be "apolitical" and not attempt to "normalize Trump." Journalists at Ha'aretz and Newsweek got wind of this disapproval, and published articles misleadingly implying that the school forced or strongly urged all students to write letters praising Trump. The school principal, Rabbi Eli Ciner, noted that these private conversations were leaked to the press also without parental consent. Ciner acknowledged that parents who did not agree with Trump complained, though stressed that the campaign was "completely voluntary" and that expression of different political opinions was an expression of democracy In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ciner stated, “As a religious Zionist school, we encourage our students as civic minded American citizens to write to the administration when they agree or disagree with the government’s policies regarding the State of Israel. In this particular case, many of our students strongly supported the president’s decision recognizing Jerusalem