Monica Elias and Roy Walter

Monica Elias was born and raised in New York City. Her father, a Sephardic Jew, grew up in Calcutta, India. Her mother, an Ashkenazi Jew, immigrated to New York City from Germany as a child. Elias received a B.F.A. in painting from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and an M.A. in speech language pathology from New York University in Manhattan.

Roy Walter was born in Huntington, New York and raised in Northport, New York. His father, a German American, grew up in New York City. His mother, whose family emigrated from England, grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts. Walter studied music performance and theory at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College in New York City, and later returned to Brooklyn College to study computer programming.

"This particular synagogue condones the questioning, and condones the ambivalence, and says that blind faith is not what it’s about. This is what makes this a vibrant community, that we are always asking questions, and we have different opinions. It’s got to be a living religion. It can’t be resting on the liturgy that is really old, and may not be applicable to this community."