Members of the AOP Academic VAAD and Core Faculty

Charles Silverstein, PhD, is Acting Interim Dean of the ALEPH Ordination Program.

Charles “Chuck” Silverstein, PhD, is currently an ALEPH Board member, Treasurer, and Chair of the Finance and Governance Committees and is serving on the IBG. After retiring from a successful career as a fixed-income institutional investor, he earned an MA in Conscious Evolution and a PhD in Transformative Studies at the California Institute for Integral Studies. He is the former Executive Vice President at The Graduate Institute of Holistic Studies where he was also the Academic Director of the MA program in Consciousness Studies and Transpersonal Psychology. His experience at the school included founding and directing a spiritual coaching program, accreditation oversight, as well as finance and IT oversight. Since the late 1990s, Chuck has been steeped
in the traditions and practices of the Jewish Renewal movement. He attended retreats at Elat Chayyim, and has attended all Kallah and Ruach Ha’Aretz gatherings since 2013. He has completed the Nondual Kabbalistic Healing 4-year program and the Age-ing to Sage-ing Legacy program.

Hazzan Diana Brewer serves as Dean of Students of the ALEPH Ordination Program. She was ordained through the ALEPH Ordination Program. She is on the faculty of the Davennen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI) and serves as hazzan at the Jewish Community of Amherst in Massachusetts, leading Shabbat, weekday, and High Holy Day services. Also finding joy in teaching, she tutors individuals in voice and hazzanut, and works with B’nei Mitzvah students. She came to hazzanut from an active professional life in Early Music performance as a singer and string player. She earned her Master of Music at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA.

photo courtesy of MileChai Studios

Rabbi Marcia Prager, MFA, MHL, D.Min. h.c., is the founding Dean of the ALEPH Ordination Program. She teaches Jewish spiritual practice and the Jewish Lifecycle Liturgy and Training sequence of courses and practica. She is founding Co-Director and teacher in the Davvenen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI) and she serves as rabbi of the P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia, PA.. She was ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and also received personal smicha from R’ Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. She is the author of The Path of Blessing, published by Bell Tower and later by Jewish Lights, a “contemporary hasidic text” exploring the Jewish practice of blessing. She has written and compiled the P’nai Or Siddurim for Friday Evening and Shabbat Morning and other innovative compilations of prayer and liturgy. She is a CLAL Rabbis Without Borders Rabbinic Fellow. In 2010 she was selected by the Jewish Daily Forward as one of the Top Fifty American Female Rabbis.

Rabbi Fern Feldman teaches Biblical Hebrew and is the program’s Hebrew Administrator. She was ordained by ALEPH in 2003 and received her Spiritual Direction certification in 2007 from the Morei Derekh program of Yedidya. Rabbi Fern is a singer, thinker, spiritual counselor, service leader, and ritual facilitator, with experience in a wide range of Jewish communities, including Conservative, Renewal, Reconstructionist, Reform, and unaffiliated. Her current work involves exploring the sacred dark in Jewish text, as well as developing non-dual paradigms for the mysteries of creation. In addition, she works as a certified clinical hypnotherapist and transpersonal life coach in Seattle, Washington.

Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg, Ph.D. is Department Chair of Hasidut and Jewish Mysticism for the ALEPH Ordination Program, Director of the AOP Beloved Land: Israel and Palestine Program, and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. Rabbi Ginsburg is Associate Professor of Jewish Thought in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He received his doctorate of philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah, a critical study of the mystical celebration of Sabbath in the classical period of Kabbalah, from the late twelfth to the early sixteenth centuries, and Sod HaShabbat a translation and critical commentary on The Mystical Sabbath, by the influential Spanish-Turkish Kabbalist, Rabbi Meir ibn Gabbai and a plethora of essays and articles.

Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer, Ph.D. (University of Toronto, 2005), teaches courses in Jewish Thought and Philosophy and is a Director of Studies of the Rabbinic Program. Rabbi Aubrey is Director of Panui: an open, contemplative space for researching, reflecting and teaching modern and contemporary Jewish mysticism in a dynamic and authentic way to build conscious, compassionate community. He currently serves as Senior Rabbi of Beth Abraham Synagogue in Dayton, Ohio, and has served as Senior Rabbi in the following communities: Congregation Shaare Zion, Montreal (2018-2021), Congregation Beth Sholom, San Francisco (2014-2018), as well as Jewish Community Center of Harrison, New York (2005-2014). As a graduate of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Aubrey co-leads Jewish meditation retreats at Makor Or with Zoketsu Norman Fischer as well as teaching Zohar in the Philosophy Circle of Lehrhaus. Recent publications on contemporary philosophy and spirituality of Aubrey’s include: Mystical Vertigo (Academic Studies Press, 2013); Tangle of Matter & Ghost: Leonard Cohen’s Post-Secular Songbook of Mysticism(s) Jewish & Beyond (Academic Studies Press, 2017) and God Knows Everything is Broken: Bob Dylan’s Gnostic Mystical Songbook (forthcoming).

Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan, MA, Ph.D. was ordained in 2000 through the ALEPH Rabbinic Program, and was a student of R’ Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. Rabbi Danan teaches Talmud for the ALEPH Rabbinic program. Rabbi Danan is spiritual leader of Pleasantville Community Synagogue in Westchester, New York. She holds a B.A. in English Literature from Tel Aviv University, and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Hebrew Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, where she specialized in Rabbinic Literature and Culture and wrote her dissertation, The Divine Voice in Scripture: Ruah Ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature. Rabbi Danan is trained as a Pastoral Care Specialist with the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. She teaches at the Academy of Jewish Religion and has been a lecturer at California State University, Chico, and Texas Lutheran University, and is the author of The Jewish Parents’ Almanac. Her personal website, wellspringofwisdom.com, explores ancient Jewish symbols in nature.

Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, Ph.D. teaches core courses in Jewish Philosophy and Thought for the ALEPH Ordination Program. She serves as Director of Inter-Religious and Studies at Vancouver School of Theology also teaches at the University of British Columbia and the Florence Melton Adult Jewish Studies Program. She is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC). During her tenure at UNCC, she served as Professor of Philosophy, Chair of the Philosophy Department, Coordinator of Women’s Studies and teacher in the Judaic Studies Program. She earned many awards for her scholarship, teaching, and service, including the prestigious United States Professor of the Year Award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She received a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Education at Claremont Graduate University and was ordained as a rabbi by the ALEPH Rabbinic Program. She served as Rabbi of Or Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.

Hazzan Jack Kessler, M.M, is Director of the ALEPH Cantorial Program and member of of the AOP Academic VAAD, Hazzan Kessler teaches the core sequence of courses in Nusach ha-Tefillah and the required Master Classes in voice and the art of hazzanut. He also teaches nusach for the Davvenen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI) and has lectured widely. Hazzan Kessler was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in NYC. He coached Hazzanut with David Koussevitzky, studied composition with Miriam Gideon, and received the Albert Einstein Memorial Prize in Hazzanut, the Cantors Assembly Prize and the Jacobson Memorial Prize in Hazzanut. He went on to have a twenty-year career serving Conservative congregations. He earned a Master’s Degree in Voice from Boston Conservatory (Deans List) and pursued two years work in composition in the Graduate Department of Music at Brandeis University; studied with Arthur Berger and Harold Shapero. He has been a teacher of hazzanut and voice for 30 years, and has continued his own vocal training during this time. He has performed opera and oratorio and he directs, composes, and sings as the vocal lead for the touring ensembles Klingon Klezmer and Atzilut—Concerts for Peace. He was trained as an Ashkenazi Hazzan, but his performance style and original compositions also embrace Sephardi and Mizrachi styles.

Rabbi Natan Margalit, Ph.D., is Department Chair of Rabbinic Text and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. Rabbi Margalit was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990 and earned a Ph.D. in Talmud from U.C. Berkeley in 2001. He has taught at Bard College, the Reconstuctionist Rabbinical College and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Natan is Rabbi of The Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life, in Connecticut. He is Founder and President of Organic Torah Institute, a non-profit organization that fosters holistic thinking about Judaism, environment and society. (www.organictorah.org). He lives in Newton, MA with his wife Ilana and their two sons.

Rabbi Vivie Mayer was raised in Queens, NY, in a Modern-Orthodox family. She lived in Israel on a kibbutz during her 20’s where she taught Judaism to prospective converts. She graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia in 1996 and went on to serve a small Conservative congregation in Danbury CT for ten years. She returned to the RRC community where she is now the Director of the Beit Midrash and the Director of the Mechinah Program. Rabbi Vivie is also an alumna of ALEPH’s Kol Zimra Chant Leaders’ Training. R’ Vivie teaches the AOP Foundational courses in Traditional Jewish Practice including courses in Mishnah, Talmud and Halachah.

Rabbinic Pastor & Mashpi’ah Ruchanit Sandra Wortzel, B.F.A., M.A., received her Rabbinic Pastor smicha from the ALEPH Ordination Program. She is a Director of Studies for the Rabbinic Pastor Program, a supervisor for Hashpa’ah Program students, and a Mashpia for AOP students. R.P. Sandra also serves as Co-President of the Rabbinic Pastor Association. She is a graduate of the Kol Zimra Hebrew chant leadership training. Uniting Jewish spirituality, the expressive arts, and nature, Sandra encourages others to express their spirituality and yearnings through the arts, in Hashpa’ah sessions, creative ceremonies, and workshops. Sandra has a BFA in Dance, a MA in Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley University, and a Certificate in Advanced Graduate Studies from the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland in Training, Research and Leadership in Expressive Arts Therapy.

Rabbi Shulamit Thiede, Ph.D., is Dean of Faculty of the ALEPH Ordination Program and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. Rabbi Thiede teaches Hebrew Bible, Judaism and Jewish history, the Holocaust and the history of European anti-Semitism in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC-Charlotte. She was ordained in 2011 as a rabbi and in 2012 as a mashpi’ah ruchanit by ALEPH. Rabbi Thiede founded Temple Or Olam, the first Jewish Renewal congregation in North Carolina. Rabbi Thiede has written and published in a wide variety of settings; her current research project focuses on ritual items created by the women of Ashkenaz. Rabbi Thiede has founded two peace organizations, two interfaith organizations, and a chess school. She was the first Jewish member of the Kannapolis-Concord Ministerial Association, the first Jewish religious leader in Cabarrus County, and has served as the faculty advisor for UNCC’s Hillel group and the Interfaith Alliance. She blogs at adrenalinedrash.com.

Rabbi Orna Triguboff, Ph.D., teaches Zohar and other courses in Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism in the ALEPH Ordination Program. She serves at Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney, Australia and is the founder and principal facilitator of the Neshama Life Organization in Sydney, Australia and facilitates Kabbalah Tours in Israel. She earned her doctorate in Kabbalah from Sydney University in Australia, specializing in the Kabbalah of Rabbi Isaac Luria of Safed and the study of Angels. She studied with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l; she was ordained by ALEPH as a rabbi in the Rabbinic Program and as a Mashpi’ah Ruchanit (Spiritual Counsellor) in the Hashpa’ah Training Program. She has been a meditation and yoga teacher for over 20 years, teaching both in Australia and internationally. She was trained in Hatha Yoga by Acharya Upendra Roy. Orna currently divides her time between Israel and Australia.

Rabbi Molly Karp is an innovative Jewish Educator and Spiritual Leader with heart. She is passionate about teaching Torah, Hebrew, and Judaism and is a deep listener, a skilled counselor, and a pluralistic rabbi. She works privately with rabbinic and cantorial students as they prepare for comprehensive exams in Hebrew and rabbinic literature. Rabbi Karp was ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York. She spent ten years in doctoral studies in Hebrew Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Rabbi Karp holds a master’s degree in Jewish Education from HUC-JIR in New York and BA in Judaic Studies from SUNY Binghamton. Her training in Mindfulness Practice and Jewish Spirituality at the Institute of Jewish Spirituality is at the heart of all of her work.  You can learn more about Rabbi Karp at www.rabbimollykarp.com.

Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, author, scholar, ritualist, poet, mystic. dreamworker and midrashist, is the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion (www.ajrsem.org), and co-founder of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute (www.kohenet.org). She is the author of Undertorah: An Earth-Based Kabbalah of Dreaming, Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah, The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership (with Taya Shere), The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons, Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women, and The Book of Earth and Other Mysteries.  She is also the author of academic articles published in Religion and Literature, Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies and Gender Studies, The Journal of Applied Social Psychology, and The Journal of Lesbian Studies, as well as anthologies including Best Jewish Writing 2002 and the Encyclopedia of Women and World Religions. She is the translator of The Romemu Siddur and of Siddur haKohanot: A Hebrew Priestess Prayerbook.  She has written a children’s book, The Garden of Time. She lives in Manhattan with her family.

Rabbi Jeff Hoffman teaches liturgy in the ALEPH Ordination Program. Rabbi Hoffman delights in exploring primary texts on prayer and primal experiences of the divine. He served for 23 years as a pulpit rabbi in Conservative congregations in Vancouver, B.C. and Nyack, N.Y. He was a faculty member at the Jewish Theological Seminary for five years and has been a faculty member at The Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR) in New York for over 35 years. Reb Jeff holds a B.A. in Judaic Studies/Hebrew from the State University of N.Y. at Albany and an M.A. in Jewish Studies, Rabbinic Ordination, and a Doctorate of Hebrew Letters in Liturgy from The Jewish Theological Seminary. Reb Jeff is the editor of the Siddur Tisha B’Av for the Rabbinical Assembly, co-author (with Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener) of Karov L’Chol Korav, For All Who Call: A Manual For Enhancing the Teaching of Prayer, and the author of many articles and reviews on Jewish liturgy (see his page on academia.edu for all of his articles and reviews). His commentary on the siddur, Weaving Prayer: An Analytical and Spiritual Commentary on the Jewish Prayer Book will be published in late 2023. He has played lead guitar in rock ‘n roll bands (favorite music: The Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan) and enjoys creating visual art.

Rabbi Debra Smith (“Reb Deb”) is the founder and spiritual leader of Congregation Or Ha Lev, a Jewish Renewal Community in New Jersey. She received Smicha as a Rabbi from the Aleph Ordination Program where she currently serves on the faculty, teaching An Introduction to Pastoral Counseling and Clergy Ethics. 

She is also a Clinical Social Worker and Multicultural Family Therapist. Reb Deb is an ordained Maggidah (Jewish Inspirational Storyteller).

Reb Deb has been nationally recognized for her work as an ethicist and ethics educator and is a recipient of the NASW (National Association of Social Workers) Trailblazer Award in the field of professional ethics. Reb Deb’s rabbinic work focuses on Deep Ecumenism and multi-faith dialogue. She currently co-chairs the NJ Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee and co-chairs the NJ Morris County Chapter of the Sisterhood of Salaam-Shalom. Reb Deb is married for almost 50 years to Neil Smith, a now retired physician and mohel, and is the mother of two married daughters, Elana and Dana. Reb Deb and Neil make their home in Boynton Beach, Florida and Parsippany, NJ. Reb Deb and Neil are the proud parents of Sammi, their adorable golden doodle puppy.

As a devoted spiritual person, Rabbi Austerklein shares her love of Divine Spirit (God) and Holy Teaching (Torah) by searching for and making meaning. She’s a graduate of Brandeis University (BA), BU School of Theology (MTS), and was ordained by the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College (MJEd). She’s published articles, ritual, midrash and poetry in The Forward, eJewish Philanthropy, the Journal Kerem, and the “Ask the Rabbis” section in Moment Magazine, among other publications. She is a Rabbis Without Borders Fellow, and was named one of America’s most inspiring rabbis by The Forward. She has held pulpits in FL, OH, MD and AK in Conservative, Reform and Independent congregations. As an artist, yogi, and musician, she serves as Founder and Director of Ivrim Jews Without Borders.

Annie Atura Bushnell (she/her) is the Associate Director of Academic Programs at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford University. She received her PhD in English with a minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGSS) from Stanford in 2019 and won the Alden Dissertation Prize for the strongest dissertation of the year. In addition to teaching in CCSRE and FGSS, Annie stewards the Center’s antiracist undergraduate curriculum, PhD Minor, community-engaged learning programs, and co-curricular programming. She is co-editing a collection about the literary politics of Jewish American women writers for Wayne State UP and writing a chapbook of meditations about motherhood and mortality. She lives in San Francisco and dreams about building radical care collectives.

Nadya Gross is a rabbi, spiritual director, co-founder & CPO of Yerusha*; recently retired Director of the AOP Hashpa’ah Training Program and co-Rabbi of Pardes Levavot, Boulder, together with her beloved, Rabbi Victor Gross. Nadya transmits her grandmother’s kabbalah in a two-year wisdom school, she developed a program to train End-of-Life Doulas, and serves on the faculty of the Anamcara Project of the Sacred Art of Living Center. She is the co-author, with Rabbi Malka Drucker, of Embracing Wisdom: Soaring in the Second Half of Life.

*a values and mission-based organization offering programs at the intersection of education, community, justice and spirituality, all dedicated to honoring the legacies of our teachers and building a legacy (yerusha) for future generations.