Spiritual Direction Faculty
Spiritual Directors – Mashpia Faculty
Rabbi Nadya Gross
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Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit
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Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit, MHL, RRC and with smicha from Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, is the Associate Director of the AOP Hashpa’ah Training Program, a member of Spiritual Directors International and was a Spiritual Director at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College for a decade. He serves as a consultant and coach for numerous organizations and congregations, and is a mentor in the CLI Forum program. He is Co-Director of the Davenning Leaders’ Training Institute sits on the ALEPH Ordination Program Academic VAAD and the board of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, and serves as the rabbi of Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia, PA (www.mishkan.org). A graduate of the Integrated Kabbalistic Healing program, R’ Shawn is also a published author and singer/songwriter, and has recorded five CD’s of spiritual music.
Rabbi Eva Sax-Bolder
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Rabbi Eva Sax-Bolder, Rosh Hashpa’ah, was ordained by ALEPH in 2016 and currently serves as the rabbi of The Shul of New York, an inclusive post-denominational community in the East Village. A longtime spiritual director, trained through Lev Shomea, the first training program for Jewish Spiritual Directors, Rabbi Eva’s rabbinate and communal Jewish leadership have also been informed by her experiences in the Davvenen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI), Kol Zimra Chant Leadership Training, and a variety of chaplaincy internships. She is certified in Jewish Mindfulness Meditation, Wise Eldering, as well as Jewish Yoga. She is a graduate of the Gamliel Institute, the educational arm of Kavod v’Nichum, the Jewish organization of bereavement and is active in local hevra kaddishah committees.
Rabbi Phyllis Berman
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Rabbi Phyllis Berman, Ed.M., is a Mashpi’ah Ruchanit (trained by Lev Shomea) who received smicha from ALEPH in the first class of women rabbis in 2004. She co-leads Shabbatonim and Jewish holiday retreats as well as Jewish silent meditation retreats and assisted Rabbi Shefa Gold with four cohorts of Kol Zimra chant leaders’ training program. She was a long-time chair of B’nai/P’nai Or before it became ALEPH through its merger with The Shalom Center and was the summer program director for 12 years at Elat Chayyim, the Jewish Renewal Retreat Center in Accord, NY. She’s now retired from 37 years of creating and directing the Riverside Language Program in NYC, an intensive English-language “ulpan” for newly-arrived adult immigrants, refugees, and asylees from around the world. With her partner, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, she has co-authored “Tales of Tikkun, A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven, and Freedom Journeys.” In July 2018, she taught “What in the (Four) Worlds is Jewish Renewal?” at the ALEPH Kallah as a tribute to Reb Zalman z”l.
Reb Sandra B. Cohen
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Rabbi Lavey Yitzchak Derby
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As a college student Rabbi Lavey began to explore the world of Kabbalah and Eastern European Hasidism, which became the foundation of his own spiritual life. He is blessed to have had remarkable mentors and teachers on this journey, including Reb Zalman, Rabbi David Cooper, Rabbi Art Green, Sylvia Boorstein, and Professor Melila Hellner-Eshed. He currently teaches Zohar and Hasidic Commentaries on Parshat HaShavua and leads meditation infused with Jewish wisdom. Rabbi Lavey was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and trained to be a spiritual director in Morei Derekh. He is an eighth-generation direct descendent of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, for whom he is named, and comes from a family line of rabbis that traces back to the 16th century.
Rabbinic Pastor Shulamit Kate Fagan
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Rabbinic Pastor Shulamit Kate Fagan has smicha from ALEPH as a Rabbinic Pastor, Chaplain and Mashpi’ah Ruchanit. She serves as Founding Director of ALEPH’s Rabbinic Pastor Program, and as a hospital chaplain, as well as a spiritual director in private practice. RP Shulamit is a master storyteller, and teaches widely on pastoral care and end-of-life issues. See www.spiritualwell.com.
Rabbi Shefa Gold
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Rabbi Shefa Gold is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and also has rabbinic smicha from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. She is the director of C-DEEP, The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice, in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. R’ Shefa composes and performs spiritual music, has produced ten albums, and her liturgies have been published in several new prayer-books. She teaches workshops and retreats on the theory and art of Chanting, Devotional Healing, Spiritual Community Building, and Meditation. Her 2-year training progam for chant leaders, “Kol Zimra,” trained rabbis, cantors and lay leaders to bring sacred Hebrew chant into their personal practice and public arenas. She is a resource faculty for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and a fellow for CLAL’s Rabbis without Borders. She was recently named “One of the 33 most Inspiring Rabbis in America,” by the Jewish Forward. R’ Shefa combines her grounding in Judaism with a background in Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Native American spiritual traditions to make her uniquely qualified as a spiritual bridge celebrating the shared path of devotion. She is the author of Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land, and In the Fever of Love: An Illumination of the Song of Songs published by Ben Yehuda Press, and The Magic of Hebrew Chant: Healing the Spirit, Transforming the Mind, Deepening Love published by Jewish Lights.
Rabbi Chaya Gusfield
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Rabbi Chaya Gusfield, Spiritual Director, Board Certified Chaplain, and Teacher, was ordained as a rabbi in 2006 by the ALEPH Ordination Program. She currently serves as a Palliative Care chaplain at Kaiser Richmond and Oakland. She completed her training as a Spiritual Director in 2001 through the Mercy Center in Burlingame. Rabbi Gusfield has a longtime and deep connection with Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont and Beth Chaim Congregation in Danville, California. She teaches Torah and leads Spiritual Direction groups using a variety of modalities including writing for deep reflection and sharing. Rabbi Gusfield works with the understanding that Judaism is for healing. She works closely with Buddhist teacher Eve Decker offering healing services and workshops. You can find Rabbi Gusfield’s writings on her blog at chayasgarden.wordpress.com.
Rabbi Ori Har
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Rabbi Ori Har received ordination as Mashpi’ah Ruchanit, Sage-ing Mentor and Rabbi from ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. She co-founded and directed the Conscious Learning Community – Center for Spiritual Friendship in Boulder, an interfaith center for Hashpa’ah in many forms. She serves as a trauma informed spiritual director as well as leading Sage-ing workshops. As a researcher in Consciousness, Rabbi Ori is also a practitioner of Embodied Awareness, Mondo Zen and Integral Life. Rabbi Ori has been an adult educator of Biblical Hebrew, Kabbalah and meditation for over twenty years, and is the author of God Speaks Here and Now: A Guide for Living. A native of Israel now living in Boulder, CO, Rabbi Ori is married, has two children, two step-children and is a savta of six grandchildren.
Rabbi Burt Jacobson
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Rabbi Shaya Isenberg
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Rabbi Shaya Isenberg, PhD, is past Chair of the Department of Religion, Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, where he taught courses in Jewish mysticism and comparative spirituality. Co-founder and past co-director of UF’s Center for Spirituality and Health, he is an author and national lecturer. He is Rabbi Emeritus of P’nai Or of Gainesville, FL. Reb Shaya is co -founder and co-director of the ALEPH Sage-ing Mentorship Program and senior faculty emeritus of the Spiritual Eldering Institute where, at Reb Zalman’s request, he co-designed and implemented its leadership training program. With his partner Bahira Sugarman, he has been leading life-transforming Sage-ing Workshops for nearly three decades, and serves on the faculty of the AOP Hashpa’ah Training Program. He was ordained as a spiritual director, mashpia ruchani, by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.
Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan
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Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan is founder and spiritual leader of Nava Tehila, a Jewish Renewal community in Jerusalem – www.NavaTehila.org. She co-authored, with Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, the Hebrew book Jewish Renewal – Integrating Heart and World (2006). Ruth works as a Mashpi’ah with rabbinic and cantorial students from all denominations and is a mentor for prayer leaders in the art of leading musical meaningful prayers. She creates, together with her team of musical prayer leaders, new music for prayers –www.navatehila.bandcamp.com and www.youtube.com/user/NavaTehila. R’ Ruth received Mashpi’ah Ruchanit smicha from Reb Zalman and rabbinical ordination from ALEPH.
Rabbi Mark Novak
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Rabbi Mark Novak received ordination as a Rabbi and Mashpia Ruchani from AOP, and is the founding Rabbi of MInyan Oneg Shabbat, Washington, DC’s Jewish Renewal community. (MinyanOnegShabbat.org) In addition to his work as a mashpia, he is a hazzan, musician (TheMarkNovakBand.com), composer, storyteller (Jewishstorytelling.com), and playwright. Mark experiences the creative process as a conduit in his relationship with the Divine. R’ Mark has been described as a ba’al simcha, a master of joy, and he brings that G!d given gift to all his work. Together with his wife, storyteller/juggler Renée Brachfeld, R’ Mark has served as Scholar/Artist in Residence at over 140 synagogues throughout the U/S and Canada. His project, A Year of Stories, is dedicated to the memory of Reb Zalman and can be found at www.rebmarko.com. R’ Mark leads all ALEPH chaverim in number of websites!
Rabbi Hanna Tiferet Siegel
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