Kallah

Itaf Awad (she/her) is international trainer and leader in the community building process, the Way of Council; and the wellness practice, Capacitar; two modalities which originated in California that enhance individual and collective well-being. She acquired a master’s degree in politics from the University of Haifa, and for the past 20 years has facilitated hundreds of councils for businesses, NGO’s, educators, and private groups in many places from the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Fluent in English, Arabic and Hebrew, she has undertaken carrying the Way of Council to Arab communities while working on translating training materials into the Arabic language to facilitate learning for Arabic people. Her innovation in rich cultural insights and values gives the basis for the deep heart to heart communication she feels is needed to break the cycles of violence created by the conflict in her region.

She currently serves as a Council trainer, workshop leader, and advisor for women’s affairs in the municipality of Dabburiya Local Council. She is trained in non-violent communication and restorative justice. Her tradition of healing draws on the wealth of traditional wisdom for healing learnt from her grandmother’s insights as a midwife, healer, and mediator in her village; blending healing insights from her training as a Reiki and Body Mind Healer.

Renée Brachfeld (she/her) and Rabbi Mark Novak (he/him) are master storytellers. This husband/wife duo has been presented as scholars in residence at over 160 synagogues across the US and Canada, leading services, presenting workshops, and performing for both adult and family audiences. They have been featured presenters at LimmudFest in England, The Vancouver Theological Seminary, and the Kennedy Center. They are co-founders of the MultiFaith Storytelling Institute,. Rabbi Mark is founder and spiritual leader of MOSh: Minyan Oneg Shabbat, the world’s only known full time Zoomagogue.

Dr. Kimberly Burnham (she/her) is an award-winning poet, anthology editor, and writer. Published in over 100 books (Prose, Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Memoir, and Inspirational Personal Essay Anthologies), Kimberly Burnham is a writer, poet, and complementary medicine practitioner. She authored “Awakenings: Peace Dictionary, Language and the Mind,” a Daily Brain Health Program for people interested in improving their brain clarity, creativity, and muscle function. Her most recent book is the fictional story of a garden seed exchange group, “The Red Sunflower Diaries, Why Everyone Should Garden and Share Seeds.” She is an avid gardener and environmentalist, who bicycled 3000 miles across the U.S. with Hazon (US Jewish Environmental group) in 2013. She has several Jewish themed books including: “Heschel and King Marching to Montgomery A Jewish Guide to Judeo-Tamarian Imagery,” and “Music Carrier of Intention in 49 Jewish Prayers.” Co-editors Rabbi Elizabeth W. Goldstein, Ph.D. and Dr. Kimberly Burnham share the pages of this Jewish musical essay anthology with 40 other authors, cantors, and rabbis. She also wrote “Pekudei: Exodus 38:21-40:38 Journal Your Journey Through a Year of Torah,” a personal journal with two pages for writing notes on each parsha in the Torah, with extra pages of poetry and inspiration on Pekudei, the 23rd parsha in the Jewish Calendar. This is part of a series of books on each parsha for B’nai Mitzvah students, for a wedding or special event.

Klezmer Basye Khannah (Beth) Cohen (she/her) is a well-known vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and music educator in New Mexico. Since 1995, she has served as music director and Cantor at the Jewish Renewal community Congregation Nahalat Shalom. She teaches Ashkenazic, Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish liturgy, nusach, trope/ta’amim and t’filah. She has studied with several cantors and rabbis while conducting her own research and practice. Beth leads services and Jewish events including der Freylekher Shabes – a klezmer-style Shabbat service that she created. She also teaches in the religious school and tutors the pre-B’Mitzvah students in t’filah and in Torah cantillation. Beth teaches, directs, and arranges music for The Nahalat Shalom Community Klezmer Band and Alavados Holy Days Ensemble. She co-produces the internationally recognized klezmer music and dance festival KlezmerQuerque, which, since 2003, has taken place annually at Nahalat Shalom.

Beth earned her Bachelor of Music degree (vocal track) in 1991 from the University of New Mexico. She has received extensive training on violin, guitar and a variety of instruments in klezmer, world music, maqam and classical styles. Since 1983, Beth has been giving private instruction and directing orchestras, mixed ensembles and choirs in public and private schools.

Rabbi Nate DeGroot (he/him) is the Director of The Shalom Center, having inherited the role from the organization’s founder, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, in October of 2024. Ordained at Hebrew College in 2016, Rabbi DeGroot previously served as Associate Director, Spiritual & Program Director at Hazon (now Adamah) in Detroit. Before that, he worked at IKAR in Los Angeles, serving as Jewish Emergent Network Rabbinic Fellow and Rabbinic Intern before that. While in rabbinical school, DeGroot founded a grassroots cooperative Jewish community in Portland, OR and worked with organizations such Encounter, T’ruah, AJWS, and more. A speaker and published writer, DeGroot has contributed chapters to multiple books and in 2020, spoke at the The Chautauqua Institution. Living in Detroit, Michigan with his wife and two kiddos, Rabbi DeGroot also serves locally as a part-time congregational rabbi and educator.

Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan, Ph.D. (she/her) is Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of Inter-Religious Studies at the Vancouver School of Theology, a faculty member in ALEPH Ordination Programs, and Rabbi Emerita of Or Shalom Synagogue. She is author of “Mouth of the Donkey: Re-imagining Biblical Animals” and “The Infinity Inside: Jewish Spiritual Practice through a Multi-faith Lens.” She has won many teaching awards, including the American Academy of Religion’s Teaching Excellence Award and the Carnegie Foundation’s US Professor of the Year Award. Rabbi Laura lives in Vancouver, Canada, on the traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, with her husband Charles Kaplan. Together they enjoy hiking, making music, leading services, laughing with family, and caring for a changing variety of companion animals.

Rabbi Ilan Glazer (he/him) is a seeker and teacher of wholeness and healing. He’s the founder of Our Jewish Recovery, a vibrant community for anyone impacted by addiction in the Jewish community; author of “And God Created Recovery”; and co-founder of Our Love Continues, a community for Jewish parents who’ve experienced pregnancy loss or the death of a child. Rabbi Ilan and his wife Sherri helped start the group after the death of their son Shemaryah Zichri in January 2022.

Ilan is a drummer, and composer of original melodies for Psalms and prayers, and has played and prayed all around the Jewish world. Gam Ki Elech: Turning Our Sorrows Into Song, Ilan’s first album of original music, launched in January 2024.

Ilan was ordained by ALEPH as a Rabbi and Mashpia, and as a Maggid by Yitzhak Buxbaum, z”l. Ilan is also the Rabbi of Adat Chaim in Owings Mills, lead teacher for Baltimore’s Introduction to Judaism program, a musician and educator at Third Space, and speaks and teaches widely about recovery from addiction, healing the grief we carry, and finding music, blessings, and spiritual growth even in the difficulties of life. Ilan, Sherri, their son Rami, and two furballs live here in Baltimore.

Rabbi Shefa Gold (she/her) received her ordination both from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l; and is the director of C-DEEP: The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice. Shefa has produced ten albums, three apps, and is the author of 4 books: “Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land,” “In the Fever of Love,” “The Magic of Hebrew Chant,” and “Are We There Yet? Travel as a Spiritual Practice.” Her new project, Love at the Center, is an immersion in The Song of Songs–a mystical text that is meant to transform our lives so that we can transform the world. She also has created 3 apps: Flavors of Gratefulness, Flavors of Praise, and Love at the Center.

Rabbi Rachel Dorit Goldberg (she/her) was ordained by ALEPH in January 2024, completed the ALEPH Hashpa’ah (Spiritual Direction) Program in January 2023, and is currently a member of the AOP Board of Governors. Rabbi Rachel has interned with Mishkan Chicago, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, Nava Tehila, The Davvenen Leadership Training Institute (DLTI), and served as a professional team member at Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism in Jerusalem on a project called Ma’abadah L’tfilah / “The Prayer Lab.” Rabbi Rachel is also a leader within the Global Reiki Community, and brings a unique lens of healing and language of energy to her craft as a prayer leader and teacher of Torah. She served as a student chaplain in Israel throughout the war, and volunteered with groups providing complementary and alternative healing to Israelis directly impacted and displaced by October 7 and the ongoing war, as well as with solidarity groups supporting Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank. Over the last year, she made a big move from Jerusalem to Ashland, Oregon, where she serves as the new Rabbi of Havurah Shir Hadash, a legacy Renewal community that was led by Rabbi David Zaslow for nearly 30 years.

Rabbi Elizabeth Goldstein, Ph.D. (she/her) is a mom of two sets of twins (all teens) and lives in Spokane, WA with her spouse. She serves as rabbi, Jewish Chaplain, and professor of Jewish Studies at Gonzaga University. While she is proud of her publications in the area of Gender and Biblical studies including two entries in the Women’s Torah Commentary, these days she enjoys teaching courses for the AOP and working on her new songs and chants on each parashah.

Mitch Gordon (he/him) is a Sacred Drummer, Worship Leader, Educator, Mediator, and Storyteller. He has been adjunct faculty at Hebrew College (MA) since 2014, and visiting teacher at JTS, teaching Spirituality and Sacred Drumming. He received s’micha from Akiva Wharton, through Reb Zalman z”l, in 2013 as ‘Drummer of the Holy Temple’, and leads Sacred Drum, Chant, and Meditation programs around the country. Mitch is an alumnus of DLTI and co-leads worship with Daniel Sheff monthly as part of the Hineini Havurah in MA. He appeared in concerts or worship with Shefa Gold, Shawn Zevit, Lisa Levine, Sue Horowitz, Joel Segel, the Kirtan Rabbi and others. He accompanies or leads worship in Reconstructionist, Reform, and Renewal congregations fifty-two weeks each year and was also one of the early faculty for Let My People Sing.

Mitch is often the ‘go to’ drummer for singer/songwriter/performers including Michael Hunter Ochs, Chava Mirel, Noah Aronson, Jeff Klepper, Joe Buchanan, Eliana Light, Ellen Allard, and many others. Mitch also hosts and produces Shirim, Jewish music radio at WCUW 91.3 FM Worcester, MA streaming at wcuw.org; Sunday nights 8-10pm (ET). Recently Mitch was also a Master Storyteller/Teacher at the 33rd Jewish Men’s Retreat.

Rabbi Andrew Hahn, Ph.D. (affectionately: Reb Drew) (he/him) is known as both the Kirtan Rabbi and — depending upon which phone booth he exits — also as the Tai Chi Rabbi. He has pioneered Kirtan in the Jewish world, criss-crossing the globe to offer communal call-and-response chant concerts and meditation seminars. He has been teaching tai chi and related arts for decades. In his workshops, he seamlessly combines chant, movement, meditation and text study into a positive, holistic experience. Reb Drew holds a Ph.D. In Jewish Philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary as well as rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute for Religion, both in New York. He was resident faculty at Clal. He also served as visiting rabbi for Metivta: A Center for Contemplative Judaism in Los Angeles. Rabbi Hahn has three musical CDs: Kirtan Rabbi: Live!, Achat Sha’alti, Nondual and a beloved single, Shiviti. A new single, Healing Chant, will be available soon. As well as an EP: Hallel. Since COVID, Reb Drew has moved from performing to passing on what he has learned to the next generation. Among other projects, he is writing a book on the Art and Practice of Hebrew Kirtan. KirtanRabbi.com

Born in New York, Aura Hammer (she/her) moved to Israel with her Jewish religious parents (her father, Rabbi Reuven Hammer, Conservative Rabbi) and siblings in 1973. She was an architect for many years until she discovered her passion for working for peace during the second Intifada and her life course changed.

Now she is a teacher of sustainability as well as a Council facilitator and trainer, working with Jewish-Arab groups, women and educators; working extensively with Itaf Awad and co-founding their organization, Diwan Siti; and volunteering with Women Wage Peace. She envisions her life work as helping to create a sustainable future for the next generations, expanding and extending the work to a wider spectrum, including work on eldering and “regenerating society,” in order to encompass this vision of possibility.

Rabbi Kohenet Jill Hammer, Ph.D. (she/her), author, scholar, ritualist, poet, dreamworker and midrashist, is the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion (www.ajrsem.org), and a co-founder of Beit Kohenet, a house of Jewish, mystical, earth-based, feminist seeking. Her new novel is called The Moonstone Covenant, and 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,” “The Omer Calendar of Biblical Women,” “Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women,” and “The Book of Earth and Other Mysteries.” She lives in Manhattan with her family.

She serves as a mashpi’ah/spiritual guide and academic mentor, and co-hosted the 50-episode “Tending Lilith’s Fire” (originally “Priestessing the Priestesses”) broadcast with Kohenet Annie Matan. Her Talking to Goddess anthology includes sacred writings of 72 women from 25 spiritual traditions. Her dissertation, “For She Is a Tree of Life: Shared Roots Connecting Women to Deity” studied Jewish women’s beliefs/rituals among South African Lemba and U.S. women. Other publications include “Lilith’s Fire: Examining Original Sources of Power, Re-defining Sacred Texts as Transformative Theological Practice” in Feminist Theology Journal; “The Kohanot: Keepers of the Flame” in Stepping into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writing on Priestesses; Jewish priestess and Lilith entries, Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions, and Lilith’s Fire: Reclaiming our Sacred Lifeforce.

Sage-ing Vatik Oran Hesterman, Ph.D. (he/him), Founder and Resident Champion of Fair Food Network, is committed to weaving together his professional work in sustainable food systems and his dedication to caring for others and the earth in keeping with the traditions and ethics of justice rooted in his Jewish heritage. He is a certified Sage-ing Mentor and leads workshops nationally and internationally with his wife Lucinda Kurtz, that help people discover their inner elder while gaining new perspectives on what it means to grow older in today’s culture.

He has been an active member of the Jewish community from his early days in North Pacific Coast Young Judea in Berkeley, CA to his present participation in Pardes Hannah in Ann Arbor, MI and his co-founding of Or Tzafon, the Jewish Retreat Center in Northern Michigan. He also facilitated the support of the Sacred Foods Project to ALEPH and co-led a Conflict Resolution Seminar to Egypt and Israel as part of his Kellogg Fellowship.

After more than 35 years of experience as a scientist, farmer, philanthropist, businessman, educator, and passionate advocate, Oran B. Hesterman is grateful to turn his attention to helping others harvest the fruits of their life’s wisdom.

Cantor Linda Hirschhorn (she/her) is a performing singer/songwriter/composer and story-teller. She travels around the country working with or creating community choruses. She has released 11 recordings of original songs and published hundreds of songs that have been covered by other artists, used in movies, choreographed by dance companies and sung in synagogues throughout the world. Linda has been the Cantor at Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro since 1988.

Erev Rabbi Elizheva Hurvich (she/they) loves Judaism and has worked as a Jewish educator and a teacher of teachers for over two decades. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Erev Rabbi Elizheva Hurvich will be ordained by the ALEPH Ordination Program in January of 2025. In the early 2000’s, serving as the Head of Kehilla Community Synagogue’s school, she was asked to participate in answering Reb Zalman’s call to help ensure that Jewish Renewal would not be a “one-generation wonder.” She currently teaches for The Kitchen SF, for Judaism Your Way and independently. A native of California, raised with eclectic Jewish practices, she holds a master’s degree in Jewish art and material culture from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. She loves to dabble in paper collage and fabric arts.

Israeli-American artist Yael Kanerek (she/her) is the founder of BeitToratah.org, an initiative that reimagines the Biblical narrative by placing women at the center and inviting men into the domestic sphere through the regendering of all characters. This fresh lens on Scripture encourages new perspectives on gender, power, and leadership, offering a deeper exploration of ancient traditions and their relevance today. It also opens a space for renewed spiritual and theological reflection, inspiring deeper engagement with sacred texts.

Since 2016, Toratah—meaning “Her Torah”—has built a vibrant community in both the US and Israel, contributing to its ongoing development. Beit Toratah has already published key sacred texts online in Hebrew, including the first five books of the Bible, the Book of Genesis in English, and several scrolls, with more translations in progress. Currently, BeitTorahtah is translating the Book of Exodus, studying one chapter per week in group sessions on Sundays. The first book in print, “Toratah: The Regendered Bible, Genesis 1-6 with Commentary,” is planned for release next year.

In addition to these textual efforts, Beit Toratah recently released ZimraTah: Songs for Toratah, a musical album now available on major music publishing platforms. The album was celebrated with a concert at Central Synagogue in New York. The project continues to thrive thanks to the support of a dedicated community.

Rabbi Debra Kolodny (they/them) has been pursuing justice in racial, economic immigration, women’s, environmental, peace and LGBTQI+ movements since 1980.

Ordained in 2011 by ALEPH, Debra’s work includes co-founding and five years of leadership in Portland United Against Hate; producing a Queer Clergy for Black Lives Matter conference; serving five years as a National Coordinator of BiNet USA: the National Bisexual Network and six years facilitating NGLTF’s National Religious Leadership Roundtable. They have organized rallies and marches, testified to legislatures, done extensive media work and activated thousands of justice seekers through educational workshops.

In 2016 Debra founded As the Spirit Moves Us, a Jewish justice organization and served as its Executive Director for six years. While there they founded the Portland Spirit Led Justice Alliance to activate organizations and individuals on coordinated campaigns, organized clergy witnesses to report on police violence during the Black Lives Matter uprising, and participated in a successful clergy civil disobedience campaign to release asylum seekers in Oregon’s Sheridan jail.

Debra identifies as a Yichudist (unifier), supporting peaceful, sustainable solutions in Israel/Palestine and is currently a freelance rabbi and justice consultant living in Amherst, MA.

Sage-ing Vatika Lucinda Kurtz, M.A. (she/her) is a Brennan Healing Science Practitioner and Sage-ing Mentor, Vatika, committed to teaching the sage-ing path to people of all ages and perspectives. A former professor of Women’s Studies and teacher of Kabbalah, Lucinda, with her husband, Oran, lead classes nationally and internationally that help people discover their inner elder while gaining new understanding of what it means to grow older in today’s culture. From academia to political activism to non-profit leadership to immersion in the Jewish Renewal experience, Lucinda has traversed a variety of worlds that has brought her an appreciation of the challenges we experience on our life’s journey and the need for self-forgiveness and joy, especially in our later years.

As an Energy Healer, Lucinda combines hands-on energy healing and shamanic practices with kabbalistic spiritual understanding to create a unique healing modality to help each individual create a healthy and joyful life. She is particularly interested in helping women to move through transitional stages of their life, clarify their vision, and manifest their highest potential.

Julie Leavitt, DMin (she/her), is a body-centered psychotherapist, spiritual companion, and modern dancer. She teaches at Lesley University, Ruach Community Health, and co-teaches Authentic Movement as Jewish Spiritual Practice retreats with Reb Simona Aronow. She practices spiritual direction at Hebrew College and Hebrew Union College. She has a Doctor of Ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation, earning the Samuel Cohen prize for her dissertation project, Psalmology. She wrote the articles G!d Danced the Day You Were Born and Choreography of Prayer for books (respectively) “Jewish Spiritual Direction” and “Seeking Redemption in an Unredeemed World,” ed. by Rabbi Avruhm Addison and Dr. Barbara Breitman. She choreographed of Passage: The Space between Exile and Arrival, Heavenly Grass and Imagining Talmud. Julie dances with Selmadanse and the 4:30 Collective. This is a great joy in her life.

Hazzan Abbe Lyons (she/her) is dedicated to making Jewish music, learning and practice both accessible and inspiring, both at sacred times and in everyday life. She serves as Interim Director of the ALEPH Cantorial Program and Chair of the Liturgy and Hazzanut Departments for the ALEPH Ordination Program. Hazzan Abbe studied with founding director of the cantorial program, Hazzan Jack Kessler z”l, and received smicha in 2010. In 2023 she joined the faculty for the Davvenen Leadership Training Institute (DLTI). Hazzan Abbe’s teaching is informed by her education and experience as a musician as well as a Feldenkrais® practitioner. She is the Jewish Chaplain for Hillel at Ithaca College, where she received a B.Mus. in voice performance in 1987. As a SpeakChorus Torah Project educator, she has facilitated SpeakChorus Torah at Ruach HaAretz retreat, the ALEPH Kallah, and in congregational settings with adults and teens. Hazzan Abbe is a writer and innovative liturgist whose published work includes Jewish Liturgy: A Guide for Everyone, poetry and alternative social justice haftarot. In 2017 she and her multifaith band, Resonate, released the album, Listen! Other recording credits include Behold! (Vocolot, 1997), Roots and Wings (Vocolot, 1992) and Household Chores (Abbe Lyons, 1990).

Rabbi Natan Margalit, Ph.D. (he/him) was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. As a young adult he lived for twelve years in Israel and received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990. He earned a Ph.D. in Talmud from UC Berkeley in 2001. Natan has taught at Bard College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College.

Natan is the author of “The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.” He is Interim Dean of Faculty and a member of the Va’ad (steering committee and core faculty) of the ALEPH Ordination Program, and serves as chair of the Rabbinic Texts department. He is also the Director of the AOP’s Earth-Based Judaism Program.

Natan is Founder of Organic Torah, fostering holistic thinking about Judaism, environment and society, which is a program of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. He lives with his wife, two sons and their dog, Pele (named for the Hebrew word for wonder, and also the Hawaiian goddess, not the soccer player) in Newton, MA.

Merissa Nathan Gerson (she/they) is a writer (The New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, CNN.com, Lilith, etc.) and educator and currently is humbly a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia. She was the inherited trauma consultant to Amazon’s Emmy-winning show, Transparent, and holds an MA in Jewish Studies with a focus on Sex and Gender and Inherited Trauma from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She is the author of “Forget Prayers, Bring Cake: A Single Woman’s Guide to Grieving” (Simon & Schuster, 2021). Merissa is passionate about using Jewish practice to face, and remedy, the residue of war in generations to come.

Rabbi Mark Novak (he/him) and Renée Brachfeld (she/her) are master storytellers, and co-founders of the MultiFaith Storytelling Institute. This husband/wife duo has been presented as scholars in residence at over 160 synagogues across the US and Canada, leading services, presenting workshops, and performing for both adult and family audiences. They have been featured presenters at LimmudFest in England, The Vancouver Theological Seminary, and the Kennedy Center. Rabbi Mark is founder and spiritual leader of MOSh: Minyan Oneg Shabbat, the world’s only known full time Zoomagogue.

Rabbi Marcia Prager (she/her) is the founding Director and Dean Emerita of Ordination Programs for ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and Rabbi Emerita of P’nai Or: Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia, PA. She is the author of The Path of Blessing and creator of the unique P’nai Or Siddurim for Shabbat and other innovative approaches to prayer and liturgy. Along with Rabbi Shawn Zevit. she co-directs the award-winning Davvenen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI).

Rabbinic Pastor Simcha Raphael, Ph.D. (he/him) is originally from Montreal, Canada where he first met Reb Zalman z”l in 1975. He served as the first Executive Director of B’nai Or Religious Fellowship (1980-1982). He received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Integral Studies (1986), and was ordained by Reb Zalman as a Rabbinic Pastor (1990).

He is the Founding Director of the DA’AT Institute for Death Awareness, Advocacy and Training. As a death awareness educator he has taught widely on Jewish views of death and the afterlife across the United States, and in Canada, England and Israel. He has served as Adjunct Professor in the Religion Departments of LaSalle University and Temple University, in the ALEPH Ordination program, and in the Art of Dying Institute of the One Spirit Seminary. A member of the Rabbis Without Borders Network, he is the author of seven books on death and Judaism including the ground-breaking classic Jewish Views of the Afterlife, and the recently-published Musings with the Angel of Death: Poems of Love, Life and Longing. He is married to Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael, and lives in the Philadelphia area. His website is www.daatinstitute.net.

Scott Reiter (he/him) began studying with Beit Toratah in the fall of 2022 in the course offered by the Judaism Unbound UnYeshiva. Subsequently, Scott began attending Beit Toratah’s weekly study sessions and joined the team editing the English translation. Scott has led a Beit Toratah chevruta study session and a discussion of the Book of Rea at Bet Mishpachah.

Scott serves as chair of the Liturgy Committee of Congregation Bet Mishpachah in Washington DC and was Editor-in-Chief of the congregation’s siddur and machzor.

Scott has taken Modern Hebrew conversation and literature classes for over 30 years at the Washington DC JCC. He has also studied comparative Tanach translations, both in classes and through self-study, and engages in text study with the Institute for Jewish Knowledge and Learning in Plantation, Florida.

Scott is a lay service leader at Bet Mishpachah and an alumni of DLTI. He is also a member of Congregation Shaarei Kodesh in Boca Raton, Florida, and the Minyan Oneg Shabbat Jewish Renewal Zoomagogue in DC, where he has assisted Rabbi Mark Novak in revising his siddur and machzor. Scott is a retired lawyer, emphasis on retired.

Rabbi Or Rose (he/him) is the founding director of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College. A prolific writer and editor, he is the co-editor of “Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi: Essential Teachings” (Orbis). He is currently working on a monograph on Reb Zalman’s evolution as an interreligious practitioner and leader.

Dr. Cia Sautter (she/her) is a rare combination of scholar and performer. Her doctoral degree focused on Religion and the Arts with a specialty in Judaism, resulting in a book on “The Miriam Tradition: Teaching Embodied Torah,” looking at the importance of women’s dance and music in Jewish tradition. Since then, she has taught at many Universities and seminaries, and founded Storydance Theatre, a company of artists that tell old, mainly Jewish stories in new ways that address current issues. The company is creation-to-creation based, understanding all art comes from nature. Cia has long been active in Jewish Renewal in both Berkeley, CA and Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN.

Lynna Schaefer (she/her) received certification as a Spiritual Director through Lev Shomea at Elat Chayyim, trained as a Jewish Chant Leader through Rabbi Shefa Gold’s Kol Zimra, and received ordination from her as a Shir HaShirim Rabbi in 2023. Lynna is honored to have accompanied people (almost all Unitarian Universalists) in spiritual direction for over two decades. She is facilitating a Love at the Center circle at Congregation Ohav Shalom in Albany, NY and co-facilitating one at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church with Rev. Matthew Wright in Woodstock, NY. Lynna works for the NYS Office of Mental Health and is contentedly co-living with five cats. Her three adult children are living quietly revolutionary lives, which gives her great nachas.

Kohenet Bekah Starr (she/her) is a multimedia Sacred Artist and ritualist exploring ancient & weaving new connections between Jewish Mysticism and the Divine Feminine. Her artwork has been featured around the world by the Jewish Arts Salon, the Every Woman Biennial, WomansWork.Art, Haggadot.com/Custom & Craft, the Parliament of World Religions, LabShul, and is held in private collections. She is also an Amen Institute artist fellow.

Bekah facilitates the Beit Kohenet Arts Collective, a community of artists, mystics, and seekers, who are reclaiming Jewish spiritual wisdom through collaborative creation. As the Jewish Life Coordinator at Ursinus College, she offers Jewish students and allies opportunities to explore embodied ritual, engage in inspiring interfaith experiences and participate in a supportive community. You can find her @BekahStarrArt

Dr. Pesach-Lev Zeitz (he/him) is a preventive medicine physician, epidemiologist, author, and award-winning champion of global justice and human rights. Zeitz teaches the Torah of Love using practical approaches for Tikkun Ha’Lev and Tikkun Olam through his handbook: “Revolutionary Optimism: Seven Steps for Living as a Love-Centered Activist,” an indispensable roadmap for personal and global liberation, with a clear, step-by-step guide—a timely remedy and cure of anxiety, hopelessness, and the potentially the super crises facing our world. Drawing from over 35 years of advocacy, campaigning, and political movement leadership, Zeitz is the Founder of #unify movements, a movement-building platform dedicated to catalyzing new, love-centered social, economic, and political systems committed for our collective repair, justice, and peace. Zeitz was ordained as a Shir Hashirim Rabbi in 2023 by Rabbi Shefa Gold. He serves on the Board of Directors of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal and he is a member of Rabbis for Ceasefire.

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit (he/him), (www.rabbizevit.com) is in his 12th year serving as lead rabbi at Mishkan Shalom, in Philadelphia, PA, committed to the integration of meaningful spiritual living, life-long learning and acts of caring and social justice; and has spent decades consulting to and supporting congregations, organizations, social justice and sustainability initiatives in the Jewish and larger world. He has a background in theatre, film and Playback in Toronto and Philadelphia, and is a recording artist with six CDs or new and traditional liturgical and spiritual music. He is co-founding director of the Davennen Leader’s Training Institute; and is the Director for the ALEPH Hashpa’ah (Spiritual Direction) training program. He is also a liturgical recording and performing artist and is one of the founders of the progressive Jewish men’s organization www.menschwork.org; and author of “Offerings of the Heart: Money and Values in Faith Community” and numerous publications for spiritual life. Rabbi Zevit is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and also has personal ordination from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l and ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal.