Kallah

Shelley Barchanowitz Goldberg (she/her) is a lover of learning and life. Shelley is a graduate of Kol Zimra Chant Leadership Training, Aging to Sageing Mentorship, and Wisdom School. She is also facilitator of the following practices: Positive Psychology Practitioner, Bounce Back Better, Flourishing Skills Coach, Soul Collage Facilitator, Applied Positive Psychology Practitioner, and Certified EFT (Tapping) Facilitator. Shelley’s passion is to share tools and workshops that she has created; weaving in the four worlds for flourishing, wellbeing, and enhancement of the human potential.

Mark Horn (he/him) may be the only person who has taught at both the Jewish Theological Seminary (Prozdor) and the Readers’ Studio International Tarot Conference. He is the author of Tarot and the Gates of Light: A Kabbalistic Path to Liberation, an innovative, spiritual workbook that has won praise from both respected rabbis and recognized tarot experts.

Mark has been a life-long activist in the post-Stonewall LGBTQ+ movement, starting in 1970 as a member of the Gay Liberation Front. His activism and community service has included working as a peer counselor at the LGBTQ+ counseling center, Identity House; and serving on the board of NewFest, the NYC LGBTQ+ film festival. At Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, he created a liturgy for an LGBTQ+ Pride ritual dinner, the Stonewall Seder, which has been used and adapted by congregations in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Mark has studied Kabbalah with academic, rabbinic, and practical teachers in organizations ranging from the highly respected to the highly unorthodox. He has also studied tarot with many of today’s leading teachers, including Rachel Pollack, Mary K. Greer, Ruth and Wald Amberstone and others. He offers tarot readings, group classes and individual study to people around the world via Zoom.

Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin (he/him) received smicha from Reb Zalman z”l, cantorial commission from the Cantors’ Assembly and Baal Tefillah smicha from Reb Shlomo. He is an accomplished cellist, guitarist, vocalist and composer of Jewish songs and niggunim. He is one of the early pioneers in the Jewish Renewal movement, and an early member of Reb Zalman’s Rabbinic Cabinet, which evolved into OHALAH. Reb Yitz is a retired congregational rabbi in Eugene, Oregon. His recording titled “Treasure Each Day” is well known in healing circles, as well as numerous niggunim and songs. He was an early proponent of ethical kashrut and is active in human rights issues.

With life partner Shonna, together, they have journeyed 50 years in the Renewal movement, including leading retreats and establishing an intentional Jewish land-based community Shivtei Shalom in 1983. Both have taught extensively at early Kallot and Elat Chayyim and are now elders in the Renewal movement, wanting to bring forth the history and herstory of this remarkable shared communal spiritual journey.

Dr. Charles Kaplan (he/him), recently semi-retired from his day job as a child psychologist, has been passionate about music all his life. ALEPH inspired a shift in his musical tastes a couple of decades ago, from progressive rock to Jewish World Music, and Charles has never looked back. Despite Ashkenazi DNA, his neshama is especially drawn to the music of Sephardic cultures all around the Mediterranean. A guitarist and singer, he likes to infuse gypsy, flamenco, and klezmer styles with his Jewish music. He leads davvenen, with or without the guitar in his hands, and often with his beloved, Laura, who is also his co-conspirator in planning and performing musical events and prayer services with two musical ensembles—“Sulam” and “Chanting and Chocolate.”

Rabbinic Pastor/Cantor Lisa Levine (she/her) is a well known Cantor, composer, author, chaplain, poet and recording artist who’s healing music is enjoyed around the world. She earned a BA from UCI and received Ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Lisa is the author of “Yoga Shalom” and the prayer voice of “Hebrew In Harmony”. Her catalogue of 11 healing CD’s and 7 songbooks and worship music is widely published. Lisa received Ordination as Rabbinic Pastor through Aleph Alliance in 2018 and uses music as a healing bridge in her work. Lisa is a 500 hr. registered Yoga Teacher and shares weekly yoga embodiment practices as well as healing prayer in conferences and zoom rooms around the world. Her collection of poetry “Heart of Light” is available on Amazon and her newest collection of music titled “This Holy Place” will be released in June.

Hazzan Laura Lewis Mandeles (she/her) joined the Ezra Uganda Assistance board in 2018 and has been active in developing the organization’s capacity and infrastructure for fund raising by introducing professional fund-raising practices in record keeping, communication, and prospect development. Following almost a decade in the Development Office at National Public Radio, Laura launched a thirty-year career as a consultant to nonprofit organizations, specializing in strategic planning, fund raising, organizational transitions, and meeting facilitation. At the same time, Laura developed as a cantorial soloist, earning a Certificate in Jewish Sacred Music from Hebrew College in 2017. Ever a seeker after Jewish knowledge, also in 2017 she entered the ALEPH Cantorial Ordination Program and received smicha as a hazzan in January 2023. Originally from New York City, Laura is a graduate of Princeton University, earning her bachelor’s degree from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. She now resides in Fairfax, Virginia, with husband Mark. They are the proud parents of two adult children, including Samantha, who is also a member of the Ezra Uganda board.

Samantha Mandeles (she/her) is an open-source intelligence analyst and researcher focusing on antisemitism. She earned an M.A., cum laude, in Counterterrorism and Homeland Security from Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel in 2016, and a B.A. in Bio-Archaeology and Middle Eastern Studies from Hampshire College in Massachusetts in 2010. Sam is a committed Jew and a lifelong advocate for African Jewry. She joined the board of Ezra Uganda Assistance after hearing about the organization through her mom, who is also a board member. In November 2021, Sam journeyed to rural Namutumba, Uganda to bring the local Jewish community its first kosher Torah; she has since shared her photographs and experiences in an ongoing lecture series.

Rhonda Mason MSW, LCSW, ACC (she/her) has been working in private practice for 30 years. She uses techniques including hypnosis, energy psychology and Soul Memory Discovery. As lay leader of Shir ha Yam, she leads Shabbat meditation, services, and has facilitated workshops at Kallah and at Ruach Ha-Aretz. Additionally, Rhonda is a spiritual life coach and teaches an online Jewish Spiritual Life Coaching course.

Idelle Packer (she/her) is a founding member and contributing teacher of the Embodied Jewish Wisdom Network and member of Stan Tenen’s Meru Foundation. Spanning a 40-year journey, Idelle’s work integrates somatic studies and a love of dance with her investigations into the mystical secrets of the Hebrew letters, combining gesture, dance, breath work and meditation as a unique approach to embodying Jewish wisdom. Her teaching invites attention and integration of body and heart-mind while moving intuitively from an inner landscape of imagery. Expanding the Meru Foundation research, Idelle integrates the letter gestures, shapes and meanings in guided creative expression. Her Judaic studies continue with Rabbi Mieri, Diane Bloomfield, and Dov Laimon.

Idelle’s credits include: Associate Professor of Dance: Contact Improvisation and Somatic Practices at the University of North Carolina Asheville (2016-18); Etude 22: Meditation on the Aleph Bet, suite of dances for 10 dancers, performed and choreographed in Asheville, NC (2019); Creator/teacher of original courses and workshops on the gestural Aleph-Bet (2019-2022); instructor at the Limmud Festival Bay Area (2019); Master’s degree in physical therapy from Columbia University (1995); and Teacher certification in the Alexander Technique (1979.)

Sue Priver (she/her) is a World Record Holding powerlifter (PR 418lbs/190kgs) and a mid-life accidental athlete after touching a barbell for the first time at age 37. Her powerlifting journey was the path that unexpectedly brought her from a very dark, numbed out place to a life of joy, deep connection, and vitality. Taking what made her successful on the powerlifting platform and applying it to all aspects of her life, Sue has become a nervous system rewiring expert who guides her clients in creating and maintaining resilient relationships.

Sylvia Rosenfeld (she/her) is an Imago trained, AASECT certified Sex Therapist and supervisor, with more than 35 years of experience working with couples and individuals who want to enhance their physical and emotional connection. Sylvia trained with the late Dr. Helen Singer Kaplan at the Human Sexuality Program of New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, and with Dr. Harville Hendrix. She also trained with Dr. Pat Love to present the Hot Monogamy Program. Currently Sylvia has expanded her practice to include Ketamine Assisted Couple Therapy and retreats.

Steve Schechter N.P., H.H.P. (he/him) is an internationally respected naturopath, holistic health practitioner, consultant, instructor, and best-selling author. He founded and directs the Natural Healing Institute Hawaii, a state-licensed college and clinic of Naturopathy in Maui, Hawaii providing Distance Learning and Residential Programs in Holistic Health for License and Certification. He teaches many different classes including: “Generating Mystical Experiences & Re-Discovering Awe In Nature.” Steve has long been involved in Jewish mysticism and Renewal, has attended 15 Kallot, and one of his majors in college was Jewish & Comparative Mysticism.

Heidi Shira PhD, ATR-BC, (she/her) co-creator of Lights of Mussar™ Cards, is founder of NeshamArts© devoted to the union of Judaism, spirituality, healing, and the arts. She is a practicing clinical psychologist, art therapist; artist, educator, Intentional Parenting™, and SENG (social, emotional needs of the gifted) SMPG and SoulCollage® facilitator, student of Mussar and Kabbalah who has facilitated workshops at Boston area synagogues, Limmud Boston, Association of Professional and Aspiring Jewish Artists of Sarasota, the ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal Kallah, schools, and home salons. Her current spiritual practice includes meditation, contemplation of death and afterlife to enhance life and its choices, and incorporates the energetic, sensory, and embodied experience of playing crystal singing bowls-the universal frequency of life. Current art media are collage, acrylic multi-media painting, quilting, photography, and constructing environmental labyrinths. Email NeshamArts@gmail.com for workshops or consultation.

Aaron T. Wolf (he/him) is a water resources geographer at Oregon State University and a trained mediator/facilitator. He directs the Program in Water Conflict Management and Transformation, through which he has offered workshops, facilitations, and mediations around the world. He is the author of The Spirit of Dialogue: Lessons from Faith Traditions in Transforming Conflict (Island Press, 2017), that he uses to bring facilitation and capacity-building to a variety of conflict settings, notably between entities who share water resources, and also in faith and interfaith communities, and within and between government agencies.

Miryam (Margo) Wolfson (she/her) is a seeker and student in the ALEPH Ordination Program, as well as a Rabbinic Intern at Temple Adath Or. She has always been inspired by feeling awe and sensing Divinity in the natural world; by teaching and learning. She also teaches Biology at a local community college. Miryam led High Holy Day services for a small independent congregation this past year, and as a volunteer co-leads at the Highland Park Minyan in New Jersey, and online daily minyan for Romemu in NYC. She has recently become a snow bird, connecting to Temple Adath Or in South Florida. Her pride and joy are her three adult children. She lives in the space where Science and Torah enrich one another and collide, and heal.