Staff

Jamal (Jam’el) Barone earned a BS in Communications from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to joining ALEPH, Jamal worked in program management for a non-profit, staffed two district legislative offices for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and spent four years on the managing board for Metropolitan Community Church. Outside of his professional capacity, Jamal leads street outreach to be the Holy One’s hands and feet in the world. He also collaborates with GOTV organizations to encourage voter engagement in the political process. In October 2022, he and his family moved to Philadelphia where he continues to marry his talents and his purpose in his new surroundings.

Quinn Diacon-Furtado believes creativity is a spiritual practice. Their work as a writer spans across multiple genres including grants, editorial nonfiction, fantasy, and picture books. Regardless of the forum or topic, Quinn grounds their work in the values of community, inclusivity, and creativity. They prioritize authentic relationships and assets-based thinking as the root of ethical fundraising and network building. Quinn holds a BA in Latin American Studies and Anthropology from the University of Virginia. In 2021, they received their MFA in Children’s Literature from Hollins University. They live with their partner on Mohican lands, also known as Upstate New York

Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife (she/they) sprinkles sparkles, disrupts expectations, and offers blessings wherever she goes. She serves as Oreget Kehilah (Executive Director) of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, founder/co-leader of Kesher Pittsburgh, Program Director of the ALEPH Kesher Fellowship, Lead Facilitator for Keshet’s GLBTQ+ Jewish Youth of Colour programming, and member of the leadership team of the JOC Mishpachah Project. Additionally, she delights in serving as a shlichat tzibbur, life spiral ceremony/ritual creatrix, liturgist, songstress, teacher, and public speaker. Her work in these realms is informed by her lived experience as a queer Jewish Woman of Colour and the quandaries she encounters as a scholar of the Orphan Wisdom School. Keshira received Kohenet smicha in 2017 and earned her BS 2000 and MS 2001 at Carnegie Mellon University. Dual-citizens of the USA and Australia and avid travelers, she and her beloved are currently leaning into stillness and sheltering-in-peace on Osage and Haudenosaunee land also called Pittsburgh, PA.

Rabbi Darren Kleinberg, Ph.D., is Dean of the ALEPH Ordination Program. (In June 2022, he succeeded founding dean, Rabbi Marcia Prager, who retired in January 2022.) 

Prior to becoming AOP Dean, Rabbi Kleinberg served for three years (2019-2022) as Visiting Scholar/Senior Researcher with the Concentration in Education and Jewish Studies at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, where his research focused on pedagogies of spiritual transmission.

Rabbi Kleinberg has also served as Head of School at Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto, CA (2013-2020) and was the Founding Executive Director of Valley Beit Midrash in Phoenix, AZ (2007-2013).  

Rabbi Kleinberg holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies, received Orthodox rabbinic ordination, and is the author of Hybrid Judaism: Irving Greenberg, Encounter, and the Changing Nature of American Jewish Identity (2016).

Rabbi Natan Margalit was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990 and a Ph.D. in Talmud from U.C. Berkeley in 2001. He has taught at Bard College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Rabbi Natan is Founder of Organic Torah, a non-profit which fosters holistic thinking about Judaism, environment and society. Natan is a member of the Va’ad (steering committee and core faculty) of the ALEPH Ordination Program. He lives in Newton, MA, with his wife, Ilana, and their two sons.

Rabbi Marcia Prager, MFA, MHL, D.Min.h.c., is the founding Dean of the ALEPH Ordination Program. She serves as Director of the AOP Rabbinic Program where she also teaches Jewish spiritual practice and the Jewish Lifecycle Training sequence of courses and practica. She co-directs and teaches in the prize-winning Davvenen’ Leadership Training Institute, and serves as rabbi of the P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia, PA. She is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and also received personal smicha from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. She is the author of The Path of Blessing, a contemporary hasidic text exploring the Jewish practice of blessing, published by Bell Tower and later by Jewish Lights, and has created the P’nai Or Siddurim for Shabbat and other innovative compilations of prayer and liturgy. In 2010, she was selected by the Jewish Daily Forward as one of the Top Fifty American Female Rabbis.

Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael is an “unorthodox” visionary rabbi. As Director of Spiritual Arts at ALEPH, Reb Rayzel curates special programs to enhance community and shine a light on Jewish creativity. She has a private practice for lifecycle events in the Philadelphia area. Previously, has served four congregations and currently is the spiritual leader for Darkaynu. Geela Rayzel is a singer/songwriter/liturgist (with 6CDS to her name); and author of two children’s books: Angels for Dreamtime & New Moon. Rabbi Rayzel offers musical Shabbat services, concerts, and leads Jewish spiritual travel adventures. For more information on all her many projects, including the forthcoming Shechinah Oracle deck, see her website www.Shechinah.com