Staff

Rabbi Zelig Golden is the Executive Director of Wilderness Torah. He received rabbinic ordination from ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, supported by the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, and was previously ordained Maggid by Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi z”l. Rabbi Zelig holds a Masters in Jewish Studies from the Graduate Theological Union. He previously worked as an environmental lawyer protecting food and farms and has long guided groups into the wilderness. Zelig livesin Occidental, CA, with his wife, Rachel, and his kids, Emma and Ilana.

SooJi Min-Maranda believes in the power of personal stories. Whether providing direct services, advocating for policy change, or fundraising for nonprofit organizations, Ms. Min-Maranda begins with personal narratives that illustrate the need for programs, policies, and resources that raise the voices of those underserved and underrepresented in mainstream society. A seasoned nonprofit executive with 18 years of experience, Min-Maranda brings a for-profit mindset to the nonprofit arena. She advocates for racial justice, strategic partnerships and efficient, effective resource allocation.

Previously, Min-Maranda was the executive director of Temple Beth Emeth, a 600+ member reform Jewish synagogue in Ann Arbor, MI; the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH), a nonprofit policy and advocacy organization that focuses on adolescent sexual health and parenting; and Korean American Community Services, a comprehensive social service agency in Chicago. The Asian Health Coalition of Illinois presented her with its Outstanding Community Health Advocate Award in 2008.

She is currently in the seventh cohort of the Schusterman Fellowship and the fourth cohort of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York Collective. She recently completed Cohort 3 of Leading Edge’s CEO Onboarding Program for high-level organizational leaders in the American Jewish community. Min-Maranda served on Governor Quinn’s Illinois Human Services Commission from 2010-2012 and is a member of the Selah Leadership Program’s National Executive Cohort 9. She was a 2010 Chicago Community Trust Fellow and a 2010 Chicago Foundation for Women Impact Awardee. She is a 2007 Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership Delegate and a 2006 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow. A graduate of Barnard College, Min-Maranda holds master’s degrees from Northwestern University and The University of Chicago.

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

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.