Staff

Hazzan Diana Brewer was ordained through the ALEPH Ordination Program, where she now assists the Cantorial Program and student affairs. She is on the faculty of the Davennen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI) and serves as hazzan at the Jewish Community of Amherst in Massachusetts, leading Shabbat, weekday, and High Holy Day services. Also finding joy in teaching, she tutors individuals in voice and hazzanut, and works with B’nei Mitzvah students. She came to hazzanut from an active professional life in Early Music performance as a singer and string player. She earned her Master of Music at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA.

photo courtesy of MileChai Studios

Yonit’s educational background is in clinical social work and her career has focused on community building and management of informal education and higher education programs.  Yonit lived in Israel for 15 years, first working as the program coordinator for Young Judaeas’ post college internship program followed by her role as the program manager for Tel Aviv University’s International MA Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation.  Yonit moved to Denver Colorado in 2021 and worked as an academic advisor for exploratory students at CU Boulder from 2022 – 2025.  

With these experiences, Yonit has found a deep passion for creating programming that complements curricular content and for connecting students to community and networking opportunities that align with their future interests and goals.  Yonit is excited to bring these experiences to her role as the Alumni and Community Relations Manager at Aleph.

During her down time, Yonit loves to spend time with her family – husband Ofer and 10 month old daughter Inbal and explore cultural and outdoor activities in Denver and Colorado.

Rabbi Diane Elliot, based in the Bay Area, is a spiritual teacher, ritual leader, dancer, writer, and somatic therapist who inspires her students to become clearer channels for Presence through awareness and movement practices, dance, chant, and nuanced interpretations of Jewish sacred text. For six years she directed ALEPH’s Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body training program, and she continues to work to bring the essential wisdom of the Jewish path to diverse Jewish and interfaith groups.

Daniel brings experience in community programming, informal education, and conference & event management to his role at ALEPH. His past work includes planning and executing events for an academic organization, serving as New York regional director for USY, and spending a year living and working in Izmir, Turkey as part of JDC’s Global Service Corps fellowship. He is passionate about creating programming and events that build genuine, open-minded, and joyful communities.

Rabbi Debra Kolodny 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.

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.

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 20 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 a Schusterman Senior Fellow (Cohort 7) and was in 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 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

A very grateful student of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, Galya is honored to carry forward his teachings, vision, and unique approach to Judaism. With over 14 years of experience in nonprofit operations, programming, and fundraising, she finds joy in facilitating acts of generosity.  Galya views herself as a bridge—connecting those who wish to offer their resources to make an impact, with organizations doing transformative work. The accomplishments of ALEPH inspire her every day.

Galya’s previous roles include serving as the director of a Tibetan meditation center and working in development for several Bay Area-based nonprofits, including the Jewish Federation. Prior to that, she spent more than a decade teaching high school English.

Certified in Community Storytelling by the Hearth of Southern Oregon and in Mindfulness Mentorship with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, Galya’s spiritual and professional path has been shaped by several remarkable teachers, including her primary mentor, Gyatrul Rinpoche, who passed in 2023, leaving an enduring imprint on her heart. With humility and gratitude for all her teachers, Galya has been guiding meditation and compassion cultivation for the past 18 years for nonprofits, corporations, and schools, weaving these practices into all aspects of her work.

Rabbi Daniel Siegel was the Rabbinic Director of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal from 1997-2004, Director of Spiritual Resources, Associate Dean of the Ordination Programs, and Chair of the Rabbinic Studies department until the summer of 2015, and taught the senior rabbinical students for many years . He is the founding Rabbinic Director of ALEPH Canada and of the Integral Halachah Institute. Reb Daniel is the editor of ALEPH’s Siddur Kol Koreh project and numerous teachings of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.

Lynda believes that one of the greatest blessings in life is to love what you do, and for her it’s accounting – the precision of her work and the knowledge that it’s making a difference makes her happy. After beginning college expecting to become an engineer, she spent many years in different industries as a full charge bookkeeper, freelance bookkeeper, CFO and business manager before finding her home in the non-profit finance world working with a variety of different religious, educational, historical and arts organizations. She has helped to build several businesses from the ground up, including being an integral part of setting up systems and technology. Her goal is always to ensure that all accounts reconcile and all accounting is compliant with the letter of the law. Of course, the most joyous gift she’s been given are her two children, who are in finance and an engineer! When she’s not engrossed in spreadsheets and accounting software, you’ll find her running trails, hiking up tall mountains, or riding her motorcycle into the sunset.