Myriam Ackermann-Sommer, BA, MA, was born and raised in Southern France and has been living in Paris for four years with her husband Emile. She earned a B.A. in English in 2016, majoring in English and minoring in Hebrew at the Sorbonne while completing an undergraduate degree in Humanities at the École Normale Supérieure, a selective French college. In the course of her master’s degree in English literature, Myriam focused mainly on Jewish American authors and Jewish philosophy, writing essays on Nobelist I.B. Singer (main thesis: “Broken Shards: Vulnerability in the Works of Isaac Bashevis Singer”) and Bernard Malamud (“Am I My Brother’s Keeper? The Ethical Imperative in the Short Stories of Bernard Malamud. A Dialogue With Emmanuel Levinas”, an essay at the intersection with contemporary French Jewish philosophy). She has also been inquiring into the representation of the sacred in Judaism in articles like “The Holy of Holies; or, the Architecture of Absence”. Myriam has had an extensive training in teaching and translation, and regularly gives talks in Jewish as well as academic contexts, starting a co-ed study group (“Ayeka”) with her husband in 2017 for Parisian students and young professionals. Her favourite subjects are gender representations and notably the challenge of egalitarianism in Orthodox Judaism, the exchange of ideas and insights between Judaism and contemporary critical theory, and Jewish ethics. A dedicated musician, Myriam has also earned a diploma in transverse flute in 2015 and loves to enhance the spiritual dimension of Judaism by singing her heart out in prayer groups.

Stefanie Adler is a Holistic Nutritionist, Women’s Health Expert, Birth Doula, Hormone Guru and Nourishing Experience Creator. She is a womanprenuer through and through.

She is an avid community builder, and she is constantly inspired by her community to create an open space for individuals to explore their connection to the Jewish world.

She is passionate about the intersection of physical and spiritual wellness, believing that nourishing the body and soul through whole foods, self-love, and community, and is essential to wellness. She absolutely loves making Jewish wisdom, applicable to everyone and digestible to those who are not as familiar with Jewish Learning. She believes that by breaking down texts and ideas collectively, and using engaging and creative modalities, the group gets to wrestle with the universe, history and our culture, in a meaningful and productive way!

She has been the educator or chef-educator at several retreats, among them: Judaism and Self Care, Techless Adulting, Return of the Wild Woman, Garden of Eden, while additionally having planned her own retreat, Ancient Wisdom: Modern Wellness. Cooking, yoga, educating, reading/book club, running and walking barefoot are her passions!

Ask me about meal planning to maximize your retreat experience, creative hosting, all things women’s health and how to make rituals your own and meaningful to your community!

Sophia is a passionate yogi who spends most of her time in Jewish spaces, as a Jewish teen educator and a resident at Moishe House! She graduated with a degree in Psychology from Macaulay Honor’s College at Queens College before heading into the Jewish Education field. She is heavily involved in her own Jewish community in Boston, including completing a fellowship with Serve the Moment Boston, volunteering in community engagement as a resident of Moishe House Cambridge, and chairing a committee of the Young Adult task force at Boston’s CJP Federation. She is passionate about mindfulness, sustainable living, good reads, and is a long-term beginner guitar player.

Matthew has worked with many different age groups and had multiple experiences leading jewish experiences in a retreat type setting. During his time on staff at Kivunim, Matthew led programing centered around unplugging for shabbat, and adding mindfulness and intention framework for the participants. From his time at Ramah Matthew planned lessons incorporating nature into campers’ shabbat experience. Matthew is also skilled in content creation, travel, photography/video production, community engagement, social media marketing, the Adobe Suite, event planning, and more.

Liz Alpern is co-founder of The Gefilteria and co-author of The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods. She is passionate about the ways in which food creates meaningful gatherings, builds identity and strengthens community. In 2017, she created the international party and fundraising series, Queer Soup Night. She is also a food systems consultant for national non-profit Fair Food Network. Liz has spent the pandemic leading dozens of virtual workshops and is shocked by the power of food to leap through the screen.

Guide training for Holocaust journeys to Poland, Federation of Israeli Youth Movements.
B.Ed, Informal Education, Beit Berl Academic College.

– National Service Corps – volunteer coordinator
– Community coordinator, Na’amat (The Movement for the Advancement of the Status of Women) – Regional director, NOAL (Working and Learning Youth) youth movement
–  Founder and director of “tzeva acher” – a cooperatively owned business for educational graffiti workshops.

Shalom, my name is Yonatan Arnon.

I am a social entrepreneur, community organizer, educator, dialogue facilitator dancer and rabbinical student.

I hold a M.B.A from the Morton Mandel Social Leadership program and am I lead workshops about Jewish Entrepreneurship, Design thinking, narrative writing, branding & marketing, community organizing. For more information please visit my Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonatanarnon/

As an LGBTQ+ activist in Israel I have worked to empower and share my personal coming out of the closet story in order to empower and grant tools for others to feel more comfortable with their sexual identity.

I founded and currently co-direct “Mabad-Mibad” an emerging young adult community of Arabs and Jews from East and West Jerusalem. I worked for the past five years in conflict resolution and dialogue facilitation between Arabs and Jews.

I am also currently a rabbinical student and a Weitzman-JDC Jewish Peoplehood fellow at JIR-HUC.

For the past three years of my rabbinic journey I have integrated my spiritual practice with my years of facilitating movement experiences, founding my signature MoveMeant-Embodying Sacred Texts workshop.

In these workshops we embody Jewish rituals such as Kabbalat Shabbat, Havdalah, Torah Services that integrate movement, live singing (musicians singing in Heb, Eng, Yiddish and more), Jewish texts, and mindfulness practices. We also lead workshops in a variety of uniquely-tailored and time-specific adaptations. Over the past 10 months, we’ve offered over 35 workshops so far to different communities (including Limmud UK, City Shul Toronto, Romemu, JCC Manhattan, BBYO, JNF, Nava Tehila, Lab/Shul, Moishe House PLR & Moishe House Israel and more) all over the globe over zoom.

For more information about MoveMeant please visit our website https://www.embodymovemeant.com/

Hoping to co-create with you!

Yours,
Yonatan

Spiritual Mentor integrating sound, BioAcoustics, NLP/HiTea to reclaim your power.
Artist, Radio Host

iLan is a certified Sound Therapist who embraces the divine power of words and Kabbalistic meditation in the healing process and certified in Reiki, Solution Focused Coaching and NLP and BioAcoustics.

Through heart guided Kabbalistic meditation, sacred names, musical instruments, Tibetan bowls, and HiTea™ custom tea mix, (www.facebook.com/hiteamix), you will be guided on a journey inwards, cultivating healing to your body, clearing energy blocks, releasing toxins.

I grew up between the fields and orchards of a Kibbutz
Singing since I remember myself
Loving music and people of all flavors
Looking for experiences with supporting frameworks that are loose enough to step out of
Full of contradictions and harmony, loving to fill what is lacking
Creating musical garden gatherings in all seasons
Preferring a little darkness with gentle lighting
I feel most at home inside the complexity of Jerusalem
Intuitive exploration of the world of prayer
Active member of an innovative, bourgeois and egalitarian Jewish community
Producing cultural events, singing in ensembles
Shy Baal Tefillah with a yet developing voice
Student of movement, mountain runner and practicing Yogi
Israeli-Palestinian peace activist dreaming of shared land and life
Stares at cats with wonder and scatters solar street pianos around that world that bring happiness to people’s lives

Meir Berman, Baka, Jerusalem, Married with two daughters, a garden and two cats

Ezra Bookman is a ritual designer, artist, educator, and facilitator exploring the transformational power of ritual. He is the founder of Ritualist, a creative studio designing rituals to help build more conscious companies and connected communities; the former Artistic Director for Lab/Shul, an experimental, artist-driven, God-optional community for sacred Jewish gatherings in NYC; and the youngest member on the Board of Directors of The Secret City, an Obie Award-winning arts organization.

Working alongside Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, Shira Kline, and Naomi Less, Ezra spent 6 years helping grow Lab/Shul from a small startup to a robust community. He has taught workshops, designed rituals, and co-created events with prominent organizations such as Moishe House, Union of Reform Judaism, Hebrew Union College, BASE Hillel, UJA-Federation of NYC, Slingshot, The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, The Museum of Jewish Heritage, Schusterman Foundation, Honeymoon Israel, United Nations Church Center, New York Mayor’s Office, Reboot, Jewish Emergent Network, IKAR, Judson Memorial Church, New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, Death Over Dinner, and The Darrell D. Friedman Institute for Professional Development.

Rena Branson (they/them) is a Jewish composer, ritual leader, educator, and Reiki Master who uplifts personal and collective healing through song. They founded A Queer Nigun Project (aqueernigunproject.org), which organizes singing events for LGBTQIA+ folks and sends audio content to people in the Jewish community who are incarcerated. Rena writes new tunes for liturgy and teaches traditional Hasidic melodies, expanding access to their power for all seekers. Rena has had the privilege of participating in many Jewish fellowship cohorts, including the Pardes Experiential Educators Program, Yeshivat Hadar, Hadar’s Rising Song Residency, the Brandeis Collegiate Institute, Beloved Builders, and the Mitsui Collective Kollel for somatics practitioners. They have served as the Cantorial Soloist at Congregation Leyv Ha-Ir in Philadelphia, created social justice-based teen programming as the Assistant Director of Chester County Hebrew High School, and worked on the Cultural Organizing Team at Linke Fligl—a queer Jewish farm. Rena’s first full-length album, “Love Is the Ground,” is out on all streaming platforms. Learn more at renabranson.com!

Cherie Brown is the founder and executive director of the National Coalition Building Institute, an anti oppression leadership training organization. She leads workshops on antisemitism, the intersection of anti semitism and racism, Jews and Climate justice. She is the author of: Taking on antisemitism while staying in Coalition: A Leadership Initiative for College Campuses.

Dvir Cahana is a rabbinic student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He founded the Amen Institute, a cultural center of art creation and Jewish exploration. Dvir has infused his love of yiddishkeit into the creation of 10 studio albums (https://rivir.bandcamp.com/music , https://harmoho.bandcamp.com/music). He has performed on stages all over North America with Rappers and Rabbis and as a solo artist.

Melanie Catan is an ​Uruguayan actress​, writer, director, producer and educator. She graduated from the Multidisciplinary Drama Art School (EMAD, ​Uruguay,​ 2015) and has a ​BA​ in Visual Communication​s​ (ORT University, ​Uruguay, ​2016).
She was nominated ​twice​ ​for ​“best actress” by the Florencios ​A​wards (Montevideo, Uruguay)​ and ​the ​play she ​co-w​rote​, “El mundo de Juan”, won the first prize in the category of “Best Multidisciplinary Play” (Florencios Awards, 2017). As a writer and director Catan has several other works in development. In 2020 she won a mention in the Onettis awards (Uruguay). Nowadays she lives in Barcelona and she is currently Studying Master degree in Theatrical Studies.

From a young age Melanie have experienced her Jewish identity as a part of her life. Both, her way of seeing the world and her personality, are influenced by Judaism: its philosophy, values and education. This is traduced naturally in her art, which tries to be as faithful as possible to her feeling and thinking. In fact, it was her involvement with the Jewish community that triggered her interest in creative writing. When she started her undergraduate studies in acting, she was already writing and directing plays for the Jewish movement that she was part of, as well as getting involved in the theatre plays that were produced in Jewish schools. Moreover, her first play, a children´s play called “Juan’s World”, emerged as a response to fundraising for one of the most important institutions of the Uruguayan Jewish community: The Jewish Elderly home. That is why she has always seen the influence of Judaism together with her art as an opportunity for growth and progress. The dialogue and intersection, has been constant and fruitful, and has always driven her to more.

She is currently involved in projects which are strongly committed to generating a social impact through theatre. She is deeply interested in exploring how artistic events have the potential to open doors, generate dialogue and mold our worldviews. She is currently directing and producing a project entitled “The Black Box”, which was created by Helen Marcos in Mexico. This project employs improvisation, representation and interaction to cover a wide array of social issues.

During her adolescence and youth, she volunteered at the Tnuá Betar for a 15 year period. During this period, she held different positions, such as: Madrija of young people of 9 and 10 years old, young people between 15 and 16 years old and people between 19 and 20 as well as a member of the hanagá (directory) of Betar fulfilling the position of external relations and also of preparing activities, seminars, talks, majanot etc. for the bogrim and the madrijim. She was also in charge of the educational area for all the bogrim of the Tnua advising, training and helping with any doubt or issue they might have with the young people they could be in charge of. On the other hand, she was also in charge specifically of the madrijim of young people between 12 and 13 years old meeting them each week in order to make a plan for all the year. Once she finished her stage as a volunteer, she continued participating in the different activities such as a speaker and teacher of: The Shoa project doing hasbara referred to the Shoa in non-Jewish schools and also coordinating it, as well as The institute of “Nativ” the training center for the madrijim of the tnuot.

Having told all of the above, she feels that she is qualified to be the mentor due to different reasons: her experience in all aspects of the community, both artistic and institutional. Since she was a girl, she knew very closely and deeply, all aspects of the Jewish community and she has trained throughout her life both artistically and educationally to be able to transmit all of her knowledge and reach the people who are in positions to exploit everything to their potential. Being part of different areas and institutions, made her know the community and its problems so closely, as well as Uruguayan problems in general, she has carried out many activities outside the community, She believes that she is able to demonstrate her knowledge and make people grow both personally and artistically, understanding the reason of everything we do and what the person who is listening needs from us.

Sarah Chandler aka Kohenet Shamirah Bechirah is a Brooklyn-based Jewish educator, ritualist, artist, activist, and poet. Currently, she serves as the director of Romemu Yeshiva and the CEO of Shamir Collective. She teaches, writes, and consults on issues related to Jewish earth-based spiritual practice, farming, and mindfulness. Ordained as a Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess) in 2015, she is studying as a shamanic healer apprentice at The Wisdom School of S.O.P.H.I.A and Kabbalistic imaginal dream work at The School of Images.

Rabbi Atara Cohen is passionate about Torah which speaks to our social, intellectual, and emotional realities. She was ordained by Yeshivat Maharat and currently teaches Torah She’beal Peh at The Heschel Middle School. She has studied Torah in a variety of settings, including Midreshet Nishmat, Hadar, Drisha and a BA in religion at Princeton University. During rabbinical school, Atara focused on human rights and social change through various fellowships. She served as a rabbinic intern at the Columbia-Barnard Hillel and as a Cooperberg-Rittmaster Pastoral and Educational Intern at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. Atara lives in Manhattan, where she runs, knits, and experiments with Persian cooking.

My highest values are connection & growth.

The workplace is rife with distraction, confusion, and destructive conflict. I help individuals and teams transform that into focus, clarity, and constructive conflict.

As a consultant, I apply evidence-based principles & practices to help values-driven organizations infuse growth, learning, & excellence into everything they do. Working on the individual, team, and organizational levels, I integrate system design with personal transformation.

As a coach, I help individuals shift back into clarity and connection so they can act the way they choose to, not just the way they’re used to. This “choicefulness” helps folks experience an immense sense of freedom and energy and align their lives with their values.

I have consulted, facilitated, and coached individuals and teams at both startups (e.g. Rippling, First Round, Blend Labs, Truework, Galvanize, Imperfect Produce) and established organizations (e.g. Microsoft, World Economic Forum, Johns Hopkins University).

Natalie is a native New Yorker, speaks six languages, and has traveled and lived across the world serving different communities through dance, teaching, and environmental work. Primarily a dancer, she has spent her life investigating and expressing movement and has recently been certified as a teacher of The Axis Syllabus. She also launched her food pop-up called “IMA” (mother in Hebrew) that represents the culinary traditions of her Israeli/Middle Eastern/North African roots. She now resides in New Orleans and is moving to Tallahassee with her partner Russell and one-year-old daughter Ruelle for Russell’s graduate school.

Hadar Cohen is an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic and artist whose work focuses on multi-religious spirituality, politics, social issues, and community building. She is the founder of Malchut, a spiritual skill-building school teaching Jewish mysticism and direct experience of God. She teaches and consults in a variety of settings and formats, from one-on-one coaching to online group classes and in-person retreats.  Her podcast, Hadar’s Web, features community conversations on spirituality, healing, justice, and art. Hadar is a 10th-generation Jerusalemite with lineage roots also in Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq and Iran. Subscribe to her Substack for access to her latest writings, offerings, and media appearances.

hadarcohen.me or malchut.one.  // @hadarcohen32

As a young adult, Alison was desperate for guidance on how to navigate her tumultuous, overwhelmingly empathetic internal landscape, not to mention the world. Through attending Jewish and Buddhist meditation retreats, she realized that through intentional practice it was possible to develop a toolkit for lovingly riding the wild waves of being human. A former public high school teacher and mindfulness program director, Alison incorporates trauma-informed practices into her coaching, leadership, and racial justice work in school communities. She also mentors in Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program, and offers workshops and one-on-one sessions that focus on supporting the well-being of givers across fields. Alison has trained with the Jewish Meditation Center of Brooklyn, the UMass Center for Mindfulness, Mindful Schools, and Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. A few years ago, she felt called to contribute more time and energy to Jewish communal contexts and now teaches at sixth & i, on Jewish retreats, and virtually. Alison loves any/all opportunities to integrate community-building, contemplative practice, transformative Jewish ritual, social justice, and joy.

On the most recent Peer-Led Retreat Alison taught on, she facilitated:
– Self-care and Communal Care through a Jewish Lens
– Conscious, Compassionate Communication Infused with Jewish Wisdom
– Hitbodedut: An introduction to Jewish Meditation Practice in Nature
– Kabbalat Shabbat & Havdallah rituals

Rabbi Stephanie Crawley is a rabbi at Temple Micah in Washington D.C., and one of the founders of The Micah Storefront Project, which creates new, accessible Jewish spaces all around DC. She has served as a Jewish educator and musician across the US (from NYC to Ohio to Cali) and in Jerusalem, the Czech Republic, and Belarus. Stephanie has worked as a Spiritual Counselor at Beit T’Shuvah, a Jewish addiction treatment center; an education fellow at the Brandeis Collegiate Institute; and a tour educator with NFTY in Israel. Current passions are having conversations about sticky issues like addiction, class, and conflict with dignity and openness, and finding bridges between the explosion of rituals in secular society (think self-care and mindfulness) and Jewish wisdom. She loves tacos almost as much as she loves Torah, and believes that the search for hidden voices in sacred texts helps us find our own.

Andrew Davies is an improviser and facilitator based in South Philly where he lives with his wife Molly Wernick and tiny dog Ducky. Andrew received a B.A. in English Literature from Brandeis University, went on to study Improvisation at The Magnet Theater, and received a certificate of Facilitation from Georgetown University.

In 2011 Andrew Co-Founded The Bible Players, a comedy team which is Improv-ing Jewish Lives. The Bible Players have toured to 25 states, visiting hundreds of camps, schools, and synagogues teaching Jewish Values with a sense of humor. He walks softly and carries a big Shtick!

In 2016 Andrew Co-Founded the Non-profit CharacTours, an interactive theatrical walking experience where the past visits you. He is the Executive Director of both The Bible Players and CharacTours. Andrew can be reached at Andrew@TheBiblePlayers.com

Julie Dean specializes in Mussar learning and Soulful Facilitator Development. She is the Founder of Twin Cities Mussar, the largest citywide Mussar initiative in the country. twincitiesmussar.org She has over 30 years of experience as a group facilitator and combines her background in experiential education with a passion for Jewish spirituality. She provides a six month training course for people in advanced facilitation through her innovative course: Cultivating a Wise Heart. Julie’s workshops and retreats are dynamic, engaging and meaningful. She empowers people to connect with Jewish spirituality in ways that are relevant, uplifting and community building. LGBTQIA+ sensitive.

Accomplished mentor and coach, proficient at development and implementation of educational projects. Successful experience of leading student groups as well as working with people of different ages and backgrounds. Passionate about translating complex issues into approachable material. Expert in Jewish culture and tradition.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Leadership in Jewish Education and Communal Service Course, Jewish Agency for Israel, 2021 Masa “Master + Status” Tel Aviv, 2019-2020 Professional Course of Coaches and Leaders, 2017-2018
Onward NOAM Olami, 2017
Taglit Madrichim Congress, 2017
Conference of Madrichim Professionals, 2016
Professional Development Course for Trainers of Hillel Case School for Madrichim, 2015 – 2016 Madrichim School for Community Camps in the CIS and Baltic, 2014Youth Jewish Leadership Project “Metsuda”, 2013
Hillel Case Madrichim School, 2012-2013

CAREER
2019 – PRESENT
Hillel, Metsuda
2017 – 2019
Hillel
2017 – 2019
Jewish Leadership Project “Metsuda”
EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS CONSULTANT A
dviced managers of educational projects Developed educational plans
Generated and suggested ideas of projects and programs
UKRAINIAN VOLUNTEER NETWORK COORDINATOR
Initiated and coordinated volunteer projects Managed social media resources, providing content for community pages on Facebook and Instagram Developed and ensured marketing strategy JEWISH TRADITION EDUCATOR
Educated young Jewish leaders
Developed workshops and classes, promoting the principles of informal education
Mentored and supported students on their professional development
Jerusalem, Israel +97258-757-1717
ilonkadidenko@gmail.com linkedin.com/in/atara-didenko
Accomplished mentor and coach, proficient at development and implementation of educational projects. Successful experience of leading student groups as well as working with people of different ages and backgrounds. Passionate about translating complex issues into approachable material. Expert in Jewish culture and tradition.
Other experience includes performing as a Madrich on Taglit, Summer Children and Family Camps, Educational Programs Deputy Coordinator and PR Coordinator.

Maximiliano Diel has a Masters degree in Education, and a degree in Psychology, focused in Psychoanalysis.

Since 2008 he has taught the History of Zionism, Jewish Culture, Theory of Knowledge and Shoah at the baccalaureate in the Escuela Integral Hebreo Uruguaya, which examines issues of Shoah, Antisemitism, the history of the Jewish state, and major Jewish thinkers, philosophers and writers. He has designed and imparted an online course named “Moses: between psychoanalysis, archeology and jewish tradition”, at the Universidad Hebraica from Mexico, and has been invited to teach at several universities in Uruguay.

He has collaborated in different Jewish publications and radio programs like Radio Sefarad from Spain and the monthly Relaciones.

Languages spoken: Spanish, English, Hebrew.

Rabbi Aderet Drucker is an innovative spiritual leader, inspired educator, social entrepreneur, relationship-based community organizer, and serves as Executive Director of the Den Collective. Since her adolescence she has expressed a love of meeting new people as well as an interest and instinct for gathering people together in sacred community to learn, connect, celebrate, heal, and to create impactful change in our world.

After receiving her rabbinic ordination and a concentration in pastoral care from the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Aderet served as senior rabbi for a congregation in Northern California. She has also served as the Campus Rabbi for Hillel at the University of Maryland, where she was part of UMD’s Interfaith Campus Chaplaincy and a co-founder of UMD’s first Interfaith Student Fellowship.

Rabbi Aderet holds a certificate in Mindful Leadership in Higher Education from NYU’s Of Many Institute For Multifaith Leadership, is an AJWS Global Justice Fellow, and a fellow of RRC’s Campus Chaplaincy for a Multifaith World. She is an alumnus of the Gladstein Fellowship in Entrepreneurial Leadership, the Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship, and the Clergy Leadership Incubator. Rabbi Aderet loves traveling to different places, spending time by the water, cooking and coming up with new recipes, and having spontaneous dance parties with her husband, Brett, and two incredible daughters.

Rebekah Erev ha Kohenet is an artist, teacher, feminist, queer, dream worker, and healer living with disabilities. They are of Ashkenazi and Celtic Isles ancestry, living on the occupied lands of the Squaxin, Chehalis, and Nisqually people in Olympia, WA. In 2014 they self published the Moon Angels/ Malakh Halevanah Oracle Deck. They are joyfully working on Queer Mikveh Project – collaborating with the transformative power of water towards healing, liberation and justice from settler colonialism, assimilation and white supremacy and, The School of Letters – a class, oracle deck and book using the Hebrew letters and connections to plants, animals, the stars and hidden stories of diaspora. Their activist work includes leadership as a core member of SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) and nationally they work with JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace). Learn more at: www.RebekahErevStudio.com

Mazal/Maz Etedgi (they/them/theirs), is a trans/non-binary artist, arab/mizrahi/amazigh jew, spoonie/chronically ill person, Drama Therapist, community facilitator, clown, poet, and herbal medicine maker living on Ohlone land in Huichin Village (Berkeley, CA). Maz utilizes imagination, play, and ritual as tools for liberation, healing and connection. They honor, study and practice the plant medicines, liturgy, piyutim (sacred songs) and rituals of their mizrahi, arab jewish and amazigh lineages. Their plantcestral herbal practice and apothecary (B’samim Apothecary) offers community herbal support through consultations, custom formulations and herbal ritual. They graduated with a Masters in Counseling Psychology and Drama Therapy in December 2020 from the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Gabriel currently works at the experience Documentation and Information Centre on Argentine Jewry, “Marc Turkow” Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) since 2016. He provides administration of the different collections and attention to scholars and students from Argentina and abroad. He also coordinates 10 volunteers and oversees the assignment of tasks and monitoring and evaluation of results. Gabriel is also involved in interdisciplinary work with other areas for the creation of multimedia content. He has experience in the assistance in strategic planning with management positions as well as the generation of reports and presentations, budget management and relationship with suppliers. He has helped with the implementation of the “Creando Memoria” contest, aimed at high school students where they have contact with educational institutions and teachers and the development of activities (communication, selection of winners, awards).

Tzivya Feldman was an MHWOW host from 2019-2023 and is an alumni of 4HQ in 2023. She has hosted a Sukkot Retreat, a Pesach Rertreat, and a Jewish-ancestry retreat for queer and trans Jews; and been the educator for Soulful Science retreat, and Earth-based Judaism on the WA Coast.

Tzivya is a queer wilderness educator, with a passion for rounded rocks, edible flowers, and crafting from foraged materials. She is a radical community organizer in Portland, OR, deeply invested in cultivating thoughtful, inclusive spaces for marginalized Jews.

See more at taylorfeldman.me, or @tzivya_makes

Hindy Finman is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College and loves fusing her passion for Torah and commitment to normalizing mental health into her teachings. She enjoys challenging our traditions and texts to align with the here and now in nature’s classroom- the great outdoors. She is an avid dirt lover, be it ceramics, gardening, creating composting systems, or trying to understand the Earth’s messages.

Ash (they/them) is an East Coast-based, nonbinary, queer performance artist and storyteller specializing in drama education in Jewish spaces. They have over a decade of experience teaching in the arts, and have a special interest in examining and queering Jewish stories and Torah. Ash is a multimodal creator with a background in a variety of visual art forms, they are a passionate creative with a love for communication and personal growth.

Alexandra Fishman, LMSW, MA, PhD is an Orthodox Jewish woman from Brooklyn. She had a masters in Jewish studies and a PhD specialized in data and antisemitism research. She is the Director of Data and Analytics at StandWithUs and evaluates external reports which emerge in the Jewish community, as well as creating original surveys and research projects. She can lecture on a variety of topics related to antisemitism, data and surveys, Jewish studies, Halacha, Hashkafa and rabbinic Judaism.

Yael Flusberg is a yoga therapist, writer and coach who helps people find resiliency, relief and creativity in the midst of transition and loss, and in the aftermath of trauma. In her individual sessions, classes and training, Yael helps students assess their physical, psychological and spiritual health; learn evidence-based techniques that help them with their particular issues and conditions; and ultimately engage in sustainable yoga and other healing practices that helps them experience every season and stage of life as meaningful. The daughter of Holocaust-surviving immigrants and the first in her family to earn a college degree, Yael’s spiritual journey began as a small child attending an orthodox yeshiva, mesmerized with the rich storytelling and re-imagining that goes into every single sentence in the Bible. Her 19-poem collection, The Last of My Village, won Poetica Magazine’s 2010 Chapbook Contest; other work has appeared in Lilith, The Poetry of Yoga, on NPR’s Latino USA, and in many anthologies. In her 20s while working as a community organizer and social justice advocate for immigrant and refugee communities, she pursued studies in a range of mindfulness technologies, ranging from Kabbalah to Q’ero Andean to Terevada to Tibetan Buddhism to Yoga. Yael is affiliated with the GW Center for Integrative Medicine, and is the Board chair of Circle Yoga Cooperative in DC, and of Antidote, the nation’s only nonprofit that takes a public health approach to the issue of psychological manipulation of extremist organizations. More info at www.yaelflusberg.com

Alice Frank is creator of Silence Retreat at home retreat- ZEROBOX and teacher of silence. A Poet, Performance Artist, and Filmmaker, she was named one of the Top 100 Creatives Creating Change by ORIGIN Magazine. She has taught Shal(om) Yoga, which she created, for the past 18 years. Her short film, “Open,” (coming soon) defines her concept of Uniamory and navigates how to optimally spread love around the world. She is the creator of OnesiesForOneness.com and is a lover and teacher of Kabbalah. She is a dynamic speaker who has taught Public Speaking to Fortune-500 companies and Gubernatorial officials around the globe.

Rav Natan is a native of São Paulo, Brazil, currently serving as the rabbi of Congregation Etz Hayim in Arlington, VA. Ordained by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, where he received the prize for Academic Excellence in Rabbinic Literature. He has served as a rabbinic intern at congregations in Marietta, Georgia; Los Angeles, California; and São Paulo, having experience teaching children and adults, staffing youth groups and summer camps, creating innovative family-oriented services, providing pastoral care, and leading large and small lifecycle events.

While studying in Israel, Rav Natan studied to become a shochet (ritual slaughterer) and later became the head mashgiach (Kashrut supervisor) for the American Jewish University and Camp Ramah in California. His rabbinic work also is informed by his background in business administration, marketing, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit management.

In his spare time, Rav Natan loves watching football, cooking, biking, studying Talmud, and talking about current events.

Kendra Fried is the founder of Neshamah Yoga & Wellness.™ She is a yoga therapist, educator, and facilitator of embodied Jewish devotion.

She is a board-certified holistic health counselor, and a graduate of the Yoga and Jewish Wisdom Teacher Training offered by Jewish Learning Works in San Francisco. In April 2025 Kendra will be a graduate of the Kol Dodi Spiritual Direction Program, offered by the Institute For Jewish Spirituality. She is honored to hold the role of spiritual companionship as you navigate life’s most meaningful questions, and explore your unique relationship to spirituality.

Kendra has been a specialist in the field of mind/body/spirit for 25 years. She leads Jewishly inspired classes and wellness retreats, independently and through organizations such as Moishe House, Camp Nai Nai Nai, and the Grief and Growing™ retreats offered by the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center. She has provided ECE courses for the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, to support self-regulation for teachers and their students. Kendra has also established a staff and clergy wellness initiative at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, California, and has extended that to the Women’s Rabbinic Network.

Her soul’s passion and calling are to guide people inward on a journey toward healing, transformation, and a deeper connection to themselves and the Divine.

I fell in love with Hebrew at a very young age. Raised in contemporary New York Jewish culture, I attended Jewish day school and a Reconstructionist synagogue. Even after two Bat Mitzvahs I found little meaning in the tradition, drawn only to the music and dance. In my search for meaning, I encountered Buddhism which I delved into deeply for over ten years. In the course of my Buddhist training towards an M.Div. equivalency, I returned to my root tradition. I studied in New Mexico, California, Israel, and online with various teachers. Through my journey I found connection to my blood lineages: rabbinic, chassidic (mystical Jewish), and the Israelite priesthood. I grew a particular connection to my deceased grandfather, an orthodox rabbi who founded a synagogue in Queens and was the rabbi at Grossingers, a well-to-do New York resort.

At Vassar College I studied Anthropology and Chinese, and Eastern Classics at St. John’s College. My love of classical texts broadened in scope from east to west. In 2015 I was unexpectedly offered rabbinic ordination in a private hand-to-hand ceremony by Rabbi Mark Siedler. Two years later I began a translation of Genesis into English, the only contemporary translation set to print by a woman. 

I led Jewish meditation retreats nationally for five years through Moishe House and was a Jewish educator at myriad synagogues for a wide range of ages. I’ve led Jewish women’s circles and Hebrew chanting circles in Hawaii and California. I lead Hebrew Kirtan (chanting), Shabbat, Jewish holidays, classes and ceremonies for diverse crowds: a mix of non-Jewish, non-practicing Jewish, and practicing Jewish people. My approach is welcoming and universal.

I am a polyglot, speaker of 5 languages (Spanish, Hebrew, Mandarin, and Thai) and am also a musician, composer, writer, poet, and dancer. Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I travel internationally, and can’t wait to work with you. You can find out more at lisabatya.com.

Aaron Friedman, a stand-up comedian who performs for shuls and university Hillels, was recently named “Funniest Jew in New York” by The Jewish Week. He is a graduate of List College (JTS/Columbia) and in 2018 earned a Masters in Jewish Education from the Davidson School (Jewish Theological Seminary). He is currently leading the B’nei Mitzvah program at The Brotherhood Synagogue in New York City.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Olivia spent 13 years as a student in the Jewish education system. Olivia was a head staff member at Camp Massad Manitoba, a pluralistic Hebrew immersion overnight camp where she lead programs on inclusion, Jewish identity, Jewish religion, and leadership. Over the past 3 years in Boston, she spent a great deal of time with the Moishe House, developing friendships and connections with the Jewish community. Olivia currently works as a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Olivia feels strongly connected to Judaism through art, film, comedy, food, and holiday customs. Her undergraduate thesis was on Jewish ritual objects of the Venetian Ghetto. Her most prized possessions are her great-great grandfather’s siddurim.

As the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, Olivia attends as many survivor speakers as she can during Holocaust education week.

In her spare time, Olivia enjoys watching Hebrew movies and TV with English subtitles, hosting Shabbats, putting modern spins on her bubbie’s recipes, practicing mindfulness and yoga, and reading about modern Israeli politics. She was a participant of the March of the Living and Birthright, and volunteered with Jewish organizations in Toronto.

Omer Geva is 29 years old, licensed Tour guide.
An Israeli born and raised, who grew up in a rural community (yeshuv Kehilaty) in the regional council Misgav and in the northern town Karmiel. A former coordinator in the youth movement of Ha’noar Ha’oved Ve’halomed, and a staff member in programs of Habonim Dror (UK ,USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia), young Judea (FZY) and NFTY. Working with youth and young adults.

Nowadays, I work as a tour-guide to diverse groups from all around the world and specifically in Jewish educational tourism like birthright, Masa (Aardvark) etc. My commercial name is Omer the explorer because I believe that in order to explore and understand Israel is not enough to just visit the site but to take it as part of a larger educational experience. It is also how I started my journey to become a tour guide, after visiting many sites as a staffer in different programs and every time coming to a new place without knowing the history of the land of Israel. with the quote of Yigal Allon: ” When a people do not honor its past, it lives in a present of little substance and faces a future clouded in doubt.” I started my journey to learn more about Israel and the history of the Jewish people.
I invite you to join me into the shared exploration and to learn more about the ideas that shaped who we are as a nation and people-hood.

Talya Gillman develops resources and experiences that spark and support community-building and social justice, rooted in Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching that “We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.” Many experiences and relationships have fueled her commitment to building ecosystems of connection, dignity, equity and belonging: designing and leading experiential learning initiatives with organizations including Citizen University, Jewish Family Service (Seattle), University of Washington, and Repair the World; receiving a Covenant Foundation Pomegranate Prize for emerging Jewish educators; completing an M.A. in Transformational Leadership through Seattle University; organizing with anti-racist and immigrant justice networks in WA state, and nationally through Tzedek Lab; and serving as an AJWS World Partners Fellow doing harm reduction work with Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust in Mumbai. She loves music from all corners of the world, relishes a good novel, and makes a mean chocolate chip cookie.

Simona Gilman is a Cambridge, MA based Jewish educator. Focusing on the historical and cultural experiences of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants, Simona has been leading Jewish history tours of greater Boston for the past several years and engaging the young Jewish professional community in the city. She has also led several series of learning workshops with Moishe House Cambridge, including a series on Jewish approaches to Health and Wellness. Other seminars include sessions during Shavout, Tisha B’av, and Pesach. In addition, Simona is an active member of the Russian Jewish Moishe House of Boston, leading several Shabbat and holiday events. Simona has also joined the Jewish Arts Collaborative as a chair of the Food Think Tank, crafting a history of Boston’s Jews through food.

Tamar Goldberg is a talmud-toting tree hugger. Her work in trees in Toronto’s public and private sector and her years of experience leading canoe trips for Camp Ramah have led her to the inevitable conclusion that the best place to be is outside. Tamar has studied in many institutions of Jewish learning, including TanenbaumCHAT, Associated Hebrew Schools, Pardes, and Urban Adamah. She draws on her diverse experiences in the Jewish and natural world to help others to become students of the wilderness. As a founding resident of Moishe Pod Toronto, she is dedicated to creating and facilitating Jewish community gatherings focused on ritual, song, and nature connection, with the ultimate goal of building a just society.

Rabbi Megan is the new Executive Director at Tribe 12 and cannot wait to return to Philly with her family this spring!  Megan grew up in the Chicago suburbs where she found her voice as a Jewish leader at her Conservative youth group and Reform summer camp.  She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 with a B.A. in Psychology and Women’s Studies. Megan then went to work for the Hillel at Yale University where she discovered her passion for working with young people, and realized that rather than pursuing a PhD in Clinical psychology she wanted to use the Jewish tradition as a source of meaning to empower young adults to create their own rich Jewish identities and communities. Megan was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2014 and also received an MA in Jewish Gender and Women’s Studies and a certificate in Pastoral Care and Counseling.

Megan is an alumna of the Wexner graduate fellowship. Prior to joining Tribe 12, Megan served as Senior Base Rabbi at Metro Chicago Hillel where she spent six years leading and building the thriving Base network for Jews in their 20s and 30s. She also has a passion for travel and outdoor adventure- which has currently led her to forty-eight of the fifty states in the US.

Megan and her wife Paige, and their daughters Bri and Rori, are thrilled to join the Philly Jewish community and hope to meet you soon!

Rishe Groner is the creator of The Gene-Sis, a post-Hasidic movement toward embodied experience and personal growth through Jewish mystical texts. Rishe has over 20 years of experience in Jewish education, specializing in informal environments such as festivals, retreat centers and immersive experiences. Born in Australia, Rishe graduated from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia specializing in marketing and writing. She worked for over a decade as a senior marketing strategist across a variety of non-profits and corporate clients. In 2019, Rishe was named to the Forward’s “36 Under 36” for her work bringing Jewish ceremonies and workshops to the arts and nightlife scene. As a freelance writer, her work has appeared in Lilith, Tablet, Alma, The Times of Israel, and on www.thegene-sis.com. Her meditation and ritual series “Soulhacks” based on the practice of Sefirat Haomer and her weekly emails on Parshat Hashavua reach a diverse audience around the globe. Rishe is an experienced prayer leader and focuses on creating unique immersive ceremonies utilizing dance, music and meditation. She carries the lineage of the Chabad-Chassidic tradition of meditative music and prayer and is a teacher and songleader in the Israeli-based sacred song circle community as well as for a global online community. She has been featured educator at Jewish retreats including Moishe House, Isabella Freedman, Pearlstone Center and Limmud NYC. Rishe is a leader and teacher in the Jewish psychedelic movement and is pioneering a method of mystical text study, “Braided”. Rishe is currently studying for Rabbinic ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and a songleader at Nava Tehila in Jerusalem.

Independent researcher, professional guide, lecturer, museum curator & communications specialist. Research interests: Russian-Jewish literature, heritage of Jewish artists of Ukraine, history of the Jewish community of Odessa. Gera is the co-founder of the Odessa Jewish Film Festival, manager of the J-Camp (Jewish camp for children).

Sarah is a passionate and opinionated leader. She currently runs a social media platform where she combines fashion, food, and Judaism together. She often hosts educational lives where she interacts directly with her audience and has open ended conversation about life, mental health and Judaism. The online community she formed has given her the ability to host live events with an array of different companies. Sarah is known for her natural ability to socialize, and is a great communicator. She also hosts Challah bakes in her home for a group of local girls. Sarah and her husband Yoni host Shabbat meals for students and young adults that come from a variety of Jewish affiliation. Sarah is a York University graduate of B.A. in Humanities. During her undergraduate years, Sarah was a Hebrew Sunday school teacher for kids who attended public schools during the week. She also did a year of Community leadership at Chabad of York Mills in Toronto upon completion of her studies. She then moved to New York where she studied Theater Acting during the day and was a dorm counselor for seminary girls at night. After getting married, she taught at Brooklyn Heights Jewish Academy as a full time Hebrew and English studies teacher. Sarah’s passion for education continues to grow as she constantly questions and learns with herself and the people around her. She loves to share her knowledge and listen to other people’s opinions and thoughts on complex issues within Judaism and Philosophy. Sarah has done and continues to volunteer work in Jewish and non-Jewish environments (old age homes, soup kitchens, volunteering etc). Sarah is known for her inclusivity and work she does as her Tikkum Olam.

Ophir Haberer is a Men’s Retreat Facilitator and MenschUp Facilitator/coordinator for the Jewish Center for Domestic Abuse. Ophir, along with his brother Dor, has facilitated over 7 retreats and numerous workshops focused on creating immersive experiences for men to intimately relate to one another, claim more authentic expressions of themselves, and position themselves as better allies. Ophir has facilitated and consulted with numerous Jewish organizations around masculinity, Earth-based Judaism, and Sephardi/Mizrahi culture.

He is also a permaculture, culinary, rites-of-passage, and wilderness enthusiast/educator, self-published poet, and Esalen Massage practitioner. He is teaching currently an online series on ReWilding Judaism.

Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife (she/they) sprinkles sparkles, disrupts expectations, and offers blessings wherever she goes. She serves as Founding Kohenet of Kesher Pittsburgh and Program Director of beloved, inaugural Faculty Fellow with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and also enjoys working with the Jewish Learning Collaborative, Kirva, the Avodah Institute for Social Change, and other Jewish organisations. Additionally, she delights in serving as a shlichat tzibbur, life spiral ceremony/ritual creatrix, teacher, facilitator, liturgist and songstress. Her work in these realms is informed by her lived experience as a queer, bi-racial, child-free Jewish person, her belief that Book, Body and Earth are equal sources of wisdom, the quandaries she has encountered as a scholar of the Orphan Wisdom School, and her deep commitment to a thriving, liberatory Jewish future. Keshira received Kohenet smicha in 2017 and earned her BS 2000 and MS 2001 at Carnegie Mellon University. Though both the lands of the Osage & Haudenosaunee people (aka Pittsburgh, PA) and the Gadigal people (Sydney, AUS) feel like home, Keshira and her beloved have been in an extended period of travel since January 2023.

www.keshirahalev.com

Avigayil Halpern is studying toward rabbinic ordination as a member of Hadar’s Advanced Kollel. She holds a BA in Judaic Studies from Yale University, where she completed a senior thesis exploring Talmudic narratives of women engaged in Torah discourse and the implications of such stories for feminists committed to the study of Talmud today. Avigayil is trained as a Mikveh Guide through Rising Tide, the national network of community mikvaot, and is an alumna of the Drisha Institute and Midreshet Ein HaNatziv. She has written on issues of Judaism, gender, and the left in Jewish and other media, and has been an opinion columnist for the Yale Daily News. Currently, Avigayil is writing a weekly dvar Torah on the parsha incorporating queer and feminist insights through her newsletter, Approaching (avigayil.substack.com).

Heela lives and works in Yaffo, Tel Aviv. Coming from an orthodox background in Jerusalem, Heela is a graphic designer (working at Eretz Nehederet tv show, among others), a cultural creator of colorful events around the city (notably, through collaborations with TEDER.FM and others), a member of Onya collective, the Florentine community garden, and a managing partner in CTLV urban tours, focusing on Tel-Aviv’s notorious central bus station and Neve Sha’anan neighborhood . Heela is an urban activist and community organiser, taking part in most of the significant community struggles of recent years against the municipality’s unbalanced development plans for south Tel Aviv. In the past few years she’s been studying local edible flora and botanicals and leads seasonal urban foraging tours.

BaMidbar takes a wellness lens on Judaism. We envision a Jewish community that actively supports its members in cultivating mental health and wellness, and work to ensure that Jewish youth and young adults have the confidence, skills, and community support to navigate life’s challenges and thrive in the face of adversity. BaMidbar offers clinical services and educational programming that integrates experiential learning, clinically-informed frameworks, and Jewish tradition and aims to strengthen well-being and foster resilience.

I’m a third year Rabbinic student with the Aleph Ordination Program, as well as a musician & singer who is releasing my first album in the spring of 2023, Prayers for Fire & Water. I’m also a devoted meditation & chant practitioner. I’ve co-led retreats around the Northeast centered around these transformational practices, along with dreamwork (based in part on Rabbi Jill Hammer’s Undertorah).

I’m interested in ritual as an ignitor for transformation, & a marker of time beyond time. I believe that our shared Jewish lineage holds many jewels waiting to be mined, & that in order to innovate & renew, we must first become intimately acquainted with the traditional foundation.

As a lesbian who grew up Reform, immersed in Orthodoxy while living in Jerusalem for seven years, & eventually found a home in Renewal, I see holiness as whole-y-ness. Welcoming our whole selves & those of others is the key ingredient.

If you went to know about the Holocaust and how it connects to your life today connect me

Emma Howitt is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor and a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor. Originally from Houston, Emma earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology at Texas State University and her Master’s in Mental Health Counseling at Yeshiva University. Prior to working at Shalom Austin Jewish Family Service (JFS), Emma was a therapist at several non-profit behavioral health and substance abuse agencies in the Austin area. Emma brings more than ten years’ experience as a professional in non-profit organizations. Her counseling and therapeutic focus covers a range of needs, including individuals, couples and families dealing with issues such as depression, anxiety, self-esteem, substance abuse, relationships, and life transitions.

As a therapist and community educator with Shalom Austin JFS, Emma has facilitated many psychoeducation workshops and group therapy sessions that incorporate Judaism in mental health and substance abuse treatment. She has created programming specifically at the intersection of mental health and Judaism, including a community storytelling event which highlighted Austin Jews in recovery, an ongoing Mood and Mindfulness workshop, and Shalom Village, a supportive social group for new Jewish parents. Emma is also a Gottman Institute-trained facilitator for the renowned couples’ workshop, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.

https://shalomaustin.org/jfs-staff/#howitt

Miriam Kanani, M.A. is a singer, educator, storyteller, and Jewish ritual leader and would love to support you in your next Moishe House Retreat. Miriam cna be found leading prayers, running teen programs, running summer camp, leading text studies, and playing Jewish music. She has supported two Moishe House Retreats and is able to support in the Jewish component and in the overall planning of the retreat.

Miriam attained her Master’s Degree from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She holds a Multi-Subject California Teaching Credential, as well a certificate in Jewish Education from Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. She has taught children of all ages around the Bay Area and has been a Hebrew teacher at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley for the past 6 years. She is an educator with over 17 years experience in the Jewish education world, and has taught in both preschools, elementary schools, synagogues, Jewish summer camps, and informal Jewish education programs. Miriam’s Area of Expertise is Jewish music, storytelling, ritual leadership, and teaching.

Jewish educator specializing in History, Holocaust and gender issues in the Jewish world. I have a long history in the hadrajati field and working as a teacher in different academic fields (secondary and Jewish institutions).

Dmitry is a Cantor with ROOPI (Religious Association of Communities of Progressive Judaism), a professional musician, and he conducts training courses for Bar and Bat Mitzvah. Being the only cantor for the progressive Judaism communities in the former USSR, Dmitry regularly participates in seminars, conducts services and master classes in the communities of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states. The music for prayers is the music of his heart and in his work, the motives of Jewish, Ukrainian and Russian folklore were combined.

Pippi Kessler is a nationally-recognized organizational psychologist, facilitator, trainer, and leadership coach, and has trained thousands of people at nonprofits, universities, schools, and activist groups across the country. Her coaching approach draws on ethical leadership techniques, systems theory, and social psychological research to help people translate their principles into concrete practices and behaviors, and work towards building a life and work life that they love and feel proud of. She is the New York Coordinator of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable and received her M.A. in Social-Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. To book a workshop or coaching session with Pippi, visit pippikessler.org.

Yiddish teacher, song leader, diaspora culture proveyeur – all with a queer/trans and radical lens. Binya speaks 4 languages, is Sefardi and Ashkenazi and a student of her cultures. She can lead music workshops, Talmud learnings, Jewish holiday and spiritual experiences, political education and more.

Olena Kolb has been an active member of the Jewish community of Lviv since 2002. Since 2005, Olena Kolb has been qualified as a Madrich (Lehet, JAFI program). Since then, she has been constantly improving her skills as a Jewish educator. She works with an audience of different ages: children, teenagers, adults, and the seniores. The main topics of her classes include the history of the Jews of Eastern Europe, traditions, holidays, Shabbat, Jewish epigraphy, World War II, the Holocaust, Jewish literary and religious texts. She works with Russian-speaking Jewish organizations. She has organized and participated in more than 200 expeditions to Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine and Poland. As a Methodist, she works with non-Jewish guides to teach them how to work with the complex topics of Jewish history in Eastern Europe and Ukraine in particular. She has 13 years of experience in leadership positions in Jewish organizations: she headed the non-formal education department at JAFI and was the director of Hillel Lviv. She has repeatedly headed Jewish educational camps for children. She is the co-author of guides’ manuals on Jewish Lviv during World War II, Jewish Uman, and on working with Jewish cemeteries as tourist sites.

Legally blind from Retinitis Pigmentosa, Charlie Kramer unites, magnetizes and
elevates those around him. Recently featured in USA Today, Charlie is a life coach for
the Disabled, helping his clients gain vital self advocacy skills, independence,
acceptance, and guides them in effectively accomplishing their relationship and career
goals.

An international touring speaker, performer and musical artist, Charlie has traveled
across North America, Israel and Australia sharing his talent and powerful message.
He utilizes his blindness as a tool to educate people on the importance of inclusion,
equality and radical self-acceptance.
To learn more about Charlie, his offerings and to work with him, visit
www.charliekramervision.com.

Arielle Krule is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, community organizer, and student in Yeshivat Maharat’s Core Semikha program. She is the founding director of Selah, a spiritual community of people in recovery and those who love them, grounded in Jewish tradition. Arielle also teaches and learns Mishnah at Luria Academy of Brooklyn in its middle school.

Previously, Arielle has served as Rabbinical Fellow at the Prospect Heights Shul, Scholar-In-Residence at At The Well, consultant for Hillel International’s Springboard Fellowship, and Fellowship Manager at Atra: The Center for Rabbinic Innovation. Arielle was the Director of the Jewish Learning Fellowship, the largest educational provider on college campuses in North America through the Office of Innovation, and the Director of the NYC CUNY Hillel Social Work Fellowship.

Arielle has her BSW, MSW, SIFI certification, and certificate in Spirituality and Social Work from NYU and a certificate in Experiential Education from M2: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education. She is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and UJA-Federation of NY Fellow. She can be found in Brooklyn with her husband and dog inviting you over for Shabbat.

Nature is a tremendous well-spring of Jewish spirituality as well as a source of many of our Jewish traditions and Mitzvoth. Josh brings nature and Judaism alive on walks, hikes, canoe trips and multi-day adventures. Creation is at the Beginning of the Torah because nature and all its elements are the building blocks that Abraham, Sara, Miriam, Moses and all our ancestors used to experience God and spirituality. Nature connects us to our true inner neshamas, as well as our friends and community. Josh uses nature to build connections to our traditions, ancestors and descendants as well as create bridges to having a good time outdoors! From building forts, making one-match fires and general bushcraft activities, Creation comes alive in fun and meaningful ways for participants in Josh’s programs.

Sarah Langer currently lives in Chicago, IL where she works in real estate, while balancing her work life with mindfulness practices. She is a Certified Mindfulness & Wellbeing Strategist through the United Nations University for Peace and received a Certificate in Jewish Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She specializes in leading mindfulness workshops and retreats focused on meditation and journaling. She serves in various leadership roles throughout the Jewish community including staffing Birthright, as a coach for OneTable, Moishe House Without Walls host, and Jewish United Fund committee member.

Nechama Shaina is an expressive arts therapist that utilizes dance, visual arts and drama in her therapy practice with both groups and individuals. Nechama also has a strong background as a Jewish educator, inspired by mystical teachings and traditions. Nechama is an artist and Hebrew scribe. She is passionate about integrating spirituality and personal, trans personal and interpersonal growth. Nechama also has training in dream work, meditation, mindfulness and “Avodat haLev’ song/prayer leading.

She has worked with organizations as an educator such as Hazon the contemporary Jewish museum of San Francisco and local synagogues and schools.

Yoni Levinger is an active Jewish community member and educator in San Diego. He holds a B.A. in Business Communications from F.D.U. in Teaneck, NJ and had also spent four years studying Torah and Judaism in Jerusalem and Connecticut. Shortly after arriving in San Diego in 2014, Yoni was invited to be the Education Committee Board Chair for Jewish Federation’s NextGen board. With their support, he has spearheaded a very successful Jewish learning program called Torah on Tap which invites local Rabbis to connect and learn with young adults at different breweries and bars across the city. Yoni has also created another new NextGen program called Chavurah Learning Space which is an in-depth Torah text study discussion that focuses on a variety of Jewish principles and themes. He is the lead educator for this Chavurah event.

Yoni has been the co-creator and main educator for two peer-lead Moishe House retreats and has utilized several different styles of learning including 1-on-1 Chavrusa, small group break-out sessions and leading the large group discussion. He has covered both traditional Jewish topics such as Pirkei Avot, Sinai Experience, and Women in the Torah as well as more modern themes like Gratitude, Love, Pleasure, and Kindness.

In addition to teaching, Yoni has also led other sessions including Friday night prayer services, Hebrew chanting/singing, Yin Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation. In his free time, you can probably find him jamming away in a drum circle or enjoying some beach-front yoga.

Sholom Licht is a student at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. A native of Queens, N.Y., Sholom studied at a number of Yeshivas in both the U.S. and Israel before attending Bar-Ilan University and Yeshiva University, where he received a B.A. and M.A. respectively, in Jewish studies. Sholom served as an editor and translator for the Koren English Talmud Bavli project, as a teacher, and as the Director of the Executive Office of the Orthodox Union, before pursuing a legal career. In his free time, Sholom greatly enjoys the outdoors; skiing in the winter, hiking and camping in the summer, and biking all year round.

Piero studied at Beit Hamechanech Hahieudi (The House of the Jewish Educator) in Argentina and at Yad Vashem in Israel. He is an expert in Jewish values and has experience working in huge and small communities. He has expertise in combining traditions and new meanings.

Kiki Lipsett is a musician, educator, performer, and prayer leader. Her work meets at the intersection of social justice and music. She is a professionally trained vocalist, pianist, and guitar player and has a background in musical theater performance. Kiki uses her music and arts training to support youth experiencing homelessness to develop their unique voices and to elevate their songs and stories. She also regularly leads music for Shabbat and High Holiday services and is involved in musical projects for community-building and for individuals who are ill or grieving.

Kiki is known in the Bay Area for writing, directing, producing, and performing in “Irreverently Yours, The Shushan Queens,” an annual, politically satirical, feminist, musical comedy for Purim all in rhyme. She and her cast have performed to sold out Bay Area audiences each year for the past 3 years. While on a fellowship in Israel/Palestine, she created and performed an original one-woman show called, “The Land is Shaking,” exploring the relationship between land and identity.

Kiki is also a creative consultant and musical content creator. She works with individuals, organizations, and companies to create original or parody songs for events, marketing, or just for fun.

Cantor Abbe Lyons is dedicated to enhancing the spiritual and emotional power of music and Jewish learning in everyday life as well as in sacred spaces. She is the Assistant Program Director for the ALEPH Cantorial Program, where she received smicha as Hazzan (Cantor) in 2010, and on the faculty for the Davennen Leadership Training Institue. She is Jewish Chaplain at Ithaca College, where she received a B.Mus. in voice performance in 1987.

Cantor Lyons is an innovative liturgist and composer whose published work includes Jewish Liturgy: A Guide for Everyone, poetry, alternative social justice haftarot, and original music on the album Listen! with her multifaith band, Resonate, and solo album Household Chores. She is a dynamic SpeakChorus Torah group midrash facilitator, and offers Contemplative Torah groups and presentations/performances on Jewish Communities Around the World Through Music. Current projects include multigender and nonbinary liturgy and Torah translations.

If you want to explore your identity, values, beliefs or want to think about where you fit in a larger community – be it Jewish or secular – David Manchester brings the background and materials you need.

David is the Associate Director of Impact Assessment and Learning at the Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), Greater Boston’s Jewish Federation. In his role he supports efforts to measure the impact generated through communal giving. Additionally, he is a Ph.D. candidate in social policy at Brandies University and a Berman Fellow in Jewish Socio-Demographic Studies.

He previously lived in Washington, DC where he began his career as a legislative assistant for Hadassah’s Washington Action Office. He then became an operations analyst at Blackboard, Inc., where he honed his skills in quantitative metrics and evaluation. Growing up in Scarsdale, NY, he was active at Westchester Reform Temple. David recently completed 12 years of service on the Board of Directors of American University Hillel. During that time, he was instrumental in reinvigorating the organization leading a reorganization and recruiting a new, executive director.

Dr. C. Tova Markenson loves exploring the mystery of the present moment with individuals and groups.

Her work grows out of 10+ years of experience in the fields of collaboration, communication, and creativity. She aims to restore joyful connection to our inherent goodness through practices that are mindfulness-based and trauma informed.

Tova has designed and taught courses on mindfulness, storytelling and communication to non-profit professionals, spiritual leaders, young adults, and life-long learners.

She has guided teams of rising artists and professional creatives in co-creating performances that address urgent communal needs. She has published poems, essays, and peer-reviewed articles. Tova has received several awards for her work in the fields of Jewish studies, theatre studies, and sexuality studies.

PhD Northwestern University, BA Carleton College.

Manuel is an experienced educator with a long trajectory in both formal and non formal educational settings. He has wokred as Madrij for 8 years in Macabi and Masorti movements (tnuot), where he led and trained other educators for their roles. He has been a student at Atheret Tzvi Ieshiva since 2017 where he studied jewish texts such as Jumash, Tanaj and Talmud. He holds a degree in psychology, specialized in education and currently works in consulting as a training and educational experience and curriculum designer.

Jake Marmer is a poet, performer, and educator. He is the author of three poetry collections: Cosmic Diaspora (Station Hill Press, 2020), as well as The Neighbor Out of Sound (2018) and Jazz Talmud (2012), both from The Sheep Meadow Press. He also released two klez-jazz-poetry records: Purple Tentacles of Thought and Desire (2020, with Cosmic Diaspora Trio), and Hermeneutic Stomp (Blue Fringe Music, 2013). Jake is the poetry critic for Tablet Magazine. Born in the provincial steppes of Ukraine, in a city that was renamed four times in the past 100 years, Jake lives in Amherst, MA. For more information, see https://linktr.ee/jakemarmer

Arya Marvazy, Managing Director, JQ International
Arya is a first-generation American born to Iranian-Jewish immigrants. Raised in Los Angeles, and driven by human connection, Arya earned his B.A. in psychology at UC San Diego, and completed an M.A. in organizational behavior at NYU. Raised as a cultural Jew with less formal Jewish education, involvement with his undergraduate Hillel shaped the trajectory of his adult life and career. In 2015, he returned to LA after ten years between San Diego, Tel Aviv, and D.C., encouraged by his ability to fully come out as a gay man to his family. Soon after, Arya began a body of work he had dreamt of advocating for the full equality of LGBTQ+ people and community. Arya has advanced from consultant to assistant director to managing director of JQ, an LGBTQ+ Jewish non-profit that transforms Jewish communities by ensuring inclusion through education, support, and identity-enrichment. His dedication to the Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities earned him a spot on LA Jewish Journal’s 30 Under 30 list, IranWire’s 50 Iranian-Americans You Should Know, and most recently the 2019 JPro Young Professional Award.

David Maxa is a young, smart and very accessible rabbi. He got ordained in Berlin in 2020 and currently serves at the Progressive Jewish Community Ec chajim in Prague, which he co-founded in 2019, as well as at the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic. In addition to it, he serves as Convenor of the Central European Beit Din, the Progressive rabbinic court for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. In 2023, he was elected as an Executive Board Member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. He focuses on making Judaism accessible in post-Shoah Europe, educating people about finding answers to the issues of the modern world in traditional Jewish texts, organising retreats and other gatherings. David is a member of ROI Schusterman community, which unites the most instesting Jewish leaders of various professions from all over the world. Currently, he is working on his PhD. thesis that focuses on the phenomenon of patrilineal Jews. He is fluent in English, German, Hebrew, and Czech. David is married to Judita Bergmann and they have have two small children, Rafael and Serafina. Together, they enjoy travelling, visiting opera performances and concerts and walking their two cats.

Shalom has been serving his community for over 10 years. He helps people to relax, heal, find overall balance, and deepen their connection to Spirit in order to live a healthier, more meaningful life. After living, learning, and teaching in Asia, India, and Israel for almost four years, Shalom returned home with a Rabbinical certificate, two separate 200-hour YTTC (yoga teacher training certifications) in Hatha and Vinyasa yoga, and a certification in Levels 1, 2, and Master Level Reiki. Shalom is also a well-known sound healer in Portland OR, offering monthly group sound healing, trainings, and wellness retreats.

https://www.facebook.com/Shalom360/

Instagram: omshalom.pdx

Rabbi Adam Mayer is the Dean of Jewish Studies and Mashpiah Ruchani (Rabbinic counselor) at The Weber School in Sandy Springs. He moved down to Atlanta in 2022, with his wife and 4 children, and are enjoying their residence in Dunwoody. They moved here from Philadelphia, where he has been teaching for the previous 8 years in Kohelet Yeshiva, and served as the coach for cross country and track and field teams. Before that, Rabbi Adam lived in Israel, where he served as a medic in the IDF and studied Jewish text and tradition at The Pardes Institute, where he completed his Rabbinic studies and Masters degree in Jewish education.

Shua Mermelstein is an ordained rabbi (Yeshiva University – 2020) and a Yale educated Lawyer. Shua holds a B.A. in economics from Yeshiva University. Between high school and college, he studied for three years at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh in Israel. Shua has taught Torah at synagogues in Israel, Nashville, Washington D.C. and New York City. At YU, he has completed a full course load on Jewish Law, including laws of Kosher, Shabbat, and Family. Previously, he worked as a rabbinic intern at the Manhattan Jewish Experience, and he is now the Covering Rabbi at Congregation Adereth El in Manhattan.

Rabbi Mintz is the current Rabbi of B’nai Israel The Downtown Synagogue. Rabbi Mintz lectures widely throughout the Baltimore community. He is active in community affairs, serving on the Executive Committee of Historic Jonestown, Inc., and various Associated Jewish Federation’s foundations and commissions.

Rabbi Mintz served for five years as Associate Rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. He also taught Jewish thought, text and practice at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Maryland, and has served as a summer rabbi at The Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach, NY.

He received his pastoral counseling training through a year-long chaplain residency program at the University of Virginia Health System, where he counseled individuals of all faiths in times of crisis. Rabbi Mintz is a senior rabbinic fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute, and a long time group leader with the American Jewish World Service. Some of his fondest and earliest rabbinical experiences have included leading Passover seders in the Former Soviet Union and High Holiday services at Rashi’s shul in Worms, Germany.

He studied for two years at Yeshivat Sha’alvim in Israel, and received rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He also holds a Masters Degree in Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism from the Bernard Revel Graduate School, and an M.P.A. from the Kennedy School at Harvard University.

My name is Gregory and I am from Tula. I have been working as a psychologist for five years after graduating from university. I am fond of social sciences, especially history, also I am keen on sword fighting and I am good at it. I like camping and hiking. I am mad about beautiful nature landscapes, especially in winter. Now I am working with teens and children in Jewish community of my city and I like my job. Maybe I am not rather communicative, but quite amiable.

Now I am a psychologist and madrich in the community with at least 9 years of experience, I am good at Jewish literature, and Beit-Midrashim. I am also fond of sport sword fighting and training children this kind of sport

Rav Sarah serves as the Rabbi of Base LNCLN, opening her home and her heart to students and young adults in Lincoln Park, Chicago. She passionately believes that Torah matters and that Judaism can enrich human life and better society.

Sarah grew up in Murray, Utah, and is the descendant of Jewish pioneers, Congregationalist ministers, and at least two different signers of the Declaration of Independence. Having discovered a new relationship to her Yidishkeit in college and several times since, she is especially excited to support you as you figure out what your Jewishness means for you!

Sarah is also a nationally-regarded adult education teacher. Particular areas of interest are reading Jewish legal texts as a source of wisdom, feminist and gendered perspectives on Judaism, and exploring questions of economic justice. She is also a serious Shabbat stan.

Sarah most recently led the Created Equal Project at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and is committed to building a Jewish community which upholds the human dignity of people of all genders and uses its power ethically. Previously, Sarah has worked as a Rabbi and Jewish Educator in a variety of settings, including pulpits, social justice organizations, mikvaot, hospitals, and in formal and experiential education. Sarah has been involved in the leadership of several independent minyanim and is a lover of singing inflected traditional-liturgy davening.

Sarah was ordained by the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College and received private rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes. She also earned a Masters in Jewish Education from Hebrew College. She is an alumna of Brandeis University, Yeshivat Hadar, Pardes Institute, Drisha Institute, Beit Midrash Har El, the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, and the David Hartman Center Fellowship.

Sarah has been learning Torah and building Jewish community with Rabbi William Friedman for 15 years, and happily they also got married and became the parents of two amazing kiddos, Liana and Shimon. Sarah can be reached at sarahemulhern@gmail.com

“Who is wise? One who learns from all”, these are the words that ring truest to Danniell. Through her work with the disability community, interfaith dialogue, and adult and family programming, Danniell excels at establishing connections and building relationships. Danniell is committed to cultivating mindful immersive opportunities for individuals to explore their Jewish identity and build community. Born and raised in Metro-Detroit, Danniell has also lived in Seattle where she helped individuals delve into their heritage through education and experiences, as the Jewish Life and Learning Professional at the SJCC, and currently lives in Atlanta serving as the Senior Director of Jewish Journeys, Places, and Welcoming and the Jewish Federation. Danniell loves bold flavors, deep conversations, and anything with peanut butter and chocolate.

Tiferet is a Jewish environmental educator and community builder. She holds a Masters in Education and a B.A. in Diaspora and Transnational Studies with a focus on relationships between diasporic and indigenous communities. Tiferet completed the Wild Deer wilderness skills training, and is a recipient of the David Suzuki Award for environmental educators. She has worked with the TDSB, the Toronto Parks Forestry and Recreation Department, the University of Toronto’s Multifaith Centre and is founding resident of Moishe Pod Toronto. Tiferet’s current role is the Co-Director of Shoresh, a Jewish nature connection organization in Southern Ontario.

Danny received his semicha (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg after completing his studies at the Leo Baeck College.

He is the founder and director of HaMakom, an organisation which runs Jewish mindfulness meditation retreats for people from all parts of the Jewish community. Rabbis and lay people from all the different Jewish denominations (Masorti, Reform, Orthodox, Liberal) regularly attend. Prior to commencing his rabbinic studies, Rabbi Danny worked as a corporate lawyer in the City of London.

He read Jewish Studies at Oxford University and has studied at several Israeli yeshivot. He has been practicing meditation for over 20 years.

Rabbah Dr. Mira Neshama Weil helps people find connection to their Jewish Soul through meaningful encounters with texts, rituals and meditative practices from the Jewish tradition.

A certified Jewish Experiential Educator (Pardes), Certified Jewish Mindfulness Teacher (IJS), Mindfulness Instructor (MTI) and Yoga Teacher (Sira RYT 200), Mira’s work focuses on helping people build and sustain Jewish fluency, spiritual practice (through Hasidic Torah Learning and Indigenous Jewish Meditation) and Ethical discipline (Musar), through retreats, courses and workshops.

The cofounder with her husband Matan Weil of Neshima.co, the first Jewish Meditation mobile App, she lives in Israel from where she teaches in person and online internationally since 2013. She also writes and speaks on Jewish Wisdom, and Paint illustrations for French Jewish media (Tenou’a, L’Eclaireur, Akadem, Shofar).
Mira received her Ph.D in Sociology of Religion at the EHESS in Paris and her Orthodox Rabbinic Smikha from Prof. Rabbi Daniel Sperber at Beit Midrash Har’El in Jerusalem.
When she isn’t teaching, writing or painting, Mira can be found in her favorite yoga studio in Tel Aviv, baking challah, or looking at God through the leaves of the trees.

A firm believer that making the world a better place starts with each of us, she thrives to embody what she teaches every day: living ethically, opening the heart.

Ordained by Philadelphia’s Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Ora has worked as a congregational rabbi, hospital and long-term care facility chaplain, and Hillel advisor. Prior to attending rabbinical school, she served as the Program Manager of Resurrection After Exoneration, a New Orleans non-profit dedicated to helping men rebuild their lives after their release from wrongful imprisonment. As an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, she studied Jewish folktales of demonic possession, and as a graduate student she researched the intergenerational transmission of Holocaust trauma. Rabbi Ora has served as the spiritual leader of the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation since 2017.

Nessa Norich is a writer, director, producer, performer and educator living in Brooklyn, NY. Her work illuminates pathways towards rebuilding and strengthening community through ritual, storytelling, and collective transcendence. Nessa designs immersive diversions – performance, gatherings, workshops and retreats – that awaken and embolden the voices, bodies and imaginations of performers and participants. Valuing creativity as a key to holistic wellbeing, she facilitates mindful movement workshops that foster play, intuition and the courage to express. She uses performance to center voices and stories that have been historically marginalized. Last May, Nessa was invited to join Bnot Eash, a collective of Jewish feminist spiritual leaders and activists who have been on the frontlines in the fight for gender equality in American Jewish communities since 1981. Nessa is also co-Founder and Theater Educator for Well of Wills, a Brooklyn-based Jewish female-led collective that creates educational tools and community art projects that support and empower Jewish women and gender non-conforming leaders. This past Yom Kippur, Nessa was commissioned by Lab/Shul to write and perform an hour-long performance Dvar Torah at the Hammerstien Ballroom. Nessa has created Jewish performance art for the New York Neo-Futurists, Lab/Shul’s Purim Schpiel and Yiddish New York.

Craig Parks has been a Jewish educator for nearly 30 years as a Camp Director, Jewish musician who is on faculty at Song Leader Boot Camp, and has developed curriculum that has inspired both adolescents and adults. He is also an advocate for inclusion and has done public speaking on the subject. Craig has traveled all over the country leading music and speaking on Jewish topics. He has a Certificate in Education for Adolescents and Emerging Adulthood from HUC-JIR. He leads a weekly meditation group for his shul and a monthly gathering for parents who have kids with special needs. Craig recently pioneered a brand new model of intergenerational programming called Teen Kibbutzim.

David Paskin is an accomplished spiritual leader, singer/songwriter, entertainer, Jewish futurist, social activist, award-winning Jewish educator and founding rabbi of OHEL. Prior to moving to Florida, David served as the rabbi and spiritual leader of Temple Beth Abraham in Canton, Massachusetts for seventeen years. David currently serves as the Director of Youth Education at Temple Sinai of North Dade and as the Educational Director of the Institute of Jewish Knowledge and Learning in Broward County.

A graduate of Brandeis University (1993) and the Academy for Jewish Religion (2002), David has been working in the Jewish world for over two decades teaching at various religious schools, day schools, and camps around the country. In the Boston area, David served as Music and Judaics Director of Grossman Camp, as Judaic Studies Coordinator of the Rashi School of Greater Boston and as co-head of school at Kehillah Schechter Academy.

David has taught and performed at a number of conferences including the Shefa Network, CAJE, the National JEA Convention, the UAHC Biennial, the United Synagogue Biennial, and USY International Convention. His presentations have focused on prayer and spirituality, Jewish music, and formal and informal Jewish education.

David is a blogger for the Times of Israel and the World Wide Reblog and is a proud contributor to Not By Might: Channeling the Power of Faith to End Gun Violence​. David’s first book, The Search for the Sacred was published in the summer of 2016. In 2018, David collaborated with Rabbi Joseph Meszler on his second book: Go and Study: A Pluralistic Guide Through the Jewish Denominations’ Torah Commentaries.

In addition to his congregational work, David has taught Torah and Technology, prayer, music and rabbinics at the Academy for Jewish Religion – a pluralistic rabbinic and cantorial school in Riverdale, NY. For many years David served as an advisor to the Delet/MAT program at Brandeis University and volunteered as a Jewish chaplain at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. David is a past-President of the Association of Rabbis and Cantors; past-President of the Canton Clergy Association and a past trustee on the Board of Directors of the National Brain Tumor Society.

David has become known as the “Rock n’Roll Rabbi” having written, performed and produced six albums of contemporary Jewish music. His music is a mix of joyful, upbeat tunes and moving liturgical compositions. David’s music is sung in synagogues, camps, and schools around the country. David was honored to produce and record the anthem, Olam Chesed Yibaneh with his dear friend and musical partner, Rabbi Menachem Creditor. In addition to his Jewish music, in 2004, David produced a cd single entitled, So We Ride in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Brain Tumor Society’s Ride for Research.

David’s accomplishments in Jewish education were recognized when he received the Keter Torah Award from the Bureau of Jewish Education in Massachusetts. David has also been recognized by the Association of Rabbis and Cantors (2012), the South Area Solomon Schechter Day School (2009), The National Brain Tumor Society (2008), The Hellenic Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (2008), Ordinary Heroes Hall of Fame (2007), Synagogue Council of Massachusetts (2007), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (2005), Boy Scouts of America (2005), South Area Solomon Schechter Day School (2004), Boston JCC Maccabi Games (2004), Temple Beth Abraham (2003), State Senate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2002), Grossman Camp (2001) and Temple Shalom of Milton (1996).

After the loss of his second daughter, Liat Chanina, David and his wife Heather founded the Liat Chanina Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to creating and sustaining opportunities for hope and healing. David currently lives with his wife Heather, his daughters Dalia, Ayelet and Naomi, and the memory of his beloved daughter Liat (z’l) in Boca Raton, Florida.

Rabbi Matthew Ponak is a teacher of Jewish mysticism, a spiritual counselor, and the author of Embodied Kabbalah: Jewish Mysticism for All People. Ordained with honors at the neo-Hasidic Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, he also holds a Master’s degree in Contemplative Religions from the Buddhist-inspired Naropa University. Matthew has engaged deeply with every denomination, including secular expressions of Judaism. He makes an excellent educator for groups with diverse backgrounds or varying levels of prior Jewish engagement.

As a freelance rabbi, Matthew teaches individual and group classes on a wide variety of topics, specializing in Kabbalah, Jewish history, and spiritual independence. In his private counseling practice, he often works with students who have been walking their unique path for some time and feel drawn to learn more about their Jewish roots. In addition, Matthew tutors Hebrew and Aramaic, including the decoding of texts ranging from the Bible to the Talmud, Halakhic material, the Zohar, and Hasidism. He is also trained in Focusing, a mindfulness method for body-centered self-awareness, which can be used to explore any topic or ritual more deeply. Learn more about him at matthewponak.com.

Benjamin grew up going to sunday school, shabbat services, JSTY, Bar Mitzvah, confirmation, etc. His father taught torah classes in their living room on Sunday afternoons for most of his upbringing. Benjamin resisted it out of rebellion but later would listen from the kitchen.

During college Benjamin attended learning seminars through a program called MEOR/Maimonides. He began meeting with Rabbis one on one to wrestle with texts related to contemporary issues, culminating in trips to Poland and Israel where he got a taste of learning in Yeshivas.

After graduating and beginning a career Benjamin lived in studied for a year in Israel with the Pardes Jewish Institute year program. Following this Benjamin attended the Middlebury Hebrew summer immersion program which included a class on Hebrew text study.

After moving back to the bay Benjamin started Moishe House Nob Hill in San Francisco and lived there for a year while leading monthly learning events covering themes such as “Punk Judaism” and “Judaism and Cannabis”. During this time Benjamin was the Jewish Educator for a Moishe House Men’s retreat with Moishe House Nopa resident Sam Gutin, leading sessions on “Biblical and contemporary models of Jewish Masculinity.”

Most recently Benjamin completed a course on Hasidut at the Aleph Alliance for Jewish Renewal and has been contributing Jewish content/ritual to several men’s retreats.

Hannah began community building in 2018 with Jewish Learning gatherings and holiday parties in Scottsdale, AZ. After living in the Encinitas Moishe House from 2020-2022, she began studying at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where she completed the Experiential Educators Program. Afterwards she received her Yoga and Meditation Teacher Certification from Samyama Meditation Center. She has collaborated with The Millennial Rabbi, Soul Space, EVE, Coastal Roots Farm, Hillel, and more. Hannah’s intention is to create spaces for individuals to connect deeper to Self, Spirituality, and Community; she’s hosted gatherings in Scottsdale, San Diego, Manhattan, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Mallorca, and Bali. She has written various Jewish Wellness pieces for At the Well, The Jewish Journal, Jewish Life, and more. Stay tuned for her gatherings, Torah, and spiritual practices via Whatsapp and Instagram @The_Elevation_Collective.

Dana is the creator of a new musical interpretive project Talmudic Ballads, which brings a surprising match between a modern interpretation of talmudic stories and european traditional music. She is involved in various education projects with JDC, Hillel, Moishe House, and pluralist beit-midrashim. A few years back Dana appeared on RTVi, an international Russian language television network broadcast all over the world discussing the weekly Torah portion. She also commented on Jewish texts for Israeli press like Maariv online, Makor Rishon and Eretz Acheret, and contributed to Dirshuni – a compendium of women’s midrashim. She is currently a student at the Ariel University, conducting doctoral research in molecular biology, while she holds MA from the HU in cognitive sciences. She was born in Kiev, Ukraine, made aliya to Israel, and today lives in Maale Shomron with her family.​

Heather (she/her) is a self-declared nerd for all things related to Judaism, psychology, and cooking. She loves exploring and sharing the depths of Jewish tradition (Holidays! Rituals! Texts!) and is currently a rabbinical student at Hebrew College. Prior to rabbinical school, Heather worked as the program coordinator for J-Pride, which brings together the Jewish LGBTQ community in the Twin Cities. Her other recent roles have included selling bread, teaching Talmud through cooking, and planning a retreat about the power of doubt. In the Moho universe, she’s been an MHWOW host, Retreatologist, retreat educator, and Moishe House Somerville resident. You can often find Heather cooking way too much food for the people she loves, getting excited about sea creatures, and talking about death, smashing the patriarchy, and loving black cats (not in that order).

Dr. Dikla Rivlin Katz is a social historian who deals with Sephardi and Mizrachi Jewish identity in the Zionist movement and the modern Middle Eastern context. After a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies in Berlin, she is now a Fellow at the Open University. As an educator, for the last 15 years, Dikla has been working with Jewish organizations such as Makom, The Jewish Agency, The Jewish Education Project, Hillel International, and more, developing programs and mentoring educators to include the complex reality of Israel in their teachings.

Avery Robinson is a culinary historian who has written over 100 pages on kugel, baked challah for 300+ on an open fire, and worked in bakeries in Tel Aviv and NYC. He led camping trips with Ramah Canada for a decade and has also guided trips for Moishe House and others. Avery is a co-founder of Rye Revival, a nonprofit promoting rye as a climate change mitigation strategy, and co-owner of Black Rooster Food, which makes 100% rye sourdough bread. He works in Jewish philanthropy and is the board chair of Hekdesh, a volunteer-run giving circle.

Aaron Rotenberg is the spiritual leader of the Annex Shul. He is passionate about soulful davening and creating traditional egalitarian spaces.

Rabbi Michael Rothbaum (he/him) is thrilled to join Bet Haverim as Chief Haver. Ordained at the pluralistic Academy of Jewish Religion in New York (AJR-NY) in 2006, he graduated from the New College of Florida in 1997 with a BA in Public Policy/Economics.

Rabbi Mike was raised in Rockland County, New York just north of New York City. As a teenager, Rabbi Mike became involved in in the local NAACP and helped start his high school’s first Amnesty International chapter. In retrospect, he has identified the Jewish imperative of r’difat tzedek – the command to pursue of justice – as the force that solidified his love of Judaism and his passion to become a rabbi.

After ordination, Rabbi Mike served students at Sarah Lawrence College and Purchase College as Campus Rabbi. He has worked in Jewish communities in New York, the Bay Area, and the Boston area for over 25 years, as youth director, rabbi/educator, and pulpit rabbi, as well as serving as Co-Chair of the Bay Area Regional Council of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice.

Rabbi Mike has spoken and taught widely, addressing groups as varied as Moishe House, Jewish Community Relations Council, and “Nuns on the Bus.” He has appeared in front of audiences at the US Senate and House of Representatives, Oakland City Council, and the New York State Democratic Party. In 2012 he joined a rabbinic delegation to Ghana, sponsored by American Jewish World Service, and was named a Global Justice Fellow by AJWS in 2018. His writing has been featured in Forward, Tikkun, Sojourners, Alma, Ha’aretz, and the anthology, Peace, Justice, and Jews: Reclaiming Our Tradition.

A proud alumnus of Seminary Summer, a joint project of the AFL-CIO and Interfaith Worker Justice, bringing labor organizers together with clergy, Rabbi Mike was also honored as the Gary David Kibblewhite lecturer at the Loft Community Services Center in White Plains, NY, as well as a speaker at the International Perspectives Forum in Westport, CT and the Paul Robeson Community Center at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ. Rabbi Mike’s religious-based activism has been covered in several media outlets, including CNN, WABC-TV, and i24 Israeli television.

Devoted to creating and nurturing vibrant learning communities, teaching Torah that touches heart, mind, and soul, and continuing the Jewish mission he discovered as a teenager of pursuing justice, Rabbi Mike is a passionate advocate for the idea that every moment is an opportunity to make a Jewish choice.

Rabbi Mike lives in the Summerhill section of Atlanta with his husband, internationally-acclaimed Yiddish vocalist Anthony Mordechai Tvzi Russell, who kindly tolerates his passion for fair-trade coffee, Bob Dylan, and manual transmission.

Educator, former MH staff, project director for RSJ-programs of Nadav Foundation. In the past overseed Jewish educational programs for teens and young adults, had huge experience in developing programs and creating edutainment formats

Contemporary Artist, Teacher, Kabbalistic Tarot and Jewish Divination Practitioner.

Jackie is originally from Seattle. She came to Chicago to study Art, and found a community with whom to continue her lifelong study of Jewish Mysticism. She is passionate about Intuitive Judaism and experiencing life as endless opportunities to connect with spirit. In her practice, she gains access to this connection with God and the world around her through a practice of listening and acknowledging the voice and agency of her collaborators, be they rabbinic scholars or trees in the park, as fellow vessels of divinity. She is excited for any opportunity to share her meditative methods of integrating classic Jewish ideology into accessible and inclusive empowerment practices.

Jackie works as a Hebrew School Teacher and B’nai Mitzvah Tutor at Temple Sholom of Chicago, and a Substitute Teacher for multiple public schools in the Chicago area. She has many years of experience creating and leading engaging programs, both in person and online. She also completed a year as the Education Chair on the Metro Chicago Hillel Student Board, as well as the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs Social Justice Organizing Fellowship.

Jamie Salter is a Jewish Educator and officially licensed Israel Tour Guide. He has a BA in Modern History from Oxford University and a MA in Jewish Education from the Hebrew University. Jamie works in many different Jewish educational arenas – in recent years he has taught in a Jewish school in America, guided British Members of Parliament on their trip to Israel, and worked as an educational consultant for the Jewish Agency. He is a regular guide and educator in Israel for, amongst others, Hebrew Union College, the Nachshon Project, and the Brandeis Schusterman Centre for Israel Studies. Jamie served as the educational director of the Ministry of Tourism Tour Guide course at the Yad Ben Zvi Institute. He currently holds a position as the Director of Israel Education at Machon Pardes. Jamie has completed about a quarter (so far!) of the ‘Israel Trail’ hiking trail. He and his family live in Jerusalem.

Sonya Sanford is a chef, writer, and cooking instructor in Portland, Oregon. Sonya specializes in diasporic modern Jewish food, seasonal and sustainable cooking, as well as Russian Jewish cuisine. Her culinary background includes working as a personal chef, food styling for television and the web, and founding and operating Beetroot Market & Deli. She shares her recipes and food stories online on The Nosher, at www.sonyasanford.com, or on Instagram @sonyamichellesanford.

Kyle received rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He has spent the last few years helping to build Jewish community in Harlem where he helped to found the Harlem Moishe House in 2018 and currently serves Kehillat Harlem as a rabbi. Kyle received a BA in Judaism in America along with a minor in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester and has spent time post-college in the batei midrash (houses of learning) of Pardes and Hadar. One of Kyle’s passions is experiential education and he hopes to provide more opportunities for such education in the Jewish world through his rabbinate. Kyle now lives in Harlem with his wife, Liran. When he can, Kyle enjoys hiking, climbing, and cooking.

A convert from Holland, Yoel studies analytics philosophy, near Eastern comparitive religion, and history. Well-versed with a variety of communities, Yoel uses drama and humor throughout his classes highlighting critical thinking,

Alejandro Schonfeld (1986) es guionista y docente. Estudió Historia en la Universidad de Buenos Aires y Artes Audiovisuales en la Universidad Nacional de Artes. También curso estudios judaicos en diversas instituciones judías de Argentina y en el Majón LeMadrijim Jutz La’Aretz en Israel (2005). Como guionista escribió series documentales sobre temas varios para Canal Encuentro y la productora Nudo Colectivo Audiovisual.

Alejandro Schonfeld (1986) is a screenwriter and teacher. He studied History at the University of Buenos Aires and Audiovisual Arts at the National University of Arts. He also studied Judaic studies in various Jewish institutions in Argentina and at the Machon LeMadrichim Chutz La’Aretz in Israel (2005). As a screenwriter, he wrote documentary series on various topics for Canal Encuentro and the production company Nudo Colectivo Audiovisual.

Hanna is a Post-Soviet queer writer, activist and educator. Hanna holds a degree in Middle Eastern studies from HSE in Moscow, and they spent a year studying Talmud at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. They have also spent 3 semesters learning with ZeKollel project and a year at Pardes Institute for Jewish studies as an experiential education fellow. Currently Hanna is studying in a Master’s program in Middle Eastern Studies at Freie University of Berlin.

Hanna is passionate about philosophy, Post-Soviet Jewish history, social justice, and languages. They have taught on a variety of topics – migration issues, rabbinic stories, Jewish philosophy, queerness in Judaism and environmentalism. As an educator, Hanna’s approach prioritizes asking questions (critical, deep, or silly ones), relying not only on the text, but also personal experiences, and acknowledging that all Jews should have the access to studying Torah.

A rabbi, writer, meditation teacher, and yoga instructor, Benjamin Shalva regularly leads seminars in Spiritual Cross-Training, Kabbalah Yoga, Jewish Meditation, and Mindfulness Meditation. He received his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary and his yoga teacher certification from the Yogic Physical Culture Academy in Los Cabos, Mexico. He is the author of two books — Spiritual Cross-Training: Searching through Silence, Stretch, and Song and Ambition Addiction: How to Go Slow, Give Thanks, and Discover Joy Within.

Caryn Shebowich is a social worker, a youth worker, a Jewish ritual song leader, an organizer, and a former Teva educator. They are currently doing work around the carceral state and Shabbat rest as a radical practice. They love creating individualized Jewish ritual, will talk your ear off about the difference between anti zionism and anti semitism, and they are a total geek about mikvehs, facilitation, swing dancing, and cheese.

Arielle Shimko is a Rabbi and educator in Londonderry, Southern Vermont. She specializes in Jewish yoga and meditation and enjoys teaching and learning every day. Rabbi Arielle enjoys leading Moishe House retreats, and most recently lead Shabbat, Havdallah and a Jewish Yoga workshop focusing on the ten sefirot (emanations) in Kabbalah. Please reach out with any questions!

Yael Shy is the CEO of Mindfulness Consulting, LLC, where she teaches and consults on mindfulness for universities, corporations, and private clients around the world. She is the author of the award-winning book, What Now? Meditation for Your Twenties and Beyond (Parallax, 2017), and the founder of Mindful NYU, the largest campus-based mindfulness initiative in the US.

Yael is a graduate of the IJS Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training Certification and has over a decade of teaching and consulting experience and nearly 20 years of meditation practice experience. She is adjunct faculty at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and the Or HaLev Center for Jewish Spirituality and Meditation, as well as MNDFL Meditation. She was an original co-founder of the Jewish Meditation Center of Brooklyn.

She has led workshops and retreats for the Jewish Education Project, One Table, Pardes Institute, Hebrew Union College, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Limmud NY, Repair the World, Marlene Meyereson JCC, Hillel International, Moshe House, Honeymoon Israel, B’nai Jeshurun (NYC), Romemu (NYC), Beloved Brooklyn (NYC), Central Synagogue (NYC), as well as synagogues, Hillels, and day schools across the country. Yael lives in the Hudson Valley with her family. You can learn more about Yael at yaelshy.com and yaelshy1 on Instagram.

Alyssa Silva, Houston Hillel’s Assistant Executive Director, is a graduate from the University of Arizona, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies with a minor in Judaic Studies. Prior to moving to Houston, Alyssa lived in DC, where she was a resident at Moishe House Columbia Heights, and a retreatology mentor/educator. After two years in that role, she moved to Jerusalem and received a certificate in Jewish Experiential Education from The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. She is currently pursuing her masters degree in Jewish nonprofit Management at the Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management. Alyssa’s love of Jewish community building has grown over the years through her work with various Jewish nonprofit organizations including leadership and mentorship roles within the Jewish nonprofit world. She is knowledgeable in many areas, from experiential education, teaching Jewish text and Jewish ritual, and the logistics that go into creating your dream retreat! Alyssa has been there before, and knows the hard work and dedication that goes into planning a peer-led retreat, and is ready to be your cheerleader, Jewish guru, and guide every step of the way!

Natanya Ruth Silverman brings a dynamic background in Jewish education, performing arts, yoga, breathwork, retreat design and transformational coaching to her facilitation. Founder of The Clearing Yoga studio and GIFT 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training, Natanya collaboratively designs retreats, events and workshops infused with inclusive co-creative ritual, mindfulness, ecstatic movement, sound healing, theater creation practices and exercises that connect participants in a safe space of creative, heart-centered expression.

As a former Hebrew Day School teacher and child of a rabbi, Natanya brings a playful approach to Jewish spirituality transmitted through lifelong study and integration of varied wisdom traditions. She draws on Jewish language in her yoga instruction, including the Kabbalistic Tree of Life as a body map to guide practice.

Highlights from Natanya’s adventures in facilitating transformation include: facilitating weekly yoga retreats on the jungle island of Koh Phangan, Thailand; leading Yoga + Meditation retreats in Uvita, Costa Rica; co-facilitating a Moishe House Passover Retreat and Sisterhood retreat on Cape Cod, studying & producing physical theater in Barcelona, Spain & Paris, France; delving deeper into silent meditation & Yogic practice & philosophy with Guru Amma Sri Karunamayi in Andhra Pradhesh, India & with the Blooming Lotus Yoga School in Bali. An adventurer & lifelong student, Natanya loves to support & guide others to know and trust their true nature as pure, loving & limitless creative force.

Anise Simon is a reproductive health advocate and non-profit professional. She is an alumnus of the Brandeis Collegiate Institute program through AJU and a co-founder of the Triangle Moishe House (Chapel Hill, NC). As a racial and reproductive justice facilitator, she enjoys weaving Jewish themes to help “wrestle” with Jewish text and connect our values with our religious and cultural tradition. Anise grew up in Jewish communities in both the US and the Caribbean and currently lives between South Florida and Northern California with her partner and two dogs. Currently, Anise works as the Member Systems Manager at the National Network of Abortion Funds and renovates vacation rental properties near the beach. Anise enjoys community organizing, vegetable gardens, and live music. You can find her online @Aniseyy.

2011 – 2012 yy. – education in Machon seminary on the basis of Congregation of Progressive Judaism

2011 – 2012 yy. – “Social work and self-identity in the modern world” program on the basis of Congregation of Progressive Judaism

2008 – 2011 yy. – co-cantor in the “Emmanuel” congregation of Progressive Judaism in Odessa,Ukraine

2012 – 2017 yy. – cantor in the “Emmanuel” congregation of Progressive Judaism in Odessa,Ukraine

Consultant, University Lecturer, Cross Culturalist, Mediator, Urbanist and Entrepreneur. Ilyll has over a decade of experience in leading, training and guiding diverse groups and individuals in cross-cultural fields in English, Hebrew, French and Spanish. Ilyll has lived and worked in the USA, France, Spain and Argentina while researching cultures and initiating and leading entrepreneurial projects. Through international encounters she has gained knowledge and hands-on experience of how cultures shape business interactions and organizational norms. In one-on-one sessions, group trainings and workshops, Ilyll’s mediator skills allow her to bridge the challenging cultural gaps and transform them into strengths. Over the years she has developed elaborate models and tools for implementing the impact of cultures on the ways in which people think, feel and act. Ilyll holds an MA in Mediation & Conflict Resolution from Tel Aviv University.

Kyla Sokoll-Ward is the former Director of the Community Mikveh at American Jewish University in Los Angeles, CA, where she has been grateful to facilitate and witness nearly 1,000 journeys of transformation in the lives of those who immerse in sacred waters. Judaism and spiritual expression run deep in Kyla’s bones, and she finds holiness in the uncomfortable, the ugly, the delightful, and the ecstatic in all that life will inevitably offer us. She is passionate about Jewish ritual and holding ceremonial space that invites us back into right relationship with our bodies, the earth, and the ancestors who have made us who we are.

Rabbi Marc Soloway has been Bonai Shalom’s Spiritual Leader in Boulder, CO. since 2004, the same year that he was ordained at The Ziegler School for Rabbinic Studies at The American Jewish University in Los Angeles. His rabbinical training spanned six years in London, Jerusalem, and Los Angeles. Before that, he was an actor and storyteller in his native London and was also a practitioner of complementary medicine, including massage and cranial-sacral therapy. Marc is a fellow of Rabbis without Borders, an alum of the Institute of Jewish Spirituality, the former chair of Hazon’s rabbinical council and was in the Forward’s 2014 list of America’s most influential rabbis. He is the host and narrator of two documentary films shot in Ukraine (A Fire in the Forest and Treasure under the Bridge) tracing the lineage of the Baal Shem Tov and his descendants. Both were on PBS. Marc values dialogue and diversity and strives to integrate creativity, spirituality and sustainability into his life and his work.

Mihal Stamova was born in 1973 in Rovno, Ukraine. In 1991, she graduated from the Rovno Music college with a degree in piano. She started her Jewish life in 1995 in JAFI Ulpan in Donetsk. Since 2000, she worked as a Hebrew teacher and teacher of Jewish music in Donetsk. In 2003, she graduated from the Jewish studies department at Donetsk State University. In 2005, she graduated from the Philology department at Rovno State Humanitarian University. She made Aliyah, then, in 2010, graduated Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Since 2012, she has worked as a the director of Jewish public-educational center “Masoret”. In 2017, she became a Master of History in Jewish studies in National University “Kiev-Mohylyanska Academy”. She now studies at a PhD program at Donetsk National University. She also works as a director of Family camp and organizes original courses on Jewish literature, history and music. She specializes in the history of the Jews of Bukovina and Galicia region in Ukraine.

Former Moishe House resident and Senior Director of House Programs, now a training mental health counselor with a specialism in holistic approaches, Joel has a background in dance and movement meditation, facilitation, theater, and creative methods of Jewish education. He has taught at multiple Limmud conferences, Moishe House programs, and various retreats, and co-led the first Retreatology.

Educational professional specializing in urban, environmental, and travel education with a background and interest in curricular development, climate change mitigation, and community building. Certified secondary English education in literature and writing.

Rabbi Micha received rabbinical ordination in 2017 and has since served various communities in Jerusalem and now in Jaffa. He is a community builder, who leads monthly Rosh Chodesh fires, learning groups and holiday events.

Dragana Stojanović comes from the organization Haver Serbia, where she works as an Educational Project Consultant and facilitator. She is being involved in Jewish education programs that open up traditional and contemporary views on Jewish life and practice, and in the programs that foster intercultural dialogue and develop individual skills for creating inclusive intercultural environments. She is also a frequent guest, learner and educator in Moishe House Belgrade – Pod. Besides this, Dragana Stojanović works as an Associate Professor for Cultural Studies and Theory of Art and Media at the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade, and she is a member of Shoah Lab, the Holocaust studies academic laboratory of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory in Belgrade. Currently she is being a president of Memorial Commission of Jewish Community of Belgrade, an institutional body that takes care of culture of remembrance related to Jewish history and memory.

Rabbi Lauren Tuchman is a sought after speaker, spiritual leader and educator. Ordained by The Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018, she is, as far as she is aware, the first blind woman in the world to enter the rabbinate. She provides consulting to individuals and organizations across the Jewish community on a variety of matters pertinent to disability access and inclusion. She has taught in numerous synagogues and other organizations across North America. She was named to the New York Jewish Week’s 36 To Watch for her innovative leadership concerning inclusion of Jews with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life. In 2017, she delivered an ELI Talk entitled We All Were at Sinai: The Transformative Power of Inclusive Torah.

In addition to her work in the disability inclusion space, Rabbi Tuchman passionately believes in the power of spiritual and contemplative practice as a path of transformational personal and collective change for the Jewish world and beyond. She has trained and continues to teach Mussar with Rabbi David Jaffe and the Inside Out Wisdom and Action Project. She has contributed to the Mussar Institute’s weekly Torah commentary and Elul programming. She is an alum of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Clergy Leadership Program. In 2022, she completed Flourish: an immersive in mindfulness practices under the direction of expert mindfulness teacher, Yael Shy. She is a SVARA fellow, completing the SVARA Kolel in 2019. She continues to be a regular teacher with SVARA.

Charles “Chaz” Volk is a passionate and open minded leader that is absorbed by his Jewish journey. Having his 3rd trip in Israel with AishLIT, he came home wanting to not just be Jewish but also DO Jewish. Since then, he has created a podcast called Bad Jew, where he discusses the nuances of Jewish ritual and practice by asking blunt and confrontational questions. He is affiliated with Aish HaTorah, Chabad, NFTY, and Moishe House. Chaz specializes in open dialogue, prayer, meditation, and is always learning more.

Don is an experienced educator with a background in history/education, as well as teaching Hebrew and Jewish values. He has worked at many congregations in youth education including Beth Hillel Academy, Peninsula Temple Beth El, Temple Sinai, and Wilshire Boulevard Temple. He has also developed and led workshops as a Moishe House resident in Palo Alto, and as regional coordinator for StandWithUs where he spoke in front of thousands of people over his tenure. He currently works at the Anti-Defamation League regional operations/hate crimes division in Los Angeles and volunteers as a docent at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Don is also a plant aficionado and gardener and is excited to combine his knowledge of Jewish tradition and values to retreats focusing on a connection with nature.

Rabbi Miriam-Simma Walfish is a doctoral candidate in Rabbinics in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Her specific interests include rabbinic approaches to gender, parenting, and education. Her article, “Upending the Curse of Eve: Reframing Maternal Breastfeeding in BT Ketubot,” was published in the 2017 volume Mothers in the Jewish Cultural Imagination. Rabbi Walfish has taught Tanakh, Talmud, and Jewish Law in numerous settings including the Conservative Yeshiva, Hadar Institute, Harvard University, Hebrew College, and the National Havurah Committee’s summer institute. She revels in the process of learning Torah with and from her students.

Hi! My name is Ariela. I am passionate about elevating the Feminine Energy of this world so that we can bring peace, love and redemption. Through building a relationship with the Divine, I believe that we can live fuller and more meaningful lives.

I have been a Jewish Educator and Women’s Health Advisor for the past 10 years. I am also an Herbalist, Bodyworker and Doula. I have studied at the Hadar Institute, The Eden Center, ArborVitae, Manzanita Wellness, and with Robin Elise Weiss. In addition to one-on-one learning services, I offer workshops on Jewish Wellness and Birth Torah. I have taught in collaboration with Imeinu Doulas, Moishe House, The Jewish Studio Project, Hazon, Atiq and more.

Tanya holds a dual degree in Jewish Studies and Pedagogy, and she is also an alumna of Paideia – the Institute of Jewish Studies in Sweden. Additionally, she holds a Peer Support Specialist certificate in Adult Mental Health. Her work experience includes working with Hillel Russia, The Global Day of Jewish Learning, and serving as the RSJ Director of Jewish Education and community manager at Moishe House. She was also a co-founder of the Jewish educational project JewF.I.S.H., which aimed to make Jewish culture and text accessible and inspiring.

Currently, Tanya serves as the lead educator at the Multicultural Training Institute at LCSNW (Lutheran Community Services Northwest), where she assists diverse communities of immigrants and refugees in accessing education and support.

Her special interests lie in the Haggadah, connections between Jewish classical texts and modern life, promoting mental health and self-care, and Russian-Speaking Jewish culture and identity.

Tanya has been a lead educator on many Moishe House staff-led retreats in North America and the FSU.

She is passionate about opening learning opportunities for everyone and fostering understanding and connection within diverse communities.

Chloe Zelkha is a fifth-year rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. She has spent the last ten years designing transformative programs for young people and adults. After graduating from Carleton College with a B.A. in Religion, she was trained as a community organizer through the JOIN for Justice Fellowship in Boston where she worked at The Food Project, a youth employment program that brings diverse cohorts of teens together to grow food and connect across difference. Looking to build immersive experiences like these in the Jewish community, she transitioned into a role as Fellowship Director at Urban Adamah, a Jewish farm in Berkeley, where she led semester-long deep dives for young adults into Jewish spirituality, farming, mindfulness, and social justice for nine seasons. After her dad died suddenly in 2017, she felt called to grief work and trained as a chaplain at UCSF Mission Bay Hospital, where she earned 3 units of CPE and offered spiritual care to those who were ill and dying, and facilitated “grief retreats” for young adults outside the hospital. She is the co-founder of the COVID Grief Network, a mutual aid organization—now a project of Reimagine—that offers free support and community to young adults who have lost someone to COVID-19. Chloe holds a Master’s in Education—focusing on transformative experiences—from Harvard University.

Logan Zinman Gerber (she/hers) is a community organizer and Jewish educator whose Judaism is rooted in social justice. As Director of Youth Strategy and Organizing at the Union for Reform Judaism, Logan oversees NFTY, teen fellowships, and youth leadership development for the Reform Movement.  

On the way to this role, Logan worked for seven years as the NFTY Chicago Director, partnering with student leaders to create programs and experiential learning for hundreds of high schoolers. As National Campaign Organizer for the Religious Action Center for four years, Logan taught high schoolers, college students, and young adults across the country how to be community organizers and use their skills and stories to mobilize their communities to make change. In her free time she volunteered as co-chair of the American Cancer Society’s National Volunteer Training Team, where she develops content used in training 600+ volunteers and staff each year, both virtually and in person. She also serves as a keynote speaker and facilitator for groups of society volunteers and staff on systematic inventive thinking, fundraising, thriving through change, volunteer recruitment and management, and event planning.

Logan loves learning almost as much as creating educational experiences for others. She holds a BA in Religious Studies and Sociology from the University of Wisconsin and a Masters in Social Administration and Social Work from the University of Chicago. 

You can find Logan running by the lake in Chicago with her dogs, searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, and eating pizza for Shabbat with her partner, Ben, and her small humans, Judah and Pearl. She is humbled to get to wake up every day and support our youth leaders in the development of their youth movement and pursuit of justice.