(2017-2019)
Rabbi Steven Abraham serves Beth El Synagogue in Omaha, NE. He graduated from JTS in 2011, where he also received a M.A. in Jewish Education. Steven earned his B.S. in Business Management from the University of Baltimore. Steven was actively involved with USY as a group leader on multiple summer programs, including USY on Wheels and Summer in The City as well as staffing NATIV, a gap-year program in Israel for college freshman. He currently sits on multiple boards in the Omaha area including the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands. He is also honored to give back to USY by serving as a member of the USY National Teen Leadership Committee. Steven is married to Shira J. Abraham and they have two children, Naama (5) and Leor (2).
Maharat Ruth Balinsky Friedman is a member of the inaugural class of Yeshivat Maharat, which is the first institution to ordain Orthodox women as spiritual leaders and halakhic (legal) authorities. She served as Maharat (clergy) at Ohev Sholom Congregation in Washington, DC from 2013-2023, where she performed all traditional rabbinic functions. Maharat Friedman is a founding member of the Beltway VAAD, and a member of the board of the International Rabbinic Fellowship, of which she is also a member. She and her husband Yoni and their three children are spending the year in Nairobi, Kenya, where she is thrilled to be serving as the Visiting Scholar at Nairobi Hebrew Congregation. They also have a four-legged princess named Cocoa, who is spending this year with her aunt in Chicago.
Rabbi Sarah Bassin serves as the Director of Clergy and Congregations for HIAS where she helps connect synagogues and their spiritual leaders to the work of aiding and advocating for refugees and asylum seekers. Prior to this role, she was the associate rabbi at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills where she drove congregation-based justice work. She began her rabbinate as the founding executive director of NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change where she built minority-based coalitions. Under her leadership, NewGround was named one of the 50 most innovative Jewish organizations in the United States by Slingshot Guide and was recognized by Governor Jerry Brown of California as the state’s faith-based organization of the year in 2013. Rabbi Bassin has built an expertise in interfaith civilian diplomacy, traveling with elite delegations of faith and political leaders to England, France, Germany, Qatar, Azerbaijan, and Iran. NPR’s On Being featured Rabbi Bassin for her organizational innovation and interfaith work. On the side, she enjoys work as a Jewish cultural consultant for movies and television shows.
Charlie Cytron-Walker became the new rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, NC on July 1, 2022.
Rabbi Charlie arrives at Temple Emanuel with a history of working to bring a sense of spirituality, compassion, and learning into the lives of the community.
He is a past President of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis and served on the steering committee of Peace Together. In 2022, he was honored as a Hero Against Hate by the Texoma Anti-Defamation League and currently serves as a Special Advisor to the ADL.
He previously served at Congregation Beth Israel (CBI) in Colleyville, TX since 2006. On January 15, 2022 Rabbi Charlie and three CBI congregants were held hostage by a gunman in the CBI sanctuary. After an 11-hour standoff, all the hostages were able to escape when Rabbi Charlie threw a chair at the gunman, distracting him long enough for everyone to get out of the building. Since then, he has spoken at the White House, testified before Congress, and has been published in numerous news sources.
Rabbi Boris Dolin is the rabbi of Congregation Dorshei Emet in Montreal, Quebec. He is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and received an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he focused on informal and experiential learning. Before moving to Montreal, Boris served as the rabbi of Beit Polska, the Union of Progressive Congregations in Poland, where he led a multi-congregational community working to help rebuild Jewish life in Poland. His rabbinate has focused on bringing participatory music, experiences in nature and creative spirituality to his congregants. Boris especially loves his work with children and families and spent many years as a summer camp song-leader and professional storyteller. He is currently working with other clergy leaders in the Montreal area to form All is Run, an interfaith running club promoting community building and dialogue. Boris lives in Montreal with his wife Sarah and his children Elijah, Ezra and Nehama.
Rabbi Daniel Dorsch is the senior rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim in Marietta, Georgia. He previously served for six years as an associate rabbi in Livingston, NJ. A graduate of Columbia University (BA) and ordained at JTS, Daniel serves as a vice president for MERCAZ-USA, the Zionist arm of the Conservative Movement. He writes a weekly online column, Drashing with Dorsch, for the members of his community. Daniel is married to Amy, a Jewish educator, and they are the proud parents of Zev Noam.
Rabbi Jeremy Fine was born and raised in Deerfield, Illinois. After graduating from the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana, where he served as Hillel President for three years, Rabbi Fine began a Masters in Jewish Education which he completed in 2011. Rabbi Fine was ordained from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2012. While at JTS, Rabbi Fine received the William H. Lebeau Book Award and the Rabbi Morris Silverman Award in Liturgy. He also completed certificates in Fundraising from New York University, a Mini-MBA for Non-Profit Organizations from St. Thomas University and became an accredited Life Coach in 2020. In 2014, the Forward recognized him as one of America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis and then in 2021 he was awarded the Minnesota Hillel Capp Leadership Award.Rabbi Fine served as the student Rabbi at Congregation Sons of Israel in Amsterdam, NY and the Rabbinic Assistant and Director of Congregational Learning at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, NY and was the youngest Senior Rabbi in the country when he was promoted to the Senior Rabbi at Temple of Aaron in St. Paul, MN. His eventual move back to Deerfield came in 2021 where he now serves as the Rabbi at Congregation B’Nai Tikvah. Rabbi Fine also created his own company that focuses on sports, most notably Professional Wrestling. He can be found on his website TheGreatRabbino.com, the longest running Jewish sports website, and his podcast The Religion of Human Nature.
Rabbi Sarah Freidson is the rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Mahopac, NY. Since her arrival in 2014 Sarah has introduced many innovations to long-standing congregational practices. She is currently implementing a Covenant Foundation Ignition Grant to launch a “Synagogue in the Woods” initiative. Sarah’s first rabbinic post was as the associate rabbi at Temple Beth El in Rochester, NY where she created Torah, Tapas, and Tequila for Jewish 20s and 30s that met monthly at a local bar. Passionate about social justice she was a key leader in Keshet JTS, which culminated in the historic 2006 decision enabling gay ordination in the Conservative movement. In 2010, she helped found the Brighton Food Cupboard under the auspices of the Jewish Family Service of Rochester to address food insecurity in the area. She currently volunteers with the United Way of Westchester and Putnam and serves on the board of the Putnam County Housing Corporation. Originally from Minneapolis, MN, Sarah is the proud solo mom of Rena.
Rabbi Seth Goldstein has served as the rabbi of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, WA since 2003. He was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and also holds an MA in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Washington. He currently serves as president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. Seth completed the Clergy Leadership Program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, is a Rabbis Without Borders fellow and a Brickner Rabbinic Fellow through the Religious Action Center. He was recently named as one of “America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis” by the Forward. Seth is the author of numerous published articles, essays and liturgy. He writes regularly on his blog, Rabbi 360 and produces both a weekly podcast, Torah tl;dr, and a webseries, Carpooling with Rabbi. Seth is married to Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg and they have two sons, Ozi and Erez.
Rabbi Beth Kalisch serves as the spiritual leader of Beth David Reform Congregation in Gladwyne, PA. Previously, she served as the associate rabbi at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and the adjunct rabbi at Central Synagogue, both in Manhattan. She was ordained by HUC-JIR and she received her BA from Yale University with distinction in Religious Studies. A former CLAL Rabbis Without Borders Fellow she is a member of the Rabbinic Council of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) and a member of the editorial board of Reform Jewish Quarterly. Her original liturgy is published in the Reform Movement’s Rabbi’s Manual and in Beyond Breaking the Glass: A Spiritual Guide to Your Jewish Wedding. A passionate social justice activist, she has trained as a community organizer, marched with the NAACP in Alabama, traveled with the American Jewish World Service and worked as a legislative assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. She and her husband live with their young daughter in Center City Philadelphia.
Rabbi Chaim Koritzinsky is the rabbi of Congregation Etz Chayim, an independent synagogue of around 300 households in Palo Alto, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. He was the founding Rabbi of Ruaj Ami, a start-up congregation in Santiago, Chile, which he helped grow from five founding families to 130. He received ordination, and also a Masters in Jewish Education, from the Hebrew College Rabbinical School where he was a member of the inaugural class in 2008. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Chaim completed his undergraduate studies at Vassar College focusing on Russian Studies. He has also lived and worked in the former Soviet Union and Israel. Chaim met his Israeli-born wife Keren Henigman in Chile where they were married and their three children- Yaniv, Noam, and Lielle- were born. In 2015, the family moved to Palo Alto where they are enjoying life, community, and the weather on (North) America’s West Coast.
Rabbi Jen Lader serves as a rabbi at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Ordained at HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, Jen is the ‘youth guru’ at Temple Israel, running all teen-related endeavors and keeping up to date on the latest slang for the benefit of her elder colleagues. From Teen Mission – Metro Detroit’s collaborative summer Israel experience, to alternative spring break trips around the world, to social justice seminars, to leadership initiatives, to youth group retreats, to formal high school programming and informal adventures, Jen has crafted an innovative, dynamic, engaging program for Temple Israel’s youth. Hailing from Austin, Texas, Jen is a songleader, an avid reader and a connoisseur of fine Tex Mex cuisine. She is married to Daniel, her high school sweetheart and they have two children, Ezra and Noa.
Rabbi Marcia Plumb is the rabbi at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Brookline, MA. Raised in Houston, TX and ordained by HUC-JIR, she served Congregation Beth Shalom in Deep River, CT and was associate program director for the National Council of Christians and Jews before she moved to the UK to be with her British husband. She spent much of her career in London as a congregational rabbi as well as the rabbi of a day school. She founded and directed the Spiritual Formation program at Leo Baeck College, a rabbinical school in London and is a trained spiritual director, meditation leader and Mussar teacher. She founded the Half-Empty Bookcase and the Jewish Women’s Network, two national women’s organizations in the UK. She also founded and directed the North London Action for the Homeless, an interfaith homeless center which is still running, 25 years later. Marcia has a particular interest in Wise Aging and is a Chaplain with Hebrew Senior Life in Boston. She and her husband have two teenaged children.
Rabbi Noam Raucher is the senior rabbi of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center in the San Gabriel Valley (CA). Originally from Hamden, CT, he grew up in a home of Jewish educators and leaders. After graduating Hofstra University in 2002 he worked at the Hillel at the University of California, San Diego and as a counselor at the Yale Psychiatric Hospital in New Haven, CT. After graduation from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, he served as associate rabbi of Temple Israel in Charlotte, North Carolina. Noam is married to Tamar and they have two sons, Judah and Elijah and two dogs, Dixie and Lucy.
Rabbi Y. Kliel Rose is the spiritual leader of Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton, Alberta. While studying at JTS, Kliel served a number of congregations in New York and one community in London, England under the auspices of Masorati Olami. As a senior rabbinical student, Kliel was awarded the prestigious Rabbi Marshal T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellowship at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York. Throughout his rabbinate Kliel has pursued his interests interfaith dialogue and justice. He is currently serving as a board member of T’ruah: The rabbinic call for Human Rights and he won that organization’s Human Rights Hero Award in 2014 for work he did fighting bigotry and Islamophobia in Nashville, TN where he was serving as the rabbi of West End Synagogue. Kliel serves as the Jewish Chaplain at the University of Alberta and is also very active with Autism Speaks Canada focusing on supporting individuals within faith communities. Kliel is married to Dorit Kosmin and they are the parents to five children, ages 3-16.
Rabbi Emily Segal is the senior rabbi of Temple Chai, a religiously eclectic and vibrant Reform congregation in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to joining Temple Chai, Rabbi Segal previously served as the Rabbi of Aspen Jewish Congregation in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado and the Associate Rabbi of Temple Jeremiah in Northfield, Illinois.
During her time in the rabbinate, Rabbi Segal is proud to have been a Balfour Brickner Social Justice Fellow, as well as a Clergy Leadership Incubator Fellow. She also earned an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Kellogg School at Northwestern as well as a certificate in supervision from the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Rabbi Segal currently serves as Co-President of the Women’s Rabbinic Network (WRN), the international organization of Reform women rabbis which represents the more than 860 women, nonbinary, and genderfluid Reform rabbis.
Rabbi Segal’s rabbinic interests include Jewish environmental and food justice, liturgical development, ritual innovation, biblical Hebrew, Jewish feminism, Mussar (Jewish mindfulness practice) and scriptural and halakhic (Jewish law) study. Her non-rabbinic interests include strong coffee, dark chocolate, good books, escapist baking, camping and paddle boarding, and live music. She is married to Rabbi Scott Segal. You can find them cooking together, dragging their young children (Samantha, 11, and Ezra, 8) on character-building hiking expeditions, and having family dance parties.
Rabba Dr. Anat Sharbat is an associate Rabba at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. Anat was ordained by Yeshivat Maharat, and earned both a Masters and her Ph.D. in Talmud Doctorate from Bar-Ilan University. Anat was a T’ruah Rabbinical Fellow in Human Rights and attended the JOIN for Justice Cross Seminary Organizing Course. She completed a chaplaincy internship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and was trained by Immerse NYC. She is a member of the advisory board of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. In Israel, she was a board member of Kolech: Religious Women’s Forum, that country’s leading Orthodox feminist organization.
Rabbi Garth Silberstein serves as the rabbi of Kenesset Israel Torah Center in Sacramento. He received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in 2016, having previously studied at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies and received a BA in acting and biology from Bennington College. Garth has worked at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh in Portland, Maine, Congregation Kadimah-Toras Moshe in Boston, and Hazon. Prior to beginning his rabbinic training, he worked as an actor and in non-profit management. An out-door enthusiast, Garth twice led Hazon’s Cross-USA bike ride from Seattle to Washington DC and is the founder of Organic Yeshiva, an immersive adult education program that combines traditional Talmud study with hands-on experience in sustainable agriculture. A native of Davis, CA, Garth is thrilled to be back in the Sacramento Valley after nearly two decades on the East Coast.
Rabbi Marcia Tilchin is the founder of The Jewish Collaborative of Orange County (JCoOC), an independent, geographically mobile organization that empowers Orange County Jewish residents and their families to attach their passions to a Jewish framework and identify their place in the global Jewish tent. A graduate of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and the Miller Cantorial School at JTS she served for eighteen years in Conservative synagogues in Upper Nyack, NY and Tustin, CA. Marcia sits on the Board of the Orange County Interfaith Network and is co-founder of The Orange County Alliance for Just Change. While in cantorial school, Marcia founded the Kesher program at Camp Ramah in the Poconos, a weeklong family camp for members of the Jewish deaf community. She and her husband, Professor Scott Spitzer, live in Tustin with their three children.
Rabbi Joshua Waxman is the rabbi of Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff, NJ. Josh graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in 2003 and has served on the faculty of RRC in the Department of Biblical Civilizations and as a director in the Spiritual Direction program for rabbinical students. He served as President of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia and was a featured columnist for the popular Virtual Talmud series on Beliefnet.com. He is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Or Hadash in Ft. Washington, PA where he served for fifteen years. He lives in Glen Rock, NJ with his wife, Aimée, and their three children, Tzvi, Yael, and Adir.
