(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 was a member of the inaugural class of Yeshivat Maharat, and now serves as Maharat at Ohev Sholom: The National Synagogue in Washington, DC, where she lives with her husband Yoni and their son Ezra. Ruth’s responsibilities include overseeing the conversion program and the mikvah, directing the adult programming, providing pastoral counseling and teaching in the community. Ruth is deeply committed to working to ensure that Jewish communal structures provide sensitivity and support to individuals and couples struggling with fertility challenges, and she is honored to serve on The Red Stone Advisory Committee. She sits on the executive committee of the International Rabbinic Fellowship and is a founding member of the Beltway Vaad.
Rabbi Sarah Bassin is the associate rabbi at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills. Previously, Sarah served as Executive Director of LA–based NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change. Active in the Jewish innovation space, Sarah is a member of the ROI Community of Jewish innovators and an alumna of the Joshua Venture Group Fellowship. She currently serves on the Boards of the Joshua Venture Group, NewGround and the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. Sarah has served as the mentorship program coordinator at the School of Non-profit Management at HUC-LA and a chaplain at UCLA’s Santa Monica Health Center. At Temple Emanuel, Rabbi Bassin oversees young professionals’ engagement and social justice work.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker is the first full time rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX, where he has served since 2006. During his time at HUC-JIR, from which he was ordained, he received multiple awards for his service to the community, along with an award for leadership from QESHET: A Network of LGBT Reform Rabbis. Prior to rabbinical school Charlie worked at Focus: HOPE, a civil and human rights organization in Detroit and then became the assistant director of the Amherst Survival Center, in Amherst, MA, which housed a food pantry, free store, and soup kitchen. A member of his local Jewish Federation Board, Charlie also helped to create a voice for rabbis of smaller congregations within the Central Conference of American Rabbis and he currently serves as the Vice President of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis. Rabbi Charlie is married to Adena Cytron-Walker and they have two daughters.
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 ordained from JTS in 2012. He started his career as the Rabbinic Assistant and Director of Congregational Learning at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, NY. Jeremy assumed the position of Senior Rabbi at Temple of Aaron in St. Paul, Minnesota in July 2017. He was named one of the Forward’s Most Inspiring Rabbis in America and he also delivered an ELI Talk entitled “Realigning the Synagogue Playbook.” He writes frequently for the Jewish Journal, Oy! Chicago and TCJewfolk. At Temple of Aaron he created Crossriver Kosher which hosts Kosher events throughout the Twin Cities. Jeremy is the creator of TheGreatRabbino.com which works with professional Jewish athletes. He and his wife Jessica have two daughters, Annie and Trudy.
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 serves as the rabbi of Aspen Jewish Congregation, serving the entire Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. After completing her undergraduate work in Jewish Studies at the University of Virginia where she was an Echols Scholar, she studied in Jerusalem and Cincinnati and was ordained in Cincinnati from HUC-JIR. Previously Emily served as the associate rabbi of Temple Jeremiah in Northfield, Illinois. In 2014-2015, she was a Balfour Brickner Social Justice Fellow through the Religious Action Center and she serves on the advocacy committee of the Women’s Rabbinic Network. Emily grew up in a small, tight-knit Jewish community in Virginia, nurtured by one of the first woman rabbis, and she is herself, the proud product of an interfaith home. Seeing her father grow in love for Judaism and develop a passion for Jewish learning and eventually become a Jew-by-choice was formative in her development and her path in the rabbinate. Emily’s rabbinic interests include liturgical development, ritual innovation, biblical Hebrew, Jewish environmental and food justice, Jewish feminism, and scriptural and halakhic study. Her non-rabbinic interests include strong coffee, dark chocolate, good books, escapist baking, wrangling toddlers, and live music. She is married to Rabbi Scott Segal, and they live in Basalt, CO with their two children and two dogs.
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 has served since 2004 as the rabbi of Congregation Or Hadash in Ft. Washington, PA. Josh graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in 2003. He 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 was a featured columnist for the popular Virtual Talmud series on Beliefnet.com and was a board member of the Jewish Social Policy Action Network. He currently serves as Rabbinic Chair for Philadelphia Federation’s Kehillah of Bux-Mont and on the Executive Committee of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia. He lives in Elkins Park with his wife, Aimée, and their three children, Tzvi, Yael, and Adir.
