Rabbi Marcia Prager, MFA, MHL, D.Min.h.c., is the founding Dean of the ALEPH Ordination Program, and serves as Director of the ALEPH Rabbinic Program in which she also teaches Jewish spiritual practice and the Jewish Lifecycle Liturgy and Training sequence of courses and practica. She is founding Co-Director and teacher in the Davvenen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI) and she serves as rabbi of the P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia, PA.. She was ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and also received personal smicha from R’ Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. She is the author of The Path of Blessing, published by Bell Tower and later by Jewish Lights, a “contemporary hasidic text” exploring the Jewish practice of blessing. She has written and compiled the P'nai Or Siddurim for Friday Evening and Shabbat Morning and other innovative compilations of prayer and liturgy. She is a CLAL Rabbis Without Borders Rabbinic Fellow. In 2010 she was selected by the Jewish Daily Forward as one of the Top Fifty American Female Rabbis. . Vaad Member
Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Ph.D., D.Min. h.c., serves as Dean of Students of the ALEPH Ordination Program and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. She was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and also received ordination from R’ Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. She received her doctorate in medieval Jewish history from UCLA, she was a Fulbright scholar and she spent extensive time in Spain researching Jewish history during the Spanish Reconquista. She is rabbi emerita of Kol Ami: The Northern Virginia Reconstructionist Community in Arlington, Virginia. She was the Founding Director of the Center for Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She taught at Reed College, Swarthmore College and Emory University, and was for a decade Scholar-in-Residence in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at American University in Washington D.C. She has published widely on the creation of new feminist rituals and is a pioneer in the unfolding field of contemplative Jewish engagement with the study of TaNaCH. She is currently working on a book on a contemplative approach to studying the Book of Genesis. Vaad Member
Rabbinic Pastor Shulamit Kate Fagan serves as Director of the ALEPH Rabbinic Pastor Program and member of the AOP Academic VAAD, and is on the faculty of the ALEPH Hashpa’ah Training Program. In addition, Rabbinic Pastor Fagan provides hashpa'ah (spiritual guidance) for students in all of the ALEPH Ordination programs. She serves as a hospital and community chaplain in St. Petersburg, FL and teaches locally and nationally on end-of-life decisions, ethical wills, the art of compassionate listening, storytelling and life cycle events. She was ordained as a Rabbinic Pastor by the ALEPH Ordination Program. Vaad Member
Rabbi Hazzan Bob Freedman teaches Biblical Hebrew in the ALEPH Ordination Program and supervises the Hebrew Program. He was invested as a cantor at the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music and was ordained as a rabbi at the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York. He serves as Cantor for Society Hill Synagogue in Philadelphia. He began his musical career as a professional singer in Toronto, Ontario with a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina and a Master's degree in vocal performance from the Eastman School in Rochester, New York. He served as Hazzan at the Jewish Center of Princeton, New Jersey, as Rabbi and Cantor for the String of Pearls congregation in Princeton and as Rabbi and Cantor of Israel Congregation in Manchester, Vermont.
Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg, Ph.D. is Department Chair of Hasidut and Jewish Mysticism for the ALEPH Ordination Program, Director of the AOP Beloved Land: Israel and Palestine Program, and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. Rabbi Ginsburg is Associate Professor of Jewish Thought in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He received his doctorate of philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah, a critical study of the mystical celebration of Sabbath in the classical period of Kabbalah, from the late twelfth to the early sixteenth centuries, and Sod HaShabbat a translation and critical commentary on The Mystical Sabbath, by the influential Spanish-Turkish Kabbalist, Rabbi Meir ibn Gabbai and a plethora of essays and articles. Vaad Member
Rabbi Nadya Gross serves as Director of the AOP Hashpa'ah Training Program, Interim AOP Rosh Hashpa'ah (Director of Spiritual Direction and Development), and member of of the AOP Academic VAAD. Rabbi Gross is Co-Director of Ruach HaAretz for ALEPH and Co-Rabbi of Pardes Levavot, a Jewish Renewal congregation in Boulder, CO. Trained from childhood in the Jewish mystical tradition, by her Israeli grandmother, she now transmits the teachings in a two-year Wisdom School program. She has been a teacher of Kabbalah and meditation for more than 25 years, and is guided by our wisdom tradition and Reb Zalman's teaching in her private practice as Mashpi’ah Ruchanit - which focuses on individuals, couples, and clergy. She co-founded the Center for Spiritual Friendship in Boulder, an interfaith center for hashpa'ah in many forms. She also serves on the ALEPH Sage-ing® faculty, bringing her extensive experience with end-of-life care to the new mentorship training program. Vaad Member
Rabbi Victor Gross, Ph.D.is Department Chair in Jewish Thought and History in the ALEPH Ordination Program and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. He received a Ph.D. in the philosophy of education from the University of California at Berkeley. He studied Judaica at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Jewish Theological Seminary and University of Judaism (presently American Jewish University). He was ordained as a rabbi by R’ Zalman Schachter Shalomi z”l together with his wife Rabbi Nadya Gross. He serves with his wife as co-rabbi of Congregation Pardes Levavot, a Jewish Renewal congregation in Boulder, Colorado and as Co-Director of Ruach HaAretz for ALEPH. He also serves as a Co-Director and on the faculty of the ALEPH Sage-ing Project and on the faculty of the Anamcara Project of the Sacred Art of Living Center for Spiritual Formation. He has taught at Haifa University, Naropa University, and Gratz College. He is the author of Educating for Reverence: The Legacy of Abraham Joshua Heschel published by Wyndham Hall Press. Vaad Member
Rabbi Edwin Harris, Ph.D. teaches Pastoral Counseling in the ALEPH Ordination Program. He received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Washington University and was a psychologist in private practice in St. Louis for over 35 years. He was Adjunct Assistant Professor of Social Work at Washington University School of Social Work, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at St. Louis University School of Medicine, and has taught, trained, and supervised mental health professionals since 1975. He was ordained as a rabbinic pastor through ALEPH, as a rabbi by Rabbis Susan Talve, Randy Fleisher, and James Goodman in St. Louis Missouri, and he served Central Reform Congregation as a rabbi for 6 years. He currently lives in Los Angeles where he maintains a private psychotherapy practice, trains therapists and spiritual counselors at Beit T’Shuvah, and teaches Pastoral Counseling at Hebrew Union College.
Rabbi T'mimah Ickovits, B.S.E., 
is the founding rabbi and leader of Holistic Jew, a Jewish spiritual community in Santa Monica, and teaches Siddur and Liturgy for the ALEPH Ordination Program. She serves on the Steering Committee for the Jewish Burial Society of Southern California (JBSSC) and leads workshops on end of life considerations for Kavod v’Nichum, The Gamliel Institute and JBSSC. Rabbi Ickovitz is a Spiritual Director and consults on health Issues. Before ordination Rabbi T'mimah had an 18-year career as an electronics engineer.
Rabbi Shaya Isenberg, Ph.D. teaches core courses in Jewish Thought and Deep Ecumenism for the ALEPH Ordination Program and was a founding member of the ALEPH Ordination Program Academic VAAD. He serves as Co-Director of the ALEPH Sage-ing Project. He also teaches Jewish mysticism, comparative mysticism, aging and Judaism at the University of Florida at Gainesville, where he chaired the Department of Religion. He is co-founder and former Co-Director of the University of Florida’s Center for Spirituality and Health and he also serves as Rabbi for P’nai Or of Gainesville. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and rabbinic ordination from the ALEPH Rabbinic Program.
Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, Ph.D. teaches core courses in Jewish Philosophy and Thought for the ALEPH Ordination Program. She serves as Director of Inter-Religious and Studies at Vancouver School of Theology also teaches at the University of British Columbia and the Florence Melton Adult Jewish Studies Program. She is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC). During her tenure at UNCC, she served as Professor of Philosophy, Chair of the Philosophy Department, Coordinator of Women’s Studies and teacher in the Judaic Studies Program. She earned many awards for her scholarship, teaching, and service, including the prestigious United States Professor of the Year Award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She received a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Education at Claremont Graduate University and was ordained as a rabbi by the ALEPH Rabbinic Program. She served as Rabbi of Or Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.
Hazzan Jack Kessler, M.M, is Director of the ALEPH Cantorial Program and member of of the AOP Academic VAAD, Hazzan Kessler teaches the core sequence of courses in Nusach ha-Tefillah and the required Master Classes in voice and the art of hazzanut. He also teaches nusach for the Davvenen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI) and has lectured widely. Hazzan Kessler was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in NYC. He coached Hazzanut with David Koussevitzky, studied composition with Miriam Gideon, and received the Albert Einstein Memorial Prize in Hazzanut, the Cantors Assembly Prize and the Jacobson Memorial Prize in Hazzanut. He went on to have a twenty-year career serving Conservative congregations. He earned a Master's Degree in Voice from Boston Conservatory (Deans List) and pursued two years work in composition in the Graduate Department of Music at Brandeis University; studied with Arthur Berger and Harold Shapero. He has been a teacher of hazzanut and voice for 30 years, and has continued his own vocal training during this time. He has performed opera and oratorio and he directs, composes, and sings as the vocal lead for the touring ensembles Klingon Klezmer and Atzilut—Concerts for Peace. He was trained as an Ashkenazi Hazzan, but his performance style and original compositions also embrace Sephardi and Mizrachi styles. Vaad Member
Hazzan Abbe Lyons serves as AOP Supervisor of Music Theory and Sight-singing and teaches practical davennen leadership skills. She received smicha from the ALEPH Cantorial Program in 2010. In 2005, she was honored as a Bat Kol, an emerging voice, by the N'shei Hazon (Women of Vision). Her teaching is informed not only by her education includes a B.Mus. in voice performance from Ithaca College (1987) but also by her training and practice as a Feldenkrais (R) practitioner. Hazzan Abbe has facilitated SpeakChorus Torah at Ruach HaAretz retreat, the ALEPH Kallah, and in congregational settings with adults and teens. She is the lead singer of the Ithaca-based band Resonate. In addition to her solo album, Household Chores (1990), she can be heard on the Vocolot albums Roots and Wings (1992) and Behold! (1998). She served Congregation Tikkun v'Or in Ithaca for 12 years as Cantor and Co-Educator, including as director of the B'nai Mitzvah Program. As a chaplain, she volunteers periodically with the Ithaca Childbearing Loss Network CARES and at Cayuga Medical Center. In addition to music & hazzanut, Abbe has studied and practiced somatic education and healing arts and worked in the nonprofit sector.
Rabbi Natan Margalit, Ph.D., is Department Chair of Rabbinic Text and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. Rabbi Margalit was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990 and earned a Ph.D. in Talmud from U.C. Berkeley in 2001. He has taught at Bard College, the Reconstuctionist Rabbinical College and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Natan is Rabbi of The Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life, in Connecticut. He is Founder and President of Organic Torah Institute, a non-profit organization that fosters holistic thinking about Judaism, environment and society. (www.organictorah.org). He lives in Newton, MA with his wife Ilana and their two sons. Vaad Member
Rabbi Vivie Mayer was raised in Queens, NY, in a Modern-Orthodox family. She lived in Israel on a kibbutz during her 20’s where she taught Judaism to prospective converts. She graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia in 1996 and went on to serve a small Conservative congregation in Danbury CT for ten years. She returned to the RRC community where she is now the Director of the Beit Midrash and the Director of the Mechinah Program. Rabbi Vivie is also an alumna of ALEPH’s Kol Zimra Chant Leaders’ Training. R’ Vivie teaches the AOP Foundational courses in Traditional Jewish Practice including courses in Mishnah, Talmud and Halachah.
Rabbi Leana Moritt
leads the Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation in New York City and Thresholds: for the Jewishly Curious, for those seeking to spiritually infuse or enter Jewish life or navigate interfaith family life. Rabbi Moritt is an engaging teacher and leader of Torah, prayer and chant throughout the NY Metropolitan area and across denominational and institutional settings. Her venues range from the 92nd St Y and Melton classrooms to synagogues and the Union for Reform Judaism. She is a CLAL Rabbis Without Borders Rabbinic Fellow and serves as a chaplain for the homebound elderly for the Joint Chaplaincy Committee of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, NJ. Rabbi Moritt was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York and by Aleph. Prior to becoming a rabbi she worked as an executive in the music industry as Director of Production at Arista Records. Rabbi Moritt teaches Introduction to Jewish Renewal and Jewish Traditions of Sacred time.
Chacham Dayan Rabbi Daniel Siegel, MA, serves as Chacham for the AOP Academic VAAD, and teaches core courses in liturgy and halachic practice and method in the ALEPH Ordination Program. He recently retired as Associate Dean of the ALEPH Ordination Program, a position he held since the Program was founded. He served as Rabbinic Director of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal (1997-2002) and as founding Director of the ALEPH Beit Midrash. He has also served as a consultant to Jewish organizations and synagogues throughout the United States. He was the first person to be ordained as a rabbi by R’ Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l with whom he continued to work on many projects until the end of R’ Zalman’s life in 2014. He holds a Masters Degree from Temple University and he trained and received a Certificate in Conflict Resolution from the Justice Institute of British Columbia in Canada. He served as Jewish Chaplain for Dartmouth College and as rabbi for the Upper Valley Jewish Community in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Rabbi David Siff, PhD, MAJS, teaches Halachic Process for the ALEPH Ordination Program. Rabbi Siff currently also serves as rabbi at Temple Torat Emet, in Boynton Beach, FLA. He received his B.A. From Dartmouth College, his MAJS from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and his Ph.D. from JTS, with a dissertation on “Messianism, Revelation and the Book: Rebbe Nahman of Breslav and the Torah of Atik. He has served as a day school educator and curriculum designer, congregational rabbi, psychiatric chaplain, and also taught at Rutgers University. Rabbi Siff is a member of the Board of OHALAH: Agudat Harabbanim l’Hithadshut Hayahadut, or Association of Rabbis and Cantors for Jewish Renewal.
Rabbi Steven Silvern, Ph.D., is Associate Dean of the ALEPH Ordination Program and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. He is Professor Emeritus of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. He specializes in developing Jewish educational programs for children and adults. His focus is on meaningful educational experiences obtained through the interweaving of Constructivist philosophy with Jewish Renewal methodology. He received a Doctorate of Philosophy in child development from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and rabbinic ordination from the ALEPH Rabbinic Program. He served as Professor of Education at Auburn University and at the University of Texas at Arlington. He also served as Program Director for the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, Connecticut. He is the recipient of awards for professional and public service at the local, national and international level. He served as rabbi of Beth Shalom: The Jewish Community of East Alabama in Auburn. He also served on the Board of Directors and as Chair of the Board of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Vaad Member
Rabbi Shulamit Thiede, Ph.D., is Dean of Faculty of the ALEPH Ordination Program and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. Rabbi Thiede teaches Hebrew Bible, Judaism and Jewish history, the Holocaust and the history of European anti-Semitism in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC-Charlotte. She was ordained in 2011 as a rabbi and in 2012 as a mashpi’ah ruchanit by ALEPH. Rabbi Thiede founded Temple Or Olam, the first Jewish Renewal congregation in North Carolina. Rabbi Thiede has written and published in a wide variety of settings; her current research project focuses on ritual items created by the women of Ashkenaz. Rabbi Thiede has founded two peace organizations, two interfaith organizations, and a chess school. She was the first Jewish member of the Kannapolis-Concord Ministerial Association, the first Jewish religious leader in Cabarrus County, and has served as the faculty advisor for UNCC’s Hillel group and the Interfaith Alliance. She blogs at adrenalinedrash.com. Vaad Member
Rabbi Orna Triguboff, Ph.D., teaches Zohar and other courses in Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism in the ALEPH Ordination Program. She serves at Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney, Australia and is the founder and principal facilitator of the Neshama Life Organization in Sydney, Australia and facilitates Kabbalah Tours in Israel. She earned her doctorate in Kabbalah from Sydney University in Australia, specializing in the Kabbalah of Rabbi Isaac Luria of Safed and the study of Angels. She studied with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l; she was ordained by ALEPH as a rabbi in the Rabbinic Program and as a Mashpi'ah Ruchanit (Spiritual Counsellor) in the Hashpa'ah Training Program. She has been a meditation and yoga teacher for over 20 years, teaching both in Australia and internationally. She was trained in Hatha Yoga by Acharya Upendra Roy. Orna currently divides her time between Israel and Australia.
Dr. Saul Philip Wachs is the Rosaline B. Feinstein Professor of Education and Liturgy, Director of the Doctoral Program in Jewish Education, and Chair of the Education Department at Gratz College. Dr. Wachs holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in education, Jewish education and Jewish music from Gratz College, Temple University, The Jewish Theological Seminary. In 1989, The Jewish theological Seminary awarded Dr. Wachs the degree of Doctor of Pedagogy, Honoris Causa. His Ph. D. is from The Ohio State University. Author of over ninety publications, Dr. Wachs has lectured in almost 400 communities on five continents. He is a recipient of the Keter Shem Tov Award of the United Synagogue and the Jewish Educators Assembly-Behrman House award for Lifetime Achievement. As a Hazzan, Dr. Wachs has conducted High Holyday services at Kehillath Israel congregation in Brookline, Massachusetts since 1972. Dr. Wachs teaches core courses in the Liturgy program for the ALEPH Ordination Program.
Rabbi Shohama Harris Wiener, D.Min., Ed.M., served the ALEPH Ordination Program as Rosh Hashpa'ah (Director of Spiritual Direction and Development) and member of the AOP Academic VAAD until her retirement in October of 2017. She continues to serve as a member of the AOP Mashpia Faculty. Rabbi Wiener is the Founding Director of the AOP Hashpa'ah Training Program and was a founding member of the AOP Rabbinic Program and VAAD. Her full bio is now on the Mashpia Faculty page.
Rabbinic Pastor & Mashpi’ah Ruchanit Sandra Wortzel, B.F.A., M.A., received her Rabbinic Pastor smicha from the ALEPH Ordination Program. She is the Assistant Director of the ALEPH Rabbinic Pastor Program, the Administrative Assistant of the ALEPH Hashpa'ah Training Program, a Supervisor for Hashpa’ah students, and a Mashpia faculty for AOP students. Sandra is a Rabbinic/Interfaith Chaplain for Casa de La Luz Hospice in Tucson, AZ. She is a graduate of the Kol Zimra Hebrew chant leadership training. Uniting Jewish spirituality, the expressive arts, and nature, Sandra encourages others to express their spirituality and yearnings through the arts, in Hashpa’ah sessions, creative ceremonies, and workshops. Sandra has a BFA in Dance, a MA in Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley University, and a Certificate in Advanced Graduate Studies from the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland in Training, Research and Leadership in Expressive Arts Therapy.
Rabbi Harry Zeitlin teaches rabbinic texts in the ALEPH Ordination Program. He was raised and trained Modern Orthodox. He engaged in rabbinic related studies with Orthodox Rabbis Mordechai Friedman, Nissan Applebaum, Avrohom David, Ben Zion Shlomo Twerski z”l, Israel Rosenfeld, Daniel Goldberger zt”l and Chaim Zimmerman z”l. He also trained and was ordained by Mordechai Friedman. In addition, he studied with Rabbis Avraham Lapin z”l, Daniel Lapin, and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. He also holds a B.A from Yale University where he studied philosophy, linguistics, mathematics and filmmaking. Additionally, Rabbi Zeitlin works as a fine-art photographer and an improvising guitarist.
Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit serves as Associate Director of the AOP Hashpa'ah Training Program and member of the AOP Academic VAAD. Rabbi Zevit is a seasoned congregational, organizational, and social justice consultant. He served the Jewish Reconstructionist Movement for fourteen years as Director of Congregational Service, Outreach and Tikkun Olam, consulting to and supporting dozens of congregations, organizations, social justice initiatives in the Jewish and larger world. He is Co-Director with Rabbi Marcia Prager of the Davennen' Leader's Training Institute (DLTI) and is a spiritual director and trainer of Jewish clergy in spiritual direction for the ALEPH Hashpa'ah Program. He is currently the Lead Rabbi of Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia. Rabbi Shawn has been an organizer for over twenty years of Jewish men's programming and retreats; and co-editor with Harry Brod of the just published Brother Keepers: New Perspectives in Jewish Masculinity as well as Offerings of the Heart: Money and Values in Faith Community. He has recorded five CDs of original and liturgical music. Rabbi Shawn is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and has smicha from R’ Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. Vaad Member