Rabbi Victor Gross is a member of the Aleph Smicha academic vaad and co-rabbi with his lives partner, Nadya of Pardes Levavot, a Jewish renewal congregation in Boulder, CO. Reb Victor is co-president of Ruach Haaretz and has been a member of the board of Ohalah.
He studied at the University of Judaism, the rabbinical school at JTS, Hebrew University, and completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. Reb Victor is an adjunct professor at the Center for Judaic Studies, University of Denver, and Graetz College.
Gallaudet University Press (Recipient, Koret Jewish Studies Publications Program Publication Subsidy, 1998.), Illness and Health in the Jewish Tradition (JPS), and many others. She earned her Ph.D. in Rabbinic literature from the Baltimore Hebrew University and is the founder and director of Maqom: A School for Adult Talmud Study where anyone can learn, regardless of their background. Maqom classes are also available on the internet (http://www.maqom.com) She received the Covenant Award for outstanding performance in the field of Jewish Education and is a commissioned Senior Religious Advisor of the State of Texas. She lives in Houston with her husband Steven and their three children.
in Liturgy at Hebrew Union College and working on books in the areas of Jewish Pluralism, Liturgy and Halakhic texts.
He has taught and consulted widely, including the National Havurah Institute, The ALEPH Kallah, JACS (Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically dependant persons and Significant Others), the Kollel of Hebrew Union College, The Jewish-Christian Bible Seminar in Bendorf (Germany), Synagogue 2000 and for many congregations.
Sami is a keen runner, white water kayaker, lover of folk music and sometime martial artist. When he and his wife Karen (a management consultant) have time granted by their children, they will complete a book on Jewish time management.
Rabbi Uziel Weingarten
Rabbi Uziel Weingarten is a gifted scholar and
warm communicator who draws on the deep
wellsprings of the Jewish Tradition to create a
sense of contemporary meaning. He creatively
uncovers modern principles of ethics,
spirituality and personal growth in ancient
texts, making them immediate and relevant.
Teaches with love, passion, openness and joy.
Uziel, 45, received his rabbinic ordination and
Masters degree in Jewish Education at Yeshiva University, and now sees himself as a multi-denominational Jew. He then spent some years in Israel doing post-rabbinic study, and then taught both Bible and "Communicating with Compassion" at the Lifshitz Teachers College in Jerusalem. Uziel now lives in Los Angeles, where he heads the Beth Midrash program at the Academy for Jewish Religion. He also speaks to synagogue audiences of all denominations, and publishes a weekly email Torah study that is read by over 1200 people worldwide.
In addition to Bible, Uziel is a skilled facilitator or "Communicating With Compassion" skills. He specializes in helping people to improve their relationships, connect with their personal goals and realize their dreams of a better life. In working with individuals, he combines Jewish wisdom and "Communicating with Compassion" to offer life-transforming spiritual counseling.
years he was a senior educator specializing in Judaism and Jewish Identity at the Institute For Student Leaders: Machon LeMadrichei Chutz leAretz in Jerusalem. He then undertook a program of study in Jerusalem that led to semicha in 1989 from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, which led to the position of rabbi at Or Shalom in Vancouver for five years, during which he was an `apprentice' to Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Z"L. In 1992 he received semicha from him.
In 1995 he founded Mercaz HaRaya:The Centre For Vision. The centre is named after Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook the contemporary mystic sage. He is working on a book on the spiritual journey of the Aleph Bet based on Rav Kook's sefer "Rosh Millin". The manuscript served as part of his submission to Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi from whom he received semicha in 1996.
Currently he is facilitating a cyber journey with about 500 participants through the Torah. It is called Mila Yomit: The Torah, Word ByWord. He says "Rav Kook teaches that the work of this generation includes opening the gates of kabbala and serving the transformation from Torat HaDin: Torah of Judgment to Torat HaChesed: Torah of Love."
Modern Issues in Kabbalah. He has also taught at San Francisco State University, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and is currently on the faculty of Chochmat Halev Jewish Meditation Teachers Training Program and the Academy of Jewish Religion Rabbinic Program (LA). Eliahu lives with his family in Berkeley, California and is currently working on two projects: Early Hassidism and Cognitive Psychology and Ethical Work Torah Commentaries. His email address is rebklein@hotmail.com
Rabbi Goldie Milgram, D.Min., MSW, is former Dean of Professional Development and Admission at the Academy for Jewish Religion where she also taught bio-ethics and counseling for seven years. She teaches at Auburn Seminary and has also served at Princeton University, Bard College and Gettysburg College. Reb Goldie directs the Jewish educational research and training institute Reclaiming
Judaism, and is author of Reclaiming Judaism as a Spiritual Practice (Jewish Lights) and Make Your Own Bar/Bat Mitzvah (Jossey-Bass), her third work, Meaning and Mitzvah (Jewish Lights) is due out this June. She is a 2005 nominee for the Covenant Award for Excellence as a Jewish educator. Her email address is RebGoldieM@aol.com
Rabbi Leila Gal Berner graduated with a Bachelor1s degree in English Literature and History from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and she received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles in medieval Spanish Jewish History. Rabbi Berner was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC). She has taught at several excellent colleges and universities, including Reed, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore Colleges and Emory University. She currently teaches at George Washington University in Washington DC and serves as Rabbi of Congregation
Kol Ami, a Reconstructionist community in northern Virginia. This year, she is also teaching the Medieval Civilization core seminar course at RRC. A Fulbright scholar, Dr. Berner spent eighteen months in Barcelona, Spain conducting research on the Jewish Community of Barcelona in the thirteenth century. Her original research and published work constitute a major contribution in our historical understanding of the Christian-Jewish relationship in the Middle Ages Additionally, Dr. Berner has done extensive work in the field of Jewish ethics and is the founding Director of the Center for Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in
Philadelphia, a "think tank" on ethical decision-making from a Jewish perspective.
Though primarily working within the Reconstructionist world, Rabbi Berner's heart also belongs with Jewish Renewal, where she coordinated an early P'nai Or Kallah. A well-known liturgist she co-edited Or Chadash, the first P'nai Or siiddur. Her commentaries on tefila appear in Kol Haneshamah, the Reconstructionist series of prayer books and in many other siddurim. Her new liturgies are widely used in Jewish communities throughout North America.
Rabbi Berner is completing her training at Elat Chayyim's Lev Shomea program to learn the art and techniques of spiritual guidance and companioning. She is honored to serve as spiritual companion/director to a minyan of individuals as they seek deeper devekut with the Holy One.
Rabbi Berner lives in Kensington, Maryland with her life-partner, Franna Ruddell and their nine-year old daughter, Kayla Moriya Gal.
