Feeling at Home
Originally from Roanoke, Virginia, I've always had a love of mountains, trees, and rivers. Living in New York City for six years--including serving a congregation in Mahwah, NJ--broadened my horizons, helping me access museums, lectures, and community experiences that weren't available in Virginia. In Overland Park, KS, where I worked for three years, I found a lovely mixture of the peace of Roanoke and the action of New York. I served on the rabbinic team of Oak Park Temple just outside of Chicago for six years and now feel at home at KAM Isaiah Israel in Hyde Park, Chicago.
Life in Theater
I am passionate about theater. I love to act in, see, and think about plays, and I believe that theater conceptually is essential to transformative religion. My undergraduate thesis explored early Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Garden of Eden story, using tools of drama to put rabbis and church fathers into conversation with one another. And my rabbinic thesis at HUC-JIR on ritual in Jewish schools draws heavily from concepts of meaning-making and story-telling that are inherent to theater. Theater for me is more than entertainment or interest; it's also religious. If "all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players" (As You Like It II.7), we must consider: Who are the Director, Producer, Author, and Audience?
Approaching Jewish Life
I am philosophically and communally committed to Reform Judaism. I grew up Reform, though only later in life--as I engaged in inter-seminary dialogue with other rabbinical students--did I realize that I am Reform by choice and not just by accident. To me, Reform Judaism stands for the affirmation of each individual's ways of living Jewishly, acknowledging that Jewishness ultimately is in the hands of Jews. I affirm a system of halakhah in which Jewish behavior guides individuals, families, and communities to advance creativity, compassion, and collaboration in the world. That is, Jewish "ways" (halakhah) are vital to being Jewish, serving not as achievements but as pathways to fulfilling humanity's role in God's expanding Creation. This approach leads me to embrace pluralism, a belief that honors a diversity of truths and recognizes the value in their differences.
Jewish life is empty if it doesn't make the world a better place--for ourselves and our families, for our Jewish and civic communities, and for the wider world. The Torah teaches us three times to love: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18), "Love the stranger as yourself" (Lev. 19:34), and "Love the Eternal your God" (Deut. 6:5). Quoting Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, Rabbi Rachel Timoner teaches: "By learning how to love ourselves, we learn how to love our neighbor. By learning how to love our neighbor, we learn how to love the stranger. And by learning how to love the stranger, we learn how to love God. This is the best summary of Judaism I know" (The Sun, Oct. 2018). I couldn't agree more.
Originally from Roanoke, Virginia, I've always had a love of mountains, trees, and rivers. Living in New York City for six years--including serving a congregation in Mahwah, NJ--broadened my horizons, helping me access museums, lectures, and community experiences that weren't available in Virginia. In Overland Park, KS, where I worked for three years, I found a lovely mixture of the peace of Roanoke and the action of New York. I served on the rabbinic team of Oak Park Temple just outside of Chicago for six years and now feel at home at KAM Isaiah Israel in Hyde Park, Chicago.
Life in Theater
I am passionate about theater. I love to act in, see, and think about plays, and I believe that theater conceptually is essential to transformative religion. My undergraduate thesis explored early Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Garden of Eden story, using tools of drama to put rabbis and church fathers into conversation with one another. And my rabbinic thesis at HUC-JIR on ritual in Jewish schools draws heavily from concepts of meaning-making and story-telling that are inherent to theater. Theater for me is more than entertainment or interest; it's also religious. If "all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players" (As You Like It II.7), we must consider: Who are the Director, Producer, Author, and Audience?
Approaching Jewish Life
I am philosophically and communally committed to Reform Judaism. I grew up Reform, though only later in life--as I engaged in inter-seminary dialogue with other rabbinical students--did I realize that I am Reform by choice and not just by accident. To me, Reform Judaism stands for the affirmation of each individual's ways of living Jewishly, acknowledging that Jewishness ultimately is in the hands of Jews. I affirm a system of halakhah in which Jewish behavior guides individuals, families, and communities to advance creativity, compassion, and collaboration in the world. That is, Jewish "ways" (halakhah) are vital to being Jewish, serving not as achievements but as pathways to fulfilling humanity's role in God's expanding Creation. This approach leads me to embrace pluralism, a belief that honors a diversity of truths and recognizes the value in their differences.
Jewish life is empty if it doesn't make the world a better place--for ourselves and our families, for our Jewish and civic communities, and for the wider world. The Torah teaches us three times to love: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18), "Love the stranger as yourself" (Lev. 19:34), and "Love the Eternal your God" (Deut. 6:5). Quoting Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, Rabbi Rachel Timoner teaches: "By learning how to love ourselves, we learn how to love our neighbor. By learning how to love our neighbor, we learn how to love the stranger. And by learning how to love the stranger, we learn how to love God. This is the best summary of Judaism I know" (The Sun, Oct. 2018). I couldn't agree more.
Vision for My Rabbinate
Being a rabbi is my calling; I can't imagine being anything else. My service to the Jewish people and the communities with whom we are in relationship is rooted in principles of Torah and visions of the Prophets. The wisdom of our ancestors and teachers can be made ever-relevant today by people who care, and I commit myself to cultivating Jewish communities of caring. We cannot fully know who God is, but we can care about divine truth and wonder about God's word. We can never all agree on what specific positions will be best for our society, but we can work together to ensure that the interests about which we all care receive their proper attention. We never know when the Messianic Age will materialize or what it will look like, but we yearn for that time beyond in which our cares will be for one another and all peoples will welcome one another into the House of God. Historically, rabbis have helped guide their communities through leadership and learning to focus their attention on God's concerns, and I envision a rabbinate of doing the same. At times, I will be called to disturb the comfortable, and at times, I will be called to comfort the disturbed. I strive to bring Torah to life, uncovering the lights it offers us in a world that appears too often to be darkening. And through the mystery of ritual, I cultivate with joy and anticipation moments of transformation in the lives of individuals and communities.
Being a rabbi is my calling; I can't imagine being anything else. My service to the Jewish people and the communities with whom we are in relationship is rooted in principles of Torah and visions of the Prophets. The wisdom of our ancestors and teachers can be made ever-relevant today by people who care, and I commit myself to cultivating Jewish communities of caring. We cannot fully know who God is, but we can care about divine truth and wonder about God's word. We can never all agree on what specific positions will be best for our society, but we can work together to ensure that the interests about which we all care receive their proper attention. We never know when the Messianic Age will materialize or what it will look like, but we yearn for that time beyond in which our cares will be for one another and all peoples will welcome one another into the House of God. Historically, rabbis have helped guide their communities through leadership and learning to focus their attention on God's concerns, and I envision a rabbinate of doing the same. At times, I will be called to disturb the comfortable, and at times, I will be called to comfort the disturbed. I strive to bring Torah to life, uncovering the lights it offers us in a world that appears too often to be darkening. And through the mystery of ritual, I cultivate with joy and anticipation moments of transformation in the lives of individuals and communities.