Rabbi Jacob Staub, Ph.D., graduated from RRC in 1977. Staub has served on the RRC faculty since 1983; he served as the College’s vice president for academic affairs and academic dean from 1989 to 2004. He was instrumental in developing RRC’s Spiritual Direction Program  and has taught Jewish spiritual direction across North America, including at Spiritual Directors International and the Spirituality Institute of Metivta. He is also a faculty member at Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality, and he directs Nehirim’s Shalshelet Mentoring Program.

His prior teaching experience includes appointments as assistant professor of religion at Lafayette College and as a Mellon Fellow in Jewish Philosophy at Washington University. He has served as rabbi of Bristol Jewish Center in Bristol, PA, and of Congregation Beth Shalom in Arlington, TX. Staub has served as chair of the Academy for Jewish Philosophy, of which has been a fellow. He has been vice president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and currently serves on its board. Jacob also has chaired the RRA’s Gevulot Committee and its Committee on Intermarriage.

Staub earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Master of Arts and doctorate in religion from Temple University, where he specialized in medieval Jewish philosophy. He trained as a spiritual director at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. He completed certification in Mindfulness Leadership Training with Sylvia Boorstein and teaches meditation and contemplative practice at RRC.

Staub served as editor of The Reconstructionist from 1983 to 1989. He is the author of The Creation of the World According to Gersonides (1982) and of numerous articles, poems and essays. He is co-editor with Jeffrey L. Schein of Creative Jewish Education: A Reconstructionist Perspective (1985) and co-author with Rebecca T. Alpert of Exploring Judaism, A Reconstructionist Approach (1985, revised edition 2000).

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit, www.rabbizevit.com is the Director of Congregational Service, Outreach and Tikkun Olam for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. Rabbi Zevit graduated with a BFA, Theatre Honors, from York University in Toronto (1982), Canada, RRC in 1998, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Spiritual Direction and Liturgical Arts from the New York Theological Seminary. He is the Co-Director of the award-winning Davennen Leaders Training Institute and is a spiritual director for many clergy and on core faculty of the ALEPH Hashpa’ah (Spiritual Direction) Clergy Training Program. A recording artist with 5 CD’s of original music and the Shabbat Unplugged “A Night of Questions” CD, he has also written and developed resources in the areas of Community Building, Leadership, Prayer, Contemporary views of GOD, Jewish Men's issues ("Brother Keepers: New Essays in Jewish Masculinities, 2010, http://www.mensstudies.com), and Money and Jewish values ("Offerings of the Heart: Values-Based Approaches to Money in Faith Community", Alban, 2005). Rabbi Zevit moved from Philadelphia to Cleveland in 2009 to be with his wife Simcha and family, continuing his work for JRF from there.

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit, www.rabbizevit.com is the Director of Congregational Service, Outreach and Tikkun Olam for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. Rabbi Zevit graduated with a BFA, Theatre Honors, from York University in Toronto (1982), Canada, RRC in 1998, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Spiritual Direction and Liturgical Arts from the New York Theological Seminary. He is the Co-Director of the award-winning Davennen Leaders Training Institute and is a spiritual director for many clergy and on core faculty of the ALEPH Hashpa’ah (Spiritual Direction) Clergy Training Program. A recording artist with 5 CD’s of original music and the Shabbat Unplugged “A Night of Questions” CD, he has also written and developed resources in the areas of Community Building, Leadership, Prayer, Contemporary views of GOD, Jewish Men's issues ("Brother Keepers: New Essays in Jewish Masculinities, 2010, http://www.mensstudies.com), and Money and Jewish values ("Offerings of the Heart: Values-Based Approaches to Money in Faith Community", Alban, 2005). Rabbi Zevit moved from Philadelphia to Cleveland in 2009 to be with his wife Simcha and family, continuing his work for JRF from there.

Rabbi Richard Hirsh is the Executive Director of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, and teaches future rabbis at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He was the editor of the journal The Reconstructionist from 1996-2006. He has previously served congregations in Chicago, New York, New Jersey and Toronto, was the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Board of Rabbis and Jewish Chaplaincy Service (1988-1993) and was on the staff of the Philadelphia Jewish Community Relations Council (1987-1988).

Rabbi Hirsh received his BA in Jewish Studies from Hofstra University (1975), his MA in religion with a specialization in the New Testament from Temple University (1981), and was graduated as a rabbi from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (1981). Rabbi Hirsh was the chair of the “Reconstructionist Commission on the Role of the Rabbi” and the author of its report, The Rabbi-Congregation Relationship: A Vision for the 21st Century. His commentaries are featured in A Night of Questions, the Reconstructionist Haggadah and the Reconstructionist High Holiday prayerbook.
He is also the author of the books The Journey of Mourning and Welcoming Children in the Reconstructionist Guide to Jewish Practice series. His articles have appeared regularly in the magazines The Reconstructionist and Reconstructionism Today, as well as in many other Jewish and general publications. For over a dozen years he has contributed commentary on the weekly Torah portion for the Jewish Exponent and the New Jersey Jewish News.

Rabbi Rachel,  is soon to be the new chaplain at Georgetown University.  Rabbi Rachel is an author, educator, spiritual director and chaplin, who has many years of experience in the rabbinate.

Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2002, with awards in Practical Rabbinics and Spiritually Motivated Social Action, Rabbi Rachel has served a range of Jewish populations from the elderly to the very young: She co-authored the nationally acclaimed “Rosh Hodesh: It's A Girl Thing - Sourcebook for Leaders”, the signature project of Moving Traditions. Through this program, 6,000 adolescent Jewish girls from across denominations have experienced how Jewish teachings can enable them to make more positive choices in a culture steeped in pressures related to school, relationships, body image, sexuality, drugs and alcohol. Rabbi Rachel has worked with other populations as well. She was a student chaplain at a life care center for Jewish elderly in Philadelphia for many years ,where she produced a theatrical piece with holocaust survivors about their lives; she served as a rabbinic intern at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah which serves the gay and lesbian NY Jewish community, and she is a fellow in the prestigious Marshall T. Meyer Fellowship of Congergation Bnai Jeshurun of New York City. She was a pulpit rabbi in Montclair, New Jersey for three years before turning her sites on campus work.

Adina Newberg, Ph.D., is a member of the faculty  at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical  College.  She is organizational consultant and a researcher for non profit  organizations, particularly religious organizations in the  USA and in Israel.    Her current research interests focus on issues of contemporary religious organizations and spiritual journeys of those who participate in them in Israel.
Newberg;s research examines and  follows the emergence of pluralistic houses of studies and prayer communities there. These are places where participants combine exploration and deep connection to Jewish tradition and Jewish sources with social action and concern for social justice, at the same time maintaining their identity as nonobservant, pluralistic Israelis. Newberg  spent a  year  studying in one  such house  of study-Elul  in Jerusalem during her  sabbatical year.
Newberg studied for her Bachelor of Arts at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and holds a doctorate in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit, www.rabbizevit.com is a congregational consultant and Director of Outreach and Tikkun Olam for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. He is the Co-Director of the award-winning Davennen Leaders Training Institute and is a spiritual director for many clergy. A recording artist he has also written and developed resources in the areas of Community Building, Leadership, Prayer, Contemporary views of GOD, Jewish Men's issues ("Brother Keepers: New Essays in Jewish Masculinity), and Money and Jewish values ("Offerings of the Heart: Values-Based Approaches to Money in Faith Community". Rabbi Zevit moved to Cleveland in 2009 to be with his wife Simcha and family, continuing his work for JRF from there.

Rabbi Erin Hirsh is the JRF Director of Education.  A 2000 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Erin spent over a decade directing two Reconstructionist congregational schools (first the Shul School of Kehilat Hanar, in New Hope, PA, and then the Congregational School of Mishkan Shalom, in Philadelphia, PA.)  For the last three years, Rabbi Erin has served as a consultant to Reconstructionist congregations wrestling with all aspects of educational programming and programming involving children.   

Rabbi Jodie Siff directs the synagogue school at the Reconstructionist Congregation of the North Shore and is active in every part of the community. Rabbi Jodie leads the Rosh Hodesh groups for women and one for girls post Bat Mitzva. Her work with the synagogue’s children begins in our nursery school and includes many intergenerational programs. Rabbi Jodie is a mentor in the Leadership Institute of Congregational Educators and is an active member of the Port Washington/Manhasset Clergy Association. An alumna of Lehigh University, Jodie began her Hebrew studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary and graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2001. Jodie and her husband Peter are the proud parents of four children.

Kim Bodemer, a graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in Elementary Education and Psychology, is a member of Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, MA., and the former Education Director.  While in that role, Kim helped to create spiritual and educational experiences for the entire community in the context of Shabbat morning and holiday observance. 

Steve Lewin, the Vice President of Worship and Adult Education at Shir Hadash in Northbrook, Illinois.  He has been a member of Shir Hadash since its inception in 1995. Has served on the Worship & Ritual Committee for that entire period participating in the development of Shir Hadash's creative approach to services for Shabbat, High Holiday, Festivals and special occasions. This includes developing and leading the Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah program and creating "Read-along" services for Shabbat Evening and the Passover Seder. Steve is a technically-oriented management consultant who utilizes this background to support his congregation's unique approach to services.

Lynne Whitman is the Religious School chair at Congregation Beth Hatikvah in Summit, New Jersey, and a member of the Board of Directors. Professionally, Lynne is a management consultant, focusing on business strategy, operations and marketing strategy and effectiveness.

Rabbi Arnold Rachlis is the rabbi of University Synagogue in Irvine, California. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University's Graduate Department of Religion and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Rabbi Rachlis has served as Chair of Mazon, A Jewish Response To Hunger, and a Past President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. He has served as a board member of the National B'nai Brith Hillel Commission and the New Israel Fund and as President of the Chicago Board of Rabbis.

Rabbi Jeffrey Eisenstat is a 1976 graduate of RRC, and holds a bachelor of arts from Pennsylvania State University and a master's in education from Temple University. He has served as a congregational rabbi in State College, PA; Philadelphia; and Plantation, FL; and as Hillel director at Penn State, where he taught in the religion department. In the early 1990s, Eisenstat was congregational services director at the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and also was an instructor in education at RRC. Over the past 30 years, he has been involved in directing numerous schools and camps. He helped create the first North American family camp, Israel family education trips and youth programs for the Reconstructionist movement. He is a recipient of the Rabbi Ira Eisenstein Lifetime Achievement Award and is the Founding Director of youth and camping for Noar Hadash and Camp JRF. His publications include Reconstructing Jewish Education: A Process Guide, The Reconstructionist Teaching Model and Family Davening, as well as several musical albums.  Currently, he serves the Reconstructionist Movement as the Director of Special Initiatives and continues to work with JRF congregations directing its “Camp to Shule” program.

 Rabbi Carrie Vogel is the Experiential Educator at Kehillat Israel (Pacific Palisades, CA).  She runs the “Jewish Experience,” which is a full day of experiential Jewish learning each month at a local camp.

Rabbi James Greene is a 2008 Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) graduate. During his time at RRC, Rabbi James worked as a student rabbi and youth director for several communities and was the Director of Education and the Director of Music for Camp JRFduring the summer of 2007. Rabbi James currently serves as Rabbi and Educational Director at Temple Beth Sholom in Salem, Oregon and is the Secretary of RENA, the Reconstructionist Educators of North America.

Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Ph.D. Is a 1989 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and recently received a second rabbinical ordination from Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal movement. She is spiritual leader of Kol Ami: the Northern Virginia Reconstructionist Community and ongoing Scholar-in-Residence at The American University in Washington, D.C. She is developing a Jewish adaptation of a Christian practice of contemplative Bible Study and is has a book in progress entitled Reading the Sacred in Silence: A Contemplative Entry into Torah.

Shifrah Tobacman is  a student in the Aleph Rabbinic Program and a recent graduate of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She has written a thesis on the Counting of the Omer, its history and contemporary practices related to it. She has also written a series of poetic meditations based on the practice that can be used for others’ personal journeys, or be used as examples upon which people can build (or write) their own meditations. She is particularly interested in sharing old and new traditions with others to enrich our collective and individual spiritual lives, and enhance endeavors for Tikkun Olam, repair and transformation of our world and society. Her experience as a long time group facilitator, trainer and Compassionate Listening facilitator lends itself well to this endeavor, as do her many decades of work in the fields of public health, health education and integrated health care. Shifrah is also the writer, producer and performer of Rooftop Poems, a series of poetic vignettes based on her meetings with Israelis and Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank in 2001-2002. 

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit, (www.rabbizevit.com) is the Director of Outreach & Tikkun Olam, and a congregational consultant and resource developer for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. He is a founding member of Shabbat Unplugged and the Davenning Leaders’ Training Institute, and a spiritual director for numerous clergy and communities. He has written and developed resources and delivered workshops in the areas of community building, leadership, prayer, interactive midrash, contemporary views of GOD, prayer and spiritual leadership skills, money and Jewish values, social justice issues, Jewish environmental concerns and Jewish men's issues. He is the author of "Offerings of the Heart: Money and Values in Faith Community (Alban, 2005), co-editor of "Brother Keepers: New Essays in Jewiush Masculinities" (Men's Studies Press, 2010) and the Recon Press publications on "Money and Jewish Values" and "Manual for Effective Boards and Committees".

Deborah Schein is an experienced and passionate early childhood educator who envisions young children as competent and capable.  She has worked as a preschool teacher, a college instructor, an early childhood education director, and is presently working as a family educator for a synagogue preschool as she pursues a doctorate in spiritual development of children from birth to five.  Deb is also the co-author of What’s Jewish about Butterflies.

Sarah Chandler is the Director of Jewish Family Life & Learning (JoyFuLL) at West End Synagogue, A Reconstructionist Congregation in Manhattan. The newly launched JoyFuLL program integrates classroom  learning, bringing it alive with through family dinners, inclusive shabbat worship, spirited holiday celebrations and monthly service learning projects. She has her M.A. in Jewish Education and Hebrew  Bible from Jewish Theological Seminary. An educator and curriculum consultant for the Teva Learning Center since 2003, is also a senior editor of http://jewschool.com/ and Director of Programming for Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture.

Rabbi Jeffrey Eisenstat is a 1976 graduate of RRC, and holds a bachelor of arts from Pennsylvania State University and a master's in education from Temple University. He has served as a congregational rabbi in State College, PA; Philadelphia; and Plantation, FL; and as Hillel director at Penn State, where he taught in the religion department. In the early 1990s, Eisenstat was congregational services director at the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and also was an instructor in education at RRC. Over the past 30 years, he has been involved in directing numerous schools and camps. He helped create the first North American family camp, Israel family education trips and youth programs for the Reconstructionist movement. He is a recipient of the Rabbi Ira Eisenstein Lifetime Achievement Award and is the Founding Director of youth and camping for Noar Hadash and Camp JRF. His publications include Reconstructing Jewish Education: A Process Guide, The Reconstructionist Teaching Model and Family Davening, as well as several musical albums.  Currently, he serves the Reconstructionist Movement as the Director of Special Initiatives and continues to work with JRF congregations directing its “Camp to Shule” program.

Lynne P. Iser, MPH, Founder, The Center for Growing Older in Community; is a advocate, teacher and consultant dedicated to empowering those in the second half of life to use their resources and wisdom to create a world that is sustainable, just and fulfilling.  She facilitates Awakening the Dreamer Symposium, is a faculty member of the ALEPH Sage-ing Project, and, teaches conscious aging and community building both locally and nationally.  She was the founding Executive Director of the Spiritual Eldering Institute where she learned about the opportunities and blessings of becoming an elder in her work with Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi. 

Rabbi Margot Stein (www.RabbiMargotStein.com) is an award-winning singer/liturgical composer with 6 albums of original Jewish music to her credit.  Margot has been recognized by Shalshelet:  the International Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music, and published in Siddur Sha'ar Zahav, A Night of Questions:  A Passover Seder, the Tu B'Shevat Anthology, and numerous supplemental liturgies and Jewish camp recordings.  She teaches Ethics and Jewish Mindfulness Practices to adults and helps children with special needs and their families create meaningful bar/bat mitzvah ceremonies.

Cindy Rivka Marshall (http://www.cindymarshall.com/)  is an award-winning professional storyteller whose dynamic theatrical style weaves words with movement and music. In her repertoire of Jewish folktales, legends, Hasidic stories and midrashim, she creates vivid characters and images. Her performances for children and adults resonate with her sense of wonder and her value of respect for all. runs the Dancing Tree Storytelling Studio at Gorse Mill Artists’ Studios in Needham, MA where she offers workshops in storytelling skills to educators, clergy and parents. Her audio recordings, "Challah and Latkes: Stories for Shabbat and Hanukkah" and "By the River: Women's Voices in Jewish Stories" won awards from National Parenting Publications, Storytelling World and Parents' Choice.  A former filmmaker, some of her documentaries are still in distribution nationally, including “A Life of Song” a portrait of Yiddish folksinger Ruth Rubin. . SheCindy is currently the co-chair of the Jewish Storytelling Coalition www.jewishstorytelling.org and is a Board member and chair of the Ritual committee at Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, MA.

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit, is the Director of Outreach & Tikkun Olam, and a congregational consultant and resource developer for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. He is a founding member of Shabbat Unplugged and the Davenning Leaders’ Training Institute, and a spiritual director for numerous clergy and communities. He has written and developed resources and delivered workshops in the areas of community building, leadership, prayer, interactive midrash, contemporary views of GOD, prayer and spiritual leadership skills, money and Jewish values, social justice issues, Jewish environmental concerns and Jewish men's issues. He is the author of "Offerings of the Heart: Money and Values in Faith Community (Alban, 2005), co-editor of "Brother Keepers: New Essays in Jewish Masculinities" (Men's Studies Press, 2010) and the Recon Press publications on "Money and Jewish Values" and "Manual for Effective Boards and Committees". Rabbi Zevit has also recorded five CD's of origianl music as well as the Reconstructionist Press Pesach CD with Shabbat Unplugged. (www.rabbizevit.com)

Dr. Rabbi David Teutsch has been a builder of religious community since becoming a congregational rabbi over thirty years ago. He is the Wiener Professor of Contemporary Jewish Civilization and director of the Levin-Lieber Program in Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he served as president for nearly a decade. He previously served as executive director of the JRF. The editor in chief of the groundbreaking Kol Haneshamah prayer book series published by JRF’s Reconstructionist Press, he has also authored several other books including Imagining the Jewish Future and five volumes in the series A Guide to Jewish Practice published by RRC Press. A renowned consultant and trainer, he pioneered values-based decision making.

Hazzan Rachel Hersh Epstein has served as Adat Shalom's cantor since 1996. In addition to a life-long love of music and singing, she holds academic degrees in music, social work and Judaic studies. She is invested and commissioned by the Cantor's Assembly. Hazzan Rachel is equally at home with Jewish folk music, congregational melody, and classical hazzanut and is sought after as a guest performer and teacher.  She delights in serving a spiritual community that is both lovingly devoted to Jewish tradition and open to change and innovation in our generation's Jewish Renaissance. Hazzan Rachel is a member of the Harmoniyah: Reconstructionist Music Network steering committee and was the chair of the Harmoniyah 2009 Retreat.

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit, (www.rabbizevit.com) is the Director of Outreach & Tikkun Olam, and a congregational consultant and resource developer for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. He is a founding member of Shabbat Unplugged and the Davenning Leaders’ Training Institute, and a spiritual director for numerous clergy and communities. He has written and developed resources and delivered workshops in the areas of community building, leadership, prayer, interactive midrash, contemporary views of GOD, prayer and spiritual leadership skills, money and Jewish values, social justice issues, Jewish environmental concerns and Jewish men's issues. He is the author of "Offerings of the Heart: Money and Values in Faith Community (Alban, 2005), co-editor of "Brother Keepers: New Essays in Jewiush Masculinities" (Men's Studies Press, 2010) and the Recon Press publications on "Money and Jewish Values" and "Manual for Effective Boards and Committees".

Dr. Rabbi David Teutsch has been a builder of religious community since becoming a congregational rabbi over thirty years ago. He is the Wiener Professor of Contemporary Jewish Civilization and director of the Levin-Lieber Program in Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he served as president for nearly a decade. He previously served as executive director of the JRF. The editor in chief of the groundbreaking Kol Haneshamah prayer book series published by JRF’s Reconstructionist Press, he has also authored several other books including Imagining the Jewish Future and five volumes in the series A Guide to Jewish Practice published by RRC Press. A renowned consultant and trainer, he pioneered values-based decision making.

Beulah Trey, Ph.D- Born into a South African Jewish family, raised in an orthodox Jewish community, married into a fourth generation Reform family, student of a conservative Rabbi and a member of a Reconstructionist synagogue, finding Mussar has given Beulah a practice that incorporates the diverse paths inside and outside Judaism that have nurtured her soul. Aware of the power of Mussar to transform lives, she pioneers the applications of these practices to leadership, team and organizational transformation. Beulah is a licensed organizational psychologist. In 2007 she founded Vector Group Consulting a management consulting firm that assists leaders, teams and organizations to achieve transformation.  Beulah lives in Philadelphia and teaches the Mazkeh Rabim year of Mussar in Rabbi Ira Stone’s Mussar Leadership Institute.  You can learn more and sign up for a weekly mussar post at www.mussarleadership.org

Rabbi Barbara Penzner has served Temple Hillel B’nai Torah in West Roxbury, MA since 1995. Rabbi Penzner is a past president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and past president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis. She is also a founder of Mayyim Hayyim Mikveh and Education Center (http://jrf.org/Mayyim-Hayyim-Mikveh-Conference). Barbara  is married to Brian Rosman, the originator and keeper of the Homer Calendar, http://homer.jvibe.com/.  They are the parents of two fabulous children, Aviva and Yonah.

Carole Caplan (carolecaplan@livebychoice.com) is proud to be a past president of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, IL, and to have helped build their new building as the "greenest" house of worship in America. She is a Greenfaith Fellow, a unique multi-faith endeavor which advocates stewardship of the environment as imperative spiritual work (see Greenfaith.org), and lectures on the crossroads between spirituality and environmentalism. Carole is also a Wexner Heritage Fellow, committed to working towards sustainable Jewish life on the local and national level.

Carole's company, Live by Choice, assists clients in making empowered choices for sustainable environments including ‘green’ building processes and building products, water filters, air filters and cleaning products. A 500 RYT certified meditation and yoga instructor, Carole teaches to both children and adults in the Chicagoland area.