Our Alumni

Rav- Hazzan Aliza Berger, Rab`17, Can`17 Temple Emanuel, Newton, MA

Rav-Hazzan, Temple Emanuel, Newton, MA

Spend a few minutes with Rav-Hazzan Aliza Berger and it’s apparent she loves her work as a rabbi and a cantor. Berger, whose portfolio at Temple Emanuel, a Conservative congregation in Newton, includes supporting teens and young adults, also delivers sermons, officiates at life cycle events and sings during prayers. A graduate of Hebrew College’s Rav-Hazzan ordination program, she notes that the difference between a rabbi who is a cantor and a rav-hazzan has mostly to do with linguistics. “When Hebrew College created the joint Rav-Hazzan program,” Berger told JewishBoston, “they chose the word hazzan [instead of cantor] because it is both uniquely Jewish and reflects someone who has taken on a clergy role. They designated rabbi as rav so that the two titles matched.”

Berger grew up in Denver in the Jewish Renewal movement. Although it was an hour’s drive from her home, she attended Sunday school at what was then called the Jewish Renewal Community of Boulder. Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, a leader in the movement, and Jewish Renewal founder, the late Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, were her early mentors. Berger also credits her parents with creating a vibrant Jewish home where there was Shabbat dinner every week and a night of music. “Friday night my dad got out his guitar, and my mother, younger sister and I sang and danced around the living room for hours,” she said.

Music and Judaism have always been an integral part of Berger’s life. She knew she wanted to be a rabbi from an early age, and in high school she sang with the Denver Opera Company. “I became so enamored of the opera world, I wanted to be an opera singer and then go to rabbinical school,” she said. Berger became serious enough about music that post-high school she wanted to go to a conservatory. But her parents insisted that she also get an academic education. She chose Vanderbilt University in Nashville for its stellar Jewish studies and vocal music departments.

At Vanderbilt, her Judaism ran the gamut from leading Reform services at Hillel her freshman year to taking an active role later on in Chabad services. “I switched because I wanted a more traditional experience, but what I really wanted was a Jewish Renewal congregation,” she said. At Chabad, Berger identified with the Hasidism around her. “Chabad was the closest thing to what I grew up with. There was a lot of singing and dancing. Even the melodies were similar,” she recalled.

By the time Berger graduated, she was deciding between remaining in Nashville to teach or spending a year in Israel. Her decision was made when she was awarded a scholarship to Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. At Pardes, she ran the egalitarian minyan and embraced her studies at the beit midrash. In Israel, many of her fellow students were from Hebrew College’s rabbinical and cantorial programs. “I loved the way they sang, the way they did social justice work,” she said. “They were doing everything I wanted to do.” By the time her year in Israel ended, Berger had been accepted to Hebrew College’s rabbinical program. The Rav-Hazzan program was founded in her third year at the college.

For Berger, Hebrew College’s post-denominational bent encompassed all the various parts that she cherished about being Jewish. “Jewish Renewal is an orientation and a way of being Jewish that is in line with post-denominational Judaism and Conservative Judaism,” she observed. “You have to find a way to connect with each ritual. We think of denominations as places where people gather based on an affinity for a way of doing or being Jewish. But in reality, they are collections of pluralistic Jews who come to a community for many reasons.”

Nowhere is this more obvious to Berger than in her work with teens and young adults. She is particularly focused on helping the teens she meets stay “plugged in and make Jewish choices after their b’nei mitzvah. There’s a delicate dance that goes into helping teens and young adults find a personal connection to Judaism. There are a lot of Jewish options for them to have in their lives. I want to show them that Judaism is a great app for life, and I want young people to download the version that works for them.”

During the High Holidays, Berger divides her time between leading teen and family services, as well as participating in adult services in Temple Emanuel’s Community Hall. As for explaining the relationship between her rabbinical and cantorial duties, she compares the cantorial part of her work as akin to establishing a Wi-Fi zone. “The nusach, or melodic prayers, of a service are like a password that gives us access to search the divine realm for what we need,” she said. “The rabbi sets up scenes through words, text that is spoken or studied and liturgy. The cantor fills those scenes. The place where those two worlds meet is the most connective for me.” (Reprinted from JewishBoston.com, Sept. 2017)

Rabbi Nathan DeGroot, Rab’16, MJER`16 Portland, Oregon

Rabbi Nate DeGroot grew up just a short drive from Hebrew College, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, but he is making his home—and his mark—in the western United States. DeGroot worked in his adopted hometown of Portland, Oregon, to build a cooperative Jewish community called Mikdash, which operates on the donated gifts and talents of its members. DeGroot spent months learning the landscape of the Portland Jewish community, trying to identify and match people’s skills and interests to the needs of the larger group.

“It’s a unique opportunity to empower community on a grassroots level,” he said.

Mikdash is part of the renaissance of Jewish life on Portland’s east side. DeGroot received a Natan/NEXT Grant for Social Entrepreneurs in 2014 to support his work, as well as funding from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.

“We appreciated Nate’s approach,” federation CEO and president Marc Blattner said. “It was not about a specific event or institution. It was about creating a groundswell about what could be done on the East side in a collaborative and creative manner.”

Mikdash offers programming year-round, including a monthly Havdalah yoga series as well as ice cream sundae–themed celebrations of Jewish holidays. This summer, the community launched Beta Mikdash, a two-month communal-living experiment in a rented house in Portland. It will serve as a hub for Jewish life and experience, with prayer, song, activism, ritual, and celebration created and implemented by the participants of the community. DeGroot hopes it stands as the model for a full-time community he plans to organize after he graduates.

Jo Borkan, a Mikdash community member and facilitator of the Havdalah yoga series, said DeGroot’s approach to Mikdash exemplifies the co-creative spirit of the initiative.

“He continually repeated back to us, ‘I’m glad to be a support, but you guys know what you’re doing,’” Borkan said.

As if this project weren’t enough, DeGroot spent the year after his ordination commuting between Boston and Los Angeles to work as a rabbinic intern at IKAR, a thriving independent synagogue renowned for engaging young and disaffected Jews. There, he will work with young professionals on community-building and social-justice issues.

“I have long known IKAR to be a pioneer and thought leader in the progressive Jewish world, a model for creativity, spiritual accountability, and social responsibility,” DeGroot said. “These are all values that I share deeply and hope to help bring to whatever communities I might be part of in the future. Being able to learn from within at IKAR was a great boon for the project in Portland.”

Orna Siegel, MJEd`16 Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Washington, D.C.

Director of Enrollment and Tuition Assistance, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Washington, D.C.

“The inner drive that compels me to work in the Jewish community may be rooted in my personal history or psychology, or per the definition, rooted in some divinely inspired pull on my neshama, my soul. Either way, I have spent my career serving the Jewish people, primarily through day school education. While recruiting families to day school may seem somewhat prosaic, my conviction stems in the belief that to survive as a people, our religion, culture, and language must be transmitted to the next generation through holistic, deep, and daily encounters. This is the approach I found at all three day schools where I have proudly enrolled new students, at Gann Academy, JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School, and now at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. So while one could crassly categorize my job as the Director of Enrollment as a “sales” position, I view it as God’s holy work, and this is the difference between “work” and a “sacred calling” – it elevates the mundane to the holy.” ( Excerpt from The Sacred Duty of a Jewish Educator).

David Lobron

“I participated in Parenting Your Tween Through a Jewish Lens at the Dorshei Tzedek religious school while my kids were in their classes. The course was led by Judy Elkin, and took place over 5 Sunday mornings.

Our class of 18 parents explored a wonderful variety of texts together, everything from “Maimonides on Anger Management” (Is there anything this prolific Jewish medieval philosopher didn’t cover?) to “How to Hug a Porcupine” (the title speaks for itself). It was fascinating to delve into ancient and modern texts with a group of parents who are dealing with the same joys and challenges of raising a tween. Some of the texts we studied had profound depth, and looking at them with other parents helped me see layers that I would not have found on my own. For example, a text from the book of Proverbs seemed on the surface like harsh disciplinary wisdom, but in talking together, our group of parents found a wealth of additional meaning – and we were inspired by the idea that we should never give up on our children. It was also fun to simply hang out with other parents and talk.

At the start of the first class, Judy asked each of us to think of a metaphor for parenting. My daughter loves to rock climb, so the metaphor I came up with was that of parents as belayers: we want to give our kids enough “slack in the rope” to move around and maybe even make mistakes, but we also need to teach them and keep them safe. I now find that when a parenting challenge comes up, I think about belaying a climber. Our class also talked about bringing Judaism into everyday life: one way I do that now is to quote from the morning blessing “Who makes our steps firm” before my daughter and I start a climb. PJTL helped me think about ways to bring Judaism into kids’ lives without it feeling like something that’s imposed on them.

I am very grateful to Hebrew College and CJP for helping us have this program at our school! It was a pleasure to pursue Jewish learning in the same setting and time as my kids, and I got to know people in my congregation even better. I encourage anyone with an interest in Judaism and parenting to take this class!”

Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman '14 Temple Sinai of Brookline, MA

Associate Rabbi, Temple Sinai of Brookline, MA

“I came to the rabbinate after realizing that the language, faith, and community of Judaism would help me push through the despair and paralysis I felt about environmental degradation. Today, as a rabbi at Temple Sinai of Brookline, I support my congregants in building rich Jewish lives. I gain strength from our communal t’fila, congregational organizing for justice, and engaging my congregants of all ages. From that place of community, I have the koach (strength) to take a leadership role in the interfaith climate action movement. I am grateful every day for the chance to do work I love with people I care about. I draw deep meaning from playing my own part in a global movement, and inspiring others to do the same.”

(Pictured: Rabbi Friedman was one of two rabbis representing the Jewish faith as part of the historic interfaith service “Coming Together In Faith on Climate” at the National Cathedral on Sept. 24, 2015. Learn more about her work at www.rabbishoshana.com.)

Cantor Hinda Tzvia Eisen Labovitz '14 Ohr Kodesh Congregation, Chevy Chase, MD

Cantor, Ohr Kodesh Congregation, Chevy Chase, MD

“I hope there are people who are as happy and content with their professional and spiritual lives as I have been as a result of the education I received at Hebrew College.” In fact, Hinda was the reason why her former intern, Jessica Woolf, decided to become a cantor and pursue ordination in Hebrew College’s Cantorial Ordination for Spiritual and Educational Leadership (COSEL) program.

Watch a Video with Cantor Labovitz and Cantorial Student Jessica Woolf

Sarah Winn, JTFGB`18 Student, Syracuse University

Jewish Teen Foundation of Greater Boston (JTFGB) 2018 Alumnus
Student, Syracuse University

“JTFGB was the most amazing, inspiring, and engaging experience. Growing up immersed in the Jewish community, I was taught about tzedakah, always took the time to give back, knowing that it was ofcourse important, but never fully understanding the reasoning behind it. After participating in JTFGB, I understand the significance of tzedakah, the importance of giving, and why we, as Jews, practice this. I will use all of the resources, skills and learning I have been so blessed to take away from this experience in my future endeavors.”

Michelle Black, Me'ah`14 Alumna

Alumna, Me’ah, Parenting Through a Jewish Lens, Open Circle Jewish Learning

“I have always been a avid learner. While in college, I remember noticing adults who chose to audit college-level courses and noted to myself that I wanted to be an ‘adult leader’ one day. Once I completed my formal schooling and started a family, I missed the intellectual stimulation. When Parenting Through a Jewish lens was offered through Hebrew College at Temple Beth Elohim [in Wellesley, MA], where my children were enrolled in preschool, I enthusiastically signed up. I wasn’t looking for Jewish content at the time.; I was drawn to the parenting curriculum. However, it was through this course that I was introduced to pearls of wisdom that could be found within our sacred Jewish texts — and I wanted to learn more. When the opportunity to enroll in Me’ah presented itself, I did not hesitate to join. I was eager to deepen my knowledge and understanding, not only of Torah and traditions, but also of our history and teachings from biblical times through today. Enrolling in 100 hours of college-level, curriculum-based learning was a gift that strengthened and reinforced my Jewish identity. I received a top-notch secular education and feel incredibly fortunate that I live in a community that values a top-notch Jewish education. Thank you CJP and Hebrew College for making Me’ah available to so many adults in Greater Boston. We are stronger and certainly more literate and enriched because of it.”

Rabbi Salem Pearce, Rab`18 T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights in New York City

Director of Congregational Organizing, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights in New York City

“My study of Torah has expanded my intellectual and moral imagination. My observance of Jewish ritual has equipped me with tools to face these challenging times. My mindfulness and meditation practice has taught me how to move more wisely in the world. And my relationship with the divine has helped me approach my fellow being with an open heart.”

Alachua Nazarenko, MJEd`18 Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, Jackson, MS

Director of Programming, Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, Jackson, MS

“The Judaism of a thousand years ago, or even fifty years ago, isn’t the same Judaism we have today, and the Judaism of today won’t be the same Judaism of fifty years from now. It continues to evolve because the needs of our community change, and we, as communal leaders, have to match the practices we establish and endorse with the community’s needs in order to stay relevant. Hebrew College again distinguished itself as a trailblazer in supporting the needs of Jews of all backgrounds through its development of the Interfaith Families Jewish Engagement (IFJE) concentration, and I am proud to be a graduate of the first cohort of such a forward-thinking institution. I can’t wait to see what Hebrew College does next to continue its leadership in the realm of serving Jews, and making space for Jewish leaders, of all backgrounds, at every level.”