Workshop Presenters

Rabbi Rivkah Coburn

Rabbi Rivkah Coburn received certification as a Jewish Embodiment Facilitator through her studies with Rabbi Diane Elliot in the Embodying Spirit En-Spirited Body Program. Rivkah's background in movement, mysticism, and contemplative practice informs the embodied prayer practices she teaches, offering seekers a path towards healing, wholeness and greater service in the world. Rabbi Rivkah was given smicha through the ALEPH Ordination Program.

Rabbinic Chaplain Shulamit Fagan

Rabbinic Pastor/Chaplain Kate Shulamit Fagan is a dynamic teacher, vibrant storyteller, a mother, and a grandmother. She teaches nationally and locally on pastoral counseling, decisions at the end of life, ethical wills, the art of holy listening, the joy of giving blessings, and sacred story telling. She is well known for her creative Jewish life cycle celebrations.

Rabbi Dan Goldblatt

After serving Beth Chaim Congregation in Danville, CA for 30 years, Rabbi Dan Goldblatt founded AriYael Jewish Healing Center to offer rituals that bring meaning to life’s transitions. He was ordained by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, and has been delighted to help lead ALEPH and OHALAH.

Hazzan Evlyn Gould

Hazzan Dr. Evlyn Gould is a bi-coastal cantor, ba’al tefillah, and educator serving both Temple Har Zion in Mt. Holly, NJ, as well as Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, OR. She teaches for the Embodied Jewish Wisdom Network and holds a position as Distinguished Professor in Romance languages at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Hazzan Eliana Kissner

Eliana Kissner received cantorial ordination in May 2021 from the H.L. Miller Cantorial School at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She had a circuitous path to the cantorate with stops at the Drisha Institute in NYC where she studied Jewish texts and made music full-time as well as in SF Bay Area where she became the lead singer of Safra, Jewish Middle Eastern Ensemble and co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish Arts Fellowship. After California, she spent cherished time in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Musrara and Nachlaot where she studied and performed Jewish and secular music of the Middle East. She came back to NYC where she worked as a ritual leader and educator at Lab/Shul, New Shul, B'nai Jeshurun, Fort Tryon Jewish Center, and as a summer chaplain at New York Presbyterian. As a cantor, she pursues musical-spiritual experiences of healing, playfulness, and connection to inner life. She currently serves as the senior cantor at Oheb Shalom in South Orange, NJ. She is married to Noah Ginsburg and blessed with two beautiful kiddos."

Rabbi Evan Krame

Co-Founder of the Jewish Studio, providing meaningful and joyful experiences for adult Jews in MD/DC, Rabbi Evan Krame began his professional career as an attorney with a Masters in Taxation, primarily in the field of estates and trusts, with a long history of non-profit service and awards from Hillel International, UJA Federation, Shared Horizons, having served as President of five organizations and counsel to two.

Rabbi Natan Margalit

Natan Margalit was ordained at the Jerusalem Seminary in 1990 and earned a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley, 2001. He taught at Bard College, RRC, and Hebrew College Rabbinical School. Natan is Interim Dean of Faculty and Chair of Rabbinic Texts in the ALEPH Ordination Program. He is the founder of Organic Torah.

Rabbi Mark Novak

Rabbi Mark Novak received smicha as rabbi and mashpia ruchanit from the ALEPH Ordination Program in 2012. He is the founder and spiritual guide of MOShDC.org (Minyan Oneg Shabbat); co-founder of MFSI: The MultiFaith Storytelling Institute,; an avid gardener and Washington Nationals fan.

Rabbi David Seidenberg

Bio Coming Soon . . .

Rabbi Ilana Sumka

Erev Rav Ilana Sumka is the founding director of Shleimut: Jewish Pathways to Wholeness and Peace. Past work includes leadership roles with Encounter in Jerusalem; the Center for Jewish Nonviolence; Rabbis 4 Ceasefire; and the Working Families Party. Ilana’s memoir, “Elul in Palestine,” will be published by Ayin Press in 2026. Erev Rav Ilana will received smicha from the ALEPH Ordination Program during the ceremony which directly proceeds this year's OHALAH Conference.

Rabbi Zelig Golden

After serving Wilderness Torah for 18 years to awaken Judaism’s earth based traditions, Rabbi Zelig Golden is founding Rabbi of Makom Shalom, West Sonoma County Forest Synagogue. Rabbi Zelig was ordained Maggid by Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, Rabbi and Mashpiah Ruchani by the ALEPH Ordination Program, and received his Masters in Jewish Studies from the Graduate Theological Union.

Rabbi Andrea Cohen Keiner

Rabbi Andrea Cohen Keiner was a board member of the Attachment and Trauma Network, a family support and education association dedicated to helping parents overcome the damage caused by early childhood deprivation and trauma. She was also a foster parent to a traumatized child for 7 years that provided her personal experience. She is an OHALAH ordainee with a smicha in HashPa-a from Reb Zalman, OBM.

Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg

Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg is a senior teacher in the ALEPH Ordination Program, the founding Rabbi of the Pardes Hannah Minyan, and professor of Jewish Mysticism at the University of Michigan. He is the author of two books on the mystical celebration of Shabbat, and a range of essays and articles on Jewish mysticism and spiritual practice. Elliot is currently writing a book on the cycle of the spiritual year through hasidic (and neo-hasidic) eyes. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife Linda Jo Doctor, and their two frisky—some would say wildly musical—cats, Pumpkin and Farfel.

Zoë Goldblatt, MFA

Zoë Goldblatt, MFA, works as an Activity Therapist, End Of Life Doula and Relationship & Intimacy Coach in the San Francisco Bay Area. Zoë trained with the Somatica Institute as a Sex & Relationship Coach and applies those tools to her work with individuals and couples facing illness, grief and loss.

Rabbi Igal Harmelin

Igal Harmelin is an ordained AOP rabbi, a certified spiritual director, a certified master-practitioner of Neuro-affective Relational Model or NARM (an advanced modality for addressing complex trauma), a mental health coach and a meditation teacher. For decades, Igal has been an avid student of the mystical teachings of the world’s major religions, and he offers courses in applied mysticism to followers of all faiths, as well as with those who profess to follow none. He has taught on four continents and has spent years in extended meditation retreats. For the past decade he has been studying intensively with Thomas Hübl, a world pioneer in the field of collective trauma. He lives in New York City with his wife, Rabbi Lisa Goldstein.

Rabbi Debra Kolodny

Rabbi Debra has been advocating for justice, peace, the environment, and civil and human rights since 1980. After decades leading non-profits and congregations, they now serve as a freelance rabbi, justice consultant and Project Director for ALEPH’s Tikkun Ha’Aretz. Their additional passions are ending fascism, swimming and ecstatic dance.

Rabbinic Chaplain Chaya Lerner

Chaya Lerner received her Rabbinic Pastor smicha in 2021. She was the president of the RPA. She is a grief and trauma therapist. Her book, Torah of Trauma, was published in Jan 2025. She has a Masters in Social Work from Barry University.

Rabbi Ruben Modek

Rabbi Reuben Modek serves the Masorti Congregation Bet Israel in Netanya, Israel, following years as the Director of Hebrew Learning Circles in Nyack NY. A Hasid of Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi, he blogs about Jewish spirituality and Israeli society, promoting Jewish pluralism and integral Zionism for the 21st century.

Rabbi Abe Rabinovich

Rabbi Abraham Lev Rabinovich (AKA Abe or Avremel) is a learner and spiritual seeker, a graduate of Beth Hatalmud Rabbinical College, Brooklyn N.Y, of the Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitz, Brooklyn N.Y. and of RIETS, the Rabbinic Seminary of Yeshiva University, where he received the prestigious Beren Graduate Research Fellowship in Higher Talmudic Studies. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in Jewish Philosophy from YU and a Ph.D. in Religion and Education from Fordham University, studied Nusach/Sacred Music and Jewish music at the Belz School of Jewish Music, New York, and was an Adjunct Professor of Religious and Social Justice at Marymount Manhattan College. He currently serves as Spiritual Leader of Congregation Adas Kodesch Shel Emeth in Wilmington, DE. www.akse.org

Rabbinic Chaplain Carl Viniar

Carl Viniar is the co-Director of the Rabbinic Pastor program of the ALEPH Ordination Program. Prior to ordination as a Rabbinic Pastor in January 2022, he was a practicing attorney for over 40 years and a pioneer transformative mediator for over 25 years. He mediated and negotiated settlements in over a thousand matters. He taught Dispute Resolution and Negotiation at Rutgers Law and Business schools. As his final project for his AOP studies, he authored "A Guide to Premarital Counseling for Clergy Working with People Remarrying or Marrying Later in Life."

Rabbi Shawn Zevit

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit, (www.rabbizevit.com) serves as lead rabbi at Mishkan Shalom, in Philadelphia, PA, committed to the integration of meaningful spiritual living, life-long learning, and acts of caring and social justice. He has a background in theatre, film and Playback in Toronto and Philadelphia, and is a recording artist of seven CDs. He is co-founding director of the Davennen Leader's Training Institute; and is the Director for the ALEPH Hashpa'ah (Spiritual Direction) training program, and is one of the founders of the progressive Jewish men’s organization www.menschwork.org; and author of “Offerings of the Heart: Money and Values in Faith Community" and numerous publications for spiritual life. Rabbi Zevit is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and also has personal ordination from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l and ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal.