blogs/brentspodek

I am thrilled to introduce our new Education Director, Rishe Groner!

Rishe (pronounced Reesh-ah) is a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary and will be with us for the coming year as part of their Resnick Internship program. She is currently in Jerusalem and will be moving to Beacon later this summer. [NB: we are looking for an affordable one bedroom apartment in Beacon; if you have leads, please let me know.]

Rishe comes with an incredible range of experience - born in the Chabad community of Melbourne, Australia, she has served as a teacher and prayer leader at the Romemu Seekers program, Luria School in Brooklyn, Pearlstone Retreat Center, Isabella Freedman Retreat Center, Moishe House, Nava Tehila in Jerusalem and more. You can learn of her Torah by checking out her website, which is focused on sharing embodied and mystical approaches to Jewish life, reading this article about her, or watching this brief video we made for our community.

Beyond that, Rishe comes with the knowledge and energy to build on what Julia Alexander has done with our Masa program and take things to the next level in the post-Covid year in front of us! 

I want to give special thanks to the members of our education committee - Ashley Baker, Josh Kaplan, Jesse Lunin-Pack and Bekah Starr - who did an incredible job of interviewing a very strong field of candidates and then helping Rishe to get familiar with our community from afar! Our clergy and staff - Faith Adams, Julia Alexander, Ilana Friedman, and Cantor Ellen Gersh also were all instrumental in managing this complicated process. 

If you have any questions, please let me know, and stay tuned for an opportunity later this summer to meet Rishe in person and learn what we have in store for the coming academic year!

With blessings,

Rabbi Brent