Stephen Wise Free Synagogue is proud to announce the second cohort of its Amplify Israel Rabbinic Fellowship, a selective yearlong professional development program for early-career Reform rabbis to provide the tools and resources to incorporate Israel and Jewish peoplehood more fully into their practice.
In these challenging times for Jews in North America — with a divisive election in the rearview mirror and a growing need for leadership on campuses — rabbinic leadership is more critical than ever. This year, we’ve doubled the number of fellows!
This fellowship is made possible in part by the Hochberg Family Foundation, the Lisa and Michael Leffell Foundation, Maimonides Fund, the Paul E. Singer Foundation, and the Zalik Foundation Fund, along with hundreds of other donors to Stephen Wise Free Synagogue’s Amplify Israel initiative.
Highlights
Seven-Day Symposium in Israel
Recognizing that there is no better way to gain a deep understanding of Israel — or form a committed community — than by traveling together, the fellowship’s seven-day symposium in Israel will focus on deepening your understanding of Zionist intellectual principles and today’s political, social and economic realities, and forming bonds with the leaders and members of the Reform movement in Israel.
Mentorship Program
Fellows will be matched with veteran Reform rabbis and experts in their fields who will dedicate their time to your growth and help you take your leadership to the next level. Together, you will set goals and develop the skill areas where you most wish to have impact.
Seminars in FL and NY
After the Israel seminar, you’ll join together with your cohort twice more in person — in Florida and New York — to strengthen your bonds and share experiences. In each seminar, we will engage and learn from leading state-side experts on Zionism today.
Online Study Sessions
We will meet remotely for five online study sessions with thought leaders. These study sessions will deepen our understanding of Zionism and Jewish peoplehood and provide a safe space for you to question the material being presented and to express any concerns and struggles.
Reform Zionist Network
The intimate nature of this program, along with the establishment of a private group on social media— The Reform Zionist Network — will work to continue strengthening your bonds as you serve as a resource for one another. Going forward, you’ll have each other’s backs whenever your views on Israel are confronted by challenges.
In the Media
Reform rabbis on Amplify Israel Fellowship visit a ‘nation at war,’ bring experiences home
December 1, 2023
Unlike the dozens of missions and trips that have come to Israel since Oct. 7, the group of nine Reform rabbis who visited Israel from the United States last month weren’t there to show solidarity or to volunteer (though they did do both) but to learn, reports eJewishPhilantrhopy’s Judah Ari Gross. They were part of the Amplify Israel Fellowship, a newly launched initiative, led by Stephen Wise Free Synagogue’s Rabbis Ammiel Hirsch and Tracy Kaplowitz, that is meant to prepare the next generation of Reform rabbis to lead the movement, particularly on Zionist and Israel-related issues.
Stephen Wise Free Synagogue launches Amplify Israel Fellowship to connect future Reform leaders to Israel
July 7, 2023
Amid concerns of a growing split between American Jewry and Israel, the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue announced the launch of the Amplify Israel Fellowship, a yearlong program for 10 early-career Reform rabbis, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — we can’t wait to review your application!
The Amplify Israel Rabbinic Fellowship will differ in many significant ways from the AIPAC Leffell Fellowship:
- You have traded in your student ID for real-life professional experience. While the topic of Israel is dynamic, so are you. Assessing material from your perspective as a rabbi today will yield significantly different observations than when you were a student.
- Cross-denominational conversations may help develop and elucidate an understanding of values that are denominationally specific. The Amplify Israel Rabbinic Fellowship will focus entirely on Reform Judaism and the Reform settings in which you function as a professional.
- We promise the material will be new to you. You will learn and grow in this program.
Yes. Let us know you are interested and when to anticipate scheduling conflicts. We will try our hardest to make everything work out.
We anticipate a 2024–25 cohort of 24 rabbis.
Through the application process, you will identify the areas in which you wish to accomplish significant growth. You will be paired based on a mutual interest in that area, along with other factors.
For any other questions, contact Rabbi Tracy Kaplowitz, Ph.D., at tkaplowitz@swfs.org or (212) 877-4050, ext. 225.
Rabbinic Fellowship Advisory Board
Rabbi Rosette Barron Haim
Auxillary Rabbi, Park Synagogue
Rabbi Rosette Barron Haim is the creator of Celebrating Jewish Life, a subscription series in Cleveland consisting of six Jewish holiday experiences for unaffiliated adults.
Ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1988, “Rabbi Rosie” is currently the auxiliary rabbi at Park Synagogue after having served as the associate rabbi at The Temple-Tifereth Israel until 2018.
Passionate about building Jewish community through meaningful worship and learning and dedicated to deepening connection to Israel, Rosie serves as the chairperson of the Israel Bonds Rabbinic Advisory Council and is a member of the National Board of AIPAC, the advisory board of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, Jewish Federation of Cleveland, the Cleveland Jewish News, and Cleveland United Way.
A Sephardic Jew with Turkish family origins, she is married to Marshall Barron and they celebrate Jewish life with their daughter Shira and son-in-law Adam.
Rabbi Joseph R. Black
Senior Rabbi, Temple Emanuel Denver
Rabbi Black is Temple Emanuel’s senior rabbi. He was rabbi of Congregation Albert in Albuquerque from 1996 to 2010 and assistant and associate rabbi at Temple Israel in Minneapolis from 1987 to1996. He received a bachelor’s in education from Northwestern University and his master’s and ordination from the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) Cincinnati. In 2012, he earned a doctorate of divinity from HUC-JIR.
Rabbi Black serves as chaplain in the Colorado House of Representatives and is past president of the Rocky Mountain Rabbinical Council. In Albuquerque, he volunteered with Albuquerque Academy’s board of trustees, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra’s board of trustees, Roadrunner Food Bank, Presbyterian Hospital’s ethics committee, the Martin Luther King Multi-Cultural Council, New Mexico Organ Donor Service and New Mexico Religious Coalition for Inclusion and Non-discrimination. He was a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis) and the Union for Reform Judaism/CCAR commissions for religious living and youth.
Rabbi Black has five critically acclaimed Jewish music albums, two children’s books featured by PJLibrary, a songbook and two videos. Moment Magazine named him a top 10 artist in the categories Jewish of children’s music and male, adult contemporary Jewish music. He and his wife Sue share two children, Elana and Ethan.
Rabbi David Gelfand
Rabbi, Temple Israel of the City of New York
Rabbi David Gelfand of Temple Israel of the City of New York is passionate about teaching Jewish values. An outspoken voice for social justice, interfaith relations and inclusion, he has been recognized by the World Union for Progressive Judaism with an “International Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Pursuit of Justice,” and is an honorary WUPJ board member. He serves on the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s board of governors.
Previously rabbi of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, he began his career at Temple Beth-El in Great Neck, New York. He also served Har Sinai in New Jersey and Fairmount Temple in Ohio. He served as national officer at the Interfaith Alliance in Washington, D.C., promoting dialogue and civility for over a decade. He has been active in a number of Zionist and Israeli organizations and institutions, including AIPAC.
He and his wife Kathy, who share four children, reside in New York City and East Hampton.
Rabbi David Gerber
Senior Rabbi, Congregation Gates of Prayer
Rabbi David Gerber is an innovative and dedicated Jewish leader who has been serving as the senior rabbi of Congregation Gates of Prayer since 2018. An active member of the New Orleans Clergy Council and the Interfaith Council, he is also a regular contributor and collaborator with the National World War II Museum and serves on the rabbinic councils of Zioness and StandWithUs.
Rabbi Gerber is known for his passion for innovative programming and engagement, exemplified by the success of Gatesfest, Metairie’s premier music and arts festival, and the congregation’s $1 million investment to ensure that students can afford Jewish summer camp. He is also passionate about teaching topics such as mussar, Talmud, and the supernatural, and frequently speaks at local high schools and colleges about combating antisemitism.
Rabbi Gerber is married to his better half, Lauren, who serves as the head of the Parent’s Association at the Jewish Community Day School where their children, Paige and Tessa, attend. Together, they live in Metairie with their two dogs and three cats.
Rabbi Edwin Goldberg
Senior Rabbi, Congregation Beth Shalom of The Woodlands
Rabbi Edwin Goldberg serves as the rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom of The Woodlands. He received his rabbinic ordination and doctorate in Hebrew literature from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Rabbi Goldberg is the author of many books including:“Swords and Plowshares: Jewish Views of War and Peace,” “Love Tales from the Talmud” and “Saying No and Letting Go: Jewish Wisdom on Making Room for What Matters Most.”
He was the coordinating editor of the Reform Jewish High Holy Day prayerbook, “Mishkan HaNefesh.” Recently, he was the co-editor of “Because My Soul Longs for You.” Additionally, Rabbi Goldberg serves as the editor of the CCAR journal, “The Reform Jewish Quarterly,” and he is president of the Houston Rabbinical Association.
Rabbi Micah D. Greenstein
Senior Rabbi, Temple Israel of Memphis, TN
Rabbi Micah D. Greenstein — regarded as “everyone’s rabbi” — is a fixture of Memphis’s greater faith community and the national Reform Jewish movement. As Temple Israel’s eighth senior rabbi in its 170-year history, Greenstein’s 33-year tenure and legacy live through intergenerational engagement and relevance of Reform Jewish values, which sustain Temple’s position as Tennessee’s oldest and largest synagogue in a four-state region.
Rabbi Greenstein was recognized as Memphis Magazine’s first “Memphian of the Year” in 2013 and was the first rabbi in history to preach at the Washington Cathedral on a Major State Day for Tennessee in 2005. He has served on the National Board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and represented the Reform Movement in the World Zionist Congress. He continues to mentor Israeli Reform Rabbis and guided the dedication of the first non-Orthodox synagogue in the City of Shoham outside of Tel Aviv. Presently, he serves on the International Advisory Council of the Israel Movement for Reform Judaism.
Rabbi Greenstein is a proud alumnus of Cornell University, Harvard University, and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. He was named a Cornell National Scholar, Kennedy Fellow, and received his Doctor of Divinity in 2016.
Rabbi Jonathan L. Hecht, Ph.D.
Interim Rabbi, Temple Har Shalom
Rabbi Jonathan L. Hecht is serving as interim rabbi at Temple Har Shalom in Park City, Utah, a dynamic and growing community in the future host city of the 2034 Winter Olympic Games. Rabbi Hecht served as the dean and director of the Rabbinic Program at HUC-JIR’s Cincinnati campus, in a city he now calls home.
Ordained at HUC-JIR in 1987, he then received his doctorate in Jewish history from New York University in 1993. Interested in medieval Jewish history and mysticism, he has taught at HUC-JIR, University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, Jewish Theological Seminary, Stony Brook University, Hofstra University and Hunter College.
Active in Jewish camping and youth work, community organizing, innovation and congregational system design, Rabbi Hecht served as a chaplain in the New York Air National Guard for 10 years and as a congregational rabbi for 25 years before returning to HUC-JIR in a leadership role. Deeply engaged in Jewish learning, Rabbi Hecht is also senior rabbinic fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and has spent much time traveling to Israel. He has also spent time in France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Russia.
Rabbi Hecht is a golfer and a road cyclist, and enjoys crossword puzzles, reading, museums and movies. He and his wife, Gladys Rosenblum, reside in Cincinnati’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch
Senior Rabbi, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch is the senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York. With a fiery voice, a listening heart and a brilliant mind, Rabbi Hirsch articulates a clear vision for the survival and success of American Judaism while tending compassionately to the needs of his growing congregation. In 2018, The Jerusalem Post named him among “The 50 Most Influential Jews of the Year” and City & State praised him as “the borough’s most influential voice” for Manhattan’s more than 300,000 Jews.
Prior to his arrival at Stephen Wise, he served for 12 years as executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), the Israel arm of the North American Reform movement. An accomplished teacher, author and public speaker, he is also a trained lawyer and a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces.
Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe
Senior Rabbi, Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester
Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe serves as senior rabbi for Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester. He also serves as co-chair of the Chappaqua Interfaith Committee and sits on Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s President’s Rabbinic Council and AIPAC’s National Rabbinic Council, and is a fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Leadership Initiative. Before arriving at Temple Beth El, Rabbi Jaffe served as rabbi and education director of Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco, where he sat on the boards of the Jewish Community Federation’s Peoplehood Commission, the San Francisco Interfaith Coalition and the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis and wrote a column for J. The Jewish News of Northern California.
Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He attended Camp Ramah in Ojai, California, and later served as education director for URJ Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, California. He received his bachelor’s in philosophy and history from Duke University and studied abroad at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Prior to his ordination, Rabbi Jaffe served student pulpits in Great Falls, Montana, and Las Vegas and he spent a year working as the education director of Temple Beth Torah in Fremont, California, and creating the San Francisco Bureau of Jewish Education’s Teen-to-Teen program.
Rabbi Neal Katz
Rabbi, Congregation Beth El
Neal Katz has been the rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Tyler, Texas, since his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2003.
Neal is active in a number of nonprofit organizations in Tyler. He has served as the board chair for the Hospice of East Texas and the Mosaic Counseling Center and he is presently the chair of The Tyler Loop, a local journalism project. Neal currently serves on the Texas Freedom Network’s statewide board and is secretary of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis. Neal is also a member of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition.
Neal is also a musician, with four solo CDs to his name. He and his wife Jennifer have three children — two in college and one in high school.
Rabbi Jan Katzew, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Emeritus, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Rabbi Jan Katzew, Ph.D., is associate professor emeritus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he taught Jewish thought and education, and was director of service learning and senior educator of the EMA program. Jan was ordained in 1983 and after serving as a rabbi/educator at The Community Synagogue in Port Washington, New York, when he was a Jerusalem fellow, he earned a doctorate from the Hebrew University.
For 15 years Jan led a team that comprised the department of lifelong Jewish learning and the Reform movement’s Commission on Lifelong Learning at the Union for Reform Judaism. In that capacity, he was responsible for designing, developing and supporting educational resources for early childhood centers, congregational schools, day schools and adult learning communities throughout the world. Jan’s educational vision and work were deemed worthy of grants from the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Covenant Foundation. Since the iCenter for Israel Education’s inception in 2008, Jan has been a consultant there, mentoring students from multiple graduate schools and seminaries. Jan is the author of popular and scholarly articles in multiple fields that include Israel education, interfaith dialogue, mussar, medieval Hebrew poetry, moral Development, and educational philosophy and practice.
Rabbi Marc Kline
Interim Senior Rabbi, Ohev Sholom
Rabbi Marc Kline retired his law license to go to Rabbinical school. Ordained in 1995, he now serves as interim senior rabbi at Temple Ohev Sholom in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Over his career, Rabbi Kline has served in three previous communities rebuilding congregations; consulted with many on matters of vision and leadership training; and been active in justice and interfaith work regionally and globally. Marc’s primary focus as a rabbi roots in a several-thousand-year-old precept found in Pirkei Avot: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what good am I? If not now, when?” He works to bridge the chasms that alienate people from each other. In that role, he has served in many local, regional, national, and international leadership capacities.
Rabbi Kline has served on a number of rabbinic missions to work for peace and pluralism in Israel, in roles on the rabbinic council of ARZA and J-Street, and in an advisory capacity with Taghyeer, a national Palestinian empowerment organization. Through his board memberships with Being the Blessing and the Jerusalem Peace Institute, Rabbi Kline works to promote equity and equality for marginalized people on an international level.
Rabbi Dan Levin
Senior Rabbi, Temple Beth-El of Boca Raton
Rabbi Dan Levin serves as senior rabbi of Temple Beth El of Boca Raton, Florida. He seeks to synthesize the spiritual wisdom found in Jewish text and tradition with our contemporary lives while fostering opportunities for transformational learning, spiritual experience, moral growth, community service, and social justice, and creating connections to the people and the state of Israel.
Rabbi Levin has served Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion as a member of the Alumni Leadership Council, as an original member of the President’s Rabbinical Council, and as a partner in the Kalsman Institute for Judaism and Health. He serves on the Central Conference of American Rabbis’s Budget and Finance Committee and is a past president of the southeast region of the CCAR. He also served as a member of the Reform Movement’s Think Tank.
He was a featured writer for the Union for Reform Judaism’s “Ten Minutes of Torah,” and is a panelist with the American Religious Town Hall. Rabbi Levin is also an active alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and a senior rabbinic fellow with the Shalom Hartman Institute. He studies with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.
Rabbi Bennett Miller
Rabbi Emeritus, Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple
Rabbi Bennett F. Miller served as senior rabbi of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and is the congregation’s first rabbi emeritus. He is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism’s board of trustees and of the faculty at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and is co-chair of the URJ’s newly established Israel Reform Zionism Committee. Rabbi Miller previously served as national chair of the Association of Reform Zionists of America, is a past president of the New Jersey Association of Reform Rabbis and of the New Jersey Coalition of Religious Leaders, and held numerous leadership positions at other organizations. A native of Rochester, N.Y., earned his master’s from and was ordained by HUC-JIR in Cincinnati.
The author of two books, “Reform Jewish Identity: Developing A Program Of Ministry To Guide The New Member Of A Reform Synagogue to Mature Jewish Living” and “Siduree: A Prayerbook For Young Children, The Songs Of Anshe Emeth For Shabbat,” and numerous creative worship services, Rabbi Miller has also been published widely in the press. He and his wife Joan live in Monroe Township, New Jersey, and are the proud parents of two daughters and grandparents to their combined six children.
Rabbi Leon Morris
President, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
A leading educator in the field of adult Jewish study, Rabbi Leon Morris is the president of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
He was the founding director of Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning (now the Streicker Center) at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. For 15 years, he was the rabbi of Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor, New York — and he spent four as its first resident rabbi. Together with his wife, Dasee Berkowitz, Rabbi Morris transformed Temple Adas Israel into a year-round vibrant congregation and added more than one hundred new families, couples and individuals during his tenure.
Ordained in 1997 by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, Rabbi Morris writes frequently for Israeli and American Jewish publications and is a contributor to “Jewish Theology in Our Time: A New Generation Explores Foundations and Future of Jewish Belief” and “Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism.” He was one of four editors of “Mishkan HaNefesh,” the new American Reform High Holy Days prayer book published in 2015.
He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three children.
Rabbi Geri Newburge
Senior Rabbi, Main Line Reform Temple
Rabbi Geri Newburge is the senior rabbi at Main Line Reform Temple. During her tenure as a rabbi, she has focused her efforts on pastoral care, building connections with youth, interfaith relationships, social action and crafting meaningful worship experiences.
Rabbi Newburge is also honored to be included on the national rabbinic advisory board for StandWithUs and the Jewish National Fund-USA Rabbis For Israel Advisory Committee. She previously served as the associate rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and she has spent time in leadership roles with the Delaware Valley Area Reform Rabbis and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
Rabbi Newburge grew up in South Florida, graduated from the University of Miami (Go Canes!) with a bachelor’s in religious studies, and earned ner master’s in religion from the Claremont School of Theology. She was ordained as a rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
Rabbi Newburge is married to Rabbi Eric Goldberg, rabbi educator at Congregation Shir Ami in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and they are the proud parents of their son Jay.
Rabbi Eric Polokoff
Rabbi Eric Polokoff is B’nai Israel of Southbury’s founding rabbi and has serving there since 1997. As a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and Yale Divinity School, he is now a dedicated teacher, pastor, speaker and community leader. He is proud of his congregation’s Israel advocacy and its work with the Anti-Defamation League, AIPAC and Jewish National Fund. Rabbi Polokoff is a member of ADL’s Connecticut executive committee and serves as an ADL associate national commissioner. He also moderates the Southbury Clergy Association, chairs the Connecticut Community Foundation’s Pathways for Older Adults Committee, is an ex officio member of the Jewish Federation of Western Connecticut, and is associate chaplain of the Taft School.
Rabbi Polokoff is known regionally as one of “The Three Amigos” for his work with a monsignor and an imam to extend interfaith understanding. He has two adult daughters with his wife, Dr. Ellen Polokoff.
Rabbi Rena Rifkin, RJE
Rabbi Rena Rifkin, RJE, received her master’s in Jewish education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Rhea Hirsch School of Education in 2008 and was ordained by HUC-JIR in 2010. During her time as a student, she was a Mandel Fellow for clergy-educators and worked in various communities throughout Los Angeles and New York City, including Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills and Temple Shaaray Tefila in New York.
Following ordination, she served North Shore Synagogue in Syosset, New York, as the director of lifelong learning, and most recently was coordinator of faculty and family engagement at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.
Rabbi Rifkin grew up at and continues to have strong ties with the URJ Camp Eisner and she is a member of the Association of Reform Jewish Educators’ board. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Scott, and their three children, Eden, Simon and Micah.
Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg
Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg is the senior rabbi of United Hebrew. She is the chair of the St. Louis Jewish Federation Israel and Overseas Committee and is a member of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition.
Rabbi Rosenberg is a past president of the St. Louis Rabbinical Association and past chair of the Jewish Fund for Human Need. She has served on the boards of the St. Louis Jewish Federation and St. Louis Hillel Foundation and Nishmah: The St. Louis Jewish Women’s Project, and she chaired the 2015 convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
A graduate of Boston University, with a bachelor’s in religion and culture, Rabbi Rosenberg received her master’s in Hebrew letters and her rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Cincinnati in 2001 She and her husband H. Lee share three children: Zoë, Joseph and Sadie.
Rabbi Jeff Salkin
An Online Salon for Jewish Ideas
RNS Contributing Editor, Author + Writer
Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin is one of American Judaism’s most prolific and quoted rabbis. His blog, “Martini Judaism: for those who want to be shaken and stirred,” published by Religion News Service, won a 2022 Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council for best religion blog of the year, as well as two previous awards. His essays have appeared in the Washington Post, Commentary, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Tablet, Mosaic, Forward and JTA. He has discussed the American political scene on CNN and the BBC and has contributed articles to scholarly journals. His 10 books discuss such subjects as b’nai mitzvah, Israel, masculinity, and Jewish culture, and include three Torah commentaries.
He delivered the keynote on religion and spirituality at the world-famous Chautauqua Institution, where he also participated in inter-religious dialogues in international forums. His colleagues have described him as “courageous,” “always relevant,” and “one of American Judaism’s true public intellectuals.” His new book on the future of liberal Judaism will be published this autumn.
Rabbi Salkin is the co-director of Wisdom Without Walls: an online salon for Jewish ideas, and he recently served as the interim rabbi of Temple Israel in West Palm Beach, Florida. His hobbies include music, movies, bicycling, and consuming vast quantities of coffee.
Rabbi Judith Lazarus Siegal
Rabbi Judith Lazarus Siegal is honored to be the senior rabbi of Temple Judea. Originally from New Orleans, Rabbi Siegal was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in May 2006 with a master’s in Hebrew literature. She also has a master’s in social work from the University of Texas in Austin. She has served as a rabbi at Temple Judea in Coral Gables, Florida, since her ordination, and became the senior rabbi in 2014.
Rabbi Siegal currently serves on the executive committee of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami, on the board of the Southeast Area Council of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and was the vice president of programming for the CCAR. She is a past chair of the Miami Coalition of Christians and Jews Interfaith Clergy Dialogue and was awarded the Clergy Silver Medallion in 2018. She has been a fellow for the Jewish Outreach Institute’s Big Tent Judaism Professional Affiliates and has studied at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, as well as the Mussar Institute, and she is always looking for new and interesting study opportunities. She received the Clergy of the Year award in 2014 and was selected as one of the 2020 Florida Influencers by the Miami Herald.
Rabbi Siegal is married to Brian Siegal, who is the director of the American Jewish Committee of Miami and Broward, and they have three children, Ben, Josh, and Ella.
Rabbi Yael Splansky
Baskin-Garson Senior Rabbinic Chair, Holy Blossom Temple of Toronto
Yael Splansky is the senior rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple, which was founded in 1856 as the first synagogue of Toronto. Rabbi Splansky is a fourth-generation Reform rabbi, immediate past president of the Toronto Board of Rabbis, and a senior rabbinic fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute. In celebration of her 25 years of leadership, she was awarded Holy Blossom’s Baskin-Garson Senior Rabbinic Chair.
Rabbi Splansky was recently recognized by the Canadian Parliament with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award for her commitment to refugee relief, support and advocacy for the unhoused, and building bridges among faith communities.
Rabbi Cantor Alison Wissot
Rabbi Cantor Alison Wissot is best known for her joyful spirit, soulful singing and passion for Jewish learning. In her 21st year at Temple Judea of Tarzana, California, and jointly ordained as rabbi and cantor, Alison is dedicated to revitalizing worship, integrating the ancient sounds of Jewish tradition with contemporary music, and making the beauty and joy of Jewish texts and liturgy accessible to all.
Alison’s training includes master’s in sacred music and Hebrew letters, as well as her double ordination, from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institue of Religion, a bachelor’s from Wesleyan University, and certificates from British American Drama Academy in London, William Esper Studios in New York, and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Alison is currently a visiting instructor at HUC-JIR in LA.
She has served on the executive council of the Cantors Assembly, and the board of directors of StandWithUs, Rabbis United and AKLA, and she is an active leader in the American Conference of Cantors and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Alison has worked as an actress in New York and London and was awarded a Spielberg Fellowship to teach Jewish theater.
A native of the San Fernando Valley, Alison resides in Porter Ranch with her husband, Michael, and children Jacob, Abby and Daniel.
Rabbi David Woznica
Rabbi David Woznica has served Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles since 2004. In addition to his pulpit responsibilities, he created the temple’s Center for Jewish Life — with an extraordinary lecture series and one of the largest Melton schools in the United States. He is the first recipient of the Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin Rabbinic Chair, established in memory of the congregation’s founding rabbi.
Rabbi Woznica began his career at the 92nd Street Y in New York, where he was named founding director of the 92Y Bronfman Center for Jewish Life. Over an 11-year period, he is credited for creating one of the most distinguished and dynamic centers of Jewish life in the world. Over the past 30 years, at both the 92Y and at Stephen Wise Temple, Rabbi Woznica has been in dialogue with nearly 100 international figures — including Elie Wiesel, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, Alan Dershowitz, Eric Garcetti, Adin Steinsaltz, David Brooks, Cynthia Ozick, and Rev. John Hagee — gathering a total of some 70,000 attendees. He is among the Young President’s Organization’s highest-rated speakers, and has given speeches at synagogues and Jewish organizations throughout the United States as well as in Canada and South America.
He shares his life with his wife Beverly Woznica and they are the proud parents of two young men.
The Amplify Israel Rabbinic Fellowship is a project of Amplify Israel: A Stephen Wise Free Synagogue initiative. Stephen Wise Free Synagogue is a 501(c)(3) religious organization (Tax ID #13-1628215) and any donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowable by law.
