Rabbi Stephen Booth-Nadav
Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, Rabbi Steve has been a congregational rabbi for over fourteen years. He is currently the rabbi for Har Mishpacha in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, an adjunct staff member of "Adventure Rabbi" based in Boulder, and the founder of "Wisdom House Denver: A Resource Center for Multifaith Dialogue and Spiritual Inquiry." He also runs a Jewish Meditation practice group at the Mizel Museum in Denver, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
Rebecca Cariati
Rebecca's aspiration as a TorahTrek Guide is to create a synthesis of her inherited Jewish tradition, the power of watching the mind, and the transformation that comes through cultivating devotional practices. She sees the natural world as just the right incubator for such work.
Rabbi Jennifer Clayman
Rabbi Jennifer Clayman has been a rabbi/educator at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, CA, since 2008. Before joining full-time, Rabbi Jennifer worked on several initiatives, most notably Re-Imagine, Beth Am's long-term project to re-invent congregational education. She also works with Beth Am's Include team, whose purpose is to help acknowledge, embrace, support and connect families with special needs to the larger congregation. In 2013-14, Rabbi Jennifer participated in the first cohort of the Kesher Fellowship through Jewish LearningWorks; she is a member of the Bay Area's Shinui Think Tank on innovation in congregational education, and she is frequently consulted by educators looking to embark on paths toward innovation in their own congregations or institutions.
Originally from the Washington, D.C., area, Rabbi Jennifer received her B.A. in Religion from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and she holds a Master of Arts in Jewish Education from HUC-JIR's Rhea Hirsch School of Education. She was ordained by HUC-JIR in Los Angeles in 2003. Before coming to Beth Am, she served Temple Emanu-El in Westfield, New Jersey.
Rabbi Jennifer is an avid camper and hiker, and she and her husband, Rabbi John Fishman, live on the Peninsula with their two sons.
Originally from the Washington, D.C., area, Rabbi Jennifer received her B.A. in Religion from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and she holds a Master of Arts in Jewish Education from HUC-JIR's Rhea Hirsch School of Education. She was ordained by HUC-JIR in Los Angeles in 2003. Before coming to Beth Am, she served Temple Emanu-El in Westfield, New Jersey.
Rabbi Jennifer is an avid camper and hiker, and she and her husband, Rabbi John Fishman, live on the Peninsula with their two sons.
Dov d'Eustachio
Dov works and teaches in New Orleans. Her studies have taken her from Brandeis Summer Institute in California to Ulpan Alef at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In New Orleans, Dov has taught the Bagrut program for teens, focusing on writing creatively through midrashim. Future plans include investing in a farm space big enough to hold workshops on sustainable living as it relates to Spirituality.
Rabbi Getzel Davis
Getzel is the Associate Rabbi and Jewish Educator at Harvard Hillel. He is a graduate of Hebrew College’s rabbinic and education schools and studied comparative religion and peace studies at Brandeis University. Before coming to Harvard, Getzel taught for a number of Jewish social justice organizations including Hazon, American Jewish World Service, Bend the Arc, and PANIM. He also served as rabbinic intern to the Boston Synagogue and the spiritual director at Eden Village, a Jewish farming camp, and as a contributor to Interfaith Appalachia's curriculum for environmental service learning. Getzel is also editor of TorahTrek's eJournal on wilderness spirituality.
Batya Ellinoy
Daniel Farkas
Danny has a B.A. from the American Jewish University, where he developed an experiential Jewish Leadership course. He has worked for over 10 years in the Jewish education field, serving as a director for overnight camps, ropes courses and religious schools. As an educator, Danny weaves Jewish traditions into outdoor and nature connection experiences. Danny is currently a Jewish educator and mentor for 8th-12 grade students at Midrasha, the Jewish community high school of the East Bay.
Danny loves traveling, being in the outdoors, hiking, and cooking. He has led over 5 trips to Israel focused on wilderness connection and leadership development.
Danny loves traveling, being in the outdoors, hiking, and cooking. He has led over 5 trips to Israel focused on wilderness connection and leadership development.
Rabbi Owen Gottlieb
Rabbi Owen was ordained at HUC-JIR, NY in 2010. He draws his exciting approach to Jewish learning from the wilderness, arts, media, and popular culture. Rabbi Owen's unusual path to the rabbinate included writing screenplays, software development and teaching hip hop to teens in the Negev. He is currently a Jim Joseph Fellow and PhD Candidate at NYU in Education and Jewish Studies. His specialty is in Digital Media and Games for Learning. Rabbi Owen is also the Founder and Director of ConverJent.org.
Jon Gottsegen
Jon Gottsegen has had a love for wilderness since backpacking for the first time in the Catskill Mountains as a young teenager in New York. Since then, the wild has been a welcome respite from his hyper-left brain daily work with geographic information. Jon finds connection to nature as a powerful spiritual door to connection with the Divine, whether in the canyons of Utah through the Boulder Outdoor Survival School or in ritual in the local mountains in Colorado. Jon is deepening his Jewish practice through Aleph courses, the Davvening Leadership Training Institute and now TorahTrek, while honing in on a specific path to share his knowledge and spiritual yearning with others.
Rabbi James Greene
Rabbi James first connected with Judaism and Jewish education while growing up at Jewish summer camps in the Midwest. He was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2008. Continually involved in Jewish camping and outdoor activities, he was the Director of Education and Music for Camp JRF and was the camp Rabbi for B'nai Brith Camp. Currently, he serves as the Program Director at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center of Silicon Valley.
Outside of the Jewish Community Center, Rabbi James is the past-chair of the Reconstructionist Educators of North America and a member of the Reconstructionist Movement's National Tikkun Olam Commission. He has published several articles with Shma magazine, RRA Connections, Gannet News, and EJewishPhilanthropy. He has also published numerous creative rituals with Ritualwell.org and is an active contributor to Jewish Values Online's Panel of Rabbinic Scholars.
Rabbi James lives in San Jose with his partner, Jen, and their two beautiful daughters.
Outside of the Jewish Community Center, Rabbi James is the past-chair of the Reconstructionist Educators of North America and a member of the Reconstructionist Movement's National Tikkun Olam Commission. He has published several articles with Shma magazine, RRA Connections, Gannet News, and EJewishPhilanthropy. He has also published numerous creative rituals with Ritualwell.org and is an active contributor to Jewish Values Online's Panel of Rabbinic Scholars.
Rabbi James lives in San Jose with his partner, Jen, and their two beautiful daughters.
Rabbi Greg Hersh
Greg earned BA's in Philosophy and Religion from George Washington University. After college, setting out to further bridge the gaps between Eastern and Western thought, Greg traveled to Southeast Asia where he taught English, lived in a Buddhist monastery, backpacked around, and explored the philosophies of the East. The following year was spent in Jerusalem learning Hebrew and applying to the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he currently studies. Greg was also a participant in Tom Brown's Tracker School, which filled him with useful survival information, a deeper understanding of Native American philosophy, and an intractable love of the wilderness. Greg hopes to integrate his passions of Eastern philosophy, the bliss of nature and Jewish tradition/wisdom into his life-path.
Oriana Kahn Hurwit
A fifth generation American, Oriana grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A year after graduating from Tulane University with a degree in psychology, she moved to Israel, eventually making aliyah and living in Israel for 22 years. While there, Oriana worked in educational frameworks for overseas students, both with short-term summer programs and as the Coordinator for the One Year Program at Ben Gurion University. Oriana received a Masters in Social Work through Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Yeshiva University in New York, and has held positions in a variety of settings with various populations: troubled youth, mental health clinics, welfare offices, families of victims of terror, battered women and new immigrants, among others. Since returning to the U.S. with her husband in 2002, Oriana has lived in Eugene, Oregon. She is involved in the local Jewish Community and sits on a variety of synagogue committees and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Federation.
Robyn Israel
Robyn Israel is the token Canadian of the group. She grew up in Montreal, where she braved cold winters skiing and skating. Summers were spent at Jewish camp in the Laurentian Mountains, where she got her first taste of nature and camping. She loved hiking and canoe trips to remote areas of northern Quebec and Vermont.
After graduating from McGill and The University of Western Ontario, Robyn lived eight years in Palo Alto, California, where she worked as an arts journalist. During that time she developed a deeper love of hiking and the Northern California landscape. She currently lives in London, Ontario, where she has a counseling practice and enjoys hiking trails along the Thames River. Robyn serves on the national board of Mosaic Outdoor Clubs of America.
Robyn is also a playwright. She is best known for her one-woman show Jewish Girls Don’t Kayak, which explores her journey through Judaism with humour. She sees theatre as a powerful way to explore relationship dynamics and change. Robyn continues to explore Judaism, and is excited to see how her experience with Torah Trek will further her own spiritual growth.
After graduating from McGill and The University of Western Ontario, Robyn lived eight years in Palo Alto, California, where she worked as an arts journalist. During that time she developed a deeper love of hiking and the Northern California landscape. She currently lives in London, Ontario, where she has a counseling practice and enjoys hiking trails along the Thames River. Robyn serves on the national board of Mosaic Outdoor Clubs of America.
Robyn is also a playwright. She is best known for her one-woman show Jewish Girls Don’t Kayak, which explores her journey through Judaism with humour. She sees theatre as a powerful way to explore relationship dynamics and change. Robyn continues to explore Judaism, and is excited to see how her experience with Torah Trek will further her own spiritual growth.
Rabbi Josh Jacobs-Velde
Josh fell in love with wilderness on a family camping trip to Mt. Rainier at age 12 and was blown away by the sheer awesomeness of that mountain. He fell in love with Judaism as a summer intern at the Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality and was blown away by the sheer awesomeness of the Jewish mystical tradition. He is a backpacker, meditator, nature lover, father of two boys and the rabbi of a dynamic Reconstructionist synagogue called Oseh Shalom in Laurel, MD (www.oseh-shalom.org). He was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2011 and is also a member of Ohalah, the Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal. He lives with his family in Takoma Park, MD, just outside of Washington, DC.
(2019)
(2019)
Josh Kleyman
Josh joined the faculty of the Teton Science Schools' Graduate Program in 2006, training adults as environmental educators and naturalists. He is currently the Coordinator of the Kelly Campus, focusing on connecting people to nature and place through field education. He is active in the Jackson Hole Jewish Community, serving as Vice President of the board of directors, teaching Bet Sefer and helping facilitate services and study sessions. Josh explores spirituality and expresses his passion through community, wilderness, education and Judaism.
Josh Lake
From canoeing the Allagash and Colorado Rivers to hiking the Throng La Pass of Nepal, Josh has learned as much on the trail as in his formal education. Founder of Outdoor Jewish Adventures, Josh has spent the last 14 years leading outdoor excursions for Jewish clientele across the U.S., Canada, Israel, England and even the wilds of N.Y. City and L.A. Josh's passions are outdoor education and connecting people to spiritual and soulful experiences through outdoor adventures.
Tom Levy
Tom Levy was born and raised in San Francisco. As a child, he enjoyed solitary time in the coastal scrub landscape of Twin Peaks. His love of the outdoors led to high school and college backpacking trips. Tom’s second love, photography, led him to a decades-long career as a newspaper photojournalist and freelance photographer. He later spent 10 years as a writer/photographer at nonprofits in Hawaii and the Bay Area.
After growing up in a secular, assimilated family, Tom approached Judaism as an adult. He found spiritual connection through Renewal Judaism, especially via Wilderness Torah’s Earth-based Jewish festivals where he’s volunteered since 2013. Now living in Oakland, Calif., where he does freelance writing and photography, Tom enjoys hiking and camping with his wife and 11-year-old son. With guidance and teachings from TorahTrek, Tom hopes to continue sharing with others the joy and divine connection he finds in nature.
After growing up in a secular, assimilated family, Tom approached Judaism as an adult. He found spiritual connection through Renewal Judaism, especially via Wilderness Torah’s Earth-based Jewish festivals where he’s volunteered since 2013. Now living in Oakland, Calif., where he does freelance writing and photography, Tom enjoys hiking and camping with his wife and 11-year-old son. With guidance and teachings from TorahTrek, Tom hopes to continue sharing with others the joy and divine connection he finds in nature.
Jeff Mazur
You can find Jeff in the woods, fields and mountains, hunting for mushrooms and other wild edibles. Jeff enjoys being out in the wilderness with his family and friends, and through his experience and learning with TorahTrek, has brought his spirituality and prayer practice into the outdoors, which has deepened his love and connection to the natural world around him. Jeff seeks to continue to expand his learnings of spirituality and Torah, and to draw on these elements and in sharing outdoor experiential learning opportunities and spiritual offerings to the community.
Mikey Pauker
How do you channel divine experience and Jewish mysticism to others? For Mikey Pauker, the answer did not stop at yoga or Torah and Chassidic text study (which he practices daily). Instead, Pauker chose to share his spiritual love and light with the world through music.
Pauker's full-length album Extraordinary Love is a seamless blend of folk, electronica, pop, hip-hop, and reggae, woven together by Pauker’s divine experiences with ancient texts that pulse through the artist’s veins and enter listeners’ hearts.
Pauker's full-length album Extraordinary Love is a seamless blend of folk, electronica, pop, hip-hop, and reggae, woven together by Pauker’s divine experiences with ancient texts that pulse through the artist’s veins and enter listeners’ hearts.
Amy Price
Amy's love of nature started with family reunion trips to the north Georgia mountains as a child. She grew up in Augusta, GA and went to school at University of Georgia majoring in Child and Family Development. During college she spent a semester in Israel that had a major impact. Amy spent two seasons as an educator with the Teva Learning Center. While an educator Amy learned how to incorporate Jewish values into environmental education. Amy enjoys traveling and even spent time living in Rwanda. She currently is working on finishing a graduate program in educational policy and supporting adults with disability in their jobs. Amy lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her nine chickens.
Ariela Ronay-Jinich
Ariela's passion for living on the Earth as a Jew has been nurtured through years of personal study and work in the community. After completing her B.A.in Education from Brown University, she spent a year in Israel learning Torah and other traditional texts at the Eco-Activist Beit Midrash in Jerusalem. After working for the Teva Learning Center as a Jewish environmental educator, she settled in the Bay Area and has taken on diverse educational projects, including coordinating Camp Tawonga's garden, integrating nature-based learning at Gan Shalom Preschool in Berkeley, and founding “B’Hootz,” Wilderness Torah’s year-round children’s program. She served as Education Director of Edah, a Jewish after school program, and currently works at Urban Adamah, inspiring many to find wildness on a Jewish urban farm in Berkeley.
Rabbi Cantor Elana Rosen-Brown
Elana, a graduate of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion where she was a School of Sacred Music Fellow, is currently the Rabbi-Cantor at Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael, CA. Elana graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College with a degree in History and Secondary Education. She has participated in the National Outdoor Leadership School's Semester in the Rockies, the Adamah Jewish Environmental Fellowship, Hazon bike rides and programming, Teva Learning Center seminars, and Simchat Shlomo's Eco-Jewish beit midrash in Jerusalem. During her years as a rabbinical/cantorial student Elana was honored to serve congregations in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Los Angeles. Elana has specific interests and training in mindfulness meditation, interfaith dialogue, and outdoor education and looks forward to sharing her love of teaching and learning with students of all ages. In her spare time Elana enjoys backpacking, exploring libraries, and discovering local music.
Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Rubenstein
Ruhi is currently working towards her ordination at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She serves on the Teva Learning Center Advisory Council, and is rabbinic intern for GreenFaith, a non-profit, interfaith environmental organization based in New Jersey. Ruhi spends her summers running the Teva nature program at the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation overnight camp in the Poconos.
Eric Sbar
Daniel Schaefer
Passionate about Jewish learning, teaching, and being in nature, Daniel feels blessed to combine all three with TorahTrek. Daniel is in rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College (HUC) and has worked as a writer, entrepreneur, and outdoor educator. He is an alum of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps and the PresenTense Institute in Jerusalem. He loves to backpack through national parks and his favorite state park is Big Basin.
David Schiller
Samuel Singer
Samuel grew up exploring the high desert in Yerington, Nevada. Study for a B.A. in Physics and Astronomy took him to Hampshire College and the deciduous forests of the east coast, where he discovered his love for outdoor science education. He earned a Masters in Science Education - Environment & Natural Resources by way of the Teton Science Schools of the University of Wyoming. Over the past decade Samuel has worked as an outdoor educator and wilderness guide in Wyoming and across the country. Recently, he completed his doctorate degree in Science Education from the University of Wyoming. His dissertation research focused on spirituality in outdoor environmental education. Currently, Samuel lives in Jackson, WY where he is working as a tour guide and developing a nonprofit organization called Wyoming Star Gazing.
Rebecca Stern
Rebecca's connection to the outdoors began as a young child, hiking in Maine with her family, and her deep love of Judaism was inspired by experiences at day school and Camp Ramah. After college, Rebecca worked at Nature's Classroom, an outdoor environmental education center in Western, MA; next, as a middle school science teacher for three years; and then in the Education Department at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where she worked with teachers to explore the connection between plants and the school curriculum.
Rebecca is a graduate of Wellesley College ('03), completed her Masters degree in Science Education at Teachers College in 2012 and is currently in the doctoral program at The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont.
Rebecca is a graduate of Wellesley College ('03), completed her Masters degree in Science Education at Teachers College in 2012 and is currently in the doctoral program at The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont.
Rabbi Simon Stratford
Simon’s love for nature began in his teenage years, when he participated in a backpacking trip out west through Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute, a URJ camp in Wisconsin. Since that time, he has continued to explore the wilderness in a variety of ways, and is thrilled to be furthering his outdoor experience as a member of TorahTrek Guides Track this year.
Simon grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and received a B.A in Social Work from Michigan State University in 2012. Directly after undergrad, Simon followed his life long aspiration of becoming a rabbi and entered rabbinical school at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. Currently a fourth year rabbinical student in Cincinnati, when he is not studying, Simon enjoys going on hikes in the hills of southeastern Ohio. Simon joins TorahTrek this year in order to strike a balance between academic schoolwork, and his love for nature and desire to further his own spirituality and mindfulness practice.
Simon grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and received a B.A in Social Work from Michigan State University in 2012. Directly after undergrad, Simon followed his life long aspiration of becoming a rabbi and entered rabbinical school at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. Currently a fourth year rabbinical student in Cincinnati, when he is not studying, Simon enjoys going on hikes in the hills of southeastern Ohio. Simon joins TorahTrek this year in order to strike a balance between academic schoolwork, and his love for nature and desire to further his own spirituality and mindfulness practice.
Sophie Vener
Sophie grew up basking in the sunshine of San Diego. While on Shnat Netzer, the worldwide Reform movement's gap-year program, Sophie participated in Kibbutz Lotan's Green Apprenticeship (GA). Lotan exposed her to the world of alternative living and Jewish environmentalism. She brought her new enthusiasm for sustainable agriculture and ecological communities to Camp Newman's Operation Kibbutz Yarok, where she worked to develop the dream of a kibbutz mini farm for Camp Newman.
Toby Joy Zelt
Toby is a Wilderness First Responder through the National Outdoor Leadership School, an Environmental Educator and the founder of Wild Spirit Adventure. Toby has a Masters of Arts in religious studies and another MA in administration in religious education. She earned her Bachelors with majors in Philosophy, Psychology, and Women’s Studies, all from Towson University in Maryland. Toby has studied and practiced Judaism and Jewish education in natural settings with the Teva Learning Center, Adventure Rabbi, and Kayam Farm, among others. An enthusiastic spiritual educator, Toby is a dedicated to making a difference in student's lives through experiential education.