Peer-Led Retreat Jewish Educators Database
A list of excellent Jewish educators worldwide who are pre-approved to teach at Peer-Led Retreats.
Featured Educators
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Naomi Izen
New Hampshire
Naomi Izen
New Hampshire
SPECIALIZATIONS Art, Dance, Earth-Based Judaism, Embodiment, Experiential Education, Feminism, Food/Drink, Health and Wellness, Holidays, Jewish Values, Kabbalah/Mysticism, Kohenet, Meditation, Mindfulness, Ritual, ShabbatRETREATS
Entering the Temple: A Jewish Women’s Retreat; The Art of True Belonging; Vermont Chalet — Jewish Identity, Assimilation, and Resistance;
Naomi Azriel Izen is an ordained Hebrew Priestess through Kohenet and the Creative Director of her own Jewish lifestyle design business. Naomi’s biggest passion is in creating beautiful sacred space, tangible and intangible, and she teaches on how to use ritual, aesthetics and Jewish frameworks for welcoming and transformation. Naomi infuses all of her teachings with earth-based Jewish practices and Mysticism. Naomi incorporates Jewish arts practices and Jewish herbalism and loves creating spaces for in-depth and hands-on learning that are well-held and aesthetically pleasing. If you are seeking a retreat that holds participants in a gentle container with deep attention for details, thoughtful and modernized ritual that leaves your participants with a changed sense of self and Jewish Identity then feel free to reach out. Naomi has taught on numerous Moishe House retreats (virtual and in-person) as well as Camp Nai Nai Nai. She has been an educator at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center as well as Hillel Conferences, Hebrew Day Schools and her own curated Jewish retreats and workshops.
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Yoni Nadiv
Columbus, OH
Yoni Nadiv
Columbus, OH
SPECIALIZATIONS Ethics, Feminism, Hebrew Language, Jewish Law (Halacha), Jewish Values, Midrash, Prayer, Rabbinic Literature, Ritual, Sephardi Culture, Sexuality, Shabbat, Talmud, Tanakh/TorahRETREATS
Baraita: Outdoor Learning
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Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum
Brookline, MA
Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum
Brookline, MA
SPECIALIZATIONS Health and Wellness, Holidays, Jewish Values, Jews of Color, Kabbalah/Mysticism, Prayer, Rabbinic Literature, Ritual, Shabbat, , Tanakh/TorahRETREATS
Hip Hop, Text, and Judaism 2.0
Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum is the Rabbi of Congregational Learning and Programming at Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, MA. She received Rabbinic Ordination and a Master’s in Jewish Education from Hebrew College in 2013. She is originally from Brookline, MA and has served congregations in Milwaukee, WI and Mt. Holly, NJ before returning home to TBZ. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Educational Leadership at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. In her multifaceted career, she has had a front seat at the intersection of race, racism and religion, giving her valuable insights into how different groups of people see the world and refining her powers of empathy. She teaches, “None of us can control what happens in the world, but we each have the power to control how we respond. We need to access our spiritual core and fearlessly acknowledge our dark places, both as individuals and a society, in order to shift what we see going on around us. The shadows serve to remind us that there is also light.”
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Yoshi Silverstein
Cleveland, OH
Yoshi Silverstein
Cleveland, OH
SPECIALIZATIONS Dance, Environmentalism, Jews of Color, MindfulnessRETREATS
Moishe gets Muddy; Maine Roots 2020; In Living Color: Celebrating our full selves as Jews of Color
Yoshi Silverstein facilitates connection to body, nature, and spirit through movement, design, play, exploration, & Jewish tradition. Also a 2nd degree blackbelt, CrossFit coach, and movement teacher, he holds over sixteen years of experience in both Jewish and secular outdoor, food, farming, and environmental education. Yoshi is an alumnus of the Selah Leadership Program, the Dorot Fellowship, and the PresenTense NYC Accelerator for Social Entrepreneurship. He is a member of the UpStart Alumni Advisory Council and a founding member of the Repair the World NYC Advisory Board. A Pacific Northwest native, Yoshi has resided in roughly thirteen different places since his eighteenth birthday – including the Olympic Mountains, central and northern Idaho Rockies, Berkshire Mountains, and the Arava Valley – and now lives in the Bushwick Plains of Northern Brooklyn with his wife, daughter, and pup. He makes a mean Chinese Roast Duck.
All Educators
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Abbe Lyons
Ithaca, NY
Abbe Lyons
Ithaca, NY
SPECIALIZATIONS Earth-Based Judaism, Ethics, Feminism, Food/Drink, Health and Wellness, Holidays, Inclusion/Disability Awareness, Jewish Law (Halacha), Jewish Values, LGBTQ+, Mental Health, Midrash, Music, Poetry, Prayer, Ritual, Shabbat, , WritingRETREATS
Wine for the Wise: A Study of Wine & Judaism
Cantor Abbe Lyons is dedicated to enhancing the spiritual and emotional power of music and Jewish learning in everyday life as well as in sacred spaces. She is the Assistant Program Director for the ALEPH Cantorial Program, where she received smicha as Hazzan (Cantor) in 2010, and on the faculty for the Davennen Leadership Training Institue. She is Jewish Chaplain at Ithaca College, where she received a B.Mus. in voice performance in 1987. Cantor Lyons is an innovative liturgist and composer whose published work includes Jewish Liturgy: A Guide for Everyone, poetry, alternative social justice haftarot, and original music on the album Listen! with her multifaith band, Resonate, and solo album Household Chores. She is a dynamic SpeakChorus Torah group midrash facilitator, and offers Contemplative Torah groups and presentations/performances on Jewish Communities Around the World Through Music. Current projects include multigender and nonbinary liturgy and Torah translations.
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Abby Newburger
Potomac, MD
Abby Newburger
Potomac, MD
SPECIALIZATIONS Anti-Semitism, Community Organizing, Conflict Resolution, Entrepreneurship, Experiential Education, Food/Drink, Holidays, Holocaust, Israel, Jewish Values, Judaism in Pop Culture & Media, Kabbalah/Mysticism, Meditation, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Ritual, Shabbat, Storytelling, Theater, ZionismRETREATS
Moishe House Resident, Retreatology, Camp Nai Nai Nai
Abby Newburger is in her early 30s living in the Greater Washington DC area. When she is not running her own event-planning business, you can find Abby teaching religious school and tutoring B’nai Mitzvah students at her synagogue. Currently she is also the Program Director for the Montgomery County Teens Against Antisemitism Fellowship. Abby has a BA in Judaic Studies from The Ohio State University. She is a MoHo Resident Alum, Retreatologist and a Camp Nai Nai Nai counselor/specialist.
For fun, you can find Abby dancing salsa and bachata, singing karaoke, running her own book club or cooking new recipes.
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Abraham Silver
Tel Aviv, Israel
Abraham Silver
Tel Aviv, Israel
SPECIALIZATIONS Agriculture/Farming, Jewish Values, Outdoor Education, ZionismRETREATS
The Holy City of Tel Aviv
Abraham Silver was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. After receiving a B.A. in History and Philosophy from S.U.N.Y. Binghamton, Abraham moved to Kibbutz Ketura, a socialist pioneering settlement in Israel’s Negev desert, where he spent nineteen years as a date farmer. He received his army training in the Israel Nachal Paratrooper Corps and continued to serve in a front-line combat unit as a reservist in the IDF until retirement in 2003, serving in Lebanon and during both Intifadas. Abraham completed an M.A. in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. His architectural emphasis is on the design of Jewish Space in Israeli and modern American Jewish architecture. As Project Manager at the firm of Butler, Rogers, Baskett in New York, he was responsible for the design and construction of high-end office projects including the offices of Dewey Ballantine. In addition to practicing architecture, he is a licensed tour guide and senior Jewish/Israel educator. He has devoted the last thirty years to creating and implementing innovative informal Jewish and Israel education. In his role as educator, he has helped people of all ages and backgrounds understand their connection to the land of Israel and the Jewish people. As Educational Director of the Dorot Fellowship in Israel, he was part of a team that designed new concepts of peer-led education. In his role as Educational Director of Israel Interactive, he provided educators with inventive, attractive, DVD and Internet based instructional programs for Israel education. Abraham is co-founder of the Israel informational website, Access Israel. Abraham’s background has led him to a unique understanding of Tel Aviv as the most Jewish city in the world: its development, its architecture, its impact on the Jewish world and Jewish Identity and the implications for the global family of nations. He provides specialty tours of Tel Aviv. Abraham is also a lecturer on the Architecture of Jerusalem at Hebrew University. He is co-author of the book “Living the Dream: Israel at 50” as well as “Israel at 60: People, Places and History”, a three-volume set of DVDs. Abraham and his wife Elissa live in Tel Aviv with their two thirteen-year-old daughters, Shiri and Libi. -
Aderet Drucker
Bethesda, MD
Aderet Drucker
Bethesda, MD
rabbiaderet@thedencollective.org
SPECIALIZATIONS Community Organizing, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Experiential Education, Health and Wellness, Holidays, Jewish Law (Halacha), Jewish Values, Kabbalah/Mysticism, Meditation, Midrash, Mikveh, Mindfulness, Prayer, Ritual, Sexuality, Shabbat, , Talmud, Tanakh/TorahRETREATS
A Lived Jewish Life
Rabbi Aderet Drucker is an innovative spiritual leader, inspired educator, social entrepreneur, relationship-based community organizer, and serves as Executive Director of the Den Collective. Since her adolescence she has expressed a love of meeting new people as well as an interest and instinct for gathering people together in sacred community to learn, connect, celebrate, heal, and to create impactful change in our world. After receiving her rabbinic ordination and a concentration in pastoral care from the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Aderet served as senior rabbi for a congregation in Northern California. She has also served as the Campus Rabbi for Hillel at the University of Maryland, where she was part of UMD’s Interfaith Campus Chaplaincy and a co-founder of UMD’s first Interfaith Student Fellowship. Rabbi Aderet holds a certificate in Mindful Leadership in Higher Education from NYU’s Of Many Institute For Multifaith Leadership, is an AJWS Global Justice Fellow, and a fellow of RRC’s Campus Chaplaincy for a Multifaith World. She is an alumnus of the Gladstein Fellowship in Entrepreneurial Leadership, the Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship, and the Clergy Leadership Incubator. Rabbi Aderet loves traveling to different places, spending time by the water, cooking and coming up with new recipes, and having spontaneous dance parties with her husband, Brett, and two incredible daughters.
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Alejandro Schonfeld
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Alejandro Schonfeld
Buenos Aires, Argentina
SPECIALIZATIONS Ethics, Film, Holidays, Holocaust, Israel, Jewish Values, Judaism in Pop Culture & Media, LGBTQ+, , , Storytelling, WritingRETREATS
El registro de la naturaleza como un hecho artístico y espiritual
Alejandro Schonfeld (1986) es guionista y docente. Estudió Historia en la Universidad de Buenos Aires y Artes Audiovisuales en la Universidad Nacional de Artes. También curso estudios judaicos en diversas instituciones judías de Argentina y en el Majón LeMadrijim Jutz La’Aretz en Israel (2005). Como guionista escribió series documentales sobre temas varios para Canal Encuentro y la productora Nudo Colectivo Audiovisual. Alejandro Schonfeld (1986) is a screenwriter and teacher. He studied History at the University of Buenos Aires and Audiovisual Arts at the National University of Arts. He also studied Judaic studies in various Jewish institutions in Argentina and at the Machon LeMadrichim Chutz La’Aretz in Israel (2005). As a screenwriter, he wrote documentary series on various topics for Canal Encuentro and the production company Nudo Colectivo Audiovisual.
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Alison Cohen
Washington, DC
Alison Cohen
Washington, DC
alison.mindfulchange@gmail.com
SPECIALIZATIONS Conflict Resolution, Dance, Embodiment, Ethics, Experiential Education, Feminism, Health and Wellness, Holidays, Jewish Values, LGBTQ+, Meditation, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Outdoor Education, Poetry, Prayer, Shabbat, , Storytelling, Tanakh/Torah, WritingRETREATS
Kindling the Flame Within; Kindling the Flame Within: A Self and Communal Care Shabbat
As a young adult, Alison was desperate for guidance on how to navigate her tumultuous, overwhelmingly empathetic internal landscape, not to mention the world. Through attending Jewish and Buddhist meditation retreats, she realized that through intentional practice it was possible to develop a toolkit for lovingly riding the wild waves of being human. A former public high school teacher and mindfulness program director, Alison incorporates trauma-informed practices into her coaching, leadership, and racial justice work in school communities. She also mentors in Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program, and offers workshops and one-on-one sessions that focus on supporting the well-being of givers across fields. Alison has trained with the Jewish Meditation Center of Brooklyn, the UMass Center for Mindfulness, Mindful Schools, and Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. A few years ago, she felt called to contribute more time and energy to Jewish communal contexts and now teaches at sixth & i, on Jewish retreats, and virtually. Alison loves any/all opportunities to integrate community-building, contemplative practice, transformative Jewish ritual, social justice, and joy. On the most recent Peer-Led Retreat Alison taught on, she facilitated: – Self-care and Communal Care through a Jewish Lens – Conscious, Compassionate Communication Infused with Jewish Wisdom – Hitbodedut: An introduction to Jewish Meditation Practice in Nature – Kabbalat Shabbat & Havdallah rituals
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Alyssa Silva
Los Angeles, CA
Alyssa Silva
Los Angeles, CA
SPECIALIZATIONS Anti-Semitism, Community Organizing, Experiential Education, Food/Drink, Holidays, Holocaust, Israel, Jewish Law (Halacha), Jewish Values, Judaism in Pop Culture & Media, Rabbinic Literature, Ritual, Sexuality, Shabbat, , Storytelling, Talmud, Tanakh/TorahRETREATS
Retreatology; Diversities of Israel
Alyssa Silva, Houston Hillel’s Assistant Executive Director, is a graduate from the University of Arizona, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies with a minor in Judaic Studies. Prior to moving to Houston, Alyssa lived in DC, where she was a resident at Moishe House Columbia Heights, and a retreatology mentor/educator. After two years in that role, she moved to Jerusalem and received a certificate in Jewish Experiential Education from The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. She is currently pursuing her masters degree in Jewish nonprofit Management at the Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management. Alyssa’s love of Jewish community building has grown over the years through her work with various Jewish nonprofit organizations including leadership and mentorship roles within the Jewish nonprofit world. She is knowledgeable in many areas, from experiential education, teaching Jewish text and Jewish ritual, and the logistics that go into creating your dream retreat! Alyssa has been there before, and knows the hard work and dedication that goes into planning a peer-led retreat, and is ready to be your cheerleader, Jewish guru, and guide every step of the way!
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Andrew Davies
Philadelphia, PA
Andrew Davies
Philadelphia, PA
SPECIALIZATIONS Art, Ethics, Experiential Education, Improv, Israel, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Rabbinic Literature, Storytelling, Tanakh/Torah, Theater, WritingRETREATS
Camp Nai Nai Nai Co-MC; Retreatology
Andrew Davies is an improviser and facilitator based in South Philly where he lives with his wife Molly Wernick and tiny dog Ducky. Andrew received a B.A. in English Literature from Brandeis University, went on to study Improvisation at The Magnet Theater, and received a certificate of Facilitation from Georgetown University. In 2011 Andrew Co-Founded The Bible Players, a comedy team which is Improv-ing Jewish Lives. The Bible Players have toured to 25 states, visiting hundreds of camps, schools, and synagogues teaching Jewish Values with a sense of humor. He walks softly and carries a big Shtick! In 2016 Andrew Co-Founded the Non-profit CharacTours, an interactive theatrical walking experience where the past visits you. He is the Executive Director of both The Bible Players and CharacTours. Andrew can be reached at Andrew@TheBiblePlayers.com
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Anise Simon
Deerfield Beach, FL
Anise Simon
Deerfield Beach, FL
SPECIALIZATIONS Anti-Semitism, Art, Community Organizing, Conflict Resolution, Earth-Based Judaism, Embodiment, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Feminism, Food/Drink, Health and Wellness, Inclusion/Disability Awareness, Jewish Values, Jews of Color, Judaism in Pop Culture & Media, LGBTQ+, Ritual, Sephardi Culture, Sexuality, Shabbat, , Storytelling, Tanakh/TorahRETREATS
Be Outspoken, Speak Out: How Jewish Women Teach Us the Importance of Speaking Up
Anise Simon is a reproductive health advocate and non-profit professional. She is an alumnus of the Brandeis Collegiate Institute program through AJU and a co-founder of the Triangle Moishe House (Chapel Hill, NC). As a racial and reproductive justice facilitator, she enjoys weaving Jewish themes to help “wrestle” with Jewish text and connect our values with our religious and cultural tradition. Anise grew up in Jewish communities in both the US and the Caribbean and currently lives between South Florida and Northern California with her partner and two dogs. Currently, Anise works as the Member Systems Manager at the National Network of Abortion Funds and renovates vacation rental properties near the beach. Anise enjoys community organizing, vegetable gardens, and live music. You can find her online @Aniseyy.
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Ariela Yomtovian
Cleveland, OH
Ariela Yomtovian
Cleveland, OH
SPECIALIZATIONS Earth-Based Judaism, Embodiment, Feminism, Health and Wellness, Jewish Values, Kabbalah/Mysticism, Mikveh, Mindfulness, Prayer, Ritual, Sexuality, Shabbat, YogaAriela Sharon is passionate about elevating the Divine Feminine Energy of this world so that we can live in a world of peace, love and higher consciousness. Through building a relationship with God (which looks different for everyone), she believes that we can live more meaningful lives.
She is a creative, with a particular passion for writing. She views art as medicine, meditation and metamorphosis and as a vehicle to explore our relationship to the deepest parts of ourselves (a network of ancestry, faith, trauma etc.).
When I’m not teaching for the Jewish Learning Collaborative or facilitating classes for other various organizations (At the Well, Moishe House, JSP etc), I am working with women as a spiritual mentor to help cultivate a sense of power in birth, in motherhood and in life!
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