Limmud Colorado 2013

Tamee Albrecht is a certified yoga teacher and a practitioner of meditation in many styles. She has studied mediation at retreats in Asia, Israel, and the U.S. She is a strong believer in experiential education and the benefits of meditation in daily life. She has an M.S. in Hydrology and has worked as an environmental scientist, and currently advises undergraduates to help them achieve success in college.

Hannah Kapnik Ashar is a Kevah Teaching Fellow, a marriage coach with Power of Two, and co-producer of Come & Listen: Jewish Food for Thought. She is one of the facilitators for Limmud's Eat, Think and Be Merry program, and generally is passionate about facilitating access to Torah as a center of meaning-making.

Yoni Ashar is a graduate student in the Psychology and Neuroscience program at University of Colorado Boulder. The focus of his research has been compassion meditation, charitable donation, and their neural correlates. That research isn't quite ready to present, so he will be talking about other fascinating research in the field. Yoni has also studied at the Pardes Institute and other centers of Jewish learning.

Over the past 15 years, Caryn Aviv has worked as a professor of Jewish Studies and sociology and as a Jewish social entrepreneur. She teaches at the University of Colorado Boulder and serves as Associate Director of Judaism Your Way. She was also co-founder/director of research with Jewish Mosaic from 2003-2008, and co-founder/director of Storahtelling Colorado from 2008-2011.

Diane has worked with Donor Alliance for 10 years as a Hospital Development Donation Consultant.  Along with educating the hospitals on the donor process, she has also worked as a Family Support Coordinator, helping families through that process.

Howard Boigon is a partner in the Denver office of Hogan Lovells, a global law firm with 47 offices worldwide. His practice focuses on oil, gas, and energy, both domestic and international, including extensive work on offshore gas exploration in israel. He is immediate past Colorado chair of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and is a member of AIPAC’s National Council.

Rabbi Steve Booth-Nadav is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and has been a rabbi for 20 yrs. He currently runs Wisdom House Denver: A Center for Multifaith Engagement and Spiritual Inquiry. He is also the chaplain at Allied Jewish Senior Housing in Denver and the rabbi at Har Mishpacha in Steamboat Springs.

Dianne Cohler-Esses, ordained by JTS in 1995, is the first woman from the Syrian Jewish community to become a rabbi. Since then she has worked in the field of Jewish education. In 2007 she was named one of fifty top rabbis by the Washington Post online. Currently Rabbi Dianne is Director of Education at Kehillat Romemu. She lives in NYC with her husband and their three children.

Rafi Daugherty is Keshet's community organizer in Colorado.  He came out as queer in 2004 and trans in 2007. He graduated from Hunter College with a major in psychology and a minor in sociology. He received an MA from Tel Aviv University in Crisis and Trauma Studies. While in school, Rafi worked with individuals with development disabilities and homeless youth in New York City. He has been a presenter at Limmud NY and Colorado as well as Nehirim about transgender issues.

Gregg Drinkwater is the Colorado Regional Director of Keshet, a national nonprofit working for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Jews in Jewish life. Prior to joining Keshet, he was the executive director of Jewish Mosaic and one of the organization’s three co-founders. He is the co-editor of the book Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible (NYU Press, September 2009).

Shari has over 20 years experience in the nonprofit sector as a grant maker, organizational consultant, professional manager and volunteer. Past places of employment include NIF, JAFI, UJF Pittsburgh and Maryland Assoc. for Nonprofits. Shari serves as the ED of 18 Pomegranates, a private foundation in Boulder, Colorado. She has a B.S. from Cornell and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin.

Jennie Feiger is the parent of an 11 year old "tween," who has high functioning autism. Jennie navigated challenging times when her son suffered a severe regression and psychotic break at age 4. He was expelled from a Jewish preschool, an experience that tested Jennie's faith on many levels. Jennie works as a physician assistant in internal medicine and geriatrics.

Rabbi Ruthie Gelfarb, a past presenter at Limmud Chicago, Limmud Philadelphia and Limmud Colorado, is facilitating the Limmud Colorado Covenant Foundation Educators Network. Rabbi Ruthie served as the Senior Jewish Educator at the University of Chicago and the director of service learning at the American Jewish World Service. Rabbi Ruthie, a native New Yorker, is proud to call Boulder home.

Jane Gerber is Professor of Jewish History and Director of the Institute for Sephardic Studies at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. She is the author of five books including The Jews of Spain, which won the National Jewish Book Award in Sephardic Studies in 1992. She has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Jewish Theological Seminary. Her forthcoming books are The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean (2013)  and Cities of Splendor in the Shaping of Jewish History (2014).

Rabbi Bernard R. Gerson, a native of the Boston area, has been the spiritual leader of Congregation Rodef Shalom since 1993. He also teaches Bible and Talmud at Denver Jewish Day School. Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), he holds a BA in Judaic Studies from Brandeis University, as well as an MA in Rabbinic Literature from JTS.

Sue Parker Gerson is the Director of Education at CAJE, serves as the Colorado Melton Director, and has taught children, teens and adults in a wide variety of settings for 25+ years. Sue earned an M.A. from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in Jewish History, is licensed by the Board of Jewish Education of Greater NY and is the co-author of Teaching Jewish History (Behrman House, 2006).

Blessed to be busy in a variety of professional ways, Rabbi Sara L. Gilbert is spiritual leader of Beth Israel Congregation in Greeley, a warm, venerable community. In Denver, Sara serves the patients of Shalom Hospice as a chaplain, finding assisting patients and families to be challenging, rewarding, and truly a privilege. It is also Sara’s joy to teach adults in the Denver community.

Myth-busting historian Phil Goodstein holds a PhD in history from the University of Colorado. His areas of expertise range from East European history to American urban development to struggles of people trying to change society. He has written nearly 20 books and frequently appears as a speaker for community groups. Along the way, he has embraced a most unorthodox view of Judaism.

Rabbi Ben Greenberg is the Senior Rabbi of BMH-BJ: The Denver Synagogue, Denver's oldest and largest Modern Orthodox synagogue. Previously Rabbi Greenberg was the Jewish Chaplain of Harvard University and the Rabbi of Harvard Hillel. Rabbi Greenberg has written two books and blogs regularly for MyJewishLearning, Huffington Post and Patheos. He lives with his family in Denver, CO.

Salomon Gruenwald has served as Associate Rabbi of Congregation HEA in Denver since his ordination from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in 2008. He is also a volunteer chaplain with the Denver Police Department. Salomon holds an M.A. in Anthropology and Women’s Studies from UC Santa Barbara. He blogs at headenver.org/rabbigruenwald.

Chaim (Harvey) Hames is chair of the General History Department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His research interests include Medieval and Renaissance Jewish and Christian mysticism and philosophy, apocalypticism, inter-religious polemics and religious conversion. He recently published I (do not) Believe: Israel and Judaism – Past, Present, Future (in Hebrew, Ktav 2011).  He is in Colorado serving as a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado Boulder as part of the Center for Humanities and the Arts' Translation workshop and with the Department of Spanish and Portguese and the

In addition to his private counseling practice, Rabbi Henoch Dov leads study groups and Spiritual-Journey expeditions in Denver, Boulder, Utah, Australia, and Israel. He has been a psychodrama therapist with families, couples, and individuals since 1987 and has been teaching Torah, Kabbalah, Jewish History and Talmud since 1987 in Denver and Boulder.

Deanne Kapnik and Sari Horovitz have a long history of partnering on creative projects, including the yearly retreats of the Jewish Women's Resource Center. They have been working together with the Mizel Museum since 2008, creating the Community Narratives Project, a project of the permanent exhibt, 4000 Year Road Trip: Gathering Sparks. Using the medium of digital storytelling, they work with individuals and create three minute audio/visual "documentaries" that express some of the depth and treasures in the Denver and Boulder Jewish community. Themes of the stories include resilience

Dr. Naomi Susan Schwartz Jacobs is a teacher and scholar of ancient Judaism who has taught both in academia and within the Jewish Community. At Bonai Shalom she tutors Hebrew and will be teaching a class for adults in March about stories of parents and children retold from the Torah in early midrash. She is also a fine artist whose digital creations include Jewish, biblical, and mystical themes.

Deanne Kapnik is the Director of Special Projects at the Mizel Museum. She and Sari Horovitz have spearheaded the Community Narratives Project, a collection of digital stories, which have become integral elements of the museum's exhibit. These reveal the heart of our Jewish community and open the way to learning and conversation about everything from shchitah to immigration, the pain of loss to the pride of inheritance.

A licenced clincial social worker, they said Sally Klein sang in her crib before she talked. Picking up this memory during divorce at age 60, she decided to sing again after nearly 25 years silence. Then, she joined Kol Zimra 1 under Rabbi Shefa Gold. She uses chant to reach people who would not usually come sit with a counselor.  At the same time, she benefits, since she is transmitting a healing vibration which must pass through her first.

Sarah Kornhauser has lived in Colorado for the last 10 years. After completing her education at the University of Denver with an MA in International Economic Development, she found herself launched into the non-profit Jewish arena. In doing so, Sarah has had the opportunity to develop her passion for food and the environment through a Jewish lens. She has been the Director of Hazon Denver since March 2012.

Stan Kreis has degrees in sociology, economics and accounting. Therefore he is wise, literate, financially sound and married to Kathryn Bernheimer (she would never marry anyone without such credentials). Grave marker: "the world was his oyster, unfortunately, he ate it and got stomach cramps."  He writes frequently for the Boulder Jewish News and is active with and writes for Stand By Israel.

Ilana Lapid is an Assistant Professor in the Creative Media Institute of New Mexico State University. She grew up in NYC, Jerusalem and Ottawa, before moving to Las Cruces, NM. Ilana has a strong interest in the transformative power of visual storytelling and in comparative border cinema. She has directed and produced multiple award winning short films, including “Red Mesa,” a border story.

Aharon Ariel Lavi is founder of Nettiot Mission-Driven Communities Network, reengaging Haredi Ba'aley Teshuva into Israeli society.  He is also founder of Garin Shuva and a member of the National Council of MDC's. He is CEO of the Hitzim social project, development manager at Atachlit, and worked for the National Union of Students. Lavi has published a book and many articles on Judaism and social topics, and is currently a doctoral student at Bar Ilan University and holds a BA in Economics.

Rabbi Shoshana Leis is serving in her 4th year at Har Shalom in Ft. Collins. She also served as Rabbi of Congregation Tehillah in NYC where she received the Legacy Heritage Innovator Award. She serves on the rabbinic council of Hazon and loves to teach about Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel z"l. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical and Dartmouth Colleges, Shoshana participated in the Synagogue 3000 Leadership Network.

Libby Lenkinski recently moved back to the United States after 7 years living in Tel Aviv, where she served as Director of International Relations at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the leading human rights organization in Israel. She has led audience engagement efforts for The Law in These Parts, consults +972 Magazine and Just Vision, and is a board member of Comet-ME.

Linda Ludin converted to Islam more than thiry year ago. By profession she is a dentist. She has been involved in the Muslim community of Colorado for more than 20 years. She is a member of the Steering Committee of Muslims Intent on Learning and Activism (MILA). She has been a member of two of Abrahamic Initiative's Dinner Groups.

Monir Ludin has been an active member of the Muslim community of Colorado since 1989 in various capacities at the Colorado Muslim Society and Colorado Muslim Council. Currently he is a member of the Steering Committee of Muslims Intent on Learning & Activism (MILA). Monir has been involved with the Abrahamic Initiative for a number of years and at this time chairs its Steering Committee.

Alexander Maller is a retired professor of architecture and urban design at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Previously, he was with the Technion in Haifa, Israel and in private practice. Maller is author of Reform Judaism for the Rest of Us: Faith versus Political Activism (2012). Member Temple Sinai congregation, Denver CO. Author, painter, teacher. Married, two grown sons.

This film is presented by Love, Hope, Strength, an organization dedicated to saving lives by building the bone marrow database.  Be sure to get swabbed, so you can help save a life. After all, the Talmud says that if you save one life, you save the world.

Manuel Martin was born in Caceres, Spain, in 1940 and moved to Barcelona in 1942 where he grew up. He attended the University of Barcelona and earned a PhD in Engineering and a masters in Physics. Manuel moved to the US in 1968 to complete his PhD in Physics. He has been interested in the History of the Spanish Jews and of the "Marranos” since he was 16 and has made it a life long project to learn about the experience of Sefarad and the Inquisition.

Since fall 2010, Dr. Martínez has served as an Assistant Professor of History at UCCS. From fall 2008 to spring 2010, he served as the Burton Postdoctoral Fellow at St. Joseph’s University (Philadelphia) and earned his Ph.D. in May 2008 from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Martínez specializes in the study of medieval and early modern Spain --especially Sephardic Jews and conversos.

Danielle Menditch is coordinator of JConnect at the Hebrew Educational Alliance.  She is also a world traveller, attended the University of Denver's Graduate School of Social Work and co-directs We Make the Place.  Learn more about Danielle at http://wemaketheplace.com/about-me/

Robin Mitchell is a donor mother who has been an “Advocate for Life” for four years.  She lost her son Joe who was a donor in 2008.  Robin has met the heart and lung recipients, and knows their life is better because of the heroic decision that Joe had made.

Estelle Nadel is a survivor of the Holocaust.  She hid in several attics for a total of two and a half years. She lost her father, mother, sister, and brother, and survived with two brothers.

Ben Newman is serving as co-rabbi at Har Shalom in Ft. Collins. He received his B.A. from Skidmore College in Religion and Culture, an M.A. in Jewish Studies from Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and rabbinical ordination from Academy for Jewish Religion in NYC. A PhD. candidate at the Jewish Theological Seminary specializing in Jewish philosophy, Ben is a singer-songwriter and delights in chanting, guitar, and the 'sruti box'.

Michal Peleg-Uziyahu is Israel's shlichah (emissary) to the Jewish community of Colorado. She works with schools, synagogues and organizations throughout the area to provide educational programming, commentary on current and historical events, and counsel about travel to and volunteer opportunities in Israel. She was born and raised in the Negev and currently lives in Denver with her husband, Amir, and their three children.

Beatriz Pestana-Osuna, originally from Venezuela is an artist and printmaker, who exhibits her work locally and internationally. She works as a speech/language pathologist in education. Bea is also an independent researcher in the areas of Crypto-Judaism and Inquisition as well as a contributor to her family's genealogical archive research. Beatriz is a Sephardic Jewish woman of Spanish and Portuguese background.

Julia Rakhimova and her band Tofahon (meaning "gift from God") are a group of Bukharian Jewish musicians from the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan and Tadjikistan. They have been performing for 23 years, including presentations in the former USSR, modern day Russia, and the US. They are ambassadors of the ancient Uzbek and Tadjik Jewish musical traditions.

Bobbie Rosenberg, a Hasidic born Jew, teaches at Temple Emanuel, is the Kadima Youth Advisor at Rodef Shalom, and the Intersex Community Liaison for Marriage Equality USA. He is currently on the Keshet Planning Team and Young Adult Planning Team, a Maven with Storahtelling Colorado, and is completing his Masters of Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School in preparation for Rabbinical School.

Dr. Michael Salamon received his doctorate in psychology from Hofstra University. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America's Behavioral and Social Sciences Section and a board certified Diplomate-Fellow Prescribing Psychologist Register.

Dr. Salamon is the founder and director of the Adult Developmental Center, Inc. (ADC), a comprehensive psychological consulting practice in Hewlett, NY. He empowers individuals and families to cope with the various ps

David Shneer is a writer, lecture, and the Louis P. Singer Professor of Jewish History at the University of Colorado Boulder.  He also directs the university's Program in Jewish Studies.  By day, he is a “pathbreaking” scholar, at least according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and in his spare time, he is vice chair of the board for Keshet, and the Limmud Colorado co-chair.  He has been married to Gregg Drinkwater since 1996 and is papa to his lovely, bilingual daughter Sasha.

Magician and Actress Erica Sodos has performed thousands of shows all over the world and in all kinds of circumstances, ranging from college performances and synagogues to opening for rock bands. Erica's mission is to bring theater back to what it was meant to be...transformation. Recently Erica has become an Officigian, incorporating her love of spirituality into her work by officiating weddings.

Dale’s wife Sharon is a kidney recipient who received her gift of life in 2008.  Sadly, their daughter Kelly passed away in 2009 and had chosen to become a donor.  Dale has a unique perspective on the importance of donation because of what he has been through.

Carol Kozak Ward has been an educator, performer, conductor and specialist in the Hebrew choral repertoire for over thirty years, with degrees in choral conducting from Yale University School of Music, Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and New York University. Originally from Connecticut, she and her family lived in Haifa, Israel before relocating to Colorado in 1991.

Dr. Seth Ward he has been teaching Islam and the Middle East at the University of Wyoming since January 2003. Previously, he directed the University of Denver’s Institute for Islamic-Judaic Studies, and taught in New York, Haifa, Beer Sheva, Colorado Springs, and Boulder. Ward's BA and PhD are from Yale, and he studied at Hebrew University and Jewish Theological Seminary.

Cynthia Weinger has dedicated over 15 years to working in the Jewish community, and now works as an organizational consultant.  She volunteered in leadership capacities with Limmud NY for four years before relocating to Colorado, where she was delighted to become part of the Limmud Colorado leadership team.  As the Co-chair of Limmud Colorado, Cynthia hopes to see Limmud continue to grow and flourish and invites you to speak with her about getting more involved!

Evan Weissman has worked for over a decade at Buntport Theater Company and now runs Warm Cookies of the Revolution, a Civic Health Club. He teaches courses on Nonviolence at The Colorado College and Red Rocks Community College, co-founded the Front Range chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, is the Colorado contact for the War Resisters League and was in the inaugural cohort of the Roots and Branches Foundation, a philanthropic project of Rose Community Foundation.

Carlos Zarur, Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, was born in a Syrian-Sephardic family and has lived in several countries throughout his life. He holds masters degrees in the areas of Comparative Religious Studies, Sephardic Studies, Marranism Studies (Crypto Judaism), Peripheral Jewish Communities, and Culture and Customs of Oriental Jewries. He did two years of Rabbinical Studies at Porat Yosef Sephardic Yeshiv, and taught at the University of Colorado Boulder.

David J. Zucker recently retired as Rabbi/Chaplain at Shalom Cares in Aurora, CO. He publishes in a variety of areas: Bible, Midrash, Chaplaincy, American Jewish literature, and Rabbis in fiction. He is the author of several books and many articles and essays.