Rabbi Rachel Barenblat
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat (she/her) was named in 2016 by the Forward as one of America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis. Since 2011 Rachel has served as spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel of the Berkshires. She is a founding builder at Bayit: Building Jewish, a pluralist spiritual innovation incubator, where she leads the Publishing and Liturgical Arts Working Group build teams. From 2015 to 2017 she served as co-chair, with Rabbi David Markus, of ALEPH, and in 2017 she served as interim Jewish chaplain to Williams College.
Rachel has blogged as The Velveteen Rabbi since 2003, and in 2008, TIME named her blog one of the top 25 sites on the internet. She is author of six book-length collections of poetry: 70 faces: Torah poems (Phoenicia Publishing, 2011), Waiting to Unfold (Phoenicia, 2013), Toward Sinai: Omer poems (Velveteen Rabbi, 2016), Open My Lips (Ben Yehuda Press, 2016), Texts to the Holy (Ben Yehuda, 2018), and Crossing the Sea (Phoenicia, 2020). Her work has appeared in Lilith, The Texas Observer, The Jewish Daily Forward, and a wide range of anthologies. Her downloadable Velveteen Rabbi’s Haggadah for Pesach has been used around the world.
She has taught courses arising from the intersection of the literary and spiritual life at the Academy for Jewish Religion (NY), the (Methodist) Academy for Spiritual Formation, the National Havurah Institute (where she was digital Liturgist In Residence in 2020), the ALEPH Kallah, many congregations around New York and New England, and Beyond Walls, a writing program for clergy of many faiths at the Kenyon Institute.
Rabbi Pamela Wax
Rabbi Pamela Wax grew up in Livingston, NJ, attended Oberlin College, and worked as a journalist, an abortion counselor, a community activist, and a Hebrew school teacher before entering Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, from which she was ordained in 1994. She worked as a hospital chaplain before serving at Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams from 1996-2000. She then worked as the assistant director of adult Jewish education at the Union for American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC, now called the Union for Reform Judaism, the URJ).
Since 2003, she has served as the spiritual care coordinator at Westchester Jewish Community Services, running a Jewish Spiritual Healing Center where she offers pastoral counseling and facilitates spiritual support groups for bereavement, divorce, family estrangement, illness, and caregiving, as well as spiritual journeying groups such as Mussar, Wise Aging, and spiritual poetry.
Her essays on Judaism, spirituality, and women’s issues, as well as her poems, have been published broadly. Her first book of poetry, Walking the Labyrinth, inspired by her brother’s suicide in 2018, is available from Main Street Rag. Pam lives in the Bronx, NY and North Adams, MA with her husband, Chaim Bronstein. Her website www.pamelawax.com will soon be up and running!
Rabbi Wax leads CBI services once or twice each month and occasional adult educational programs.
Rabbi Jarah Greenfield
Rabbi Jarah Greenfield is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She has served congregations in Vermont, Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey. She teaches in a variety of secular and Jewish settings, works as a spiritual counselor for patients in hospice care, and is the Director of Education of Israel Congregation of Manchester. In her rabbinic and Jewish educational work of the past two decades, she has taught all ages, developed curricula and family education programs, run teacher training workshops, and helped guide leadership teams through collaborative visioning efforts. Rabbi Greenfield officiates life cycle events for those who identify as Jewish, interfaith, secular, multiracial, straight, and LGBTQI+.
Cantorial Soloist Ziva Larson
Cantorial Soloist Ziva Larson (they/them) has been serving congregations since 2017. Mentored by Cantor Jodi Sufrin and Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray, Ziva believes music is an integral part of prayer and building community. They are passionate about using music to cultivate meaningful spiritual experiences and enjoy incorporating both traditional and new melodies. Their leadership style has been described as warm and spiritual, and their clear, beautiful voice, musicality, vibrant energy, and grounded presence create a welcoming and engaging environment for all.
Ziva’s background as a cantorial soloist includes leading Shabbat, Festival, and High Holy Days services for individuals of all ages; leading memorial services; providing guitar accompaniment; chanting Torah, Haftarah, and Megillot; sharing Divrei Torah / reflections on Torah; developing creative rituals and liturgy; composing original music to enhance services; and singing in choirs, leading rehearsals, and conducting musicians during services. They have also provided b’nei mitzvah tutoring in Hebrew, Torah cantillation, and liturgy; taught Hebrew school; and led Torah study.
Ziva holds a B.A. in music from Wellesley College and a M.A. in higher education with a certificate in institutional research from Boston College.
At CBI, Cantorial Soloist Ziva Larson leads Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services with Rabbi Rachel Barenblat and leads Shabbat services periodically throughout the year.
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