I am a builder, a listener, a guide and a teacher.  After a career as an investor, business builder and fixer, and strategic advisor, I’m finding a way to build a rabbinate that provides meaningful spiritual strengthening and healing in a broken world.  In part grown out of a small executive coaching practice I’ve developed in a period of transition, I’m launching two new initiatives post-smicha.  First, a spiritual advisory practice especially geared for executives in high-pressure situations, people in big transitions including early recovery from addictions, and folks who are traversing big losses in their lives, some of which Jewish tradition has not been so good at addressing. Second, an incubator for a new kind of Jewish religious community built specifically for people who are traversing a spiritual crisis. The first project in this incubator is built for people who are wrestling with addiction of one form or another in their lives, called Addict Torah.  I’ve already helped to start up one innovative religious community, The Kitchen SF, where I was the founding Board Treasurer, and with my wife Deborah Newbrun (also a PRS ordinand!), building a high holidays pop-up community that started with 12 people and has grown to 1,400. I’m also the national Board Chair of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, helping to manage its rapid growth in this current political moment. I want my rabbinate to continue to make inroads to folks who are not currently attached to Jewish practice with an emphasis on experimental, disruptive, yet delightful and meaningful applications of our tradition.

Rabbi Dr. Adam G. Fogel is an independent progressive Rabbi ordained by the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary and a practicing Psychologist and Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in the Central Valley of California.

Adam maintains an inclusive worldview and has benefited from study with rabbis and spiritual teachers from across the religious and denominational landscape. He has maintained a Zen meditation practice since 1996 and currently studies with Father Greg Mayers Roshi in the Sanbo School of Zen. In addition, Rabbi Fogel completed the Institute for Jewish Spirituality's Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program in 2017.

Adam embraces vulnerability and intimacy as the core of religious, psychological, and spiritual experience and teaches that living an authentic, meaningful life in relationship with the sacred and our ordinary, day to day life is one of our great human projects.

Rabbi Dr. Fogel is the founder of MindfulJudaism.com and Mindfulness for the Whole Family, a newly organized multifaith organization dedicated to helping 21st century adults, children, and their families of all faith traditions and spiritualities develop and nourish a personal and meaningful relationship with themselves, others, and the Sacred or Divine. On-Demand classes and courses are under development using their state of the art multifaith digital e-learning platform.

You may reach out to Rabbi Fogel by email at RabbiAdamFogel@gmail.com.

Heather is a professional educator and school leader who is passionate about creating embracing spaces in both the religious and secular parts of her life. As the President of her synagogue, she strives to build a community that is safe for all of the intersecting identities in its membership. Heather merges her skill sets to work on committees and projects with various Jewish organizations to help move DEI work forward in Jewish spaces. Heather is the founder of The Multitudes, where she designs and facilitates workshops for synagogues and school communities that help cultivate a more racially inclusive lens. She has been a guest speaker at many DEI forums and has published multiple articles about the importance of this work, particularly in the Day School environment. Her favorite role of all, however, is as the mother of three amazing boys who are proudly descended from both freed slaves and Holocaust survivors.

Sam works as one of the clergy at Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney, Australia, a pluralist egalitarian community, offering various minyanim, services and programs on our campus and in the community. He firmly believes that a pluralist ideology and a multi-faceted approach within Judaism will be a key driver in determining the success or failure of Jewish communities, for some that will be as soon as the next 10-15 years.

Sam has a keen and engaging interest in technology and new innovations, especially in terms of all the benefits they bring. His idea is to encourage and enable others to work with, not against what has been termed the next revolution in Judaism, so that we facilitate and empower the needs of communities through technology. He loves connecting with people and learning about their stories. Jewish geography is one of his favorite games when he meets someone!

Sam is married to Michelle and they have two children, Rachel and Ben. They have lived in the Harbour City -  Sydney, Australia since 2006. 

Daily life provides an opportunity to find our own sacred space. Zachary entered seminary with an excitement to explore different ways to enter into that space. He approaches his studies with a deep connection to both textual and embodied practices. During his time in rabbinic school, he was committed to understanding the traditions and being able to plainly articulate them. He aims to reduce the barriers of entry to anyone looking to experience Jewish Life. Outside of PRS, he has been working in the hospitality industry for nearly a decade and has trained hotel teams across the US. He has also taught hospitality at the college level and is an active Yoga teacher.

As Cantor Marx puts it, she "glories in God-geekery" and would like to continue learning throughout the rest of her life. Many folks have consulted her in a rabbinic capacity on life questions; tough situations, and as life cycle officiant. As a cantor, she appreciates the trust they place in her. As a rabbi, she is able to deepen her efficacy as "kley kodesh" and her commitment to lifelong Jewish learning. For her work at PRS, Jacquie wanted to "evolutionize" Tisha B'Av as more accessible to Jews in modernity. She wants 9 Av to be less punitive, more reflective, and the beginning of a sacred set of stepping stones to the Days of Awe. She also wants to de-mystify the cantillations of the Book of Psalms. Another goal of Jacquie's is to to write a memoir on raising the children of clergy: "We Have Seen God in Her Underwear, and We are Not Impressed" as well as writing an updated resource book / memoir on infertility and adoption in the 21st century Jewish community.

To walk into Shara’s office, one might think it is a playroom; with colorful toys and fidgets strewn about her desk, bookshelves filled with children’s books mingled with Judaic texts, and a Superman cel hanging alongside a graduate degree. It is a perfect representation of her spirited nature and passion for education. She is all about engaging and inspiring learners of all ages to find personal meaning and connection with Israel and Judaism. Shara happily fulfills her mission, to share her love of learning, as the Director of Education at Congregation Beth Emeth in Albany, NY. and spending summers working at Camp Ramah in New England. Shara and her husband David, who thankfully is immensely supportive of all of her study, have four children, Zev, Ariel, Aden, and Chaz.