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Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary

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Meet Our Current Students

Deborah Newbrun
Teaching Credential UC Berkeley/Covenant Award Recipient 2018
Deborah seeks to foster love and understanding of how Jewish values and texts can inform and build Jewish communities that are relevant and improve people's lives and the world. She served for 25 years as camp director of Camp Tawonga a Jewish overnight summer camp near Yosemite where she built the biggest wilderness department of any Jewish camp in the country. She is a leader in the JOFEE (Jewish Outdoor Farming Food and Environmental Education) movement and co-authored Spirit In Nature/Teaching Judaism and Ecology on the Trail. She now serves as the camp director of SVARA's Queer Talmud Camps which she co-founded with Rabbi Benay Lappe. Deborah lives in Berkeley with her wife Sue Reinhold and dog, Noodle, and looks forward to being in chevrutah with Sue during Pluralistic Rabbinic Seminary.
Eliana Kayelle
Theater Director and Choreographer, NY

"I believe we need to make Judaism more accessible and understandable for millennials and the upcoming generations. I think this is important for young Jewish people as well as non-Jews so we can better understand each other". Having already started a series of online videos interpreting torah for this generation and answering questions about Jewish life and holidays, Eliana plans on continuing that and also working to put out hard copies of their interpretations as a more modern resource to learn from and gain new perspectives. Additionally, they are also one of the directors for Camp Ga’avah, an LGBTQ program for young people on Long Island. Eliana is an advocate for the justice and liberation of all marginalized people. 

Amanda Veazey Flaks
Masters of Public Administration, Virginia Tech
As a mom to two budding Jewish scholars (Margot, 5 and Ari, 8), Amanda spends a lot of my time in carpools, libraries and teachable moments. When not tending her "brood of human and feline fur children", she finds her passions in hiking, traveling with her husband, Joseph, and progressive philanthropy. She has called Atlanta home for the past twelve years, but her family is currently transitioning to Jacksonville, FL where her husband is an actuarial executive for a major insurance company. Her big Jewish idea? "Conversion is often cloaked in silence and can be very isolating, leaving the convert embarrassed to ask questions of her fellow Jews". Some structures do exist to provide resources to 'new Jews' -- her idea is an online (and potentially, in-person) matching service for mentors and protégés during, and especially after, the conversion process. Her working name for this organization is called לאהוב הגר״"- to love the stranger, as we are commanded in Deut. 10:19. The ability to have a non-judgmental, virtual support system to answer questions, give advice or just provide a listening ear is so needed and valuable. As Amanda puts it, "converts should be welcomed into our community, not shut into isolation because they don't have the same points of reference as Jews from birth".
Nina Kuriansky
Masters Jewish Education, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Nina's Jewish start up idea is to create an independent bnai mitzvah chavurah of 3-5 families that has both individual and family education. It will have a component of individual home/family lessons and an "out in the world" component as a chavurah/cohort. These families will now have a community in addition to at least basic knowledge of Jewish history, people hood, holidays, and ritual practice so that they can have sedarim, Shabbatot, and life cycle moments together. She would love to expand it to having services every two years in Israel so that some secular Israelis living in her community would be drawn in as well as adding that Israel education component that she's passionate about. Nina has had a lifelong interest in Jewish learning and leadership. Lately, she has had the privilege of staying home with her two children (ages 4 and 2) and doing small projects of interest. And when she isn't chasing around her children or exhausted from chasing them around, Nina spends time cooking, playing guitar, singing karaoke, and being in nature.
Cantor Jacqueline Marx
Masters of Sacred Music & Cantorial Ordination, Hebrew Union College

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 rabbinical student and rabbi, she is able to deepen her efficacy as "kley kodesh" and her commitment to lifelong Jewish learning. For her work at PRS, Jacquie wants 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.

Sue Reinhold, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Social Anthropology, University of Sussex

I am a doer, a builder, and a learner. After a career as an investor, business strategist, and wealth advisor, I’m currently helping to overhaul a large Jewish community foundation.  And I passionately study Torah and Talmud and bring it to all I do. Currently described by colleagues and friends as 'half a rabbi,' 'I want you to be my rabbi,' and 'why aren't you yet a rabbi,' it is the right time to take this step. This is a far cry from my Catholic upbringing, but not so much so that I don't understand that studying for conversion, which for me was a very serious endeavor, was just the beginning in terms of my Jewish journey.  It has already led to helping to start up an innovative religious community, The Kitchen SF, where I was the founding Board Treasurer, and building with my wife Deborah Newbrun, a high holidays pop-up community that started with 12 people and has grown to 1,400.  I’m also the national Board Treasurer of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, and 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.  

K'lila Nooning
Master of Science in Public Health, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

K'lila has lived in New York City since 2012, originally from Louisville, KY. Much of her vacation time has been spent diving deep into Gemara at Queer Talmud Camp. She loves to bike, having done many distance rides since beginning this hobby. She is a recipient of Romemu’s Jade Netanya Spirit Award where she has served as chair of the Membership, High Holy Day, and Young Tish committees, and as a member of the Adult Education, Chevra Kadisha, and Chesed committees. She seeks to develop a center for Kabbalistic and Jewish meditation practices. A place which will rely on Judaism as the basis of these practices rather than reliance on other traditions. She seeks to shift Jewish norms to include the idea that meditation can be just as important and as fundamentally Jewish as devenning to a Jewish spiritual life.  

Adam Fogel
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute

Dr. Adam Fogel is a clinical psychologist in a correctional setting. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and resides in Central California. Living an authentic, meaningful life in relationship with the sacred is very important to Adam, and he has maintained a Zen meditation practice since 1996 and a blog called MindfulJudaism.com. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with friends and family, going on weekend trips, playing the drums, being outdoors and going on hikes, watching movies, and riding one of his motorcycles. A great respecter of the unique path that each person must take to nurture their spiritual life and connection with something meaningful and profound, Adam hopes his time at PRS will clarify his great ideas and realize his deepest personal vow to help others explore and discover an authentic, meaningful relationship with the Divine through engaging and cultivating a contemplative, experiential Judaism and enhancing their love and compassion for themselves and others. Adam is particularly interested in retreat based learning for children, adolescents, and adults; tailoring educational curriculum for children and adolescents using traditional and online media; and experimenting with online synagogue models.

Cantor Russell G. Jayne
Master of Sacred Music and Cantorial Investiture, Jewish Theological Seminary, H.L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music

Russell was born and raised in Boonton, New Jersey, a small town of under 7,000 residents. The great passions of his life are music, ritual, and an intense love of the Fantasy genre in both literature and games. He considers himself a reserved, introverted man, who takes a while to get to know others, but who forms very deep and lasting friendships as a result. Despite this, he gets a lot out of his relationships and is always looking for ways to elevate those people who are in his life. A project he is considering at PRS focuses on working together and using Calgary's Jewish communal "combined strength to best serve those members of the larger Jewish community who are in need, especially if they are unaffiliated". Using his own synagogue as the hub, he would like to develop a system for identifying those who are in need, identifying exactly what each need is, and then connecting them with the best Jewish organisation or synagogue to help them.

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Richmond, VA 23221-0414

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