At age 16, my father was held up outside a theater and shot to death. I am the youngest of five children and I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland Ohio. Surviving gun violence is hard enough, but working through the trauma of my life changing overnight took years of searching and healing. For a long time, I was angry with God, and asked the unanswerable question: why him? He loved his Judaism and Israel. In addition, I had another futile question: why do I have to grow up without a father?

Jewish holidays were just a reminder of the finality of his death. He was never coming home. I found little comfort at synagogue because it was again a painful reminder of this tragedy. I wanted some answers. So, I turned towards many different kinds of spiritual and psychological sources to find answers. It took decades before I decided to come back to Judaism but when I was ready, I wanted to see where the spiritual concepts were in the faith I was born into. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the roots of all monotheistic religions and their beliefs come from the Bible/Torah; from, Moses on Mt Sinai with the10 commandments to the 10 sefirot of Kabbalah. These concepts are all found in the same source.

I enrolled in the Academy of Jewish Religion where I was ordained as a Hazzan and continued my studies to receive my Ordination as a Rabbi in 2016. I founded the Nachshon Minyan in 2005, a spiritual, and religious community geared toward unaffiliated Jews and Jews who deeply wanted to update their negative feeling about Judaism. I am proud to say, I have succeeded and have helped hundreds of individuals, bringing relevance to Jewish traditions and rituals.

To me, Judaism is a spiritual practice, and that is what I teach in every class. I am not your ordinary Rabbi/ Cantor as I am traditional and spiritual at the same time. My teachings are a fine weave of an array of spiritual healing practices, and Judaism. I have spent years doing dreamwork, meditation, breath work, healing through somatic dance, studying sound and sonic geometry as ways to understand and open up the ancient scriptures and meaning of Torah, Mussar, and Kabbalah. Over the years, I find the most fulfillment in watching families and individuals wake up to the relevant, powerful ancient teachings of scripture that they took for granted. I see them connect through education and tapping into the history of who they are. There is such a vast spectrum of wisdom and music that I love to teach from Torah to Kabbalah to Calendar to Holidays to Peoplehood to Rituals the list goes on. My passion is teaching and seeing the light go on with beauty and meaning.