Open Temple engages the contemporary spiritual seeker with a creative process that is an inroad to services, community, social action and education. The community's creativity happens in real time in ritual space. Shabbat and holiday services blend the creative process with a curated Jewish liturgical experience that brings themes, symbols, history, and community vibrantly to life.

 

Previously the Director of Jewish Life and Senior Consultant for Interfaith Relations and Outreach at the University of Southern California Hillel, Rabbi Lori’s transdenominational rabbinate was informed by her studies at the American Jewish University, years living in Israel studying within an Orthodox Jewish framework, and graduation from both the Academy for Jewish Religion/California (MA Rabbinics and Ordination) as well as the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (MA Jewish Studies).  Lori will be a graduate of the Yedidya Center for Spiritual Direction in Spring of 2018, and is a member of Spiritual Directors International, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, and the Sandra Caplan Beit Din. In 2016, Councilman Mike Bonin presented Rabbi Lori with the Spirit of Venice Award in honor of her work with Open Temple and Lori was honored at LA City Hall as a 2017 Impact Maker with City Impact Lab. Lori is a graduate of Barnard College.

 

The idea for Open Temple began while Lori was a CLI Fellow with Rabbis Without Borders/CLAL. In 2017, Open Temple was recognized in the LA Slingshot Guide as well as chosen to be a member of the Upstart accelerator’s 10th cohort.

 

Lori and her husband, Dr. Joel Shapiro, live in the Venice (CA) canals with their daughters, Harel and Golda.

​

Learn more at opentemple.org

Rabbi Sara Luria incorporates her strong belief that, at our best, the Jewish community can be an interconnected web of support and love into the organizations she founded: Beloved, a home-based experiment in Jewish community and ImmerseNYC, a pluralistic, feminist mikveh project. Her inclusive leadership style and experiences as a community organizer, birth doula, and chaplain inspire the open-hearted, relationship­-based, grassroots­-energized missions of Beloved and ImmerseNYC. 

​

With her husband and co-founder, Isaac Luria, Sara is building Beloved: an open-hearted, home-based experiment in Jewish life and community. Beloved facilitates creative Jewish experiences in their family home for a diverse community of seekers, interfaith couples, Jews of color, lapsed Jews, spiritual Jews, Jewish professionals, and fellow travelers. Beloved creates intimate small group gatherings where each person’s contribution and presence is valued, so that every person can experience the joy of being beloved by another person, just as we are in the eyes of God.

 

Sara received her ordination from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She is an alumna of both the JOIN for Justice Fellowship in Boston, and the Tisch Fellowship for Visionary Leadership at Hebrew Union College. She lives back in her hometown of Brooklyn, NY with her husband, Isaac, and their kiddos, Caleb, Eva, and Judah. 

​

Isaac Luria, co-founder of Beloved, is a faith-rooted social change organizer, facilitator, theologian, and strategist committed to bringing the transformational power of spirituality, culture, and faith to bear on the biggest challenges facing our society. Formerly on staff at J Street and Auburn Seminary, he is currently the Director of Voice, Creativity, and Culture at the Nathan Cummings Foundation in NYC. On weekends, you'll find Isaac cooking, playing with his kids, or trying to perfect his jump shot.

​

Learn more at belovedbk.org

The Den is a collective of people creating a Judaism that is relevant, accessible, and deeply rooted in tradition throughout the greater DC area. They seek to build spaces of meaning that invite people to deepen their connection to Judaism, feel part of a community, and enrich their lives. The Den strives to be collaborative, experimental, transparent, and radically welcoming.

 

Rabbi Rami Schwarzer is a spiritual leader and social entrepreneur with extensive experience in Jewish innovation. A true camper at heart, Rami spent nearly a decade as a senior leader at Camp Ramah, and has served congregations in New York, Texas, and Beersheva. He holds degrees from Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he received rabbinic ordination. He loves jazz music and long-distance biking, having completed four separate week-long rides across the State of Israel.

​

Rabbi Aderet Drucker is a spiritual leader, entrepreneur, educator & community organizer. Aderet is Co-Director for The Den Collective, creating a Judaism that is relevant, accessible, and deeply rooted in tradition throughout the greater DC area.  

 

Prior to this role, she served as Campus Rabbi & Director of Jewish Life and Learning at the University of Maryland Hillel, where she was also part of UMD’s Interfaith Chaplaincy and co-founded UMDs Interfaith Student Fellowship. Before moving to Maryland, Aderet served as the senior rabbi for Congregation B’nai Shalom in Northern California. She received her rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, with a concentration in pastoral care.  Aderet traveled to Guatemala with American Jewish World Service as a Global Justice Fellow.  She loves traveling, spending time by the water, cooking & spontaneous dance parties with her husband and two daughters.

Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg finds spiritual nourishment in creating safe and open spaces to
connect to the Divine, to each other, and to the world through singing, mindfulness practice,
study, and social justice work. Rachel was ordained by Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute
of Religion in 2003. She brings more than a decade of experience in the pulpit, training as a
mindfulness teacher through the Institute of Jewish Spirituality, and her leadership and activism
in social justice to her new spiritual start-up. Rachel lives in Queens, NY with her husband Jim
and their two children.

Malkhut is building a progressive Jewish spiritual community in Western Queens (Long Island
City, Astoria, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside, Woodside). Our vision is to transform Jewish people,
fellow travelers and the world by creating connections to each other, to the One and to our
greater community. We practice ecstatic, musical, and contemplative prayer, mindfulness
meditation through a Jewish lens, study of Jewish sources, and social justice work. We are
working to create an open, inclusive community of all ages, including interfaith families, LGBTQ
folks, Jews of color, and those who may not have found a home in more conventional Jewish
settings.

​

Learn more at malkhutqueens.org