Students and Colleagues of Reb Zalman On-line

Direct Students of Reb Zalman

 

  • Rabbi Tirzah Firestone was personally ordained by Reb Zalman in 1992 under the auspices of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. She is the author of the acclaimed With Roots In Heaven: One Woman's Passionate Journey into the Heart of Her Faith and The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women's Wisdom. Today she is spiritual leader of Congregation Nevei Kodesh in Boulder, Colorado.
  • Gabbai Seth Fishman serves as a hazzan (cantor) at Congregation Brothers of Israel in Newtown, Pennsylvania, where he teaches Jewish prayer and mysticism. He studied music history, mathematics and intellectual history at Yale University where he received a B.A. cum laude in 1976. Having had a life-long interest in helping others to discover new paradigms of Jewish spirituality, he was already deeply longing for Jewish Renewal when he first met Reb Zalman in 1989. In 1991, Seth accompanied Reb Zalman to visit the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, captured in his article, "A Trip to Brooklyn." In 2005, Seth was officially ordained a gabbai (Rebbe's assistant/attendant) by Reb Zalman, whom he had served for years in this capacity. He has worked on the following publications by Reb Zalman as a transcriber and editor: Integral Halachah: Transcending and Including; Renewal is Judaism Now; and a book on Kabbalah soon to be published. He is a Software Engineer in Yardley, PA and lives with wife Anna Kitces and daughters Rebecca and Laura.
  • Rabbi Yonasson Gershom was personally ordained by Reb Zalman in 1986 under the auspices of the B'nai Or Religious Fellowship. He is the author of the well-known Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust and 49 Gates of Light: Kabbalistic Meditations for Counting the Omer. Today he identifies himself as a Bratzlav hasid.
  • Rabbi Zvi Ish-Shalom is the descendant of countless generations of rabbinic scholars and hasidic rebbes. He received smichot (rabbinic ordinations) from an Orthodox rabbinical seminary, an ultra-Orthodox hasidic rebbe and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. He holds a B.A. in Classics from McGill University, an M.A. in Jewish Thought from Brandeis University and is currently writing his doctoral dissertation in the field of Jewish Mysticism. Zvi currently serves as the spiritual leader of Congregation Har Shalom in Fort Collins, Colorado.
  • Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan was personally ordained by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in  2003, in addition to being ordained by the ALEPH Rabbinic Program. Ruth is a native Israeli who studied for two years in Boulder, Colorado under Reb Zalman's personal guidance. The result of their work together was Reb Zalman's first major publication in modern Hebrew, Kirvat Elohim (Yediot Books, 2006), a book on Reb Zalman's renewal teachings, co-authored by Reb Ruth. Together with her husband, Dr. Michael Kagan, she was among the pioneers of Jewish Renewal in Israel, and is currently the spiritual leader of a Jewish Renewal community in Jerusalem.
  • Rabbi Miles Krassen, Professor of Religious Studies at Naropa University, received ordination from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in 1996. He completed his undergraduate studies in the Great Books of the Western World Program at St. John's in 1967. In 1977, he began rabbinic studies with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. In 1982, he received an M.A. in Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in Kabbalah and Comparative Mysticism. He was a Lady Davis Fellow and Visiting-Research Scholar in the Dept. of Kabbalah and Hasidism at Hebrew University in Jerusalem from 1985 to 1987. In 1990, he completed his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. Miles has taught at Smith College, Temple University and at Oberlin College, where he served as director of the Jewish Studies Program. He is the author of Uniter of Heaven and Earth, a study of mystical experience and non-duality in early Hasidism and his annotated translation of a major kabbalistic text, Isaiah Horowitz: Generations of Adam, is a volume in the Classics of Western Spirituality series.
  • Murshid Netanel Miles-Yepez was born in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1972 and received Sufi ordination from Reb Zalman in 2002. He studied History of Religions and Comparative Religion at Michigan State University and Contemplative Traditions at Naropa University. He is a murshid ("guide") of the Inayati-Maimuniyya Tariqat of Sufi-Hasidim which he co-founded with Reb Zalman and the editor of Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of the Hasidic Masters (Jossey-Bass, 2003) and The Common Heart: An Experience of Interreligious Dialogue (Lantern Press, 2006). He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Boulder, Colorado, where he is a spiritual counselor, a painter and a freelance writer and editor.
  • Murshid Thomas Atum O'Kane was ordained by both Pir Vilayat Khan and Reb Zalman. He is a graduate of the Guild for Spiritual Guidance, which focuses on the depth psychology of Carl Jung, the vision of Teilhard de Chardin and the practice of Christian Mysticism. He holds a Master's degree in Psychological Counseling and a Doctorate in Transpersonal Psychology. Atum is the founder of training programs in Spiritual Guidance in America, Canada and Europe, and conducts training in aspects of Transpersonal Psychology for those in the helping professions. He is a senior teacher in the Sufi Order International where he served as the Secretary General for twelve years.
  • Rabbi Marcia Prager is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and has a personal ordination from Reb Zalman. She is the author of the acclaimed book, The Path of Blessing. Today she is spiritual leader of the Philadelphia P'nai Or Jewish Renewal Community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Director of Professional Development for ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal.
  • Rabbi G. Rayzel Raphael was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1997 but has been a student of Reb Zalman for many years and received private smikhah from him in 2006. She also studied at Indiana University, Brandeis University, the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Currently she is the rabbi of Beth Israel Congregation in Woodbury, New Jersey. She consults for the Jewish Women's Spirituality Institute and is the Rabbinic Director of  InterFaithways: an Interfaith Family Support Network of Greater Philadelphia. In addition to her rabbinic work, Rayzel is a songwriter/liturgist who sings with MIRAJ and Shabbat Unplugged. Her most recent recording is Friday Night Revived. Her CD Bible Babe's aBeltin' has received international acclaim. Reb Rayzel tries to bring a “Southern soul” to her rabbinate befitting her background. She sings, composes and plays her drum whenever she can. She is also a freelance teacher and ritual-maker and is guided by her angels in service to the Shekhinah.
  • Dr. Simcha Raphael, Rabbinic Pastor is an Adjunct Professor of Religion at La Salle University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Jewish Studies program at Temple University. He was personally ordained by Reb Zalman as a Rabbinic Pastor in 1990 and now works as a transpersonal psychotherapist. He has served as a Spiritual Director at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College since 1999. Simcha was the first Executive Director of B'nai Or Religious Fellowship, helping to establish the early administrative structures for Reb Zalman's national Jewish renewal organization, now known as ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies with Reb Zalman as a dissertation advisor. Under Reb Zalman's tutelage, he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the application of Jewish teachings on life after death in work with the dying and bereaved. This work was published in 1994 as Jewish Views of the Afterlife and has had a significant impact on the American Jewish community, helping dispel the notion that Jews do not believe in life after death. The "Forward" to the book, written by Reb Zalman, to this day stands as Reb Zalman's clearest articulation of a renewal perspective on Techiyat HaMetim, “resurrection of the dead.” Simcha is married to Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael.
  • Rabbi Rami Shapiro was ordained by Hebrew Union College in 1981, an ordination later personally endorsed by Reb Zalman. Reb Rami is an award-winning poet and essayist, and author of over a dozen books on Jewish spirituality, including Minyan. A congregational rabbi for 20 years, he currently directs the One River Foundation for Interspiritual Study and Contemplative Inquiry.
  • Rabbi Daniel Siegel was the first rabbi personally ordained by Reb Zalman in 1974 under the auspices of the B'nai Or Religious Fellowship. Recently he co-authored Credo of a Modern Kabbalist with Reb Zalman. Today he is the Director of Spiritual Resources for ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, the director of the ALEPH Bet Midrash, co-spiritual director of congregation B'nai Or Boston and a consultant to Jewish organizations and synagogues throughout the country.

Colleagues of Reb Zalman

  • Samuel Ben-Or Avital: Samuel Avital was born Sefrou, Morocco. At the age of 14, he traveled to the newly established state of Israel where he lived on a kibbutz for 10 years. in 1958, he traveled to Paris to study the art of mime with Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau. In 1971, he founded Le Centre du Silence Mime School in Boulder, Colorado. Avital is a highly respected artist, performer, teacher, author and the creator of BodySpeak - The Avital Method. Implicit in all of Avital's work are the underlying principles of  Kabbalah which he learned at the feet of his grandfather. His books include The Mime Workbook (1975), The BodySpeak Manual (2001), and The Invisible Stairway (2003). His web-sites are www.bodyspeak.com and www.kabbalahnow.indranet.com.
  • Tessa Bielecki: Tessa Bielecki entered monastic life in 1967 and was a student of Father William McNamara. She has been active in inter-faith dialogue for over twenty years, and is the former Mother Abbess of the Spiritual Life Institute, a Carmelite community with hermitages in Colorado, Nova Scotia, and Ireland. Today, she lives as a hermit in Crestone, Colorado. In June of 2005, together with Father David Denney, she founded The Desert Foundation, an informal circle of friends who share an interest in the cultures and spiritualities that grow out of the world’s deserts. She is the author of Teresa of Avila: Ecstasy and Common Sense; Holy Daring; and Teresa of Avila: Mystical Writings.
  • Rabbi T'mimah Ickovits deciphers wisdom from Kabbalah traditions, revealing its relevance to life today. Serving as a teacher and spiritual guide, Rabbi T'mimah leads classes, prayer, mentors in private sessions, and weaves ritual. Following an 18-year career as an electronics engineer, Rabbi T'mimah founded Ohr HaMakor; a home for Holistic Kabbalah in Santa Monica, CA. Her most recent writings include Mystery of Seven; Siddur for Shabbat Eve, designed to receive Shabbat with music, mystery and joy and Hanukkah Lights - a guide for ritual around the Hannukiah drawing from Masters of Kabbalah.