Our
Rabbis & Staff
Linda Holtzman | Yael
Levy | Erin Hirsh | Gabrielle
Kaplan-Mayer
Linda Holtzman
Rabbi Linda Holtzman is the Senior Rabbi at Mishkan Shalom.
Rabbi Holtzman
received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Temple University, her
bachelor of arts in Hebrew letters from Gratz College, and her rabbinic
ordination from RRC. She has served as rabbi of Beth Israel Congregation
in Coatesville, PA, and Beth Ahava in Philadelphia, as well as interim
rabbi at Congregation Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia. She also served as
education director of Mishkan Shalom from 1994 to 1999.
She has served as the Director, Department of Practical Rabbinics and as an Associate Professor of Practical Rabbinics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
She is the founder of the Reconstructionist Hevrah Kadishah.
Rabbi Holtzman is the author of a chapter in Twice Blessed (Beacon Press, 1989), as well as the article "Struggle, Change and Celebration: My Life as a Lesbian Rabbi" in Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation, edited by Rebecca T. Alpert, Sue Levi Elwell and Shirley Idelson (Rutgers University Press, 2000).
TALKS
Yael Levy
Rabbi Yael Levy is the Rabbinic Director of Spiritual Development at Mishkan
Shalom.
Rabbi Levy grew up in Yonkers, New York, and Berkeley, California. She graduated
from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in English Literature
and Anthropology and a graduate degree in secondary education from the University's
Bay Area Writing Project.
After traveling in Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Thailand and New Zealand, and spending a year living in Jerusalem, Rabbi Levy entered the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and was ordained in 1995. She has been associate rabbi at Mishkan Shalom since her ordination.
Rabbi Levy also serves at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College as a spiritual director, meeting individually with students and facilitating two small groups.
TALKS
Erin Hirsh
Rabbi Erin Hirsh is the Education Director of Mishkan Shalom.
Rabbi Hirsh was raised in Pittsburgh, PA, where she was a member of Reconstructionist
Congregation Dor Hadash. She graduated from Vassar College in 1994 with a
BA in Sociology and emphases in Religion and Women's Studies. Rabbi Hirsh
was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2000, where her
primary concentration was Education.
Rabbi Hirsh has been the Education Director of our Congregational School since 1999. Prior to that, she served as Education Director of Reconstructionist Congregation Kehilat HaNahar in New Hope, PA, as well as a teacher at Mishkan Shalom and other local congregations. Rabbi Hirsh is the author of Aytz Hayim We, a series of text study curriculum for adults published by the Reconstructionist Press. Rabbi Hirsh was a staff member of the Education Department of the Jewish Reconstruction Federation for five years, and currently serves on the steering committee of the J.R.F.'s National Education Commission.
Rabbi Hirsh and her partner, Ezra Sherman, a graphic designer, live in Jenkintown, PA, with their 1-year old daughter Zoë.
Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer
Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer is the Coordinator of Spiritual Life for Children
and Youth at Mishkan Shalom.
Gabrielle
is an accomplished writer, performer and educator.
She is author of two books
of plays for young people including "Extraordinary Jews: Their Lives
on Stage” and a book on creative Jewish weddings.
She is a graduate
of Emerson College with a master's degree from RRC, and has performed in
one-woman shows in Boston and Chicago.
Gabrielle and her partner, Fred, have
two children, George and June.
