Makom Fellows

Meet Our Makom Fellows

Rabbi David Almog, Cohort 3
Congregation Anshe Emeth
Hudson, New York 

Rabbi Dave was ordained in 2005 at YCT (Yeshivat Chovevei Torah) Rabbinical School and served as the campus rabbi for the Columbia/Barnard Hillel until 2009. He continues to teach at the non-denominational Academy for Jewish Religion and has been working on a Ph.D in Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Rabbi Dave has had the opportunity to travel in many different Jewish circles, and learn from Jewish teachers of all stripes. He lives with his wife, Lisa, and their two children.

 

Rabbi Jenne Bunde, Cohort 3
Temple Sholom
Galesburg, Illinois

Rabbi Jennie Bunde (she/her) is the spiritual leader of Temple Sholom. Ordained from the Academy of Jewish Religion, California in 2023, she wrote her master’s thesis on intergenerational dialogue.  Rabbi Bunde also serves as a chaplain at OSF St. Mary’s Medical Center in Galesburg. As a rabbi, her hope is to help the Galesburg Jewish community flourish and grow. She strives to find the balance between tradition and adaptation; the happy medium between time-tested religious practices and out-of-the-box thinking. She believes that people are at the heart of Judaism, and desires to create a place in Temple Sholom where love and acceptance thrive. Rabbi Bunde lives in Galesburg with her husband, four children, and two dogs.  In her spare time, she enjoys trivia (she was a contestant on Jeopardy! in 2022), board games, singing, and anything to do with fiber arts. 

Rabbi Gabbi Cohn, Cohort 3
Congregation Beth Israel
Corpus Christi, Texas

Rabbi Gabrielle Cohn grew up in Northern Virginia at Temple Rodef Shalom. She is a graduate cum laude of Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Joint Program, List College with a BA in Psychology and a BA in Modern Jewish Studies. During rabbinical school Gabrielle served as the rabbinic intern at Woodlands Community Temple, Sarah Neuman Nursing Home, North Fork Reform Synagogue, and Temple Israel of New Rochelle. She also received a certificate in Jewish Organizational Leadership from HUC-JIR’s Zelikow School in Summer 2022. Gabrielle was ordained as rabbi from HUC-JIR NYC in May 2024 and currently serves as the rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Corpus Christi, Texas. 

Lara Giordano, Cohort 3
Lawrence Jewish Community Congregation
Lawrence, Kansas

Lara Giordano has served as the Director of Programming, Engagement, and Development of the Lawrence Jewish Community Congregation (LJCC) since January of 2023. Originally from the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, Lara traveled west to Walla Walla, Wash. for college before a brief stint bartending in Seattle and then southward to Nashville, Tenn. for graduate school. After completing her doctorate in philosophy in 2015, Lara came to Lawrence, Kansas as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy. At KU, she taught courses in ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of film, peace and conflict studies, and social and political philosophy. Lara is the only full-time employee at the LJCC, a lay-led nondenominational shul. Alongside the pleasures of building Jewish community in northeast Kansas, Lara has enjoyed the opportunity to connect her previous philosophical research into secular Jewish thinkers such as Marx, Freud, Adorno, and Cavell to Torah.
 

Rabbi Scott Klein, Cohort 3
U.S. Army, Fort Liberty
Fayetteville, North Carolina 

Rabbi Scott Klein wears multiple hats, as a chaplain (holding the rank of captain) in the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army, leading the Jewish community on Fort Liberty, N.C. and a dedicated leader in his local community. A champion of education and leadership, Rabbi Klein holds a doctorate in educational leadership and a master’s degree in Jewish Professional Studies with a focus on non-profit management. His rabbinical ordination is from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, N.Y.
 
 

Rabbi Micah Friedman, Cohort 2
Temple Israel
Vestal, New York

Rabbi Micah R. Friedman (he/him) is a musmakh (ordained rabbi) of Hebrew College, a growing pluralistic rabbinical school in Newton, Mass., dedicated to reimagining Jewish learning and leadership for an interconnected world. He is dedicated to helping people and communities live meaningful and vibrant lives through connecting to Torah and Jewish tradition. Born and raised near Tampa, Fla., Micah has always appreciated the way Judaism and Jewish tradition can help people connect to each other, to our individual spirits, and to G-d, the Source of Life. His pathway to the rabbinate involved participation in a wide variety of Jewish communal contexts and he prides himself on learning from the wisdom of many different ways Jews draw from our tradition to shape our lives. Micah graduated with honors from Florida State University where he studied Religion and Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to many hours spent in the Beit Midrash (study hall) of Hebrew College, he studied Torah at Pardes, Hadar, and Drisha in New York City and Jerusalem. Before serving as the congregational rabbi of Temple Israel in Vestal, N.Y., Micah taught Talmud, Midrash, and Halakhah at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, served as student rabbi for Congregation Shaaray Tefilla in Glens Falls, N.Y., and supported and conducted research on the history of Hasidism. He can often be found sitting with a good book, singing a niggun, or hiking in the woods.

Mimi Lind, Cohort 2
Jewish Community Services of Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii

Mimi Lind is the first Executive Director of Jewish Community Services of Hawaii. She grew up in Hawaii, and lived in Boston and Los Angeles for the past 30 years. This new position is her first working exclusively with the Jewish community.  Her entire career has been in health care settings including Beth Israel/Deaconess Hospital and Venice Family Clinic in Los Angeles, where she specialized in intimate partner violence, substance misuse/harm reduction, and trauma. She lives with her teenage son in the back of Manoa, a very rainy microclimate in Honolulu.   

Rebecca Stanfel, Cohort 2
Montana Jewish Project 
Helena, Montana

Rebecca Stanfel co-founded the Montana Jewish Project (MJP). She served as its board chair to lead the new non-profit organization to reacquire Helena’s historic (1891) Temple Emanu-El, the oldest synagogue in Montana and the region. Since 2022, she has served as its director, as MJP has launched a statewide Jewish community center from within this historic anchor. Rebecca is also a writer. Her work has appeared in national publications ranging from Tablet to the Washington Post to HuffPost and High-Country News. She uses her communication skills, history of community organizing and advocacy, and past leadership roles in non-profits that focus on preserving pubic land and education to inform her work. 
 

Lorin Troderman, Cohort 2
Adas Yoshuron Synagogue
Rockland, Maine

Lorin Troderman is the spiritual leader of Congregation Adas Yoshuron in Rockland, Maine. He completed his first three years of rabbinical study at Hebrew College in Newton Mass. and is now a fourth year rabbinical student and member of the Earth-Based Judaism cohort at the Aleph Ordination Program where he anticipates smicha in January of 2025. He moved to Maine in August 2020 where he has served as the rabbinic intern at Temple Beth El in Portland, Director for Southern Maine Hillel, and most recently as the Jewish Chaplain at Maine Medical Center. Lorin aims to bring his passion for Judaism, a deep pluralistic perspective, and a commitment to building healthy sustainable practices, into our midst. 

Rabbi Lisa Rappaport, Cohort 1
Beth Israel Congregation
Chico, California

Rabbi Lisa Rappaport is the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Chico, Calif., serving as their spiritual leader since 2019. She received rabbinic ordination through Aleph Ordination Program (The Alliance for Jewish Renewal). She is also an ordained Mashpiah, Jewish spiritual director. Lisa holds a BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley, and an MA in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from JFK University. With over 30 years combined experience as an educator, counselor, administrator, writer, and spiritual leader Lisa brings a wide range of talents and experiences to her rabbinate. She has experience working in both Jewish and secular educational settings with students aged toddler through teen and adults. Lisa brings passion, innovation, and warmth to her roles of teacher and spiritual leader. Lisa enjoys writing poetry and creative non-fiction. She is the author of Divrei Nichum: Comforting Words During Times of Loss, an original collection of poems for mourners and Elul Tools, a daily interactive workbook for the month of Elul. Additionally, her poems have appeared in two anthologies published by Rabbis Against Gun Violence: Not by Might and Holding Fast. Lisa lives in Chico, in rural Northern California, with her family and is blessed to have the dedicated and loving support of her husband Chaim.

Rabbi Cantor Cheri Weiss, Cohort 1
Temple Emanu-El
Honolulu, Hawaii

Rabbi-Cantor Cheri Weiss is the spiritual leader of Temple Emanu-El, having previously served as founder and spiritual leader of the independent San Diego Outreach Synagogue. She founded and led the San Diego Jewish Community Choir and served as a middle school instructor of Judaics at the San Diego Jewish Academy. Rabbi Cheri was ordained as both cantor and rabbi by the Academy for Jewish Religion California (AJRCA), a transdenominational seminary committed to training Jewish leaders. She lived in Israel for six years, and has been guest clergy at congregations in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Palm Springs. She also served as High Holy Days cantor at synagogues in California, Texas, and Rhode Island. Rabbi Cheri is committed to welcoming interfaith families, LGBTQ+ couples and individuals, homebound seniors, and all people desiring connection within the Jewish community. Since moving to Hawai’i she has participated in numerous interfaith alliances and programs and seeks to continue to build relationships with individuals and organizations across Hawai’i.

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER

Facebook Youtube

© Copyright – 2024, Center for Small Town Jewish Life