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Contributors Rabbi Lee Bycel is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Shalom in Napa, California. He is also an adjunct professor of Jewish Studies and Social Justice at the University of San Francisco as well as a senior mod- erator at the Aspen Institute. For over fifteen years, he served as dean of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, including as director of the rabbinic school. Since 2004 he has made several humanitarian trips to Darfur refugee camps and has raised major funding for medical and emergency aid for the refugee community. Rabbi Kenneth Chasen is senior rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles and an outspoken commentator and author on a wide variety of subjects pertaining to Jewish life, with a special emphasis on social justice in the United States and in Israel. His writings have appeared in a wide variety of books and national and international publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Reform Judaism, and Jewish Journal, among many others. Rabbi Chasen is also the co-author of two books that guide Jewish families in the creation of meaningful Jewish rituals in the home. In addition, he is a nationally recognized composer whose original liturgical and educational works are regularly heard in synagogues, religious schools, Jewish camps, and sanctuaries across North America and in Israel. Rabbi Micah Citrin grew up at Congregation Albert in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After serving as an associate rabbi at Congregation Beth From Lights in the Forest: Rabbis Respond to Twelve Essential Jewish Questions. Copyright © 2014 by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Used by permission of Central Conference of American Rabbis. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed, sold or copied without express written permission. 230 F Contributors Am in Los Altos Hills, California, and Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, California, he is currently co-senior rabbi with his wife, Rabbi Karen Citrin, at Temple Israel in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Rabbi Citrin has a degree in history from the University of Oregon and attended rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Reli- gion in Los Angeles, where he also received a master’s degree in Jewish education. He was ordained in 2005. Rabbi Micah is a father of twin boys. When Rabbi Micah is not at Temple Israel, he can be found running along the banks of the Arkansas River. Rabbi Mike Comins directs the Making Prayer Real Course (Mak- ingPrayerReal.com) and the TorahTrek Center for Jewish Wilderness Spirituality (TorahTrek.org), including the TorahTrek Guides Track, a yearlong, three-retreat training program for Jewish leaders. He is author of Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer Is Dif- ficult and What to Do about It and A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism. A yeshiva-trained, Israeli-ordained Reform rabbi and a licensed Israeli desert guide, Rabbi Comins holds an MA in Jewish education (Hebrew University) with an emphasis in contemporary philosophy. He received extensive training in meditation, Hebrew chant, qigong, and spiritual practice in the natural world. Rabbi Benjamin David is the senior rabbi of Adath Emanu-El in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. He is the co-founder of Running Rabbis, a nonprofit initiative that promotes creative forms of social action. He and his wife, Lisa, have three children. Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis (Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, 1996) is rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in Flower Mound, Texas, as well as an adjunct professor in the Jewish Studies Program of the University of North Texas. He is the author of one book, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism, and of From Lights in the Forest: Rabbis Respond to Twelve Essential Jewish Questions. Copyright © 2014 by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Used by permission of Central Conference of American Rabbis. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed, sold or copied without express written permission. Contributors F 231 numerous academic and professional articles. His most recent, “Your Kisses Are Sweeter than Wine: Jewish Erotic Theology,” appears in Sacred Encounters (CCAR Press, 2013). Rabbi Denise L. Eger is the founding rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, California. She has been a rabbi in the Los Ange- les area for more than twenty-five years and will be President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) for the 2015–2017 term. She writes extensively on Judaism and human sexuality and con- tinues to be an advocate and activist for LGBT equality. Rabbi Dena A. Feingold (Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, 1982) has served Beth Hillel Temple in Keno- sha, Wisconsin, since 1985. She became Wisconsin’s first female rabbi when named assistant rabbi at Congregation Shalom in Milwaukee in 1982. Rabbi Feingold has been an active participant in interfaith work and social justice causes throughout her career. She is married to Brad Backer and has two adult children, Jonathan and Abigail Backer. Rabbi Michael S. Friedman has served as associate rabbi at Central Synagogue in New York City since 2008. Prior to this position, Mi- chael was director of high school programs at the Union for Reform Judaism from 2004 to 2006 and assistant rabbi at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, New Jersey, from 2006 to 2008. He holds a BA in history from Yale University and was ordained by Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in 2004. In his free time Michael likes to hike, play golf, run marathons, and cook. Rabbi Stephen Lewis Fuchs is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford, Connecticut. Upon his retirement from Beth Israel in 2011, he served as president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, advocating for Reform Jewish ideals, practice, From Lights in the Forest: Rabbis Respond to Twelve Essential Jewish Questions. Copyright © 2014 by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Used by permission of Central Conference of American Rabbis. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed, sold or copied without express written permission. 232 F Contributors and legitimacy during visits to sixty-five communities on five con- tinents. Before coming to Beth Israel in 1997, he served as the first full-time rabbi of Temple Isaiah, Columbia, Maryland, and as senior rabbi of Congregation Ohabai Sholom (the Temple) in Nashville, Tennessee. In the fall of 2013, he served as interim rabbi at Congre- gation Beth Shalom in Milan, Italy. He has been married to Victoria (Steinberg) since his ordination from Hebrew Union College–Jew- ish Institute of Religion in 1974 (blessed with three children and four grandchildren). He earned a doctor of ministry degree in biblical interpretation from Vanderbilt University Divinity School in 1992. Rabbi George D. Gittleman has served as the spiritual leader of Congregation Shomrei Torah in Santa Rosa, California, since his ordination in 1996. He is also a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and a graduate of the Rabbinic Lead- ership Program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Rabbi Jeffrey W. Goldwasser is the spiritual leader of Temple Sinai, a Reform congregation in Cranston, Rhode Island. He was ordained by Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City in 2000. Before serving Temple Sinai, he served congregations in Stuart, Florida and North Adams, Massachusetts. He is the author of the website Reb Jeff, a blog about living a joyful Jewish life and bringing joy to synagogues and the Jewish community. Rabbi Oren J. Hayon was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2004, and has dedicated his rabbinate to creating vibrant Jewish communities that provide engaging, meaningful content. His work focuses primarily on Jewish education and identity formation for young adults, and currently serves as the Greenstein Family Execu- tive Director at the Hillel Foundation for Jewish Life at the University of Washington. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two daughters. From Lights in the Forest: Rabbis Respond to Twelve Essential Jewish Questions. Copyright © 2014 by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Used by permission of Central Conference of American Rabbis. All rights reserved. Not to be distributed, sold or copied without express written permission. Contributors F 233 Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch is the senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, where he has led a dramatic revival of Jewish life. He is the former executive director of ARZA (Association of Reform Zionists of America) and was the chairman of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) Tripartite Zionist Platform Committee (the Miami Platform). Rabbi Hirsch is the co-author of One People, Two Worlds: A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues That Divide Them. Rabbi Hirsch received numerous awards for academic excellence from the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion and was ordained in 1989. He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1984, after earning his LLB (honors) degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he was a recipient of the Barclay Scholarship. Rabbi Bruce Kadden has served as rabbi of Temple Beth El in Ta- coma, Washington since July 2004. He received an AB degree in Re- ligious Studies from Stanford University in 1976 and was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1981. He previously served as assistant rabbi of Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul, Minnesota and as rabbi of Temple Beth El in Sa- linas, California. He is past president of the Pacific Association of Re- form Rabbis. He and his wife, Barbara Binder Kadden, are the authors of Teaching Mitzvot: Concepts, Values and Activities; Teaching Tefilah: In- sights and Activities on Prayer; and Teaching Jewish Life Cycle: Traditions and Activities.

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