Rabbi Simcha Zevit
Rabbi Simcha Zevit was ordained through Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Her path of learning and teaching is one of connecting the inner Torah of our own hearts and souls to the written Torah and teachings of our tradition. “There is a teaching in a core traditional text that speaks of prayer, stating that it’s better to do a little with great kavannah (intention/meaning), than to do a lot without kavannah. As a rabbi, I want to help people find the inner spark of meaning and connection to the outer words, prayers, holidays, and actions (mitzvot), fanning that spark into a flame that shines brightly.”
She embraces people of all backgrounds, belief, and disbelief, encouraging them to learn, and experiment in how to create meaningful, personally relevant, and joyful Jewish lives, while balancing their unique needs and understandings with those of the community, and with our age-old tradition. “We cannot travel this path on our own. Engaging in a Jewish community means that we all have a responsibility not only for ourselves, but also for each other, and for the world we live in.”
Rabbi Simcha brings many years of experience as a Jewish educator, working with adults, teens, and children in a variety of settings. She is a ritual-maker and facilitator for traditional and creative life-cycle celebrations and transitions, an inspiring prayer leader, and in addition to her teaching, community building, and life cycle work, she served for over a decade as a chaplain to people of all faiths in hospital and hospice settings.
Rabbi Simcha is also a certified mindfulness meditation teacher, and a life and leadership coach. In addition to being our rabbi, she works with individuals and teams in a variety of settings, using a positive psychology approach to coaching and training that supports holistic well-being, lives and work in alignment with values, meaning, and purpose, and effectiveness in achieving individual and team visions and goals.
