The T’ruah Rabbinical and Cantorial Student Summer Fellowship in Human Rights offers a select cohort of rabbinical/cantorial students an eight week experience working in a human rights/social justice organization in New York, learning about human rights in Jewish text and tradition, and gaining the skills to be human rights leaders in your own communities. Learn more about the program and how to apply.
The program is generously funded by the Michael and Alice Kuhn Foundation and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
US Fellows
-
Jessica Dell’Era
Jessica hails from the San Francisco Bay Area, and now lives in Manhattan where she is studying to become a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary (anticipated ordination 2022). She holds a B.A. in Dramaturgy from Pomona College and an M.A. in Education from University of California Berkeley. In her previous career, she taught Spanish bilingual elementary classes (grades 3-6) in public schools and persuasive writing (grades 5-6) through UC Berkeley's Academic Talent Development Program. She also taught 6th grade T'fillah at her home congregation of Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland, CA, where she was a member for 11 years before departing for rabbinical school. She also dabbles in music, visual art, kippah crochet, and web design. In her free time, Jessica enjoys reading, cooking, salsa dancing, hiking, and cycling.
-
Alanna “Lonnie” Kleinman
Alanna "Lonnie" Kleinman is originally from Tucson, Arizona and attended undergrad at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR, where she majored in Religious Studies and Art History. After college, she spent a year studying in Jerusalem at the Pardes Institute of Jewish studies. She subsequently moved to Jackson, Mississippi and learned from and with Southern Jewish communities. She has lived throughout the Southern United States, and spent time working with Moishe Houses through the region to create meaningful Jewish rituals and communities for young adults. Lonnie is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, expecting to graduate in 2022. She has co-led mindfulness retreats in Northern Arizona and Austin and strives to create spaces that are accessible and honor each participant's story. Lonnie views spiritual care as a beautiful, necessary act of accessing our inner struggles and grounding justice work in a powerful foundation of love. In her free time, she rock climbs, propagates succulents, and hangs with her cat Ruth Ginsberg.
-
Amelia Lavranchuk
Amelia Lavranchuk is a cantorial student, working toward ordination and a Masters of Religious Education in 2020, at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Amelia grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Brandeis University in 2012 with a degree in music and education. After graduating, she taught elementary school in New York City. While studying at HUC-JIR, Amelia has served as the student cantor at Garden City Jewish Center and a Clinical Pastoral Education intern at Mount Sinai Hospital. Amelia also worked for two summers on the leadership staff of URJ Six Points Sci-Tech Academy, an innovative summer program that integrates Jewish living with scientific exploration. Amelia is a die-hard Mets fan who spends most of her free time watching, thinking about and talking about baseball.
-
Andrew Oberstein
Andrew Oberstein is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. He previously served as the Director of Jewish Life at URJ Six Points Sci-Tech Academy in Byfield, MA. Before entering rabbinical school, Andrew was the Coordinator for Social Justice and Young Adult Engagement at Temple Israel of Boston, managing "The Riverway Project," a thriving initiative that connects over 1000 young adults each year to each other and to Judaism through worship, learning, and justice work. Andrew also coordinated "Ohel Tzedek," the hub of Temple Israel’s social justice community organizing and legislative action. For three years, he acted as the co-chair of "Eser," a young adult Jewish learning series operated through Hebrew College in Newton, MA. In 2016, Andrew was honored with a "Chai in the Hub Award" from Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston’s Jewish Federation, honoring the top 18 Jewish leaders under 45 years old in the Greater Boston area. Before shifting his focus to the Jewish community, Andrew worked as a professional actor for five years, performing in a variety of plays and musicals across America. Andrew was an Iwasaki Scholar in the Honors Program at Emerson College, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theater in 2009. Originally from Los Angeles, he now lives in Manhattan with his husband, Nick.
-
Raphi Ozarowski
Raphi Ozarowski is an orthodox rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, where he is expected to graduate in 2019. He grew up in Skokie, IL and walks an identity tightrope between midwesterner and New Yorker. He graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Jewish Studies from Yeshiva University, where he served as Associate Editor of the Kol HaMevaser Magazine of Jewish Thought. Previously, Raphi studied Torah at Yeshivat Hakotel in the Old City of Jerusalem and the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. He interned at the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School, and hopes to continue bringing thoughtful and passionate Jewish education to the classroom. Raphi has been guest scholar and cantor at a variety of communities, including Illini Hillel, Northwestern Hillel, Congregation Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob, and Mercaz Seattle. He also served as Rabbinic Chaplain at SelfHelp Community Services, where he worked with Holocaust survivors and concurrently completed a unit of CPE. Raphi believes strongly in the power of music as a unifying force in community. For three years at Kinneret Day School in Riverdale, he facilitated spirited song and Torah discussion to create a unique energy leading up to Shabbat every week. He is an avid guitarist, vinyl listener, and Hazzan, and loves going to indie concerts with his wife, Liora.
-
Devon Spier
Devon Spier is a rabbinical student at the Academy for Jewish Religion, expected to graduate in 2022, and committed to radical compassion that catalyzes Jews and non-Jews to show up for each other. Devon’s experiences at Solel Congregation, in NFTY-NEL, URJ Kutz Camp and Newman illuminated her passion for Jewish encounter. Her gap year in Israel further prepared her to work as needed among minority populations through social support work alongside Ethiopian and Russian Jewish olim. Upon her return, Devon worked with a small community to develop a JCC, refugee action committee and a Reform Jewish experiential education program. A graduate of the University of Waterloo, Devon integrated her Bachelors in Religious Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies into two careers in interfaith program coordination and non-profit management. She directed an interreligious Peace Camp and the first Halal student breakfast program in Canada that created the first connections of its kind in Canada between religious non-profits, a local human services organization, local farmers, student entrepreneurs, neighbours who experience food insecurity and a municipality. A poet-blogger-ritualist, Devon writes for the Jewish Women’s Archives, and is featured on Ritualwell, Jewcer, Hevria.com. She is a member of Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom and co-directs a Cohort for Jewish Social Entrepreneurship for Hillel Waterloo in Canada, where she emphasizes the importance of student-driven narratives of meaning and well-being. Devon weaves Jewish text to form a moral centre and amplify the most vulnerable. Her first book, a contemporary and pastoral book of psalmist and liturgical poetry on Jewish ancestors, is scheduled to be released in March 2018. She loves music and is a midnight dance party aficionado.
