Our People

Rabbi William Plevan

Co-chair

Rabbi Dr. William Plevan is Visiting Assistant Professor of Contemporary Jewish Thought at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and its 2023-24 Democracy Fellow. He writes and teaches on contemporary Jewish theology, ethics, and political thought, and is currently working on a book on the ideal of community in Martin Buber's thought. He currently serves as the Board Co-chair of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and is past President of Matan, an organization devoted to promoting special needs Jewish education. He received rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a PhD in Religion from Princeton.

Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel

Co-chair

Senior Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel has been with Temple Micah since 1983 and has woven his open-minded, creative approach to Judaism into the culture and worship at Micah. He feels his primary role as rabbi is grappling with the challenge of “translating” the inherited Jewish past into a theology and practice that speaks to today. A graduate of Brown University, Rabbi Zemel received his rabbinic ordination from the New York campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1979. Over the years, he has been involved in numerous community and Jewish organizations but derives greatest satisfaction from being a founder of Micah House, a group home for formerly homeless women in recovery from addiction. His 20-year involvement with Synagogue 2000 was instrumental in shaping his vision of synagogue life and the role of rabbi. Rabbi Zemel has written many articles and essays on a wide variety of Jewish topics; he contributed an essay to each volume of the Prayers of Awe series, a multi-volume commentary on the High Holy Day liturgy edited by Rabbi Larry A. Hoffman. Rabbi Zemel published A Time to Speak, a book of his sermons and writings, in 2019. Rabbi Zemel is blessed with a loving family that is the center of his life. When not at Micah, he is either with family, visiting Israel, reading, studying, thinking, or dreaming of his beloved Chicago White Sox playing in the World Series.

Rachel Bearman

Vice Chair

Originally from Massachusetts, Rachel moved to the Chapel Hill, NC area in 1995. Having just completed a master’s degree in International Service and finding herself in North Carolina, she decided to pursue other passions as a professional and volunteer in non-profit leadership, specializing in strategic planning, community organizing, advocacy, and development.  After working in the nonprofit world as a professional and volunteer for over 20 years, Rachel had the incredible opportunity to lead Meals on Wheels Orange County, NC, as Executive Director.  Since moving to NC, Rachel has been an active volunteer in various organizations focused on food insecurity, women’s rights, voting rights and election monitoring, as well as Jewish and interfaith peace and justice organizations centered on Israel and Palestine. When not busy at work or volunteering, Rachel can often be found either out on a run, planning her next travel adventure, or wandering through independent bookstores contemplating what to add to the growing stack on her bedside table. She is the parent of three almost fully grown humans and currently resides in rural Orange County with her spouse, one remaining high schooler, two dogs, and numerous chickens.

Rabbi Claudia Kreiman

Secretary

Rabbi Claudia Kreiman is the Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth Zion (TBZ) in Brookline, MA. She grew up in Santiago, Chile and lived in Argentina. Rav Claudia moved to Israel in 1996, and received rabbinic ordination from Shechter Institute of Jewish Studies in 2002. She was the first Rabbi of Noam, the youth movement of the Masorti Movement in Israel. Rav Claudia moved to the US in 2004 and became the director of the Jewish Studies program at the Jewish Community Day School in Watertown. She has been part of TBZ since 2007 and is deeply invested in growing the social justice involvement at TBZ , and engaging community members in meaningful experiences of prayer. Rabbi Kreiman is the co-chair of the New England Jstreet Rabbinic Cabinet, she is one of the chaplains of the Fire Department in Brookline and is a former board member of Boston’s JCRC. Rav Claudia is married to Rabbi Ebn Leader. They have two daughters, Alma and Ariel.

Eric Sloan

Treasurer

Eric Sloan is a partner with the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He received his B.A., with honors in English Literature, from Northwestern University, his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and his LL.M. (Taxation) with distinction from the Georgetown University Law Center. His clients include private equity funds and private and publicly traded corporations and businesses. He is a long-time member and former Treasurer of Kolot Chayeinu in Brooklyn. His wife, Dominique Bravo, a lawyer, advises nonprofits and produces films (principally documentaries) and theater productions.  They have three children and live in Brooklyn.

Sara Moore Litt

Immediate Past Co-Chair

A former New Yorker, Sara was a corporate lawyer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, executive vice president and associate general counsel of the Courtroom Television Network, and executive director of The Interfaith Center of New York. She has been a consultant for ABC News, the Markle Foundation, and the Yale Law School. She has served as the president and board chair of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan, a board and executive committee member of American Jewish World Service, a board member of Bend the Arc and the Northwest Immigration Rights Project in Seattle and a member of the Pacific Northwest Leadership Council and the International Council of the New Israel Fund. Sara now splits her time between Miami and Maine with her husband Andy. They have two grown children and a springer spaniel.

Rabbi Laura J. Abrasley

Rabbi Laura  J. Abrasley joined the Temple Shalom clergy team in July 2015. She grew up in Houston and graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in psychology. Her path to becoming a rabbi began with many summers spent as a camper and then counselor at the URJ Greene Family Camp in Texas. After college, Rabbi Abrasley worked in education and technology sectors in Boston, most recently serving as Youth Educator at Temple Israel.

In 2007, Rabbi Abrasley began her rabbinic studies in Jerusalem and continued at the HUC-JIR campus in Los Angeles.  She served as a student rabbi  and intern at several congregations in California as well as Boston.  With a strong commitment to Jewish learning, she earned an additional Masters in Jewish Education and was an education intern at Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles. Upon ordination in 2013, Rabbi Abrasley served as the Director of Lifelong Learning at Congregation Beth Or in Philadelphia.

Rabbi Abrasley is committed to inspiring and implementing active, engaged opportunities for connection and community. She believes deeply in partnering together to pursue the work of tikkun olam, repairing the world and providing rich moments for Talmud Torah, the pursuit of lifelong Jewish learning.

She and her wife, Julie Childers, have a teenage son, Noah. They are thrilled to be in Boston where wearing Red Sox hats is the norm!

David Behrman

David Behrman is President & Publisher of Behrman House Publishers. Prior to joining Behrman House, he was a consultant in the New York office of McKinsey & Co., serving clients in the financial services, professional services, food, and transportation industries, as well as several prominent museums in New York and Washington DC. Prior to that he was an attorney with the New York firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, handling a variety of corporate finance and merger and acquisition transactions.  He also consults from time to time with several universities and synagogues on issues of leadership and management effectiveness. Behrman earned a J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he served on the Law Review, and a B.A. in Economics from Haverford College. He is married to Vicki Weber, who is a partner with him in Behrman House Publishers; they have three adult children, Rebecca, Joel, and Benjamin.

Claire Davidson Bruder

Claire Davidson Bruder is a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She has been a Youth Advisor and Shabbat Model Educator at B'nai Jeshurun (New York.) She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brown University with a B.A. in Judaic Studies and Middle East Studies. She was the Strategic Communications and Development Associate at APN and has previously worked with J Street, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and Reclaim Childhood. She speaks Hebrew, Arabic, and French.

Rabbi Kenneth Chasen

Kenneth Chasen is Senior Rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles. In addition to his activism in support of immigrant rights, affordable housing and environmental sustainability, he has assumed a prominent role in promoting Israeli-Palestinian coexistence. Rabbi Chasen is the co-author of two books which guide Jewish families in the creation of meaningful Jewish rituals in the home. In addition, he serves on the adjunct faculty of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, and 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 Chasen is married to Allison Lee, the Managing Director of PEN America in Los Angeles, and they are the proud parents of Micah, Ben, and Eliana.

Hannah Ellenson

Hannah Ellenson (she/her) is a fourth year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She was raised as an active member of the Jewish communities in Los Angeles and New York. After graduating from Wellesley College in 2008 with a B.A. in History and Jewish Studies, she earned her M.P.P. from Tel Aviv University with a focus on conflict resolution and negotiation. When Hannah returned to the US, she worked as the Youth Director at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City and then for almost a decade at the New Israel Fund, the leading organization committed to equality and democracy for all people who live in Israel. Hannah is currently a Tisch Fellow at HUC, the Rabbinic Intern at Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, NJ, and worked this past summer as a Chaplain Intern at Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, NJ. Hannah currently lives in Maplewood, NJ with her wife, Becca Israel (they/them), and two sons, Shai and Yonah.

Rachel Faulkner

Rachel is a community organizer, coach, social justice advocate, and anti-racist educator. She has done this work through roles at City Year, Match Education, the Community Builders, and Citizens of The World Elementary School, and currently serves as the Director of Community Investments at the Safety Respect Equity Network. Additionally, Rachel served as the National Organizer for #JWOCMarching, is an alum of Bend the Arc's Selah program, the Schusterman Foundation's REALITY trip, and is an organizer with Black Lives Matter DC's Cop Watch. Ultimately, Rachel is passionate about ensuring that the voices of Jewish Women of Color are centered in Judaism and in the greater world. But when she's not busy doing that, she spends time with her daughter Ori Justice taking long walks around the nation's capital.

Hadar Harris

Hadar Harris is an award winning human rights attorney and institution builder whose work focuses on civic enfranchisement, gender equality, freedom of expression and association, protecting closing civil society space and domestic implementation of international norms. She spent fifteen years in academia, building centers and organizations impacting a range of issues. She has worked as a consultant to major human rights organizations and international organizations. She sits on a number of nonprofit boards of directors, has been engaged in philanthropic grant making, and is an active volunteer.

Rabbi Nancy Kasten

Rabbi Nancy Kasten is a Reform rabbi, a community educator, volunteer, and activist, as well as a certified Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher. Since moving to Dallas in 1990, Nancy has led, taught, consulted, and organized in Jewish, interfaith, and secular settings locally, nationally, and internationally. She chose her title of Chief Relationship Officer when she joined Faith Commons because she has the most fun when making connections with and among others. Nancy currently serves on the Board of Texas Impact and the U.S. Advisory Committee for Polyphony, a Nazareth-based organization that connects Arab and Jewish communities in Israel through music. She is a member of Reform Judaism’s Commission on Social Action and serves on several national and state-based committees and core teams within the Reform Movement.  Reinforced and informed by her participation in the 2020 OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship, Nancy strives to provide thought leadership in influential forums through her words as well as her deeds.  Nancy is married to Rabbi David Stern, and they have three adult children.

Rabbi Sandra Lawson

Rabbi Sandra Lawson (she/her) works with senior staff, lay leaders, clergy, rabbinical students, and Reconstructionist communities to help Reconstructing Judaism realize its deeply held aspiration of becoming an anti-racist organization and movement. In her role, Lawson is developing a series of anti-racist policies and trainings for the organization and its affiliate members. She also serves as a mentor to rabbinical students. The 2018 Reconstructionist Rabbinical College graduate is one of the first African American, queer, female rabbis. The thought-leader has consciously sought to alter the perception of what a rabbi — and the rabbinate — looks like. Lawson is known for tackling difficult questions surrounding Jews and race in podcasts, essays, media appearances and speeches. A social media pioneer, Lawson models what it means to teach Torah in digital spaces. She has built a following of more than 50,000 people on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. In 2020, the Forward named Lawson to its “Forward 50” proclaiming her a “truth teller”. Prior to joining Reconstructing Judaism, Lawson served as the Associate Chaplain for Jewish Life and the Senior Jewish Educator at Hillel at Elon University in North Carolina. She is also the founder of Kol Hapanim – All Faces – an inclusive, Jewish community that is relevant, accessible, and rooted in tradition, where all who come are welcomed and diversity is embraced. Lawson was born in St. Louis, Mo. and grew up in a military family. She graduated from Florida’s Saint Leo University magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. She also holds a Master of Arts degree in sociology from Clark Atlanta University. Lawson served in the U.S. Army as a Military Police person with a specialty in Military Police investigations. She specialized in cases involving child abuse and domestic violence. Upon leaving the military, she started a personal training business and later worked as an adjunct instructor of sociology at local community colleges. She has also served as the investigative researcher for the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast Region, becoming the go-to person when law enforcement in the South needed information on hate groups. Lawson lives in North Carolina with her wife Susan and three “fur babies”: Izzy, Bridget and Simon.

Rabbi Esther L. Lederman

Rabbi Esther L. Lederman serves as Vice President of Leaders in Action at the Union for Reform Judaism. Prior to that role, she was the Director of Congregational Innovation & Leadership at the Union for Reform Judaism and, before that, Associate Rabbi at Temple Micah in Washington, DC.  She was ordained in May 2008 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City.  She received her B.A. in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from McGill University in 1996.  Rabbi Lederman sits on several boards in addition to T'ruah:  the Habonim Dror Foundation and Ameinu, as well as the board of the Federation of Greater Washington.  She lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and two children.

Rabbi Michael Lezak

Michael Lezak is the staff rabbi at the Glide Center for Social Justice in San Francisco. Previously, he served 14 years as rabbi of Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael, California, where he oversaw the congregation’s Chevra Kaddisha and New Jim Crow Working Group.  Rabbi Lezak is on the board of the Bay Area Organizing Committee.  He is married to Rabbi Noa Kushner and is the proud parent of three daughters.

Rabbi Sharon Mars

Rabbi Sharon Mars became the senior rabbi at Temple Israel in Columbus, Ohio in 2017, and for 4 years prior to that served as TI's Associate Rabbi and Director of Community Engagement.  She received her rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College, New York in 1998. Previously, Sharon served as a rabbi in Jewish Community Centers, hospice, state penitentiaries, senior care, mental health facilities, and Jewish summer camps. Sharon was the campus rabbi at the North Carolina Hillel in Chapel Hill for six years. She has studied at Hebrew University, the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, the Mussar Institute, the Shalom Hartman Institute, and is a Hadar Jewish Wisdom Fellow. Her rabbinate is rooted in mindfulness and social justice.  Rabbi Mars is incredibly proud to serve a congregation which is so deeply committed to intellectual exploration, spiritual journey-taking, and relationship-building.

Rabbi Aliza Schwartz

Rabbi Kelly Whitehead

Rabbi Kelly Whitehead (she/they) is the Assistant Director of Engagement and Learning at the Union for Reform Judaism. She was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion ('24), where she received her MA in Hebrew Literature and her M.A. in Jewish Nonprofit Management. Kelly is the creator and lead organizer of NFTY's Teen Jew of Color Fellowship. She participated in the Reform Movement's JewV'Nation Jews of Color Fellowship, where she learned to create and facilitate Anti-Racial Bias trainings for Jewish Professionals. Kelly serves on the board of T'ruah and was selected as one of The NY Jewish Week's 36 under 36 for 2021.