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
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Briah Cahana
Briah Cahana (she/her) is a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Maharat in Riverdale, NY, in the 2023 class. Her upbringing in Sweden, Toronto, and Montreal enabled her to become a quick adapter to and great enthusiast for new environments, languages, and cultures. Her parents — a rabbi and social worker duo — modeled for her the sacred power of serving the community through spiritual care and social justice with an eye toward ecumenicism, women's empowerment, and elder rights. During her undergraduate studies at McGill University, Briah co-spearheaded a women’s interfaith group aimed at building trust through art, volunteer work, and ongoing personal conversations. Later, while completing her M.A. in Jewish Studies, she found deep meaning working and volunteering as a doula with MBC – Montreal Birth Companions – providing emotional and practical support for low-income, immigrant, and single-mother women through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. The pandemic has brought Briah into organizing work for elders, disabled folks, and workers in Long Term Care Facilities. After this year, the need for spiritual care for those who are already so marginalized is evident as is the loss to the richness of our communities by continuing to alienate them, consciously or unconsciously. One of her aspirations with her organizing (JOIN for Justice and T'ruah) and rabbinic training is to fundamentally change the discourse around ageism and ableism in our society by centering individuals' stories and re-integrating the Jewish values of kibbud av v’em [honoring parents/elders], protecting, respecting, and uplifting the voices of our most vulnerable members.
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Anna Calamaro
Anna Calamaro (she/her) is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College, class of 2023. A Chicago native, Anna completed her undergraduate studies in 2014 at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana campus, in Jewish Studies. She worked for four years for Metro Chicago Hillel as Director of Engagement and Jewish Life, serving students on college campuses throughout the city. In 2018, Anna received her Master’s Degree in Jewish Experiential Education from Hebrew College. She continued her studies at Hebrew Union College, spending her first year studying in Jerusalem and continuing her rabbinical studies at their Los Angeles campus. Prior to joining the T'ruah family, Anna served as the student rabbi of Congregation Shir Ami in San Francisco and two years as a JDC-Weitzman Fellow, where she traveled to Lithuania, Hungary, and Russia in order to support Jewish communities and explore global Jewry. Further, Anna has served as a Jeremiah Fellow through Bend the Arc, fighting for reproductive justice through NARAL and DONA, and demanding housing justice through organizing work at Congregation Or Ami in Southern California, where she served as their rabbinic intern. Anna's rabbinate is rooted in her commitment to tikkun olam, community building, inclusivity, dialogue, and innovation. Anna enjoys singing and playing guitar, watching documentaries, and going on self-guided food tours with her wonderful husband, Yaakov, and their ironically happy dog, Kafka.
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Lawrence Dreyfuss
Lawrence Dreyfuss (he/him) is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College and expects to graduate in 2026. Before coming to rabbinical school, Lawrence served as a Teach For America corps member teaching high school English at Waianae High School, a predominately native Hawaiian high school on the west coast of Oahu. While there, he also coached the school’s track and cross country teams, and led the school’s drama program to put on its first student musical in over 20 years. He also protested statewide salary cuts for educators alongside his fellow teachers as a proud union member of HSTA (Hawaii State Teachers’ Association). He then attended film school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles before moving to Brooklyn, where he began creating political art as an ensemble member of Theater in Asylum. That work led him to a staff position at DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) coordinating the organization’s national external communications and design work. During his time on staff, Lawrence helped organize a staff union at the DSA through the CWA (Communications Workers of America) and served as union co-chair for 3 years. In 2019, he also organized a tenants’ union in his Brooklyn apartment building through the Crown Heights Tenant Union. Today, Lawrence continues to organize with DSA Boston and fights passionately for a more equitable society.
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Rebecca Galin
Rebecca Galin (she/her) is a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (class of 2025). Prior to beginning her studies at JTS, Rebecca learned at Yeshivat Maharat, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and Yeshivat Hadar. Rebecca worked for two years at UJA Federation of New York, co-running a program for diverse Israeli social changemakers, managing a small portfolio of innovation grants, and planning a large-scale day of service on MLK day. She also brought her passion for liturgy to youngsters at Town & Village Synagogue and students at Oklahoma University Hillel where she led Tot Shabbat, Junior Congregation, and High Holiday services respectively. Rebecca graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Prayer Studies from JTS and cum laude with a BA in Film Studies from Barnard College in 2016.
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Becky Jaye
Becky Jaye (she/her) is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, in New York, class of 2022. Becky is proudly from Brooklyn, New York, where she was raised in an interfaith home. Becky completed her undergraduate degree in American Studies at Yale College and then completed a two-year fellowship in Zhuhai, China, for the Yale-China Association. Upon returning to the United States, Becky attended Yale Divinity School to pursue religious studies, earning an M.A. in Religion. As a student at HUC, Becky enjoys studying halachic codes, as well as contemporary dilemmas surrounding diversity, race, and Jewish spaces. She is thrilled to be joining this year's cohort of T'ruah Fellows.
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Eliana Willis
Eliana Willis (she/her) is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College and expects to graduate in 2024. Eliana grew up in Los Angeles and earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz. While in Santa Cruz she organized with Fossil Free UC, a successful campaign to divest the University of California from fossil fuels. Eliana has worked as a Jewish outdoor educator at Ramah in the Rockies and Teva, and coordinated and crafted Jewish programming for Bamidbar Wilderness Therapy in its first season. Eliana fell in love with Talmud in the batei midrash of Pardes and Hadar, and now teaches at Teen Beit Midrash of Hebrew College. Eliana has been an active member of the Sunrise Movement since 2018. She is passionate about building songful prayer communities and integrating spiritual practice and justice work.