Modern JewISH Couples – To create and scale programs, including retreats and curricula, for couples entering into partnership and marriage.

How does this program speak to the needs of diverse couples?

Jewish identity is vast, intersectional, and complex. So, too, for “modern couples” these days. They might identity as interfaith, intercultural, multiethnic, queer, atheist, or agnostic, “Jewish&,” “spiritual but not religious,” “Just Jewish,” or some other descriptor of their choosing. At pivotal life moments, Modern JewISH Couples opens doors to Judaism without judging how couples define themselves, helping them explore and articulate how they want to design Judaism into their lives. Interfaith couples, especially, are eschewing clergy for wedding officiation—so we offer them premarital counseling privately or in groups, immersive couples retreats, workshops on how to plan their ceremony, and we’ll even train their officiant. We don’t ask couples questions like, “Are you Jewish?”; rather, we help them explore, “How do I want Judaism to show up in my daily life?”

Can you share an anecdote about a certain couple you have engaged with and/or something about their journey that has inspired you to continue on with your work?

When couples share they don’t know how to DO Jewish, I ask them: “Do you have candles at home? Perhaps tealights or even a lavender one will do! Do you like wine or grape juice? How about challah, maybe you’ve been baking sourdough?” The answer is a resounding “Yes.”

“I don’t care what time of day you pull those items out,” I offer. “Sometime on Friday or Saturday, you need to put down your phones for 15 minutes, gaze at your beloved, reflect on your week, and look at your glass of Pinot Noir and say thank you.”

Offering couples the tools to access Judaism, often already at their fingertips, helps them find their own Jewish “why.” This is the inspiration for Modern JewISH Couples.

What is your number one priority in the field of Jewish Education?

My rabbinate’s goal is to accompany people through life’s pivotal moments, bringing them in from the margins, helping them understand their own life story within the framework of the Jewish story, and supporting them amid the highs and lows of being human. So, too, I believe the number one priority in the field of Jewish education is helping people become their fullest selves through a Jewish framework of gratitude, healing, memory, and rest.