rabbinical & cantorial Cabinet

She has held pulpits at Dorshei Emet (Hampstead, QC), Congregation Kneses Tifereth Israel (Port Chester, NY), Temple Rodef Shalom (Hampton, VA) and Temple Beth Ahm (Aberdeen, NJ).

Hailing from Minneapolis, MN, Cantor Batchelor graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a combined degree in Jewish Studies, Slavic Languages and Literatures, and East European History. She began dancing at the age of seven and performing in theater and commercials at the age of ten. By the age of twelve she was studying in a full-time theater school and graduated high school from the Minnesota Conservatory of Performing Arts.

Cantor Batchelor has traveled extensively overseas. Her study abroad has included original research in Poland, yoga and classical dance study in India and a year in Jerusalem as part of her cantorial studies. Cantor Batchelor has studied singing and hazzanut privately with Hazzan Jacob Ben- Zion Mendelson, Hazzan Faith Steinsnyder, Adrienne Cooper, Michael Alpert and Richard Slade (of the Western Wind). Cantor Batchelor lives with her husband, Steven Winkelman, and son, Benny, in Canada.

A stint as a cantor in Toronto combined with a life-long commitment to activism helped guide her to attend the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in Philadelphia, where she received ordination and a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters in 1996.

After graduation, she served as a chaplain, and taught hazzanut (traditional liturgical chant) and singing at RRC. She relocated to Baltimore in 1999 to lead a Reconstructionist congregation, and in 2013 she returned to Canada to become the first woman or queer congregational rabbi in the nation’s capital, and the first resident rabbi of Or Haneshamah: Ottawa’s Reconstructionist Community (ORH). She is also a member of the Spiritual Care team at Ottawa’s Queensway Carleton Hospital.

Rabbi Liz is an alumna of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, the American Jewish World Service, and was named one of The Forward’s most Inspirational Rabbis (2016). She served on the board of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (2019-2023), and in 2014 co-founded Rainbow Haven, a community group settling queer newcomers and asylum seekers from around the world.

He is the father of two remarkable now adult children, and is married to RaeAnn Witkin Brechner, who is a counsellor and social worker as well as an incredible life partner. 

With his synagogue Harry is involved in various social action/justice projects including outreach to marginal and vulnerable folk in Victoria’s Downtown core. He is a member of Rabbis without Borders and currently serves on the steering committee of Faith in Action. He is also involved in lots of multifaith projects with the aim of generating understanding and collaboration working to make Greater Victoria a more compassionate city.

Prior to moving to Victoria, Harry served as Head of School for the New Orleans Jewish Day School and Director of the Bureau of Jewish Education for Greater New Orleans. He worked as the director of the J-CC Ranch Camp in Colorado, a rugged outdoor adventure camp and a western ranch. He also directed Camp Solomon Schechter in Washington State. Harry has a background in early childhood education and child development and has worked as both a pre-school teacher and a special educator.

Some of his other sundry experiences include commercial fishing in Alaska, trail maintenance in the Northeast corner of the Cascade Mountains, and tying re-bar on construction sites in Seattle. Harry served as a combat medic in the Israel Defense Forces. He enjoys exotic travel, backpacking and climbing, and he makes a great kosher gumbo and jambalaya.

She was born and raised in Jerusalem, graduated from Hebrew University with an M.A. in Contemporary Judaism, and received her rabbinic ordination at the HUC-JIR’s Israeli program in 2011.

Hailing from Long Island, NY, Rabbi Elkin received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and was ordained from the Hebrew Union College in New York in 1990. He served as a rabbi and teacher in Montreal for several years, and as Hillel Director in Chapel Hill, NC, before moving to Toronto. where his special interests in the rabbinate include Bible commentaries, and the relationship between religion and state in the contemporary world.

He received his Doctor of Divinity degree, from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio and his Doctor of Hebrew Letters degree, HUC-JIR, Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1975 Rabbi Engalnder received his Rabbinical Ordination, HUC-JIR, Cincinnati. He received the Simon Lazarus Memorial Prize for highest academic standing, and the Morris H. Youngerman Memorial Prize for the best Senior chapel sermon. His Rabbinical Thesis: Enoch: the Development of a Biblical Patriarch in Apocalyptic, Mystical and Rabbinic Literature. Rabbi Englander has a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters, HUC-JIR, Cincinnati and Hon. Bachelor of Arts, York University, Toronto. He is the is the Chair of Arzenu, since June 2014. Full bio

He will be celebrating fifty years in the Rabbinate in 2025. Rabbi Steven has served congregations in St Louis Missouri, Los Angeles, and for 19 years was the Rabbi of Temple Israel in Ottawa.  He has also served as Director of Education at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, The Leo Baeck Day School in Toronto, and the Stephen S. Wise Day School in Los Angeles.

He received a BA in American History From Rutgers University, an MEd from the University of Toronto, an MAHL from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, a Doctor of Divinity from HUC-JIR, as well as Rabbinic Ordination from the same institution.

Rabbi Steven is the recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg award for his commitment to interfaith social justice programming, the Melton Adult Learning Institute Leadership award, and he is founding patron of the Ottawa Multifaith Housing Initiative. He is the host of a weekly radio show in Ontario and Quebec on Christian radio network, CHRI. The show, entitled “Jewish Faith and Jewish Facts,” is an outreach to Christians about Judaism and Jewish Faith. It can be accessed on iTunes as well as the station website.

During his rabbinate, Rabbi Steven led almost two dozen trips to Israel focusing on the issues of pluralism, acceptance of Liberal Judaism, the rights of women, and peace initiatives.

He was a member of Breira in the 1970’s and has been a vocal supporter of peace between the two peoples who share the land.

She received rabbinic ordination in 2004 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and has Master’s Degrees in both Jewish Literature and Jewish Education. She has also participated in the Qushiyot: Israel Education Fellowship program and the iCenter’s Conflicts of Interest program, ever-expanding and exploring the histories and narratives surrounding Israel and the Middle East. In her 20+ year career as a rabbi and educator, Ilyse has served synagogues and other Jewish organizations in Toronto and New York.

A renowned designer and facilitator of retreats and conferences, Yoni has nearly 25 years of experience as an organizational consultant, strategist and coach. Yoni has offered strategic services to a wide range of organizations across five continents. His strategic services focus on the role of change management within the organizational process—alignment and support of organizational stakeholders, acquisition of skills, and strong interplay between strategy and organizational culture. An innovator in the design and facilitation of “crafted gatherings”—conferences, retreats and trainings—Yoni has designed and re-shaped conferences across the nonprofit world, including the Conversation, the ROI Summit, the Hollyhock YSPE Conference, the Association of Small Foundation’s Skilled Juggler Retreat, and the Hillel Summer Institute. Working with nonprofit and for-profit clients, he has been engaged to dramatically shift organizational processes and management approaches. As a leading trainer of facilitators, he has worked with in-house facilitators as well as a generation of independent consultants. Full bio

Ordained at HUC-JIR, she earned her doctorate at Oxford University, where she recently spent time as a visiting scholar at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies. Rabbi Grushcow is the author and editor of numerous books and articles, most recently, Communities of Meaning: Conversations on Modern Jewish Life Inspired by Rabbi Larry Hoffman (co-edited with Joseph Skloot). Beginning with the Jewish-Christian-Muslim conference in Bendorf, Germany, Rabbi Grushcow has a long history of interfaith bridge-building. As a Hartman Senior Rabbinic Fellow, past president of the Montreal Board of Rabbis, and a member of Montreal’s Solidarity Dialogues, she is actively engaged in bridge-building initiatives.

Born in Thornhill, Ontario, Rabbi Leszner is thrilled to be returning home after years studying as a Rabbinical Student at Hebrew College, with Specializations in Pastoral Care and Spirituality & Social Justice Leadership. An advocate for lifelong learning, Rabbi Leszner pursued a Certificate in Jewish Education for Adolescents and Emerging Adults at Hebrew Union College in 2015. His educational journey also includes a Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies from York University in 2013.

Rabbi Leszner has a passion for teaching, learning, building bridges, and sharing the beauty of our Jewish tradition. He could not be more thrilled to be back home, serving a vibrant Jewish community that helped shape him into the person he is today. He joyfully shares his life with his partner, Dalia, and his son, Asher.

He is the founder and spiritual leader of Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism, a diverse and inclusive community fusing Jewish tradition and progressive values through spirituality, learning, and culture since 2009. Ordained in the first graduating class of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a Modern Orthodox rabbinical school in New York City, Rabbi Aaron is also an avid drummer, cyclist, hiker, and vegan.

She is an advocate for 2SLGBTQ2I+ inclusion within diverse Jewish spaces, as well as for Jewish inclusion in 2SLGBTQ2I+ spaces. At work as a constitutional and parliamentary affairs lawyer, Rabbi Dara serves on her employer’s Diversity Council and leads Positive Spaces training workshops (for 2SLGBTQ2I+ inclusion).

In the community, she is active at Temple Israel Ottawa, leading services and teaching, as well as Temple Emanu-El Beth Sholom in Montreal, where she teaches introduction to Judaism courses in English and French. Rabbi Dara is also the Chair for the Tikkun Olam Steering Committee at the Reform Jewish Community of Canada, currently focused on creating a Canadian version of the popular L’Taken Social Justice Seminar (by the Union for Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center). She is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Commission on Social Action.

In the winter Rabbi Dara and her partner love shlepping their kids around the National Capital region’s ski hills, where Dara serves as a volunteer ski patroller keeping a watchful eye as the kids race downhill skiing.

She previously served as a congregational rabbi for 15 years. She was a founding faculty member at the Romemu Yeshiva and co-founded Encounter, an educational organization working toward informed, courageous and resilient Jewish communal leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Miriam was a fellow with the Rising Song Institute and recorded an album of her original Jewish music with the Hadar Rising Song Ensemble. She is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and the Jerusalem Fellows at the Mandel Leadership Institute. She earned an MTS from Harvard Divinity School and a BFA from York University.

In her rabbinate Rabbi Pollack strives to intentionally create and nurture a synagogue life that is welcoming to all, that offers creative learning and leadership opportunities from youth to adult and is part of a greater community that cares about its members. Her congregational work includes teaching, counseling, pastoral care, interfaith dialogue and community outreach. Rabbi Pollack’s warmth and compassion, her love of Judaism and commitment to Jewish tradition, are consistently found in the work that she does and in the vision that she promotes in her rabbinate. She finds spiritual sustenance in music and leads prayer with singing and playing the guitar.

Rabbi Pollack is a member and former chair of the Interfaith Council of Peel. She is a member of the Reform Rabbis of Greater Toronto, the Toronto Board of Rabbis, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and is a past executive board member of the Women’s Rabbinic Network.

Rabbi Schachter is also a union lawyer representing primarily female health care employees and acts as an advocate to pursue human rights and economic equality. Shalom is a proud Zionist motivated to achieve the goals in Israel’s Declaration of Independence to become a Jewish and democratic state concerned with the wellbeing of all its inhabitants. Rabbi Schachter was raised in the spirit of the Jewish prophetic tradition of speaking truth to power. He hasn’t hesitated to express this Divine mandate as it governs the leadership of the Jewish people.

He was profiled by Faith in Canada and was the successful litigant in the Supreme Court of Canada case Schachter vs The Queen that established parental income support on a non-discriminatory basis and which extended the scope of judicial remedies to correct under-inclusive legislation, which decision has been relied upon by the High Court in Israel to further equality in that country.

He grew up in south Louisiana, and was ordained a rabbi in 2007 at the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He served previously as Associate Rabbi of Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has spent extensive time as an educator, musician, and rabbinical faculty member at a number of Jewish summer camps. He is active in the Reform Movement, having participated in a number of committees and boards at the local, national, and international levels. He is a corresponding member of the CCAR Responsa Committee, which deliberates on matters of Jewish law for the Reform Movement.

Cantor Wunch grew up in Toronto and earned her bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies and Classics from Queen’s University. She continued on to study Child and Youth Work at Humber College, and earned her Cantorial Ordination and master’s degree from the Hebrew Union College in 2011. She has since served congregations in the US, the UK, and Canada.

Before attending seminary, she worked in classrooms, youth shelters, and group homes advocating for children and teens with a variety of educational, developmental, and behavioural needs, and for women who have suffered abuse.

Currently, Cantor Wunch serves on the Ethics Committee of the American Conference of Cantors and is the chair of the Women in the Cantorate Taskforce, fighting for equality, religious freedom, and high ethical standards within her field. Her love of music and Judaism drive her passion to help people find modern meaning in our ancient sacred texts.