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- Email Us
To contact our clergy or schedule a time to meet, please email clergy@ohabei.org. During the day they can be reached through the Temple office at: (617) 277-6610. For Life-cycle emergencies only, after business hours call: (617) 277-6610, press 6.
Rabbi Berkman has served Temple Ohabei Shalom since July of 2017. A graduate of Oberlin College (1996) and Harvard Divinity School (Masters of Theological Studies) (1999), Rabbi Berkman was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2007, where she received a Wexner Graduate Fellowship for her studies. She has served communities and families throughout the Boston area since 2007, in positions including Rabbi/Hillel Director at Wellesley College, Rabbi of Shir Hadash, a Reconstructionist congregation in Newton, MA, and Jewish Chaplain for Hebrew Senior Life and for Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Rabbi Berkman has also served on faculty for the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel and for Parenting Through a Jewish Lens, through Hebrew College.
Rabbi Berkman has spent time learning and living in Israel, at Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, Hebrew University, Ben Gurion University, and other institutions; she deeply loves the language and culture of landscape of Israel. She has officiated at many lifecycle events for unaffiliated families throughout the Boston area, and loves the work of engaging all who wish to connect to Jewish life and community, from any background. Rabbi Berkman believes that it is our Jewish obligation to create an ongoing dialogue between our individual torah (our life experiences, passions, challenges, and questions) and Torah (Jewish text, tradition, culture, and wisdom in all of its many forms). When we bring our own voices into conversation with Torah, we are participating in the sacred task of the creation of new wisdom, and a better world.
Rabbi Berkman is married to Rabbi Jethro Berkman, Program Officer for Jewish Education for the Mandel Foundation. They have three sons, Gavi, Ami, and Edan, and two dogs, Coco and Hershel (Hershie). They live in the village of Auburndale in Newton. Rabbi Berkman believes in the life-giving and transformative power of humor, time spent in nature, poetry, music, dance, dogs, coffee, and time spent with children. She loves to connect with community members and those seeking connection to Jewish community. Please reach out anytime to make an appointment.
Rabbi Berkman can be reached at: amberkman@ohabei.org.
Cantor Maayan Harel was born in Canada, and grew up in Rhode Island where she and her family belonged to Temple Emanuel of Providence. She received a Bachelor’s of Music degree at The Hartt School of Music in voice/opera.
She then moved to Boston to attend Hebrew College in Newton, where she was ordained in June 2019 and also received a Masters in Jewish Education.
Since moving to Boston she has been a Cantor and a B’nei Mitzvah educator at several communities in the Greater Boston area.
Cantor Harel has been a member of the Temple Ohabei Shalom family since 2017. Still a cantorial student at Hebrew College at the time, she had the honor of co-leading Yom Kippur services at TOS. This was her first experience of leading High Holiday services, and it was a moving experience that she will never forget. As soon as she first stepped through the doors of Temple Ohabei Shalom, she knew that it was a special place. The wonderfully inclusive clergy, staff, and community made it clear that Ohabei Shalom truly embodied their name, “lovers of peace.”
Cantor Harel loves forging relationships with people of all different ages through music, song, and prayer.
Music is a universal language which inspires all of us. Singing together in the temple allows us to be lifted from everyday life, and to experience spirituality. She is looking forward to making music with all of you, and to bringing our voices together in harmony.
She is a member of the Cantors Assembly, the New England Board of Cantors, the Womens’ Cantors Network, and the Guild of Temple Musicians (an affiliate of the American Conference of Cantors).
Cantor Harel lives in Brookline, MA and will be getting married this summer to Bradley Silverman. They can often be seen walking the streets of Brookline with Ollie, the goldendoodle, and a bag of treats.
Cantor Harel can be reached at: mharel@ohabei.org.
Rabbi Emily Lipof is the first woman in the United States to be named Senior Rabbi of a major congregation. In 1988, she was called to our pulpit, where she had been instrumental in revitalizing our congregation with her innovative programs, spirituality, and inclusiveness. An educator at heart, Rabbi Lipof founded the Temple Shalom Nursery School in Newton. She served as principal of the High School for Jewish Studies and was the director and teacher of an adult education workshop at Brandeis University.
The Jewish community of Greater Boston and beyond is well aware of Rabbi Lipof’s uniqueness and accomplishments. She has been honored by Combined Jewish Philanthropies with their annual Rabbinic Award, by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with their Outstanding Service Award, and by Israel Bonds National Board, which chose her as one of 50 rabbis in the United States to receive the coveted Golden Shofar Award.
