RABBI-IN-RESIDENCE: NAVAH LEVINE

Navah Levine has worked as a pulpit rabbi, chaplain & educator, & through this work finds purpose when connecting with others & nurturing community. She graduated from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2010, which she entered after a career in finance & decades as an enthusiastic lay leader & participant in Jewish life.  She serves as a member of the executive committees of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis & the Rhode Island Board of Rabbis.

Rabbi Navah leads some Shabbats, lifecycle events & is available for weddings, funerals, bar & bat mitzvahs & welcoming ceremonies. She is also available for religious questions of any nature, or just to talk. She can be contacted through the synagogue for her availability.

Through the Community Beit Midrash in Providence RI, Rabbi Levine is helping to develop continuing educational & social opportunities for pre- & post-b’nai mitzvah youth. She delights in being a parent to her child, Ari.

SUPPORT STAFF

RABBINIC INTERN: TIM MOTZ

Tim is a third-year rabbinic student at Hebrew College, and qualified as a ba’al tefillah with the European Academy of Jewish Liturgy. He earlier studied in Jerusalem, Oxford, and his hometown of London. He enjoys playing the piano, singing in choirs, cycling, and walking up hills. Tim is passionate about Jewish prayer, and excited to be joining the Boston Synagogue community.

RABBINIC INTERN & NEXTGEN: HANNAH LIMOV
INTERN & CO-LEADER of NEXTGEN: AVIR LEV WAXMAN
GUEST RABBI: ELISHEVA PRIPAS

Elisheva (or Elli) Pripas received semicha from  Hebrew College in 2025. There, she is also pursuing a Master’s of Jewish Education & a Certificate in Jewish Sacred Music. She previously interned at The Boston Synagogue, Temple Beth Sholom in Framingham, Temple Emanu-El in Haverhill, & Temple Beth David in Westwood.

Elli completed her undergraduate degree at Macalester College in 2015, as well as a graduate degree in Educational Leadership from Minnesota State University-Mankato in 2019. Elli served three years as an AmeriCorps member, working with educational & nonprofit organizations in Minneapolis-St. Paul, & then she worked for three years in organizations supporting education equity & victims of domestic & sexual violence. She grew up in New Jersey & in Washington State & has loved living in the Boston area for the past five years. She deeply loves Jewish music, musical theatre, & learning.

HIGH HOLIDAYS: DR. DAVID FISHMAN

David is an ‘old friend’ of The Boston Synagogue, from his student days at Harvard. He is now a tenured Professor of Modern Jewish History at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York City. Dr. Fishman also serves as Director of Project Judaica, a Jewish Studies program based in Moscow that is sponsored jointly by JTS & the Russian State University for the Humanities.

Dr. Fishman travels to Moscow & Vilnius (Lithuania) frequently on behalf of Project Judaica. He has completed two surveys based on research completed on location: a Jewish archival survey in Belarus in cooperation with the Belarus State Archival Administration; & a survey of Jewish collections of the “Special Archive” in Moscow. Dr. Fishman is also an Adjunct Professor at Yeshiva University’s (YU) Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.

Dr. Fishman is the author of numerous books & articles on the history & culture of East European Jewry. His most recent book is The Book Smugglers: Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Treasures from the Nazis. He is the author of other books including Russia’s First Modern Jews, Embers Plucked from the Fire: The Rescue of Jewish Cultural Treasures in Vilna, & The Rise of Modern Yiddish Culture. Dr. Fishman is also the co-editor (with Burton Visotzky) of From Mesopotamia to Modernity: Ten Introductions to Jewish History & Literature, which also appeared in a revised Russian edition called Ot Abrama do sovremenosti. For 15 years (from 1988 to 2003), Dr. Fishman was editor in chief of YIVO-Bleter, the Yiddish-language scholarly journal of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. He serves on the editorial boards of Jewish Social Studies, Jews in Russia & Eastern Europe, & Polin.

A native New Yorker, David received his bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University (YU) & his master’s degree & doctorate from Harvard. He has taught at Brandeis University & Russian State University in Moscow & was a fellow at the Hebrew University’s Institute for Advanced Studies.

David leads services at the Synagogue for the High Holidays.

HEBREW SCHOOL INSTRUCTOR: RAFI MAYER

HEBREW SCHOOL INSTRUCTOR: DANIEL MAYER

Daniel Mayer is a history major at Dean College in his senior year. With plenty of puns to go around, Daniel brings with him lots of experience as a Jewish educator, as he has taught at Temple Emanu-El in Providence for several years. On the High Holidays, he has a pulpit at Temple Emanu-El. Daniel has a deep love for Hazzanut and liturgical music. In his free time, Daniel enjoys hiking & listening to the New York Mets on the radio.

PREVIOUS LEADER: DANIEL KLEIN

Rabbi Daniel Klein is the Dean of the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College.

Rabbi Klein earned a BA from The University of Chicago, majoring in History. He then lived in San Francisco, dabbling in programs that support people transitioning from welfare to work. He found his way back into Judaism as a middle school social studies teacher at Solomon Schechter in West Orange, New Jersey. Rabbi Klein started rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) & then transferred to the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, from where he was ordained in 2010.

Rabbi Klein is married to Jen, an attorney. They have a son Micah & daughter Norah.