Teachers at the Well

Rabbi David A. Ingber is the Founder and Senior Rabbi at Romemu, NYC, a community he founded in 2008 that today has over 600 households. Rabbi Ingber is a disciple of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, famed founder of the Jewish Renewal movement, and was ordained by Reb Zalman in 2004. Rabbi Ingber serves on the faculty for the Wexner Heritage Program, The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and Israel, The 92nd Street Y’s program for Rabbinic Entrepreneurship, and other institutions. He was an AJWS Global Justice Fellow, and a Rabbinic Fellow in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Leadership Initiative. Rabbi Ingber has lectured extensively on the topics of spirituality, theology, Jewish mysticism, prayer, and meditation. 

Rabbi Ingber’s distinct approach to Torah, rabbinical teaching, and ritualistic practice is informed by his own personal seeking and learning from a wide cross-section of sacred traditions and faiths. He is enlightened by Jewish mysticism and Chassidut, fusing these beliefs with those of other ancient philosophies and world views. Particular influences include 18th Century Kabbalist and Founder of Chassidut, Rabbi Yisrael Ba’al Shem Tov; the great 19th Century Ishbitzer Rebbe, R. Mordechai Leiner; and leading 20th Century thinkers from Kabbalist, Rav Abraham Isaac Kook to psychologist, Carl Jung.

Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses is a Rabbi at Romemu as well as the Director of Lifelong Learning at Romemu. She was the first woman from the Syrian Jewish community to be ordained as a Rabbi. She graduated from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1995, where she was awarded several fellowships and a prize for academic excellence. Before coming to Romemu, she served as Co-Director of the Bronfman Youth Fellowship, Scholar in Residence at UJA Federation, and Senior Educator at The Curriculum Initiative. In 2007 she was named one of fifty top rabbis by the Washington Post online. In 2019, she was inducted into the Brooklyn Jewish Hall of Fame. She and her husband, Larry, an investigative journalist, have three children and live on the Upper West Side of New York City, a stone’s throw from Romemu!

Shimon Smith is the cantor and director of music and youth and family at Romemu of Manhattan.​He grew up in In Israel, ​where he was a leader in the pluralistic Jewish world, leading music in rallies and protests for a more egalitarian Jewish society together with the IMPJ, Women of the Wall, and other Jewish pluralistic organizations. He was the cantorial soloist and head of the b’nai mitzvah program at Beit Daniel Tel Aviv for 13 years before moving with his family to the United States, where he spent a year as an artist in residence at Temple Emanuel in Westfield, New Jersey, before moving to New York City.

Shimon is a celebrated Jewish rock radio artist. His original songs are featured in many transcontinental music publications and can be found on Spotify and other streaming services. Shimon lives on the Upper West Side in Manhattan with his wife Rebecca, daughter Lily, and dog Lucy.

Rabbi Dr. Brielle Paige Rassler is a licensed psychologist, spiritual director, composer, author, and artist. In addition to her emerging series of sacred text translations, she has written a reference guide to the Talmud, a manual for religiously integrated treatment of Jewish women with eating disorders, and has released two albums of original liturgical music. Her Psalms have been featured in multiple publications, and her full translation, “Psalms: A Millennial’s Poetic Interpretation” was named a Gold Award Winner of the 2023 Nautilus Book Awards. Rabbi Brielle maintains a private practice, serves as Lead Chaplain of Integrative Wellness at Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and travels widely as a guest leader and teacher at institutions and communities of all kinds.  Rabbi Brielle has been a regular guest leader with the Romemu davening team since 2018 and is thrilled to present this course for your consideration.  

Renee Finkelstein (also known as Radharani) is a devotional musician, ceremonial guide, and interspiritual practitioner whose work centers on sacred chant, contemplative voice, and embodied devotion. Renee was part of the leadership team of Kol Hai: Hudson Valley Jewish Renewal for ten years and served as its Director and spiritual leader for two. She has been a regular guest ritual and musical leader for Beit Kohenet, Temple Beth El, and Woodstock Jewish Congregation, among other communities. She has performed and/or recorded with many Jewish and Indian devotional musicians including Shir Meira Feit, Shoshana Jedwab and Elana Brody, and was a mainstay vocalist for Kirtan Rabbi. Having spent over four years living and studying in India, her work bridges devotional music, mysticism, and lived spiritual practice, offering experiences that are intimate, grounded, and quietly powerful.

Wendy Miles, a doctor by trade, has always loved studying and speaking Hebrew. She is a lifelong student of Torah and regularly chants Torah and Haftorah in synagogue. She has taught Hebrew privately to many and is excited to have the opportunity of teaching Hebrew at Romemu, offering the keys to the Jewish heritage to a wider circle of people!