Laasok Faculty and Staff
Rabbi Leah Berkowitz
(she/her)
Faculty
Leah Rachel Berkowitz is a teacher and writer based in Philadelphia, PA. She currently serves as the Senior Jewish Educator for Hillel at Temple University. Leah also teaches for Gratz College, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Jewish Learning Collaborative, and Laasok.
She is the author of three picture books and the co-author of the middle grade midrash collection Maybe it Happened This Way: Bible Stories Reimagined.
Study with Rabbi Berkowitz in the Seeing Yourself in the Sacred Story Community of Practice
Rabbi Rachael Bregman
(she/her)
Faculty
Rabbi Rachael Bregman is a spiritual director and Jewish educator based in Charlotte, NC. She previously served as the Rabbi at a small and mighty congregation on the coast of Georgia, where she co-founded Glynn Clergy for Equity and spearheaded a community response to the tragic lynching of Ahmaud Arbery. She founded Open Jewish Project in Atlanta, served as a Chaplain Candidate in the US Navy and Marines, hiked the Appalachian Trail, earned a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard University and received ordination as a Rabbi from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. She is a certified spiritual director, a pastry chef, occasional artist and full-time mom.
Study with Rabbi Bregman in our
Pirke Avot Study Group
Rabbi Nikki DeBlosi, Ph.D.
(she/her)
Faculty
Rabbi Nikki DeBlosi connects folks to the breadth & depth of Jewish tradition through inclusive, innovative, & insightful Jewish teaching, speaking, & ritual.
A tattooed, polyamorous, queer, suburban, stay-at-home parent, Rabbi Nikki was raised Catholic and converted to Judaism as an adult. She’s an avid reader (especially romance), a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a choral singer.
Study with Rabbi DeBlosi in Queering the Weekly Parsha
Rabbi Emma Gottlieb
(she/her)
Faculty
Rabbi Emma Gottlieb is a Canadian-born, Ontario-based Rabbi, with over 20 years of experience in Jewish education, lifecycle officiation and congregational leadership in Canada, the U.S. and South Africa, where she spent 7 years as the first female rabbi to work in Cape Town.
More importantly, she is a human being – doing her best to live a life of meaning. Rabbi Gottlieb has spent her rabbinate sharing her journey authentically with others, helping to connect the teachings, traditions and values of Judaism to the sacred and messy moments of our lives.
Now living and working in Barrie, Ontario, as the Spiritual Leader of Am Shalom Congregation, Rabbi Gottlieb is also extending her rabbinate beyond the synagogue walls, to support and celebrate with those on the fringes of the Jewish community – in the peaks and valleys of their lives – ensuring that anyone who is seeking meaning has access to Jewish rituals and spiritual care.
Study with Rabbi Gottlieb in the OUR Jewish Home Community of Practice
Rabbi Micah Streiffer
(he/him)
Founder and Director
Micah is a rabbi, teacher, and lifelong student who is known for his ability to make Jewish texts and ideas come to life. Micah founded Laasok in 2022, after nearly two decades as a congregational rabbi in North Carolina and Ontario.
Ordained a rabbi in 2007 at the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Micah lives in the Toronto area with his three sons. He teaches at synagogues across North America, and hosts the popular Seven Minute Torah podcast, as well as serving as a member of the Responsa Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Micah is pursuing a Ph.D. in Jewish Thought at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Study with Rabbi Streiffer in:
Talmud Study
Parsha Thru Midrash
Exodus Deep Dive
Torah From the Beginning
Digging Deeper into Torah
Reclaiming Shabbat
OUR Jewish Home
We also regularly welcome guest rabbis and teachers from around the world for drop in classes and Tikvah Through Text.
Laasok Advisory Committee
Rabbi Emily Losben-Ostrov
Rabbi Emily Losben-Ostrov is honored to serve as the spiritual leader of the Temple Sholom in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. of Israel in Wilmington, NC. She originally hails from Bucks County (the suburbs of Philadelphia), and was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati in 2008.
While at HUC-JIR, Rabbi Losben-Ostrov wrote her Rabbinic Thesis on Naming the Unnamed: Biblical Characters Known only by their Roles or Relationships” She is very proud to have founded the Pesach Project, which has now allowed hundreds of Rabbinical Students to help lead seders and educational opportunities in the Former Soviet Union. Passionate about fighting AIDS and about interfaith and interracial relationships, she serves on the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, and is a member of the Leadership Team for the Every Voice, Every Vote Campaign of the Religious Action Center.
Rabbi Michael Satz
Rabbi Michael Satz is the rabbi of Temple B’nai Or in Morristown, NJ. He brings his passions for teaching, justice, and spirituality to this multi-generational community. Rabbi Satz believes that “Judaism is a dynamic, evolving and pluralistic tradition. Through texts, music, prayer, peoplehood, and personal relationships we experience God’s presence. The rabbi’s calling is to help facilitate these experiences for Jews in sacred community.”
Rabbi Satz is involved in the greater community through the Morris Area Clergy Council and is the president of the New Jersey-West Hudson Valley Association of Reform Rabbis. He was born and raised in St. Louis, MO, and is, of course, a Cardinals fan. He graduated from Tulane University and was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is married to Rabbi Janice Elster, and they are the parents of Eitan and Ammiel and the owners of Koby, a Havanese. Rabbi Satz loves to play guitar, drink oolong and pu-erh tea, and listen to news and political podcasts.
Rabbi Mark Washofsky, Ph.D.
Mark Washofsky is an emeritus professor of Rabbinics and former Solomon B. Freehof Professor of Jewish Law at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. He specializes in the literature of Jewish law (halakhah) and the application of legal theory to the understanding of the Jewish legal process. His publications deal with such subjects as the history of the halakhah, the nature of rabbinical decision making, and issues of medical ethics in Jewish law.
Rabbi Washofsky served as chair of the Responsa Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1996 to 2017. He currently serves as chair of the Solomon B. Freehof Institute of Progressive Halakhah. He is the author of Reading Reform Responsa: Jewish Tradition, Reform Rabbis, and Today’s Issues, and Jewish Living: A Guide to Contemporary Reform Practice.
Keep in Touch!
Subscribe to receive information about upcoming learning opportunities.
(About 2 emails a week.)