Corey Friedlander, Board Chair

Corey has been participating in Nehirim retreats from the very first one, drawing strength and spiritual nourishment from the community. Certified as a Sh’liakh K’hilah by the Reform Movement in 2005, he serves as Lay Rabbinic Intern at Woodlands Community Temple in White Plains, NY, helping to lead services, perform life cycle events, and teach. He has completed the two-year Me’ah program through Hebrew College in Boston and has studied on retreat with Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi at Elat Chayyim. He has received a distinguished service award from the Westchester Jewish Conference for his work in the community. Professionally, he does marketing for a company in the hardware industry, has managed two bookstores, and was the Director of Professional Development & Education for the American Booksellers Association.

Rabbi Joel Alter, Board Secretary

Rabbi Joel Alter serves as the Nehirim Board of Directors Secretary. He is Director of Admissions for JTS’ Rabbinical and Cantorial schools. He took up this role after sixteen years of service in pluralistic Jewish day schools as a teacher, rabbinic leader, and administrator. His commitments to advancing institutions organized around Torah study and Jewish living inform his past and present roles. Having been a closeted rabbinical student at JTS in the ‘90’s, Joel is particularly proud to be the first out director of admissions for the now inclusive Rabbinical and Cantorial programs at JTS. Joel earned his BA in Jewish History at Columbia University; his rabbinic ordination and an MA in Jewish Education are from JTS. He received additional training at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Shabbat, Torah, Hebrew, hiking, good friends, and good food are among the things that bring him joy.

Dr. Joel Kushner, Board Treasurer

Dr. Joel L. Kushner was trained as a clinical and organizational psychologist. He is the founding Director of the Institute for Judaism, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity at the Hebrew Union College-JIR, the Reform movement’s seminary. Internally, the Institute trains students and clergy on LGBT issues and tools of inclusion. Externally, the Institute’s mission is to achieve complete inclusion, integration and welcoming of LGBT people in congregations and communities. In 2013, Dr. Kushner was also appointed as the new head of the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health at HUC-JIR. Dr. Kushner consults with a variety of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, locally and nationally and frequently lectures on LGBT education and inclusion across the country. He sits on the National Religious Leadership Roundtable of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Board of California Faith for Equality, A Wider Bridge and Nehirim. He is the senior editor of the book, Kulanu: A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Inclusion Guide for Congregations, published by the URJ Press and a chapter in the forthcoming book, The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality, published by the CCAR.

Rabbi David Dunn Bauer

Rabbi David Dunn Bauer serves on the Board of Directors for Nehirim and is the Director of Social Justice Programming for Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (CBST) in NYC. David brings to his work over 20 years of professional theater experience, nine years in the congregational rabbinate, and 20 years of yoga practice, as well as academic study on sexuality and spirituality and many years of work as a touch healer and sacred intimate. David earned his B.A. in Theatre Studies and English Literature at Yale University, studied Talmud at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and received his rabbinical ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. In 2011, he became the first Jew to earn the Certificate in Sexuality and Religion from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, writing on “Blessings for the Erotic Body” and “Jewish Queer Sexual Ethics.” Along with Michael Cohen, he created Body Electric’s first ever Jewish retreat (“Celebrating the Body Judaic”) in 2006. David interned at CBST in 2000-2001 and from 2003 to 2010 he served as the rabbi of the Jewish Community of Amherst, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Based until recently in San Francisco, he maintains a private practice in Queer Spiritual Counseling. Sought after as a scholar-in-residence, has taught about Queer Theology around the United States and Canada.

Becky Emet

As a former co-director of Nehirim’s Gathering at Easton Mountain and the Women’s Retreat, Becky Emet has been bringing her passion and warmth to the Nehirim community ever since she attended her first retreat back in 2007. Over the years she has participated in a dozen Nehirim retreats and led ten workshops, encouraging participants to open their hearts to their own truths, their beauty, their sexuality, their spirituality, their strength, and their power. A community builder, a problem solver, and an unwavering idealist, Becky thrives on connecting LGBTQI Jews and inspiring those around her to create the lives of their dreams. Becky works as an executive coach and life coach for clients looking to make dramatic shifts in either the strategic direction of their organizations or in their own personal lives. Prior to becoming a coach, Becky worked as a child and family therapist and as a strategy and management consultant to social enterprises and nonprofits. She is a former steering committee member at Keshet and the DJ JCC’s Kurlander program for GLBT Outreach and Education. Becky received her BA from Brandeis University, her Masters in Social Work from Smith College and her MBA from Boston University.

Rabbi Julia Watts Belser

Rabbi Julia Watts Belser is a professor at Georgetown University, where she works in Jewish Studies, with a focus in Talmud, rabbinic literature, and Jewish ethics. Her work focuses on classical Jewish responses to drought and disaster, portrayals of sexual violence in rabbinic responses to enslavement and empire, as well as gender, disability, and the dissident body in late antiquity. An ordained rabbi, Professor Belser also writes queer feminist Jewish theology and brings disability culture into conversation with Jewish tradition. Before joining the Theology Department at Georgetown, Professor Belser held a research fellowship in Women’s Studies and Religion at Harvard Divinity School and taught in the Religious Studies Department at Missouri State University. She serves on the board of the Society for Jewish Ethics and holds leadership positions in the American Academy of Religion.

Dr. Alyssa Finn

Alyssa (AJ) Finn has been involved with Nehirim since the first Women’s Retreat in 2009. At that retreat, Alyssa realized that Nehirim was exactly the community she needed to combine her Jewish, queer, and spiritual identities in a safe and affirming space. Alyssa has a BA in Religion from Middlebury College and is in holds a M.D. from UMass Medical School. She is a family physician at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.

Sam Goldman

Sam Goldman has been the California wilderness coordinator for The Wilderness Society in San Francisco since the Fall of 2007. This job takes Sam around California working to permanently protect our public lands: national parks, national forests, and other wild places. Sam is active with Wilderness Torah, a new organization committed to re-connecting Judaism to the earth and he is chair of the upcoming Passover in the Desert pilgrimage festival. Sam is a member of Chochmat Halev in Berkeley and enjoys hiking, mountaineering, skiing, backpacking, and fishing.

Seth Morrison

Seth Morrison is a consultant specializing in association management and has mentored many people and helped them with career management and job searches. Most recently, he was the SVP & General Manager at a trade association. Morrison has held leadership posts in various local, regional and national Jewish organizations. He is currently on the J Street Washington DC Metro Steering Committee and he is active in LGBT organizations and local politics in Northern Virginia.