Rabbi Benay Lappe, President & Rosh Yeshiva
Ordained by The Jewish Theological Seminary in 1997, Benay founded SVARA in 2003. An award-winning educator specializing in the application of queer theory to Talmud study, Benay has served on the faculties of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Temple University, The University of Judaism, The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, The Graduate Theological Union's Center for Jewish Studies at UC-Berkeley, and The Wexner Institute. She also currently serves as Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Next Jewish Future in Chicago.
Watch Rabbi Lappe's ELI Talk: "An Unrecognizable Jewish Future: A Queer Talmudic Take."
Special thanks to Luke Goetting from Puffinston Presentation Design for creating the slides for Rabbi Lappe's talk.
Benay was named to Jewrotica's Sexiest Rabbis List of 2013 (and is a little embarrassed about this but also a little bit proud), The Forward's 2014 List of Most Inspiring Rabbis, was a recipient of the 2015 Mintz Family Foundation Award for Creative Jewish Education, is a Joshua Venture Fellow, and in 2016 received the prestigious Covenant Award for innovative Jewish education. She was also recently named to The Forward's 2018 list of "Sexiest Jewish Intellectuals Alive" (and is both embarrassed again, and also more sheepish about the intellectual part than the sexy part). While learning and teaching Talmud are her greatest passions, Rabbi Lappe is also a licensed pilot, shoemaker, and patent-holding inventor.
Watch Rabbi Lappe's ELI Talk or TEDx Talk, or read some of her essays.
Ayana Morse, Executive Director
Ayana is a community builder and change agent, with over 15 years of experience in non-profit management, Jewish education and community building. Her work focuses on sustainable organizational growth, designing authentic community experiences, and developing meaningful access points to Jewish culture and tradition. Ayana is a national thought leader whose work has been recognized in The Forward, The LA times, the Jewish Journal, Lilith Magazine, and Sh'ma. She teaches about the non-profit sector and Jewish life at conferences and convenings, including The Collaboratory, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, Hebrew Union College, and the National Council for Jewish Women.
Most recently, Ayana served as the Executive Director of the Silverlake Independent JCC, where she was instrumental in revitalizing Jewish life on the east side of Los Angeles. Under her leadership, SIJCC was named as one of the most innovative Jewish organizations in the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Slingshot Guide. Prior to her work with SIJCC she was the Operations Director for IKAR, an organization that sits at the intersection of spirituality and social justice, where she was part of the team that scaled the organization in its early stage. She holds a BA in education from Prescott College, was a participant in LA Boost's fellowship for small business owners and was a Leadership Southern CA Fellow through the LA Chamber of Commerce. She lives with her husband, Josh, and their three kids in Northampton, MA.
Laynie Soloman, Director of National Learning & Talmud Faculty
Laynie is a passionate teacher of Jewish text, thought, and tradition, they believe deeply in the power of Talmud study as a healing and liberatory spiritual practice. They have spent several years learning and teaching in various batei midrash (homes for Jewish learning) including at Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva in New York City, where they currently serve as an adjunct faculty member. Laynie is completing a Dual M.A. in Talmud/Rabbinic Literature & Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Goucher College. They love facilitating experiences of Jewish learning that uplift the piously irreverent, queer, and subversive spirit of rabbinic text and theology, and they have taught and lectured on these topics in various community spaces, campuses, and in academic settings. When not in shul or learning Talmud, you can find Laynie reading about liberation theology, collecting comic books, and singing niggunim.
Rabbi Mónica Gomery, Associate Director of National Learning & Talmud Faculty
Mónica grew up in a Venezuelan Ashkenazi household both in Boston and Caracas and received ordination from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2017. Mónica is passionate about supporting people who have been denied access to ancient and ancestral spiritual traditions to claim these traditions as a resource for empowerment and transformation in their lives and in the world. She is honored and grateful to get to do this work at the first-ever queer yeshiva in history! Mónica has served as a prison chaplain, a geriatric chaplain, and an educator and prayer leader at numerous other Jewish institutions and organizations, including at Kol Tzedek Synagogue in Philadelphia where she newly serves as the Music Director. She is the author of two books of poetry, published by YesYes Books and Cooper Dillon Books, and is on the founding leadership team of Let My People Sing! which runs transformative Jewish singing retreats.
James Evans, Program Operations Manager
James has been a Chicago resident since the fall of 2012 and has been an active SVARA learner since 2016. He attended Florida State University, where he studied Political Science and French. As an Eagle Scout, his personal motto is "Always be prepared!" When not working on making sure you have the most AMAZING learning environment, he can often be found with his nose in a sci-fi/fantasy book or cooking a delicious meal with friends.
Amir Starr Weg, Yeshiva Administrator
Amir moved to Chicago in 2009 after a brief stint hanging out in the Kosher Halal Co-op at Oberlin College. In Summer 2011 he participated in The Adamah Fellowship, a three-month Jewish ecology and leadership program, which nurtured his love of Jewish community, confirmed his interest in Environmental Studies, and gave him a chance to get his hands dirty. In the past few years, Amir has, on and off, worked as an urban farmer, studied Environmental Science at DePaul University, and built Jewish community at Moishe House Rogers Park. Amir has been studying at SVARA since 2013, was SVARA's 2016 Fellow, and brings insights gained as a SVARA learner to his work.
Deborah Newbrun, Camp Director, Queer Talmud Camp
Deborah is the founder of Get Set Go Community Adventures. Her career as a preeminent Jewish environmental leader spans 30 years, including serving 25 years as the Director of Camp Tawonga and four years as Hazon's Director in the Bay Area. Additionally, she has served on the faculty of multiple Jewish learning fellowships. Deborah co-authored Spirit In Nature: Teaching Judaism and Ecology on the Trail. Known for being an engaging and creative leader and infusing deep spirit into her teachings, Deborah is a 2018 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for innovative Jewish education.
Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, Talmud Faculty
Ari Lev is the Rabbi at Kol Tzedek Synagogue, a Voice for Justice in West Philadelphia. He is a White, queer, trans person, of Ashkenazi and Italian descent. He does not take for granted those who came before him who made it possible for him to be ordained from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2014. He is most inspired at the intersections of community, activism, and healing. He loves to farm, cook, bike, meditate and parent his kiddos Zeev Lucca and Naim Niso. He considers Talmud study one of his spiritual practices. Ari Lev is deeply committed to the creation and embodiment of Torat Hayyim, a living tradition. This requires that our lives be deeply informed by ancient wisdom and practices and that Jewish tradition learn and grow from our insights and lived experiences. Ari Lev hopes to make the wisdom of the Talmud accessible to all who seek it.