Rabbi Kleinbaum serves as the spiritual leader of CBST. The national Jewish weekly The Forward named her as one of the country's 50 top Jewish leaders, and The New York Jewish Week identified her as one of the 45 leading young American Jewish leaders in New York. The subject of a New York Times profile, Rabbi Kleinbaum has lectured and published widely. A graduate of the Frisch Yeshiva High School and Barnard College, Rabbi Kleinbaum was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen is the Associate Rabbi of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (CBST), the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender synagogue serving people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.  She became a full time rabbi at CBST in August, 2002, three months after she was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Passionately committed to progressive and feminist Judaism, she is an activist and an advocate for full inclusion and celebration of LGBT Jews in the Conservative movement and the larger Jewish world.  She is also an advocate for LGBT civil rights, including the right to marriage for same-sex couples in New York State and nationally.  Rabbi Cohen has been profiled in the New York Times and was named one of the “Heeb Hundred,” Heeb Magazine’s “hundred people you need to know about.”  She was honored at the 2005 Ma’yan Seder as a leading young Jewish feminist activist. 

Full biography

David Berger is the first full time cantor of CBST.  He received cantorial investiture at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, School of Sacred Music in May of 2007.  Already an integral part of the musical life of CBST, Cantor Berger served as cantorial intern for two years (2005-2007), working in close partnership with Music Director Joyce Rosenzweig.  Today he serves as CBST’s cantor, working to inspire both listeners and worshipers with music that speaks to their hearts and to reach out to the wider GLBT Jewish community.

Joining CBST in September 2006, Rachel Weiss is a 5th year student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.  Originally from Evanston, Illinois, she earned her B.A. in Spanish with an interdisciplinary concentration in Gender and Women’s Studies from Grinnell College.   While at Grinnell, Rachel co-facilitated the Coming Out Support Group.  Professionally, Rachel used her Spanish language and social work skills as supervisor of the Chicago-area Nuestro Center, a family resource center for Mexican immigrant families.  There she provided crisis counseling and access to social services, and created programs for children and adults, including a free summer camp and teen leadership program. 

    While in rabbinical school, Rachel has worked with Kolot: the Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies, as well as the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs in Chicago, where she where she developed a program and curriculum for rabbinical students across denominations on how to incorporate social justice into their rabbinate.  She is co-chair of the Keshet (GLBT) Committee, creating resources and programming for RRC's community.  Rachel has worked as a hospital chaplain in Philadelphia, focusing her work on high-risk pregnancy, the intensive care nursery, and trauma.  She spends her summers on senior staff of Camp JRF, where she designed a program to integrate Hebrew language learning and the Arts, and coordinates the rabbinic faculty, specialists, and t'fillah. 

    In addition to being fluent in Spanish, Rachel is proficient in Modern Hebrew and American Sign Language and enjoys cooking, calligraphy, crafts, Hebrew Grammar, and traveling. 

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