Faculty & Team
Julie Emden, E-RYT-500, Halprin Practitioner, infuses her work with exploration, spirit and joy. She is passionate about awakening the body as a gateway to deep inner knowing and guides others in somatic explorations of Jewish wisdom teachings as a resource for living in balance and wholeness. A graduate of five fellowship and teaching certification programs related to her work as a Jewish educator, Iyengar-based yoga instructor and movement/expressive artist, Julie has two decades of experience guiding others in exploring Jewish wisdom, text and practices via the body in a variety of settings. Julie offers classes, workshops, on-line learning, retreats, teacher trainings, individual coaching, and strategic consultation and guidance for Jewish Wellness Initiatives throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Diane Bloomfield is the author of Torah Yoga: Experiencing Jewish Wisdom through Classic Postures. She lives in Jerusalem where she teaches ongoing Torah and Torah Yoga classes live and on the web. As well, Diane teaches Torah Yoga retreats and workshops in the United States at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center and other venues. Diane has learned Torah in Jerusalem since the mid-eighties. She is a certified Junior level Iyengar Yoga Instructor and a Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist. She is currently working on her new book, Playing with Fire: Secret Torah Doorways to the Inner Self, Delight in a Distressed World. Learn more about Diane at http://torahyoga.com/page1-
Kohenet Aliza Rivka, BC-DMT, LCAT is a dancer and ritualist committed to our collective liberation. She weaves her training as a Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist, Licensed Creative Arts Therapist and Kohenet Hebrew Priestess to curate spaces for embodied reverence. Aliza holds a BA in Dance from Columbia University and an MS in Dance/Movement Therapy from Sarah Lawrence College. She has worked extensively in eldercare contexts as a dance/movement therapist, as well as within the Jewish community. Aliza is grateful to share ecstatic dance and movement rituals at Romemu, where she also serves as Ritual Event Coordinator. Learn more about Aliza's offerings including private movement sessions, group classes, ecstatic dances, cacao ceremonies, retreats and more at www.alizarivka.com.
Tracey Green has over 1000 hours of Yoga Teachers Training and 20 years experience teaching yoga. Tracey receives great pleasure teaching students how to bring more attention to the presence of their bodies while flowing through yoga poses and attending to the breath. She creates a safe, peaceful space to explore and feel renewed in mind body and spirit. She is a graduate of Embodied Jewish Learning's Yoga and Jewish Wisdom Teacher Training and teaches regularly at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City.
Rabbi Diane Elliot, is a spiritual teacher, ritual leader, dancer, writer, somatic therapist, and spiritual director based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She inspires her students to become clearer channels for Presence through awareness and movement practices, chant, and nuanced interpretations of Jewish sacred text. From 2011-2018 Diane directed ALEPH’s Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body training in embodied Judaism, and she continues to teach embodied approaches to Judaism nationally. Rabbi Diane currently serves as a member of the stewardship team of Taproot, a multi-generational community of Jewish artists, activists, and changemakers, and on the faculty of Moving On Center, a somatic training program in Berkeley, CA. She is the author of two volumes of sacred poetry, This Is the Day (Hadassa Word Press, 2017) and Unbounded Heart (Hadassa Word Press, 2019). To learn more about her work, visit www.whollypresent.org.
Rabbi Myriam Klotz, Senior Program Director for Somatics and Social Justice at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS), has been teaching yoga and embodied practice with IJS 18 years. They are the founding co-director of the Yoga and Jewish Spirituality Teacher Training at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. Myriam leads workshops and retreats on yoga, embodied practice and spirituality at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and with congregations nationally, and has published writings and guided practice CD’s. Myriam is a spiritual director, and most recently served as overseeing of spiritual direction programming with the Bekhol Levavkha Jewish Spiritual Director training program at HUC-JIR in New York City.
Rabbi Laurie Matzkin, RYT-200 has led and designed Jewish educational experiences for all ages. She studied Music (Flute Performance) and Jewish Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, and received both her M.A.Ed. and Rabbinic Ordination from the Ziegler School in Los Angeles. From 2009-2016, she served as Director of Lifelong Learning at Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto. She founded her current role as the Mindful Jewish Journeys Educator at the Addison-Penzak JCC in Los Gatos in 2017. Rabbi Laurie continues to inspire others through her Makom Yoga classes, her seminars on Jewish liturgical music, insightful text study sessions and PJ Library Jewish family connection groups. She is a member of the Institute of Jewish Spirituality Hevraya clergy leadership program. With her rich background in creativity, spirituality, and mindfulness, Rabbi Laurie helps learners of all ages feel an increased sense of purpose, vibrancy and depth on their own Jewish journeys. For more on Makom Yoga and beyond, please visit www.rabbilauriematzkin.com.
Miriam Raziel Kanani is a soulful singer/songwriter who blends reggae, jazz, and middle eastern compositions with spiritual lyrics that resonate with depth and truth. Her music has been described as rootsy, powerful, and hauntingly beautiful. Miriam has performed her music in New York City, the Bay Area, Israel, Florida, and in the midwest. Miriam has performed with the band "Kirtan Rabbi" (www.kirtanrabbi.com) and other bands over the course of several years. Miriam lives in Berkeley, California with her husband Babak and daughter Ariyah and loves integrating her music and Jewish teachings into all realms of her life.
Nancy Wolfson-Moche, CHHC, RYT-200, seeks to empower people to listen to their bodies through yoga, mindful cooking and eating, and other embodied practices. Nancy is the founder of you are because you eat, counseling and teaching health, wellness and life skills to students of all ages through cooking, culinary medicine and sacred culinary arts. Previously an editor and writer on lifestyle magazines, Nancy’s articles have appeared in scores of magazines and newspapers. She is an emerging Kohenet. For more about Nancy visit youarebecauseyoueat.com.
Rishe Groner is the creator of The Gene-Sis, a post-Hasidic movement toward embodied experience and personal growth through Jewish mystical texts. Rishe has over 20 years of experience in Jewish education, specializing in informal environments such as festivals, retreat centers and immersive experiences. Born in Australia, Rishe graduated from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia specializing in marketing and writing. She worked for over a decade as a senior marketing strategist across a variety of non-profits and corporate clients. In 2019, Rishe was named to the Forward’s “36 Under 36” for her work bringing Jewish ceremonies and workshops to the arts and nightlife scene. As a freelance writer, her work has appeared in Lilith, Tablet, Alma, The Times of Israel, and on www.thegene-sis.com. Her meditation series “Soulhacks” based on the practice of Sefirat Haomer is currently being prepared for publication in 2020. Rishe is an experienced prayer leader and focuses on creating unique immersive ceremonies utilizing dance, music and meditation, including “Ecstatic Mincha”, “Embodied Shabbos”, and “Niggun as Meditation”. She has studied with prayer pioneers Nava Tehila in Jerusalem and Joey Weisenberg in New York City, and carries the lineage of the Chabad-Chassidic tradition of meditative song and prayer. She has been featured educator at Jewish retreats including Moishe House, Isabella Freedman, Pearlstone Center and Limmud NYC. Rishe is currently studying for Rabbinic ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
Meg Oberhand, Teachers’ Network Admin, has been working in digital design and marketing for 10 years and has been a part of Embodied Jewish Learning since 2013. She enjoys supporting organizations with big ideas that help people live happier, healthier lives. When Meg met Julie she was thrilled to work with EJL and support all the amazing programs offered to the bay area community, and beyond!