Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, joint CEO of Rabbinical Assembly (RA) and USCJ, has spent his career focused on growing Jewish communities, from USY chapters to Congregation Shaare Torah in Gaithersburg, Md., where he served for 20 years. A 1999 graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary Rabbinical School, he was founding rabbi of Shaare Torah, after leading high holiday services for several years as a rabbinical student. He started his career as a Regional Director in Seaboard Region of USY and subsequently worked for USY as an Assistant International Director, including serving as co-director of International Convention (IC), and the rabbi for Seaboard Kadima.
Musician, storyteller and trained entertainer, Rabbi Aviva Funke is passionate about finding personal meaning in Jewish ritual, lifestyle, and tradition. She was ordained at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles and served as School Rabbi for Brawerman Elementary School of Wilshire Boulevard Temple. She is co-founder of Na’or, a prayer innovation project. Rabbi Funke currently is Principal of the Bureau of Jewish Education’s Hebrew High of Greater Phoenix. She has extensive experience in the art of spiritual healing and transformation, and infuses these techniques and mindsets into her work as facilitator, educator and spiritual counselor.
Rabbi Jonathan Kremer, rabbi of Shirat Hayam in Ventnor N.J., was ordained and earned a master’s degree in Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Before rabbinical school he was a graphic designer specializing in Jewish nonprofits. He has a bachelor’s degree in Hebraic Studies from Rutgers University and spent his junior year at Hebrew University. As rabbi of Shirat Hayam, Rabbi Kremer offers classes on history, bible, midrash, Hebrew, and ritual. He leads, with guitar, the Galeem Sunday morning drum circle service. He has instituted Carlebach-style Kabbalat Shabbat services, revived the youth group, and has enabled access to Torah for the mobility-challenged.
Rabbi Joel Seltzer, Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), attended the JTS Rabbinical School after graduating magna cum laude from Florida State University. He was ordained in 2008 and received the Rabbi Sidney Greenberg Prize for Homiletics. Rabbi Seltzer served as spiritual leader of Temple Emanu-El in Providence, R.I. from 2008-2012 and for 15 years served as executive director of Camp Ramah in the Poconos.