Nefesh is an open-hearted, spiritual outreach community welcoming all of the identities that make up who we are and who we love. Born in the multicultural beauty of LA’s east side neighborhoods, Nefesh cultivates empathy, love, and justice. Nefesh is an open doorway to the wisdom, ritual, and melodies of the Jewish tradition – a place to find and be found.
Nefesh brings the songs of the self, the song of the other, the song of the community, and the song of the world into a sacred song. We know there are times when we elevate one or the other in our lives. Nefesh reminds, supports, and provides teachings and practices to help us hold all four. As a community, we hold our inner lives and spiritual growth; we hold care, responsibility, and knowledge of others; we hold the repair of the world.
Nefesh is an intentional, outreach community: we place the margin at the center. We center the folks who have struggled to find Jewish community and their authentic, valued place within it. This includes women, multicultural Jews, Jews of Color, spiritual seekers, queer and trans people, Deaf Jews, Jews by choice, young adults, elders, interfaith families, and people who have felt excluded from or devalued within Jewish spaces.
We are a middot-driven community elevating the deepest values of the Jewish tradition as the grounding framework for our spiritual learning, practice, and growth.
We are a transdenominational community connecting people through ritual across identity, belief, and lived experience.
We are a participatory community drawing on the collective skills, efforts, talents, and resources of those who are creating Nefesh together. Our sliding scale membership model, known as Kinship, was developed in a community process in order to reflect our values of accessibility and responsiveness.
We are a community of care dedicated to participating in healing justice for ourselves, the people we love, and the places we live, through lay-led community organizing.
Whether you seek a meaningful Jewish experience or a spiritual home you are welcome at Nefesh.
Rabbi Susan Goldberg
Rabbi Susan Goldberg isn’t going to stop reminding you about the good stuff. That’s her now, shouting from the rooftops about empathy, love and justice. It’s not just her message, it’s part of an infectious and joyful worldview that has transformed each community she touches. Through spirituality, creativity and wisdom, her leadership inspires care for both the inner world and the world around us.
Nefesh team
Rabbi Aaron Leven
ASSOCIATE RABBI
Aaron has spent most of his life deeply involved in Jewish community and education. He dedicates his rabbinate to creating dynamic Jewish experiences as rich as those with which he grew up.
Jordana Fraider
Executive Director
Jordana Fraider is a strategic, collaborative, and deeply compassionate non-profit executive.
She comes to Nefesh from the world of arts and culture, bringing with her 10 years of experience in theater, contemporary visual art, and resource mobilization for community-based social justice initiatives to bear on both community and institution building at Nefesh.
Ellen Kennedy
program director
Ellen has had a multifaceted career as a TV producer, a show creator, a local kindie-rock star, an early childhood music specialist, a Torah school educator. Ellen Kennedy is a multifaceted part of Nefesh.
Duvid Swirsky
MusicAL Co-Director & Hazan
Duvid has been with Nefesh since the beginning and we are lucky to have him as the Nefesh music director. He is a musician, producer and singer-songwriter from Israel living in Los Angeles.
Sally Dworsky
MusicAL Co-Director
Sally is incredibly inspired and honored to be making music with Duvid Swirsky and the rest of the Nefesh band and community, which has become the spiritual home she longed for and would have chosen, regardless of her official role.
Sasha Perry
Rabbinic Intern
Sasha is a white Trans/queer working-class Ashkenazi jew who organizes in earth/animal liberation spaces. They are a third-year Rabbinic student in the ALEPH Ordination Program and graduated in the first cohort of their Earth Based Judaism program. Sasha is a Tzedek Lab member, a former Jeremiah Fellow for social change, and 6-Points Artist Fellow.
Rabbi Yechiel Hoffman
MAKOM DIRECTOR
Rabbi Dr. Yechiel Hoffman has enriched the Jewish journeys of children and adults in Los Angeles and around the world in synagogues, schools and community organizations. Yechiel guides organizations to foster creativity, holistic wellbeing and greater growth and performance, and promotes a relational approach to collective inquiry, collaboration, and experimentation. Yechiel serves on the boards of the Jewish Studio Project, Beloved Builders, Gender Equity in Hiring Project, and R&R: The Rest of our Lives, transforming the broader Jewish community through innovative approaches to social entrepreneurship, social justice, diversity and human wellbeing. Yechiel received the prestigious Pomegranate Prize from the Covenant Foundation and earned a Doctorate in Education from Northeastern University.
Sonya Mendoza
Web & Social Media
Sonya Mendoza is a community organizer, professional dog walker and pet sitter, and messaging maven for a few different neighborhood organizing groups in Los Angeles. She handles designs, web site front and backend, and social media accounts for Nefesh, and organizes with Never Again National, Tzedek Lab, and the Los Angeles Abortion Support Collective.
Melissa Martin
DEVELOPMENT & ADMIN ASSOCIATE
Melissa Martin is native to the mountainous San Gabriel Valley. She has a deep passion for all art and animals but especially theatre, ceramics, and cats. She coordinates complex projects, is personable in relationship building, and keeps highly detailed records. Melissa’s love of the arts intertwines with her social justice passions, driving her to use her hands to build a better world, mind to create change, and voice to speak for those who cannot.
Rebecca Goldberg
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Rebecca Goldberg is a project manager and native New Jerseyean. Prior to joining the Nefesh team as Rabbi Susan’s executive assistant, she worked for over ten years in TV animation production and oversight. She brings with her a passion for inclusivity, collaboration, and art with a purpose.
Ari Herstand
Musician
Ari has been with the Nefesh service since its inception. As Nefesh has grown, Nefesh became an important part of Ari’s Jewish identity.
Nefesh is not just a gig anymore for Ari. It is a place where he feels connected spiritually, culturally and communally.
Leah Zeger
MUSICIAN
Leah Zeger is from a family of professional classical string players. She won a position in the Austin Symphony at 19 and got her BA in opera from University of Texas. She began her LA music career in 2010 quickly winning a position in the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and film and tv scoring sessions. She has toured as a solo violinist with Miley Cyrus, ELO, Annie Lennox, Cee Lo Green, Stevie Wonder, and is currently a solo violinist/vocalist for Hans Zimmer. Zeger is also a songwriter, And has several albums, all available on most listening platforms. (Spotify, ITunes, CD Baby etc. )
Noah Kennedy
SOUND TECHNICIAN
Noah Kennedy is a Los Angeles based artist, producer, recording, and mix engineer. Having grown up surrounded by music, he found a love and attachment to the world at an early age, and jumped right into freelance recording straight out of high school. He always tries to make sessions fun and comfortable for all artists, and loves working with the Nefesh band and team.
Nefesh Board
Tali Pressman – Chair
Daniela Gerson – Vice Chair
Alexander Kargher – Secretary
Patricia Baum – Treasurer
Joshua Deighton
Zackary Drucker
Piper Kamins
Paula Manzanedo
Sylvia Paz
Joey Soloway
Rabbi Susan Goldberg
Institutional Supporters
