Our Clergy
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Rabbi Aaron S. Weininger
Senior Rabbi • Max Newman Family Chair in Rabbinics • Email Rabbi Weininger joined the Adath Jeshurun Congregation in 2012, upon receiving rabbinic ordination and an MA in Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he studied as a Schusterman Fellow. In June 2023 he assumed the Max Newman Family Chair in Rabbinics. In addition to becoming the first openly gay person admitted to rabbinical school in the Conservative movement, he became the first openly gay person appointed to the position of Senior Rabbi in a large Conservative congregation. Drawing from his unusual experience, Aaron cultivates the spark each person brings to Torah, prayer, and acts of kindness through the warmth of building community. Knowing what it feels like to be on the margins, he embraces Judaism as disorganized religion that thrives on questions of curiosity rather than answers of certainty. Everyone has a place to ask and to belong. During rabbinical school he was welcomed into communities as a teacher, preacher, and prayer leader in Statesville, NC, Portland, ME, Sag Harbor and White Plains, NY and across New York City. He trained as a chaplain in Clinical Pastoral Education for two summers at Bellevue Hospital Center, and a third with the Educational Alliance at a Kosher soup kitchen for older adults on the Lower East Side. From 2018-2021 Rabbi Weininger served as co-chair of the Minnesota Rabbinical Association and joined Honeymoon Israel as rabbi for the MSP cohort in January 2020. He serves on the Editorial Committee of Siddur Lev Shalem for Weekdays and the JTS Chancellor's Rabbinic Cabinet. He is a board member of Jewish Family and Children's Service of Minneapolis as well as the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, of which he is an alum of its Clergy Leadership Program that fuses mindfulness practice with Jewish learning. |
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Hazzan Joanna Dulkin
Hazzan • Email Hazzan Dulkin is committed to innovative musical and spiritual leadership that inspires joy, connection and meaning at all ages and stages. She received her Masters of Sacred Music and Investiture from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2004, and completed the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Cantorial Leadership Program in 2007. She is an honors graduate of Stanford University, where she studied English, sang a cappella, and led community High Holiday Services. Her background as a songleader, musician and educator led her to the cantorate. Hazzan Dulkin has taught and performed internationally as a cantor, musician and scholar-in-residence and is also a published writer and an award-winning composer. She is an officer of the Cantors Assembly, and was on the editorial committee of Siddur Lev Shalem. Hazzan Dulkin and her husband, Rabbi Dr. Ryan Dulkin, are the proud parents of Zac and Jesse. |
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Rabbi Sammy Seid
Assistant Rabbi • Email Born and raised in Orange County, CA, Rabbi Seid brings his Torat Chesed (“A Torah of Loving Kindness”) into all aspects of communal and personal engagement from prayer leadership and teaching, to social programming and relationship building. After earning a BA in History at UC Santa Cruz (2010) and a Preliminary Teaching Credential at Cal State Fullerton (2013), Rabbi Seid enrolled in the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies where he was blessed to learn from some of the finest teachers and rabbis. He earned his M.A. of Rabbinic Studies and Rabbinic Ordination in 2019 from the Ziegler School, where he also served as the Admissions Coordinator since 2017, helping to usher in the next cohorts of our people’s future rabbis, during which time Rabbi Seid also served as Rabbinic Intern, Youth Director, and religious school educator at Temple Beth El (South Orange County). From 2019-2024, Rabbi Seid, served the community of Ner Tamid Synagogue in Poway, CA, joyfully embracing the community's mission to connect Jews to Torah and to each other. Rabbi Seid, along with his beloved spouse/life chevrutah, Cantor Seid, are the proud parents of Winnie and Max. |
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Cantor Heather Seid
Assistant Cantor • Berman Family Chair in Jewish Learning • Email Cantor Seid passionately believes that each and every person has an inner and outer voice worth being loved, nurtured, and encouraged to call out, speak out, sing out. Cantor Seid graduated from Boston University’s School of Music with a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance (2007), from the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate School with an MBA focused in Finance and Marketing (2012), and from the Academy for Jewish Religion California with a Master's of Jewish Sacred Music and s’micha as Cantor (2023). Before finding her professional home in the Cantorate, Seid taught music and theater at a middle and high school, coordinated the Healthy Athletes program at Special Olympics for the State of California, and was the Program Director for a large day camp serving 500+ campers daily in Orange County, CA. Cantor Seid is regularly featured in Cantorial concerts all over the country and collaborates with Jewish artists regularly in projects intended to bring new joy and meaning or to reveal and highlight the beauty that already exists in our rich traditions. Cantor Seid, along with her beloved spouse/life chevrutah, Rabbi Seid, are the proud parents of Winnie and Max. |
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Rabbi Harold J. Kravitz
Rabbi Emeritus • Email Rabbi Harold J. Kravitz is Rabbi Emeritus, Adath Jeshurun Congregation, Minnetonka, MN. He began his rabbinic career there in 1987 serving as Senior Rabbi, Max Newman Family Chair in Rabbinics, from 1996-2023. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1987, he is immediate Past President of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the global professional association of the Conservative/Masorti Movement. He served on the RA's Va’ad Hakavod (Professional Ethics Committee) for 18 years and chaired it for six years. He is Past Board Chair of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. He is Past Board Chair of MICAH- The Metropolitan Interfaith Council for Affordable Housing. He is associated with the Center for Contemporary Mussar. He is a mediator on the roster of the MN State Court for civil and family mediation. He is married to Cindy Reich. They are the parents of Gabriel (Yael Smiley), Talia and Elana. Grandparents of Joshua, Yona and Asher Smiley Kravitz. |
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