Spiritual Leadership
RABBI DAN GOLDBLATT - RABBI
Rabbi Dan has been the spiritual leader of Beth Chaim for the past 16 years. He currently serves as Vice President of the National Board of Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal and is also Vice President of OHALAH: The Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal where he served as Chairman of the Ethics Committee for seven years and was the chief author of the organization's Ethics Policy. He has helped found a number of faith-based environmental and social justice organizations in the Bay Area and is active in interfaith work in the San Ramon Valley. While Rabbi Dan grew up in an orthodox home in Cleveland, Ohio, his route to the rabbinate has been quite "unorthodox." He lived in Israel for more than five years after college where he worked as a tour guide, journalist for the Jerusalem Post, and directed the Tzavta Theater Club in Jerusalem. Upon returning to the U.S., Rabbi Dan produced a weekly Jewish television show before he and his wife Yael moved out to the Bay Area in 1981. Rabbi Dan was an award winning writer/director/producer of documentary films, a number of which were aired on the Disney and Discovery Channels. He was a professional theater director and spent a year as a guest artist in the theater department at UC Berkeley. Prior to coming to Beth Chaim, Rabbi Dan served a number of synagogues from Vallejo to Davis as part-time spiritual leader. When he came to Beth Chaim in 1993, he discovered a warm, welcoming, young congregation that he could partner with in building a vibrant Jewish spiritual community. He has been married to Yael for 30 years and they are the proud parents of Jonathan, 22 and Ethan, 18.
Below are some videos from Rabbi Dan:
Rabbi Dan talks about what people can expect when they come to Beth Chaim:
Rabbi Dan talks about what he enjoys about doing the "work" of being a Rabbi:
Rabbi Dan talks about God and the problems people have finding God in their lives:
RABBI CHAYA GUSFIELD - ASSISTANT RABBI AND B'NEI MITZVAH COORDINATOR
Rabbi Chaya Gusfield, Assistant Rabbi and B’nei Mitzvah Coordinator has been with Beth Chaim since 2005 and has guided the B’nei Mitzvah Journey for 25-40 families every year since that time. She leads many of the services, individually teaches many of the students, designed and facilitates the family education portion of the program (The Journey Groups), and is involved in the Seventh Grade classroom. She brings a strong background as a Spiritual Director and work as a hospital chaplain. She is passionate about Judaism and making it inclusive and accessible to those who want to learn. Rabbi Gusfield often guides adults as they make their way deeper into Jewish practice or prayer and has led several Sisterhood Retreats and Rosh Chodesh groups. Before coming to Beth Chaim, Rabbi Gusfield served as one of the Spiritual Leaders for the Renewal Synagogue in Piedmont/Oakland, Kehilla Community Synagogue, and served as the Program Director for Kol Shofar, a Conservative Synagogue in Marin. Rabbi Gusfield believes in the survival of the Jewish People through a diverse expression of Judaism. Rabbi Gusfield was ordained as a rabbi in 2006 through the Jewish Renewal’s Aleph Rabbinical Program. Prior to her involvement with professional Judaism, she served for many years in the non-profit world as a legal services lawyer and director of a community mediation program. She is the mother of a young adult woman and lives in Oakland with her partner. She loves to sit in their garden and study Chassidic and other rabbinic texts that deepen her rabbinate.
Below are some videos that will let you get to know Rabbi Chaya better:
Rabbi Chaya talks about why she became a rabbi:
Rabbi Chaya talks about being a rabbi at Beth Chaim:
Rabbi Chaya talks about God and Jewish life
Rabbi Chaya talks about Beth Chaim's B'nei Mitzvah program: