Reb Lea-h Campolo graduated from the Judaic Studies program at Oberlin College and received ordination as a rabbinic pastor and maggidah (one who seeks inner meaning and then makes connections) from Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi in 1993. That same year she founded and became the spiritual director of Congregation Beit HaDorshim in Brookline, MA. She has been a long time member of B’nai Or Boston and a member of a women's interfaith community at the Monastery of St. Clare.

Reb Lea-h teaches through many modalities including storytelling, music, humor, and text study using diverse wisdom sources. She teaches monthly classes at ascentshul.com, a school established to study the mystical and psychological dimensions of Torah. Her particular field of interest is the psychology and universality of Judaism. She follows in the age old and and evolving tradition of spiritual maggidic teachers, whose work is to inspire and encourage by heart and mind connection to move toward positive action and greater spiritual potential.

Through the years Lea-h has been an activist in the issues of homelessness in Appalachia and in Boston. She was instrumental in opening the Parker Street Shelter in Mission Hill in Roxbury, MA. An educator, builder, and curriculum writer, Reb Lea-h works to create a national and international model for reducing urban violence and unemployment in our cities among young people. Life's enjoyments for Reb Lea-h include music, swimming, sea kayaking, beekeeping and parenting. Some of her teachings come from the lessons these activities have taught her.

Eshet Hazon, Julie Leavitt, has been learning and praying with the B'nai Or of Boston community since 1984. It is here that she developed her work with movement as Jewish Spiritual Practice. Julie has been leading and co-leading Shabbat services and lifecycle rituals for more than 25 years. She is a dancer and dance/body-oriented psychotherapist who teaches classes and training programs in the Boston area and nationally in Embodied Spirituality and Jewish Spiritual Direction. She has a Master’s degree in Expressive Therapies from Lesley University where she has taught since 1989 and is on the faculty of Lev Shomea, the original training program in Jewish Spiritual Direction. She completed her own training with Lev Shomea in 2005.

Since 2006, Julie has been part of the cohort of Ikvotecha, the spiritual direction program for rabbinical students at Hebrew College. She was honored with the title, Eshet Hazon, Woman of Vision, by B'nai Or on the spring equinox of 2004. Julie is married to David Schwartz and has four amazing children.

Rabbi Janie Hodgetts has been a member of B’nai Or for over 25 years and attributes part of her choice to become a rabbi to her positive experiences growing Jewishly within this Renewal community, especially her adult mitzvah officiated by Rabbi Hanna Tiferet Siegel ten years ago.

Ordained by Hebrew College in 2009, Rabbi Janie has been serving for the last two years as the rabbi and staff interfaith chaplain at Miriam Hospital, a Brown University teaching hospital with a Jewish heritage. She has led and co-led Shabbat and High Holiday services and taught classes about Judaism in synagogues and other organizations including B’nai Or, Temple Kerem Shalom, Temple Beth Avodah, several college Hillels, Limmud, CJP and in health care and retirement settings.

Rabbi Janie is trained in Jewish Spiritual Direction and provides this service to private clients and rabbinical students. Janie has been studying with Rabbi David Jaffe to become a facilitator of Mussar, a spiritual/ethical development process, and recently co-led her first group with B’nai Or congregants, hoping to continue this work within the community. Janie has over twenty years experience in career and executive development in both business and non-profit settings and has an MBA from Harvard. Rabbi Janie and her husband, Bill, have young adult twins and live in Newton.

A member of the B’nai Or community for over 10 years, an adult Bat Mitzvah experience inspired Rabbi Melissa Starr Wenig, to embark on the path of becoming a rabbi. She served the Gloucester renewal community for three years and led three adult Bat Mitzvah year-long trainings for B'nai Or women. Additionally, along with Rabbi Alan Ullman, Rabbi Melissa has led Torah study trips to Israel and the Caribbean.

Rabbi Melissa received rabbinic ordination through the ALEPH Rabbinic Seminary and for the past 18 months has served as interim rabbi to the Newburyport, MA Jewish congregation. She now returns to her calling as an independent rabbi —connecting Jews and their families with their roots and rituals by providing a rabbinic presence and guidance for baby naming ceremonies, weddings, bar/bat mitzvah, funerals and other significant life transitions or milestones. Rabbi Melissa also teaches Torah as a spiritual path, and helps communities find ways to enliven their Shabbat and other Jewish holiday services. She is delighted to be part of the spiritual leadership team at B'nai Or of Boston for this coming year. Rabbi Melissa can be contacted at rabbimelissa@me.com or her website www.joyfulservice.com.

Rabbis Emeritus
Rabbi Lev Baesh
Rabbis Hanna Tiferet and Daniel Siegel
Eshet Hazon Matia Angelou

Founder and long-time leader: Lev Friedman