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Welcome!


Are you looking for Jewish clergy for your upcoming wedding or baby naming? Seeking help on your journey to conversion? If you’re looking for guidance with a lifecycle event or to find inclusive Jewish events and meet other interfaith couples at your life stage, we’re here to help you. We are thrilled to have several Rukin Rabbinic Fellows, Rabbi Melissa Buyer-Witman, Rabbi Emily Cohen, Rabbi Andy Kahn, Rabbi Alexis Pinsky, and Rabbi Yael Rapport here in New York to support you.

Rabbi Melissa, Rabbi Emily, Rabbi Andy, Rabbi Alexis, Rabbi Yael and our other Rukin Fellows throughout the U.S. and Canada offer programming for interfaith/intercultural couples and families to discuss relevant issues. We hope you’ll join them for programs and workshops, which include opportunities to reflect on your backgrounds, differences and similarities and discuss your hopes, plans and dreams for the future. They are also available for one-on-one consultations and to refer you to local Jewish clergy and organizations that welcome interfaith/intercultural couples and families. Contact Rabbi Melissa at rabbimelissa@18doors.org, Rabbi Emily at rabbiemilycohen@18doors.org, Rabbi Andy at rabbiandy@18doors.org, Rabbi Alexis at rabbialexis@18doors.org, and Rabbi Yael at rabbiyael@18doors.org.

Our Events


Mon 27

Matzah and Eggs: Navigating Passover and Easter (National) – Online

March 27 @ 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm EDT
For interfaith couples and families, what does celebrating both Passover and Easter holidays look like? We may look forward to the spring holidays and feel anxiety about the tensions they bring with them at the same time. Join 18Doors Rukin Rabbinic Fellow Rabbi Stephanie, who herself grew up in an interfaith family, for advice on navigating this time of year with compassion and understanding.
Wed 29

FaithFULL: The Theology of Passover and Easter (For Interfaith Couples) (National) – Online

March 29 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm CDT
Join us as we explore Passover and Easter a little deeper with Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship Alumnus Rabbi Steven Philp of Mishkan Chicago and Rev. Jason Lydon from Second Unitarian Church of Chicago. Bring the questions you've always wanted to ask about these holidays, and find out what these theological differences can mean in your interfaith home.
Thu 30

FaithFULL: The Theology of Passover and Easter (For Jewish Professionals) (National) – Online

March 30 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm CDT
Join us as we explore Passover and Easter a little deeper with Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship Alumnus Rabbi Steven Philp of Mishkan Chicago and Rev. Jason Lydon from Second Unitarian Church of Chicago. This discussion is for Jewish professionals and clergy of all faiths who want to deepen their understanding of the relationship between these two holidays in order to better serve interfaith couples and families.
Thu 30

What to Do for Passover: Best Practices for Grandparents of Interfaith Families (National) – Online

March 30 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EDT
As grandparents of interfaith families, our Passover seders and traditions may look different now than they did many years ago. Join 18Doors' Rabbi Malka Packer-Monroe and fellow grandparents of interfaith families to revisit Passover through a new lens! We'll discuss the universally accessible themes of Passover, best practices for engaging our adult children and grandchildren of different faith backgrounds, and have time to build community with other grandparents across North America.
May 16

Let’s Bayit: Homebuying and Building a Jew-ish Home – Online

May 16 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm EDT
Buying your first home is a big deal. If you're beginning to ask yourself where to start, how much money to save, or what it means to build a Jewish (including Jew-ish, Jew adjacent, interfaith and multi-faith) home, we've got the perfect program for you. Join 18Doors and a realtor from Move With Pride for a discussion aimed at helping couples navigate home-buying. (And, if you were wondering, bayit means "house" in Hebrew!)

Meet Rabbi Melissa Buyer-Witman – Rukin Rabbinic Fellow

Rabbi Melissa Buyer-Witman is the Director of Lifelong Learning at Temple Israel of the City of New York. She received her a M.A. in Hebrew Letters, Jewish Education and Rabbinic Ordination from HUC-JIR, the Reform Movment’s Seminary, in Los Angeles. She has been on the cutting edge of innovative educational programs for nearly 18 years. Additionally, she serves as an active member of the clergy team that makes living and learning Judaism relevant and meaningful for Jews and those who love them. In addition to her role at Temple Israel, Rabbi Buyer-Witman is the Editor for the CCAR’s Mishkan HaNefesh for Youth and serves as the Dean of faculty for the URJ’s Crane Lake and Eisner Camps.

Rabbi Buyer-Witman comes from a loving family that includes members of multiple faith traditions. Her journey to and through the rabbinate ultimately lead her to the Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship, where she will continue to harness her passion to create inclusive communities that see diversity as a blessing.

Meet Rabbi Emily Cohen – Rukin Rabbinic Fellow

Rabbi Emily Cohen is the rabbi of West End Synagogue: a Reconstructionist community on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She graduated in 2018 from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia and prior to joining West End spent two years as the Jewish Emergent Network Rabbinic Resident with Lab/Shul in New York City. An artist from an early age, Rabbi Emily’s “side projects” have included Passover parodies (“The Hamilton Haggadah”), a podcast (“Jew Too? Tales of the Mixed Multitude”) and a great deal of Jewish music. She also writes regularly for Alma.

Rabbi Emily is part of the growing population of American Jews raised by one Jewish parent and one non-Jewish parent. Her interfaith roots lead her to look always to the edges of Jewish community and to center the voices that are least heard.

Meet Rabbi Andy Kahn – Rukin Rabbinic Fellow

Andy Kahn is the assistant Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in New York City. He grew up in Tacoma, Washington, attended Kenyon College for his BA. He went to Queen’s University and Jewish Theological Seminary for graduate school, and was ordained by HUC-JIR, the Reform Movement’s Seminary, in New York in 2018. He is excited to work with 18Doors to help create a Jewish world that embraces people of all backgrounds, and is willing to both enrich and be enriched by all who seek a connection to Judaism, regardless of their Jewish status.

Alexis Pinsky

Meet Rabbi Alexis Pinsky – Rukin Rabbinic Fellow

Rabbi Alexis Pinsky was ordained from the N.Y. campus of the Hebrew Union College’s Jewish Institute of Religion, and is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. She is currently the Associate Rabbi at Temple Israel of the City of New York. She has previously served as the Associate Rabbi/Educator at B’ShERT (Beth Shalom v’Emeth Reform Temple) in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Associate Rabbi at the historic Touro Synagogue in New Orleans as the Musical and Liturgical Clergy in Residence, and as Assistant Rabbi at Congregation Gates of Prayer in Metairie, La. where she focused on outreach and engagement to young families and young adults.

Meet Rabbi Yael Rapport – Rukin Rabbinic Fellow

Rabbi Yael Rapport (she/her/hers) is the Director of the Gottesman Center for Jewish Living and the The Selma and Lawrence Ruben Center for 20s + 30s at the Marlene Meyerson JCC of Manhattan on the Upper West Side of New York City. She served as the Associate Rabbi of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the LGBTQ synagogue of New York City, from 2016-2022. Prior to her work at CBST, she worked as a Chaplain Resident in the Mount Sinai Health System at Mount Sinai Beth Israel focusing on inpatient and outpatient oncology and the Gender Affirmation Surgical Unit. Her passions include visual art, new food traditions and she is certified as a yoga teacher.