Maya Zinkow | Maya Zinkow is so excited to be joining the Romemu clergy team! She has been singing in the pews since her days as a Barnard undergrad, and is grateful to have the opportunity to serve in this new role. Maya is a fifth year rabbinical student at JTS, where she studies as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. She is pursuing a master's degree in Jewish Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and is passionate about studying and teaching our sacred texts and traditions with the guidance of feminist thought and criticism. In addition to her work with Romemu, Maya serves the Conservative community at the Columbia/Barnard Hillel as a rabbinic intern. A midwest native, she is a lover of lakes and camp. Find Maya singing niggunim, improving her Yiddish, or reading her Book of the Month. She is eager to get to know you and offer spiritual support to this special community!

Ben Perlstein | Ben Perlstein is a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Ben studied political philosophy at Tufts University and is a grateful alumnus of the inaugural cohort of Romemu Yeshiva, as well as Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics, the Hadar Institute, and Kivunim. Building on varied experience in international education, political consulting and pastoral care, Ben is passionate about creative, multidisciplinary and multifaith applications of spiritual wisdom and practice to issues of public concern.

This Shabbat is Shabbat Nachamu, The Shabbat of comfort. For twenty-one days beginning on the 17th day of Tammuz and ending on the 9th of Av, we focus on grief, we mourn, we commemorate the destruction of two temples, as well as grieve many other terrible national catastrophes. In the brilliance of the Jewish calendar, we move on from grieving to enjoy seven weeks, seven sabbaths, of comfort. But, sadly, the brilliance of the Jewish calendar is somewhat subverted this year. In a year like this Tisha B’av is just a ritualized observance of what we’ve already been feeling and continue to feel even now. Along comes Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of comfort and we ask: “In what way can we be comforted at this moment”? Listen to Rabbi Ingber’s to discover what comfort can look like even now.