FOUNDERS
Rabbi Nadya Gross, Executive Director & CEO and Rabbi Victor Gross, President
Rabbi Victor Gross, Ph.D., is a congregational Rabbi and Educator dedicated to paradigm shifting. He servesd as Director of Studies and taught Deep Ecumenism, Jewish History and Jewish Thought in the ALEPH Rabbinical Program for 20 years, and also on the faculty and Academic Affairs committee of the Fox Institute for Creation Spirituality. He is the Chair of the Deep Ecumenism Initiative at Yerusha, presently developing the Institute for Deep Ecumenism. Victor is the author of Educating for Reverence: The Legacy of Abraham Joshua Heschel
Rabbi Nadya Gross, MA, is a congregational rabbi, spiritual director and teacher. She offers hashpa’ah / spiritual direction to individuals, couples, and clergy. Nadya developed one of the first programs to train End-Of-Life Doulas. She transmits the Jewish mystical tradition, received from her grandmother, in a two-year program Secrets My Grandmother Told Me: a wisdom school. She is the co-author, with Rabbi Malka Drucker, of Embracing Wisdom: Soaring in the Second Half of Life
Together, Nadya & Victor offer spiritual direction and coaching to couples and teach workshops on Relationship as Spiritual Practice and Conscious Parenting, and on confronting our mortality. They serve on the faculty of the Anamcara Project of the Sacred Art of Living Center for Spiritual Formation in Bend, OR.
At home, they are the co-Rabbis of Pardes Levavot: a Jewish Renewal Congregation in Boulder, CO. The congregation shares space, study, occasional worship and good works in the community with Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. This has been a living laboratory for the practice of Deep Ecumenism – a concept first articulated by Rev. Matthew Fox and developed by their teacher, and founder of the Jewish Renewal movement, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.
Bahira Sugarman and Rabbi Shaya Isenberg, z”l
Celebrated as Pioneers by Sage-ing® International and members of their Council of Honored Sages, Bahira and Reb Shaya facilitated opening pathways for people to deepen their understanding of second half of life tasks and possibilities. They are co-founders and co-directors of the Sage-ing® Mentorship Program and senior faculty emeriti of the Spiritual Eldering Institute where, at Reb Zalman’s z”l request, they designed and implemented its leadership training program. They have led life-transforming Sage-ing® Workshops for three decades while teaching and living the couple relationship as a spiritual path for even more years. They are wise spiritual guides and skilled teacher/group facilitators.
Reb Shaya was past Chair of the Department of Religion, Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, where he taught courses in Jewish Mysticism, comparative spirituality and religion and science. Co-founder and past Co-director of UF’s Center for Spirituality and Health, Rabbi Emeritus and retired Co-leader with Bahira for Gainesville, Florida’s P’nai Or, he served on the faculty of the ALEPH Ordinations Program and on the faculty of Aleph’s Spiritual Directors. He was licensed as a Massage Therapist and initiated as a Traditional Reiki Master.
Reb Shaya “dropped his body” (as our teacher, Ram Dass, would say) on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. His obituary can be found HERE.
Bahira, in her 24th year as a Traditional Reiki Master, is ordained as a spiritual guide by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z’l and has been celebrated as an Eyshet Hazon (Woman of Vision) v’Rofet Neshamot (healer of souls) by the ALEPH International Community. She is retired also as a licensed clinical social worker and marriage and family therapist. Licensed as a Massage Therapist, she teaches Reiki and T’ai Chi Chuan and is renowned for her transpersonal and healing work.
Lynne Iser
Lynne is the of founder Elder-Activists.org, whose mission is to inspire, educate and support those in the second half of life to become activists, using their resources and wisdom to create a world that is thriving and just for future generations. Her workshops integrate the teachings of Spiritual Eldering with the work of Joanna Macy. Lynne was honored as a “Wise Elder” by Sage-ing® International, in recognition of her work as co-founder and Executive Director of the Spiritual Eldering Institute.