B'nai Havurah Hires Rabbi Katie Mizrahi

Community Focus on Expanding Programs for All Ages

DENVER, July 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- B'nai Havurah, Denver's only Reconstructionist congregation, today announced the hiring of Rabbi Katie Mizrahi as the new spiritual leader of the community. She will officially join the community in September.

"We are thrilled to welcome Rabbi Mizrahi into our community," said B'nai Havurah Board Chair Ben Honigman. "She brings a keen rabbinic mind, the warmth and proven ability to attract and engage people of all ages, and extensive experience of community leadership. Our entire community eagerly looks forward to her official start in September, leading the High Holy Days programs and services as we welcome the New Year."

Ordained through the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2005, Rabbi Mizrahi had previously studied for several years in Jerusalem while devoting herself to human rights projects and peace education. Since 2007, she has been the rabbi of Or Shalom Jewish Community in San Francisco. Prior to that, she also served as a Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellow at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in New York City, a visiting rabbi for Kehilat Kol HaNeshama in Jerusalem, and a sabbatical rabbi for West End Synagogue, also in New York City.

Rabbi Mizrahi grew up in Boulder, Colorado and attended Stanford University, majoring in philosophy and religious studies. As a rabbi, she has a rare combination of intellectual rigor, musicality and warm openheartedness.

"It is a deep joy to arrive at this moment of becoming the rabbi of B'nai Havurah," said Rabbi Mizrahi. "My cup overflows with gratitude, excitement, ideas, and hopes for our shared future. For me, coming to serve as the rabbi of B'nai Havurah will be both a new beginning and a homecoming, and I am so thankful for the blessing of this opportunity." 

B'nai Havurah is an inclusive, participatory community with a 60+ year history of strong lay leadership, a vibrant music program, and a commitment to social justice. "We are currently at a crossroads," said Honigman. "Many of our members are older and we are eager to include more young families in our community. Rabbi Mizrahi is the perfect choice to help us innovate to meet the changing needs of our Jewish community. She is a musical, dynamic service-leader, with gifts for writing, speaking, counseling, and teaching. A believer in empowered community leadership in partnership with strong rabbinic vision, she is a community-builder with extensive experience fostering groups around tikkun olam (repair of the world) and lifelong learning. Rabbi Mizrahi is a perfect fit for B'nai Havurah."

For more information contact Becky Epstein at [email protected], 303-388-4441 ext. 15 or visit www.bnaihavurah.org.

B'nai Havurah had its beginnings in 1961, as a fellowship/study group (havurah). The group grew and in 1963 officially affiliated as a havurah with the Reconstructionist movement, which is committed to the renewal of American Jewish life. Reconstructionism defines Judaism as an evolving civilization that encompasses history, literature, art, music, land, and language. At B'nai Havurah, this is achieved through study, worship and joyous practice, social justice, acts of kindness, and connection with the Jewish people. B'nai Havurah is an egalitarian and participatory community, open to a variety of perspectives and forms of religious expression.

For more information, visit www.bnaihavurah.org.

Media Contacts:

Grace Vogelzang
Media Director
Impact Communications, Inc.
[email protected]
913-649-5009

Becky Epstein
Executive Director
B'nai Havurah
[email protected]
303-388-4441 ext. 15 

SOURCE B'nai Havurah