Rabbi Raphael Asher,    
Congregation B'nai Tikvah, Walnut Creek (Reform)
Rabbi Asher has been the Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Tikvah since its inception in 1981 and has watched it grow from 18 to 285 families. Ordained in 1977 in Cincinnati, Ohio, he served congregations in Melbourne, Australia, and Framingham, Massachusetts, before returning to the San Francisco Bay Area. His special interests and academic pursuits include Modern Hebrew literature and German Jewish history for which he co-authored the book The Jewish Legacy and the German Conscience. Rabbi Asher sits on the Executive Board of the Interfaith Council and chairs its Health and Faith-In-Action Committee.

Rabbi Em Gordon Freeman,
Congregation B'nai Shalom, Walnut Creek (Conservative)
Rabbi Freeman is the driving force behind the vigorous spirit of B'nai Shalom, where he has served as Rabbi since 1968. Born in San Francisco, he received his rabbinical training at the Jewish Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1966. Rabbi Freeman's education and studies have taken him to New York and Israel; he served as an Air Force chaplain in Mississippi and Ankare, Turkey. He holds a Doctorate in Political Science with an emphasis on Jewish political thought. He is a published author, Hebrew calligrapher and a respected community leader.

Rabbi Dan Goldblatt,
Beth Chaim Congregation, Danville (Independent)
Rabbi Dan Goldblatt has been the spiritual leader of Beth Chaim Congregation, an independent, egalitarian, progressive synagogue in Danville, for the past seven years.  Under Rabbi Goldblatt's leadership, the congregation has grown 30 percent in the last year alone.  Rabbi Goldblatt is currently completing a Doctorate in Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.  He has helped found the Bay Area Chapter of COEJL-- Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life--and has been actively involved in the interfaith effort to save Headwaters Forest.  He is one of the founders of "A Just Harvest," a Clergy Task Force supporting the rights of farm workers, and is President of the Board of "Faith Works," a faith and labor coalition in Contra Costa County.

Rabbi Roberto D. Graetz,
Temple Isaiah, Lafayette (Reform)    
Rabbi Graetz was appointed as Temple Isaiah's Rabbi in July 1991.  Born and raised in Argentina, he served as Senior Rabbi of the Associacao Religiosa Israelita, the largest reform congregation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for over ten years and as Rabbi for other congregations in South America.  Rabbi Graetz was ordained by the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1972, and was awarded the Doctor of Divinity from the college in May, 1997.  He is fluent in English, Hebrew, German, Spanish and Portuguese.  Rabbi Graetz sits on the Executive Committee of the Jewish Federation, is Vice President of the Interfaith Coalition for Traditional Housing, and is Board Member of the Center for Jewish Living and Learning, the American Jewish Committee and the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living.

Rabbi Yaakov Kagan,
Chabad of Contra Costa, Walnut Creek (Chabad/Orthodox)
Rabbi Kagan is the Rabbi and Director of Chabad of Contra Costa.  Under his leadership, Chabad has succeeded in establishing a vibrant center of Jewish education for adults and youth.  He is a graduate of the Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Rabbinical Seminary in Brooklyn, New York.  His Rabbinic training included time spent in the Jewish communities of South Africa and Russia, where he was involved in the establishment of educational and humanitarian aid programs.  He serves as a chaplain to several hospitals and senior centers.  Rabbi Kagan and his wife Shternie are emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to Contra Costa County.  Together they are committed to the continuous growth of our Jewish community.

Rabbi Judy Shanks,
Temple Isaiah, Lafayette (Reform)
Rabbi Shanks has served as Rabbi at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette since 1992.  She was ordained by the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1984.  Upon ordination, she moved to the Bay Area to serve as Rabbi of Temple Beth Hillel in Richmond for seven years.  During a sabbatical from congregational life, Rabbi Shanks served as a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.  Rabbi Shanks writes a regular column entitled "Ask the Rabbi" for Reform Judaism magazine.

Rabbi Richard Winer,
Congregation Beth Emek, Livermore (Reform)
Rabbi Richard Winer inspires members of his synagogue community to participate in Jewish life. With respect and warmth, he encourages Jews to build strong connections with each other and Judaism. Born and raised in the East Bay, Rabbi Winer came to Congregation Beth Emek in 1995 following his ordination from Hebrew Union College. Rabbi Winer is President of the Tri-Valley Interfaith Council and a member of the East Bay Council of Rabbis. He is married to Rabbi Laura Novak Winer; they have two sons, Saul and Max.

Cantor Leigh Korn, Temple Isaiah, Lafayette (Reform)
Cantor Korn received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music in bassoon performance. He went on to receive a Master’s degree in choral conducting from the University of Iowa. In 2000, Cantor Korn began his studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion School of Sacred Music, first in Jerusalem, and then in New York. While in Israel, he received the The Rabbi Jason Huebsch Memorial Prize for his work with Tzi’im, a choir of mentally challenged adults, which included preparing them for a performance at the K’nesset. In 2004, he received a Masters of Sacred Music degree, and in 2005, became invested as cantor. Cantor Korn is an active member of the American Conference of Cantors and is currently working with its Task Force for Continued Education to develop a curriculum in the fields of musicianship, conducting, and music technology.

Rabbi Alissa Forrest , Temple Isaiah, Lafayette (Reform)
Rabbi Alissa Forrest joins the clergy of Temple Isaiah after being ordained from the Los Angeles campus of Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion in May 2007. Growing up in Denver, Colorado, she was active in her local and regional NFTY youth group and spent many summers at Shwayder Camp, a Jewish overnight camp in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Rabbi Forrest attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, earning a BA in Sociology and minor in Jewish studies and spent her junior year of college at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Upon graduating, she came to Temple Isaiah where she served as the Assistant Youth Director and Administrative Assistant for the Education Department (1999-2001). During rabbinical school, Rabbi Forrest served as a student rabbi in Aiken, SC and Worcester, MA and was the rabbinic intern at Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, CA. Her training and experience also includes co-facilitating a support group for mature women, leading a monthly Jewish 12 Step Recovery Program, serving as a hospital chaplain, running a family education program, and serving as Assistant Director of Shwayder Camp and CIT Advisor at Camp Hess Kramer in Malibu, CA. Rabbi Forrest also earned a Master of Arts in Jewish Education at HUC-JIR in May 2005.