Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger is delighted to join the Temple Emanuel community. She recently completed her study at Hebrew College and was ordained as both a cantor and a rabbi in the spring of 2017.

Aliza grew up in the Jewish Renewal community of Boulder, Colorado and dreamed of becoming a rabbi from a very young age. In high school, after becoming the youngest member of the Denver Opera Company, Aliza decided to seriously pursue a singing career and enrolled at Vanderbilt University to study classical voice at the Blair School of Music and Jewish Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. It was there that she realized that her true passion is singing with others and making music together in the context of community.

After graduating, Aliza spent a year in Israel where she studied at Machon Pardes in Jerusalem and with Rabbi Levi Lauer of ATZUM Justice Works. While at Pardes, Aliza was a coordinator for the egalitarian minyan and served as a member of the musician’s circle at Nava Tehila, the Renewal community In Jerusalem, which draws Jews from all backgrounds to daven with music and kavannah.

In Boston, she has served as the Rabbinic Intern at Temple Aliyah in Needham and Nehar Shalom in Jamaica Plain and as the High Holiday Cantorial Soloist for Temple Israel in Boston and Anshe Amunim in the Berkshires.

Aliza plays piano, ukulele, and guitar and is always in the mood for spontaneous jam sessions. In her occasional free time, Aliza enjoys practicing yoga and loves to go out dancing.

To access Sermons from our wonderful Rav Hazzan, please click HERE.