Clergy and Staff
Rabbi Ariel Stone has been Shir Tikvah’s spiritual leader since the congregation’s founding in 2003; she is the first female rabbi to be the head of a congregation in the state of Oregon. Within the congregational family and beyond, she delights in sharing scholarship in Torah, mysticism, and ethics in support of building meaningful community. She received the 2018 City of Portland Human Rights Award for Lifetime Achievement and the 2023 Compassion & Choices Dr Paul Smith National Award for her advocacy in Death with Dignity rights work.
Rabbi Stone is also currently the chair of Hesed Shel Emet (the Oregon Jewish Indigent Burial Society), Rabbinic mentor for TischPDX and Convener of Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance. She has served as adjunct faculty with the Judaic Studies department at Portland State University and Willamette University of Salem, and advises younger rabbis in the Clergy Leadership Incubator.
In 1993 she became the Rabbi of Congregation HaTikvah of Kyiv, Ukraine, and was instrumental in seeding multiple Jewish spiritual communities throughout the former Soviet Union which still exist today. In addition to her rabbinic ordination Rabbi Stone is a Jerusalem Fellow of the Mandel Educational Institute and has a doctoral degree from Spertus Institute of Chicago. She has published two books: Because All Is One, on the relevance of the doctrine of the sefirot in Jewish mysticism, and The Alef Bet of Death: Dying As A Jew.
Recent public offerings include:
- Kol Nidre drash 5785
- Rabbi’s Rosh HaShanah 5785 message
- Taking Charge When You’re Dying, an interview with Rabbi Ariel on KMUZ radio
- She maintains a sporadic blog: Times Of Israel
For more on Rabbi Ariel, see this story by Oregon Jewish Life.
For a look at Rabbi Ariel’s work as a street activist for justice in Portland, see this story by JewTh!nk
STAFF
JoAnn Bezodis, Executive Administrator
JoAnn provides the day-to-day management of Shir Tikvah's fiscal, physical, security, and administrative affairs. If you have any questions or need more information regarding membership, programming, education and beyond, please feel free to get in touch.
Amelia Schroth, Operations Manager
Amelia answers your phone calls, emails and questions about everything from membership to finances and all of the small details in between. She’s the woman you contact to schedule a movie, a bar mitzvah, or anything else in the building. Our plants always look fantastic because Amelia is also a landscape contractor – in the summer and on the weekends, look for her outside.
Heather Laffitte, Youth Program Lead
Heather is Shir Tikvah's Youth Program Lead. Please contact her for information regarding Nashira Project, B'rit Mitzvah planning, and any other questions about youth programs and events.
Rivkah Coburn, B'rit Mitzvah Coordinator
Rivkah serves as Shir Tikvah’s Brit Mitzvah Coordinator, meeting with families to guide them in the details of the brit mitzvah process and to schedule the b'rit mitzvah date. She assesses a student's need regarding tutoring and oversees their education process. Please contact Rivkah for questions and information.
Marisa Debowsky, Gabbai
Marisa serves as Shir Tikvah's Gabbai: coordinating logistics, developing our minhag, and supporting the many volunteers who leyn torah, chant haftarah, and serve as shlichei tsibur (prayer leaders) for our Shabbat and holiday services. Please contact Marisa if you're interested in volunteering and/or would like help learning a new trope or nusach.