Rabbi and Staff
Rabbi Katy Allen
Rabbi Katy began her rabbinic work as a chaplain at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, and briefly served Temple Tifereth Israel in Winthrop, MA, before starting her outdoor congregation, Ma’yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which now has a thriving outdoor children’s Jewish learning program, Y’ladim BaTeva.
She is a co-founder of the Jewish Climate Action Network-MA and has considered much of her climate work to be eco-chaplaincy. She has also served as a hospice chaplain and has provided spirituality and nature programming at Open Spirit Center in Framingham, MA.
In addition to her recent book, A Tree of Life: A Story in Word, Image, and Text, Allen is the co-author of several children’s science books and the editor of Falling Light and Waters Turning: Adventures in Being Human in Word and Image, her mother’s memoir, and Earth Etudes for Elul: Spiritual Wisdom for the Season, from Strong Voices Publishing. She blogs at www.mayantikvah.blogspot.com.
Lisa Ahern
Administrative Assistant
Lisa is a special education teacher who taught at a school for children with autism for 12 years. For the past two years, she’s been enjoying being home with her two young children. When she isn’t playing outside with them, she has been enjoying tutoring children as well as getting involved in Wayland.
Lisa can be reached at info@mayantikvah.org.
Zach Roe
Social Media Consultant
Zach Roe has a passion for empowering people and purpose-driven organizations through strategic communication consulting on community growth and impact strategy. He has 10+ years of experience working with a variety of nonprofit and for-profit organizations to increase their digital presence, create more effective communications, build relationships across organizations, and connect with greater numbers of people.
Annie Fortnow
Teacher
Annie Fortnow is excited to be teaching with Ma'yan Tikvah this year! With extensive experience in Jewish education through her work with religious schools, Hillel, Jewish Federation, and young adult Jewish organizations, Annie looks forward to merging her love of Jewish learning with her passion for the outdoors and nature. Outside of Ma'yan Tikvah, Annie serves as the Director of Operations at Yad Chessed, a local organization dedicated to poverty alleviation in the Jewish community.
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Nina Katz
Teacher
Nina is an enthusiastic plant and language geek with a background that includes teaching to a wide variety of ages, sometimes all at once. She has taught in the Havurat Shalom lehrhaus, in homeschooling circles, and in herbalism programs, as well as one-on-one. Nina is excited about combining education on plants, language, and Jewish spirituality in working with Y'ladim BaTeva. Nina also serves as admin for the US branch of the international non-profit, IAmHere, which works on countering bigotry and misinformation on social media. Nina teaches the 4th-5th grade class and most of the Hebrew classes.
Jay Feinstein
Teacher
Jay Feinstein is thrilled to teach with Ma'yan Tikvah this year. Jay has been curious about the outdoors for as long as he can remember, and he is excited to share his love for nature with others. Outside of Ma'yan Tikvah, Jay is a senior podcast producer at WBUR, where he creates shows about education and business. In his free time, he loves reading, gardening, jaunts in the woods with his bichon frise Eliyahu, and creating even more podcasts, most recently, Where Were You on October Seventh. Jay holds an MBA from the D'Amore McKim Business School at Northeastern and a BA in Environmental Studies from Brandeis.
Arielle Sabot
Program Coordinator
Arielle Sabot (they/she) is an educator, artist, farmer, and scholar of ecofeminism. Arielle holds a B.A. from NYU in Individualized Studies where they studied how art and religion can educate communities about the climate crisis; they recently completed their M.A. at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Jewish Gender and Women’s Studies with a thesis on Jewish ecofeminist philosophy and theology. Arielle is deeply passionate about Jewish spirituality, climate justice, and how the two intersect. In her free time Arielle enjoys creating art, cooking, spending time with friends, and interacting with more-than-human animals.