Our clergy creates bonds and draws strength from our traditions and will be happy to help you on your Jewish journey. Teaching classes, supporting B’nei Mitzvah students, conducting lifecycle events, and leading meaningful prayer, they will inspire and motivate our congregation and community.
Senior Rabbi, The Norman Asher Rabbinic Chair
msiegel@ansheemet.org
773-868-5110
A graduate of Hiram College, Rabbi Michael Siegel was ordained in 1982 by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he received his Master of Hebrew Letters. Rabbi Siegel came to Anshe Emet in 1982 as Assistant Rabbi and was named Senior Rabbi in 1990.
Rabbi Siegel is a dedicated leader in the Jewish community both locally and nationally. He has served on the Executive Council of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Chancellor’s Rabbinic Cabinet, the Executive Board of MAZON: A Jewish Resource to Hunger and the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago. He is a past President of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and served as national Co-Chair of the Magen Tzedek Commission. Additionally, Rabbi Siegel helped to form the Hayom Coalition, an organization of synagogues committed to the transformation of institutions, and a re-envisioning of the Conservative Movement. Rabbi Siegel has also been an avid supporter of AIPAC and a leader in the creation of their Synagogue Initiative. Over the years, Rabbi Siegel has represented the synagogue at the White House on numerous occasions including the United States Honorary Delegation commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Israel’s Statehood. In 2015, Rabbi Siegel gave the opening prayer to the House of Representatives.
Rabbi Siegel has also worked hard to bridge the gap between African Americans and Jews in Chicago through outreach to clergy. Recently, he has worked to develop a study group between Rabbis and African American Clergy which has helped to deepen the dialogue and understanding between religious leaders. In addition, Rabbi Siegel has helped to create teen programming between the communities in order to deepen relationships and create partnerships. By both speaking in African American Churches and conducting Hunger Seders between the two communities, Rabbi Siegel is working to change the perceptions and recreate an historic bond. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the BSCO Turn Center.
As our Senior Rabbi, Michael Siegel is committed to the development of an open, caring and spiritual community. He seeks to further the historic role that the Anshe Emet Synagogue has played in Chicago and on the national Jewish scene.
Rabbi Michael Siegel and his wife, Janet have been blessed with four wonderful children: Joseph, Rebecca, Deena and Emma.
Senior Cantor, The Arnold H. Kaplan, M.D. Cantorial Chair
rbrook@ansheemet.org
773-868-5112
Cantor Rachel Brook is the senior cantor of Anshe Emet Synagogue and serves as the first female senior cantor in the congregation’s 150-year history. Previously, Cantor Brook served as cantor at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City.
Cantor Brook’s first solo album, “L’chayim Ul’shalom: Songs of Life and Peace” was released in December 2020. She is a featured soloist on several Park Avenue Synagogue albums, most recently on “Havdalah: Live from Jerusalem” and “Be the Light”, which was released in the summer of 2021. Cantor Brook has a growing global audience as part of her vibrant online presence, and is a proud member of the Shul Sisters: A New Cantorial Trio, together with Cantors Rachel Goldman and Laurie Akers.
Cantor Brook believes in creating sacred community through song, education, and building meaningful relationships with the people of all ages and abilities who make up a community. She served as Music Educator for Youth and Family at B’nai Jeshurun in New York City and is featured, along with several of her compositions, on their Young Family album “Bim Bam at BJ.” She was a key member of the Editorial Team for the Park Avenue Synagogue Family Siddur Project and performed on the accompanying albums. She also helped to develop and conduct the synagogue’s popular Shireinu inclusion services for families with special needs.
Cantor Brook has served as the conductor of Shir Chadash: The Brooklyn Jewish Community Chorus and of the Westchester chapter of HaZamir: The International Jewish High School Choir. She has been on the faculty of the North American Jewish Choral Festival as Conductor of the Youth Choir. She has been a service leader and educator at synagogues throughout the New York City area and at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, where she curated and taught the Yeshiva’s first course on Building Singing Communities.
Cantor Brook was recently a featured performer on Live with Carnegie Hall: Be the Light. She has sung at Merkin Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center, performed with the Zamir Chorale, recorded with Kirtan Rabbi, and sung opera and concert roles throughout the USA, Italy, and Bulgaria.
Rachel Brook received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and her Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy with Distinction from Westminster Choir College of Rider University. She was ordained as a Hazzan at the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of JTS in May 2016.
Cantor Brook has two children, Lila and Elias, who are her pride and joy as well as frequent duet partners.
Interim Grodzin Director of Education and Innovation
dcgould@ansheemet.org
773-868-5145
Rabbi D’ror Chankin-Gould has proudly served Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago, Illinois since 2015. Rabbi Chankin-Gould partners with JCFS (including the Safer Synagogues Initiative and hosting a monthly bereavement support group), the AES Caring Committees, and the AES Inclusion Committee for disability justice. As the Interim Grodzin Director of Education Innovation, Rabbi Chankin-Gould advises and guides the director of K-7th education, the youth director, and the director of family life and learning to envision and implement education and engagement for youth and families. Rabbi Chankin-Gould led the effort for Anshe Emet to write its own cutting edge religious school curriculum, “The Berverly Goldstick Curriculum for 21st Century Jewish Education.” Rabbi Chankin-Gould specializes in supporting B’nai Mitzvah students with learning disabilities and behavioral challenges by providing a stengths-based approach through accomadations and modifications. Rabbi Chankin-Gould is always honored to meet with any individuals or families in order to hear their stories, encourage/guide them in their Jewish journeys, and support them in times of joy and sorrow.
Rabbi Chankin-Gould is a southern California native who was ordained by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in 2013. Rabbi Chankin-Gould received his BA in Sociology from Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Subsequently, he went on to serve for two years as the Senior Jewish Campus Service Corps fellow at Columbia/Barnard Hillel focusing on outreach, and inclusion. During that time, he published an article in the “Journal for the Study of the Old Testament” documenting a Feminist recovery of Bathseba. He also served as editor in chief of “The Hillel LGBTQ Resource Guide”, distributed to university campuses around the country. Upon entering the Ziegler School, he was selected as a Wexner Graduate Fellowship. During his tenure at Ziegler, Rabbi Chankin-Gould served as a classroom teacher, retreat director, and curriculum author for Los Angeles Hebrew High. He also served as an education fellow at the Brandeis Collegiate Institute and as the Student Rabbi at Temple Beth Am. Before coming to Anshe Emet, he completed residency as a chaplain at UCLA Medical Center specializing in spiritual care for patients and families confronting cancer and substance abuse disorder.
Rabbi Chankin-Gould serves on the Executive Council and the Administrative Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly and as a co-chair of the RA’s Gender and Power Committee. He previously served as president of the Chicago Rabbinical Assembly.
Rabbi Chankin-Gould and his husband, Cantor David Berger (Hazzan of KAM-Isaiah Israel) are the proud parents of Matan and Avi Berger-Gould. They are proud parent participants in the Joseph and Belle Braun Religious School.
Rabbi
Rabbi Forester Joins Us This July!
Anshe Emet’s newest rabbi is a Chicagoland native. Rabbi Benjy Forester has worked toward ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where he is a candidate for an MA in Talmud and Rabbinics. He recently served at Sutton Place Synagogue. Prior to his arrival in New York, Rabbi Forester spent many summers at Camp Ramah in a variety of roles, lived in Budapest, Hungary through the Joint Distribution Committee’s Jewish Service Corps Fellowship, and studied full time in the Hadar beit midrash. Rabbi Forester is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where he served as Hillel President. He interned locally at Base Lincoln Park, and he completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Northwestern Memorial Hospital downtown. Rabbi Forester is currently engaged to his fiancée, Emily Schwartz. The two will be married June 2023 and can’t wait to move back to Chicago along with their greyhound, Bobby.
Hazzan Sheini
eberke@ansheemet.org
773-868-5117
Originally from Rochester, NY, Cantor Berke attended Cornell University and received a BA in History with Distinction in all Subjects. During that time she spent her Junior year at University College London, and attended as much theater at as her budget allowed. Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, Cantor Berke enrolled in the Cantors Institute (now H.L Miller Cantorial School) at the Jewish Theological Seminary, which included a year in Israel at the precursor to the Conservative Yeshiva, Midreshet Yerushalayim. In 1994 Cantor Berke completed her Masters in Sacred Music, received her Diploma of Hazzan, and graduated from JTS’ Graduate School (now William Davidson school of Education) with a Masters in Jewish Education. Her thesis was an examination of conversion programs across the United States, with an emphasis on the inclusion of music and culture.
Since graduation, Cantor Berke has worked in a variety of educational settings and across the age span of Jewish education in cities including New York, NY, Houston, TX, Cherry Hill, NJ and Springfield, MA. She has worked in classrooms, educational administration, tutored b’nai mitzvah, sung in concerts and led High Holiday services for congregations of all sizes. She is a contributing author for an assortment of publications, including a Rabbinical Assembly document on Rabbinic Installation. She is featured on the live concert recording Jewish Masterworks of the Synagogue Liturgy : A Concert in Honor of the Re-establishment of Liberal Judaism in Germany along with her husband, Hazzan Steven Berke.
She and her husband, Hazzan Steven Berke, are the proud parents of Eden and Aviva.
Hazzan Emeritus
amizrahi@ansheemet.org
773-868-5111
Greek-born tenor, Alberto Mizrahi, one of the world’s leading interpreters of Jewish music, is Hazzan Emeritus of the historic Anshe Emet Synagogue, Chicago. He has thrilled audiences worldwide on the pulpit, in recitals, symphony and opera performances. His repertoire spans nine languages and a myriad of styles, making his performances unique in the field.
His debut appearance with Maestro Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, narrating the Schoenberg “Kol Nidre,” received mention in the New York Times and has been released as a CD on the CSO label. He was a soloist in the Beethoven Society’s “Penderecki Festival,” in Warsaw, where he narrated the maestro’s 7th Symphony and sang his “Kadysz” with the Warsaw Philharmonic, as well as in Bialystok, Caracas, Graz, and on a televised performance (available on YouTube) in Warsaw, with Maestro Penderecki conducting. He has sung in front of two U.S. Presidents; George W. Bush, at the White House Hanukkah celebration, and Barack Obama, at the U. S. Capitol for Days of Remembrance. Hazzan Mizrahi most recently performed recital programs in Copenhagen, Paris, Pisa, Saarbrucken, Strassbourg, and throughout the United States. He has also performed with major symphony orchestras throughout the United States, Europe and Israel, including the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Atlanta, Houston, Haifa, Jerusalem, Barcelona, NDR-Hanover, and the Sinfonica Simon Bolivar. Hazzan Mizrahi is featured on the film “100 Voices: a journey home” (Cantors Assembly), the celebrated PBS concert, “CANTORS: a faith in song” (Amsterdam Portuguese Synagogue), and in Music Festivals in the U.S., Israel and Europe.
He has performed and recorded with the legendary jazz pianist, Dave Brubeck and his quartet (“Gates of Justice”), the great Theodore Bikel (“Our Song”), Howard Levy and the Trio Globo (Matza to Menorah) and understudied Luciano Pavarotti in “Ballo in Maschera” with the Miami Opera.
Hazzan Mizrahi is the former President of the Cantors Assembly, member of the Board of the Jewish Theological Seminary, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Mercaz, Zamir Choral Foundation and faculty member of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School-J.T.S., New York.
Mizrahi’s extensive discography numbers over 25 CDs including six for the Milken Archive on Naxos; FESTIVAL DELIGHTS; THE HIGH HOLY DAYS (with Schola Hebraeica); BIRTHDAY OF THE WORLD Iⅈ BIKEL & MIZRAHI: our song; ALBERTO MIZRAHI: My Song; ALBERTO MIZRAHI AT MENUHIN HALL; and MATZAH TO MENORAH, a recording of Passover and Hanukkah songs with the TRIO GLOBO.
“Mizrahi was charismatic and fearless, unabashedly emotional… the tone full and golden…he held you spellbound….” – London Times
“The hazzan here, often improvising with the soul-stretching intensity of John Coltrane, is the internationally renowned Alberto Mizrahi…” Nat Hentof – Wall Street Journal
Anshe Emet Sy
Anshe Emet Synagogue was established in 1873 in a building on Sedgwick Avenue in Chicago. In 1876, the congregation rented its first permanent meeting place on Division Street and hired Rabbi A.A. Lowenheim, a member of Central Conference of American Rabbis, as religious leader. Two years later, the congregation moved to another rented location on Division Street.
On Sunday, September 3, 1893, Rabbi A.A. Loewenheim delivered a “Dedication Sermon” during the dedication of the congregation of Anshe Emes.
Rabbi Solomon H. Bauer was Rabbi of Anshe Emet from 1900-1913. Rabbi Bauer joined the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1902.
During Rabbi Hevesh’s tenure at Anshe Emet from 1913-1916, the congregation more than doubled its membership, and built a new Community House.
Rabbi Phillip Langh served as Rabbi of Anshe Emet from 1920-1928. A member of the executive board of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Langh created the Anshe Emet religious school and was dedicated to improving interfaith relations. During Rabbi Langh’s tenure, Anshe Emet purchased its current building on the Pine Grove and Grace southwest corner.
In 1893, Anshe Emet constructed its own building on Sedgwick Street. In 1922, the congregation moved north to a new building on Gary Place (later called Patterson Place) near Broadway. Rabbi Phillip Langh, ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America served as Rabbi from 1920 to 1928. In 1929, Anshe Emet moved to its present location of 3751 North Broadway in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
During Rabbi Solomon Goldman’s tenure as Senior Rabbi from 1929-1953, Anshe Emet Synagogue established the first Conservative day school and a speaker series, featuring Eleanor Roosevelt and Clarence Darrow. Rabbi Goldman was one of the first to allow the organ to be played during all Shabbat and Yom Tov services and incorporate the triennial cycle. Rabbi Goldman was the first Conservative rabbi to invite women up for aliyot. At Anshe Emet, Rabbi Solomon Goldman Started an Adult Education program, Junior Synagogue, Men’s Club, and revived the Sisterhood.
Rabbi Ira Eisenstein served as Rabbi of Anshe Emet from 1954-1959. He served as President of the Rabbinical Assembly of America from 1952-54. Following his tenure at Anshe Emet, Rabbi Eisenstein served as the founding president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He was a founder of the Reconstructionist magazine.
Rabbi Seymour J. Cohen served Anshe Emet from 1960-1991. Rabbi Cohen served as President of the Synagogue Council of America (1965-67), the Rabbinical Assembly of America (1980-1982), and the Chicago Board of Rabbis. Rabbi Cohen introduced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the National Conference on Religion and Race in 1963.
In 1961, Rabbi Seymour J. Cohen became Senior Rabbi of Anshe Emet Synagogue. Rabbi Cohen restored observance of the second day of festival holidays, expanded opportunities for women to participate in religious life, and lead the congregation to renovate and expand the synagogue building.
Cantor Moses J. Silverman served as Cantor from 1940-1986. During his 46 years at Anshe Emet, Cantor Silverman shaped the musical legacy of the congregation, notably through his performances, recordings, and formation of a junior choir. Cantor Moses J. Silverman was president of the Cantor’s Assembly of America (1963-65).
