Congregation Kolot Chayeinu

History

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann established Kolot Chayeinu, a progressive Jewish synagogue in Brooklyn in 1993, initially as a small group of people that met around her dining room table. Over the years it has grown to have its own space and staff, including an ordained cantor; 300+ members, and a Children's Learning Program.

Rabbi Lippmann's Bio

Rabbi Lippmann was co-chair of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America and continues to serve on the board. She is also on the rabbinic advisory board of J-Street, and served as the first social justice chair for the Women’s Rabbinic Network. She is the founder of the Soup Kitchen at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, and co-founder of the Children of Abraham Peace Walk: Jews, Christians and Muslims Walking Together in Brooklyn in Peace. She is the former East Coast Director of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and former director of the Jewish Women's Program at the New 14th Street Y in Manhattan.

In 2003, Rabbi Lippmann officiated at the wedding of playwright and author Tony Kushner and Mark Harris the first same-sex commitment ceremony to be featured in the Vows column of the New York Times.

Rabbi Lippmann was ordained in 1991 by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and also received there the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature from Boston University and an MS in Library Science from Simmons College.

Cantor Segal's Bio

Cantor Lisa B. Segal was a founding member of Kolot Chayeinu and served as Music Director and Hazzan for over 10 years until she was formally ordained as a Cantor in 2011, at the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR), where she also received an appointment as the head of the cantorial department.