​​​"My work with Mark and Renée sent me to a powerful breakthrough in my storytelling abilities.
In just one session I was able to take the leap from merely telling a story in words...
to letting the story live inside me and pour out effortlessly, ​joyously and easily. "
     Rabbi Shefa Gold

​Renée Brachfeld, MSW
​
Renée  has been a professional storyteller and teacher since 1987. She has performed and taught at synagogues, churches and retreats throughout the US and Canada, as well as international storytelling festivals.
​Her workshops are fun and dynamic, bringing out the storyteller in each individual. She is a co-host of The Grapevine, a monthly storytelling series for adults.
At the outset of the pandemic, Renée quickly helped move all MFSI and Grapevine events online. Over the course of this difficult time, she has become a well known Zoom master. She now assists other groups and organizations with creating and running online events that maintain the warmth and interaction previously expected only from in person gatherings.
She has been heard on NPR, and her written stories have been published in
​Penina Schram’s Chosen Tales, and Goldie Milgram’s Mitzvah Stories. 
Renée is also a pretty darn good juggler. 
Visit Renée online at Jewishstorytelling.com 

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​Mark Novak                                                                       

Reb Mark is founder and spiritual guide of Minyan Oneg Shabbat, a joyous and contemplative Zoomagogue,
which meets 3x a week, including every Shabbat morning. Musician, composer, storyteller, and spiritual director, R' Mark is a master at creating sacred space, he brings with him over 40 years of professional theater experience, including 9 years of work with the renowned Living Stage Theater Company of Arena Stage in Washington, DC. His original theater pieces have been performed at Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts and The Smithsonian. 
​
His project - A Year of Stories - dedicated to the memory of his teacher,
Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi of blessed memory, 
is Mark's retelling of stories gathered from a vast variety of sources.

Learn more at RebMarko.com

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Kate Shulamit Fagan

​Kate is a dynamic teacher and vibrant storyteller.
She teaches nationally and locally effective storytelling, pastoral counseling, end of life decisions, ethical wills, and the art of compassionate listening. She is well known for her creative Jewish life cycle celebrations.
​Shulamit is Founding Director of the Rabbinic Pastor program for ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and received smicha (ordination) as a Rabbinic Pastor in 2001.  ALEPH is a national organization which advances vital Judaism as an ethical and spiritual path.
​Visit Shulamit online at Spiritualwell.org

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Our Loving Board of Advisors
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​Rev. Dr. Elise Fireherm
received her M.Div. from Yale Divinity School. She holds a Ph.D. in Theological Studies from Boston College, and has taught at Boston College, Augustana College, Bexley Hall Seminary, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and Episcoal Divinity School. She is currently priest-in-charge at Trinity Episcopal Church, Wrentham, MA. 

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Rev. Mark Schaefer
is a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary and is committed to creating communities of grace, love, and justice, and helping to build spaces where people can embrace uncertainty and doubt as part of a vibrant and meaningful faith. Mark is also author of The Certainty of Uncertainty: The Way of Inescapable Doubt and Its Virtue,
​a reflection on the inescapable nature of uncertainty and doubt and why that can lead to a stronger, more meaningful faith.

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​Karen Sangaline Pillsworth
the Storyteller Laureate of Kingston, NY has been enchanting audiences from Newfoundland, Canada to Sydney, Australia for over 30 years. Her work with stories as a story practitioner has afforded her the opportunity to work in venues from homeless shelters to drug and alcohol rehabs working with our most vulnerable populations. Karen shared her storytelling talents as a student in the second cohort of MFSI. 
​Visit Karen online at Karenpillsworth.com

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​Joran Oppelt 
 is the founder of the Metta Center of St. Petersburg
 and Integral Church–an interfaith and interspiritual organization in Tampa Bay, FL.  Committed to community service, religious literacy and transformative practice, he serves as President of Interfaith Tampa Bay, chaplain emeritus at Unity Spiritual   Campus in St. Petersburg, and an Ambassador of the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
​Joran was a student in the first cohort of MFSI.

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