Hi!
I'm Diane, the spiritual leader of Karov.
Have you gone through many phases and changes in your life? I sure have! I was raised in a very secular Jewish home. In college I actually toyed with joining a modern Orthodox community (there might have been a boy involved), and as an adult, I rediscovered an authentic Judaism for myself through lots of reading, exploring, and because I was blessed with a few wonderful mentors who explained Judaism to me in a whole new way. I felt the calling (and back then, it really did feel like a call) to become a cantor, and then an alternative Rabbi and start my own community. When I returned to school for a deeper dive into rabbinics, I discovered that the traditional prayers weren't working for me like they used to. I decided to close my community, start a new one, and become a humanistic rabbi.
Since then, I have started a process to be certified as a chaplain. Going through chaplaincy training and working in a hospital as a chaplain have been some of the most rewarding, complicated, deeply life-changing processes. Two days a week I work in a hospital where I walk into rooms that are secular or spiritual; atheist, agnostic or full of God; Jewish, Christian, "Spiritual but not religious" and every other religious or non-religious philosophy one can imagine. From this work, I have seen how deeply powerful it is to meet someone spiritually where they are and not where I am -- to feel God when they do, to remain in the secular when they do, and then live my personal life as I choose. And so for this reason, Karov is now "humanist-leaning" rather than strictly humanistic, so that those who need a spiritual space different from mine can join us and still find comfort, connection, and a sense of awe.
My bio...
I have been a music educator, choral conductor, cantor, alternative rabbi and now in training to be a hospital chaplain. I have taught music in middle school and high school, conducted two community choirs, was the cantor at Beth Shir Shalom and was the founder and leader of Cool Shul. When I'm not "rabbi-ing," I am singing, at the hospital, or directing the treble choir The Jewish Treble Choral Project.
I have a Bachelor's degree in Music Education from NYU, a master's degree in Choral Conducting from CSULA, and a second master's degree in Jewish Studies from AJRCA. I was privately ordained as a Cantor, and ordained as a Rabbi at JSLI. I am pursuing a chaplaincy degree as well.
I live in Santa Monica with two musicians (my husband and my teenager!), and I have a kid who is grown and flown and teaches high school history in a Quaker School.
Want to know what Humanistic Judaism is all about? Read more below, or just email me and we can talk allllllllllll about it.
