User:Rebgoldie

Rabbi Goldie Milgram (b. 1955), known to her students as "Reb Goldie" is author of Reclaiming Judaism as a Spiritual Practice: Holy Days and Shabbat (Jewish Lights 2004), Meaning and Mitzvah: Daily Practices for Reclaiming Judaism through Prayer, G*d, Torah, Hebrew, Mitzvot and Peoplehood (Jewish Lights 2005), and Make Your Own Bar/Bat Mitzvah: A Personal Guide to Creating a Meaningful Rite of Passage (Jossey-Bass 2004).

Rabbi Milgram founded and serves as Executive Vice-President of the 501C3 Jewish educational research, resource and training programs at ReclaimingJudaism.org. Author, journalist, inspirational speaker, professional story-teller and innovative Jewish educator, she has served as Dean of the Academy of Jewish Religion in New York City, a Jewish Federation Executive, Holocaust video-archivist, biomedical researcher, inventor, producer and co-host of Health Watch television(NBC)and has taught for, received grants from, or consulted to organizations seeking innovative approaches to Jewish education and programming such as Project Kesher, JDC, the 92nd Street Y, Hadassah Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

Rabbi Dr. Milgram served as founding chair of the first program of Jewish women's studies at any formal Jewish institution of higher education, which later evolved into what is now know as Kolot at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She is also a faculty member of the Aleph Ordination Program and Beliefnet. Active in the Ohalah rabbinic and cantorial association (ohalah.org), she also is a volunteer mentor and Jewish educator for women leaders in Project Kesher which offers programs throughout the Former Soviet Union and is active as well in The Focusing Institute (Focusing.org).

Rabbi Goldie Milgram, (formerly Gail Milgram-Beitman), has also received the American Cancer Society Most Distinguished Citizen Award for her work in bringing preventive medicine education to television while serving as innventor, producer and co-host of Health Watch(NBC South Jersey)during the 1980's and 90's. As a Jewish journalist, she also served as Judaism editor for the independent Jewish newspaper, the Philadelphia Jewish Voice, as editor of The Jewish Chronicle of Cumberland County, NJ and is a regular contributor to Living Pulpit Magazine.

A 1993 rabbinical graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC)and recipient of the Practical Rabbinics Award, she also holds the honor of additional private smichah from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, a Masters in Social Work from Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School, a Masters in Hebrew Letters from RRC and a Doctorate in Ministry with her thesis focusing on reframing adolescent rites of passage from New York Theological Seminary.

Rabbi Dr. Milgram's academic speciality is bio-ethics, halachah and counseling. A 2006 Covenant Foundation Award finalist for excellence as a Jewish educator she is presently spearheading the initiative to institute a National Bar/Bat Mitzvah Institute dedicated to establishing certification and advanced training of those working with adolescents and the cultivation of meaning-making-mentoring rather than tutoring and rote rites of memorization as the primary modality of preparing a youth for Jewish young adulthood. She travels internationally to teach new methods and principles of bar/bat mitzvah preparation to educators and families, in addition to speaking or offering workshops on Torah and Jewish spiritual practice in over 100 cities and 26 countries in the past six years.

Rabbi Milgram's full resume, many teachings, spiritual travelogues and links to published articles can be accessed at ReclaimingJudaism.org.