(Leviticus 19:18)

Elizabeth (Lizz) Goldstein is a native of Branford, CT, in New Haven county. She grew up as a member of Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek, where she spent her teen years as a madricha and youth group leader, and where she went back to teach the Tzedakah In Action curriculum to 7^th graders the year between college and rabbinical school.

In the summer of 2004, she was a participant at the URJ Kutz camp, where she first felt called to the rabbinate, and went back to work as Avodah at Kutz in 2006. She completed her undergraduate studies in 2010 at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where she was a leader with the Jewish Student Union.

Through her five years of rabbinical school, she lived in New York City with her partner, Philip, and graduated from the Academy for Jewish Religion in May 2016. Lizz spent most of her years of rabbinical school as the rabbinic intern at Temple Beth Emeth v’Ohr Progressive Shaari Zedek in Brooklyn, with a year as Youth Director at Westchester Jewish Center.

As an activist, Lizz has been involved in many Tikkun Olam projects, was a Global Justice Fellow with American Jewish World Service, and is a member of T'ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. She is dedicated to a career of drawing from Jewish history and values to work toward social justice, and is happy to serve the community here at Ner Shalom!