Meet Rabbi Talia Young

Rabbi Talia Young serves as our new Rabbinic Director of Family and Youth Education, directing our Libeynu Jewish Youth Education Program and teen-based programming. She also provides pastoral and spiritual support for all of our community members and brings creativity and deep skill as a leader of tefila and teacher of Torah.

In her own words…

I grew up in the Bay Area, and have also called the Twin Cities, the forests of Connecticut and Jamaica Plain home. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been enchanted with Hebrew, which I first learned listening to Israeli children’s songs with my dad, and with the way Judaism made me feel part of a larger story.

In high school, I discovered slam poetry, attending writing workshops and poetry slams where I could share my story and hear those of my peers. I knew I wanted to create spaces like that one day, where people could see each other and be seen. Since then, the through line of my work has been community building: as a Jewish outdoor educator at Teva, as a climate justice organizer, and as senior leadership at Jewish summer camps.

I began rabbinical school to ground my work in Jewish tradition, which I believe can help us exist within uncertainty, with paradox, with longing, and with each other. I’ve been grateful to work and grow in diverse contexts, serving as a rabbinic intern at Dayenu, Hebrew SeniorLife, Temple Kol Tikvah and Harvard Hillel. Rabbinical school has helped me cultivate a sense of the sacred through prayer, Torah learning, and being together through joy and sorrow and the cycles of the days, weeks and years. As a poet, songwriter and improv comedian, I also feel sacredness in dive bars where people share art that holds what it means to be human.

I am so honored and excited to join the Reyim community and team, to learn alongside you, and to support and grow Libeynu, post-b’nei mitzvah engagement and this community. I’d love to connect and learn about you and what makes Reyim your spiritual home. Please reach out anytime!