Coffee and noshes to start your Shabbat day. We will learn, we will pray, and then we’ll eat some more and maybe learn some more or pray some more with these extraordinary leaders.

Jessica Kate Meyer received rabbinic ordination from Hebrew College. She studies and performs Jewish music from Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions. Most recently she was Rabbi/Hazzan at the Kitchen in San Francisco and, before that, Rabbi and Musical Director at Romemu in New York. Rabbi Meyer began her career in film, theater, and television projects in Europe and the United States: most notably, in a principal role in Roman Polanski’s acclaimed 2002 film, The Pianist.

Basya Schechter is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, cantor, and music teacher. She is the Hazzan at Romemu, primarily serving Romemu Brooklyn. Basya is the lead singer and founder of the world/folk rock band Pharaoh’s Daughter and has released two solo albums. Raised in the Hasidic Jewish community of Borough Park, Schechter left Orthodoxy after high school but maintained a love for the traditional Jewish music of her youth.

Michael Paley served as the scholar in residence and director of the Jewish Resource Center of the UJA-Federation of New York for twenty years. He also served as vice president and faculty member at the Wexner Heritage Foundation, an organization dedicated to education and leadership programs in the international Jewish community. He also was founder and first director of the Edgar M. Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel, a program that brings together outstanding students from diverse Jewish backgrounds. Recently not retired, Rabbi Paley has continued his work in Hungary re-birthing Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Rabbi Paley was the second Rabbi to receive Smicha (ordination) from R’ Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.