Phyllis Ocean Berman (born 1942) is the founder of th
Riverside Language Program
in New York City for adult immigrants and refugees. Opening in 1979, she traveled from her home in West

Mount Airy, Philadelphia Mount Airy is a neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. __TOC__ Geography Mount Airy is bounded on the northwest by the Cresheim Valley, which is part of Fairmount Park. Beyond this lies Chestnut Hill. On t ...

via

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

to the school in New York City so that newly arrived immigrants could receive an intensive English-language education. She was its director until her retirement in 2016. She is a teacher and prayer leader in the

Jewish Renewal Jewish Renewal () is a recent movement in Judaism which endeavors to reinvigorate modern Judaism with Kabbalistic, Hasidic, and musical practices. Specifically, it seeks to reintroduce the "ancient Judaic traditions of mysticism and meditation, ...

movement as well as a political activist who writes about and has been arrested for non-violently protesting for immigrant rights. Berman has been actively involved in the

movement, serving as Director of the Summer Program of the Elat Chayyim Center for Healing and Renewal, co-leading retreats for the Awakened Heart Project and at the Hazon/ Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, and teaching at ALEPH kallot. She was ordained by ALEPH in 2003 and has been recognized for her

spiritual activism Spiritual activism is a practice that brings together the otherworldly and inward-focused work of spirituality and the outwardly-focused work of activism (which focuses on the conditions of the material or physical world). Spiritual activism a ...

. She has co-authored books with her husband Rabbi

Arthur Waskow Arthur Ocean Waskow (born Arthur I. Waskow; 1933) is an American author, political activist, and rabbi associated with the Jewish Renewal movement. Education and early career Waskow was born in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland. He receiv ...

including ''Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World'', ''A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral As a Spiritual Journey'', ''Freedom Journeys: Tales of Exodus & Wilderness across Millennia'', and ''The Looooong Narrow Pharaoh & the Midwives Who Gave Birth to Freedom''. Her articles have been published in magazines and online.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Phyllis American Jewish Renewal rabbis Jewish Renewal women rabbis Living people 1942 births 21st-century American rabbis