MEET

Chloe Zelkha

Hi there! I'm Chloe. I got excited about creative, learner-led education as a kid after lucking into a special elementary school and a farm-based high school. I have been fortunate to get to spend the last decade designing immersive, transformative programs for teenagers and adults.

A little about where I've been: After graduating from Carleton College with a B.A. in Religion, where I focused on contemporary Jewish theology, I worked as a community organizer through the JOIN for Justice Fellowship and The Food Project in Boston. After that, I served as the Fellowship Director at Urban Adamah in Berkeley, leading semester-long deep dives for young adults into Jewish spirituality, farming, mindfulness, and social justice, and later earned a Masters in Education from Harvard. Following a season of personal loss in 2017, I felt called to grief work and trained as a chaplain at UCSF Mission Bay Hospital, where I offered spiritual care to pediatric and adult patients, and began leading Jewish "grief retreats" annually. I am also a meditation teacher (there was a time I thought I might be a Buddhist nun!) and love exploring what Judaism might have to say about mindfulness.

I love exploring "the big questions," making meaning one-on-one, singing, and laughing over text. I especially enjoy learning with people who are new to Jewish text. What's most important to me is that our learning feels alive! I currently spend my time at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, where I am a Wexner Graduate Fellow.