MEET

Rabbi Micah Streiffer

Hi, I’m Micah. I’m a rabbi, teacher, parent, halfway decent piano player, Star Trek fan, vegetarian sushi enthusiast, and an eternal student.

I’m here because I love Jewish learning: studying ancient sources; discussing and debating ideas; seeking glimpses of ourselves, our values, and our traditions in our sacred texts. I love that feeling when you’re reading or discussing a text and suddenly you realize that a hundred generations of fellow Jews have also read and discussed it. That they were also searching for meaning, connection, and community – and that we’re part of something ancient and holy.

Believe it or not, I fell in love with Judaism in Utica, Mississippi. That was where I went to summer camp as a kid. Growing up Jewish in the south and moving around a lot, it wasn’t always easy to feel at home in any one place. So Judaism became that home. The music, the ritual, the community and the learning – I loved it all. That’s what made me want to become a rabbi.

These days, I serve as a congregational rabbi in the Toronto area and I am pursuing a Ph.D. in Jewish thought at McMaster University. I also founded and run a virtual Beit Midrash (learning center) that brings together progressive Jews to study Jewish texts together. My interests are broad, but include Rabbinic texts, philosophy, ritual and prayer, the environment, and liberal Jewish thought and interpretation.