Beit Tefilah Israeli staff

Clergy

Rabbi Esteban Gottfried

Founder, Rabbi and CEO

Esteban Gottfried is one of the founders of the “Beit tefilah Israeli" (Israeli Prayer House) and leads the community and the organization that has grown in its wake since its establishment. Esteban was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1965. He grew up in a traditional Zionist home, and was educated in Jewish schools and the youth movement of the traditional movement, where he was introduced to a rich and meaningful community life. The rabbi of the community and founder of the Beit Midrash for Rabbis in Latin America, Rabbi Marshall Meyer, made a particularly deep impression on him, with whom he studied in various settings, and who became a model and source of influence in his life. Esteban immigrated to Israel in 1983 and studied at the Humanities Preparatory School at Tel Aviv University, at the ’Beit Zvi“ and ”Nissan Nativ” drama schools, and at the Royal Court Theater Drama School in London. After completing his studies, and for about 20 years, he was an active figure in theater, film and television in Israel, as an actor, playwright, director and screenwriter. Among other things, he wrote and starred in the film ”Itzik Finkelstein’s Revenge,“ which earned him 7 Ophir Awards, including two personal awards as an actor and screenwriter. Following his rabbinical involvement in the leadership of an Israeli prayer house, Esteban turned to rabbinical studies in the Israeli Rabbinical Program of HUC (Hebrew Union College) in Jerusalem. In 2012, he received his rabbinical ordination from them. He received another ordination in 2016 from the Israeli Rabbinical Program of the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Midrashah in Oranim. Esteban is one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal Communities Network and a member of the network’s central team, which brings together over 40 new Israeli prayer communities that are not affiliated with religious denominations. Esteban lives in Tel Aviv, is married to Ruth and has two children, Maya and Toby.

Rabbi Dr. Rani Jaeger

Founder, Rabbi

Rani Jaeger is one of the founders of an Israeli prayer house in Tel Aviv and currently serves as its co-leader. He holds a BA in general history and Israeli thought from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he also studied for a MA in American history. He wrote his doctoral dissertation in the Department of Interpretation and Culture at Bar-Ilan University, which was entitled Jewish-Israeli culture in the eyes of Avraham Shlonsky, under the supervision of Prof. Avi Sagi. Rani is a graduate of the advanced Beit Midrash of the Shalom Hartman Institute, was an associate director and co-founder of the Bari Program, and directed the School for Teaching Israeli Culture. He currently leads the Tanakh Project – a new initiative to improve Bible teaching and raise its value in the eyes of students in public schools in Israel. As part of his work in the field of Jewish renewal in Israel, Rani was the planner and first director of the "Gvanim" program for promoting Jewish pluralism in Israel, which was founded and funded by the San Francisco Federation. Rani is a graduate of the first cohort of the Israeli Rabbinate Program (Hartman Institute, Midrashah Ba'Oranim). He served as a faculty member at Alma College, in the "Ofakim" program at Tel Aviv University, and spent a year as a guest lecturer at "Pidea", the Institute for Jewish Studies in Stockholm, Sweden. He lives in Jerusalem with Inbal and their four children.

Rabbi Rivi Dror

Community Rabbi

Rivi Dror joined the staff of Beit tefilah Israeli in 2023 as a community rabbi. Throughout her years of work in the field of Judaism, she has been involved in teaching, guiding, and facilitating Jewish-Israeli culture in a variety of institutions and communities in Israel and abroad. She began her professional career in the field of theater, earning a bachelor's degree in community theater at Tel Aviv University, a certificate in combined arts at the School of Visual Theater in Jerusalem, and a master's degree in dramaturgy at Brooklyn College in New York. During her stay in the United States, she became acquainted with open and egalitarian streams of Judaism that celebrate the values of world improvement and humanism, which paved the way for her choice to engage in pluralistic Judaism in Israel. Over the years, she worked and developed at the TALI Foundation and the Midrasha in Oranim, and led the Jewish-Israeli cultural activities at the "Shvilim" Democratic Educational Center for over a decade. She created theater workshops around Jewish values, led "Klevet Shabbat" meetings, mentored kindergarten teachers and early childhood teams, and led a wide variety of educational and cultural programs, including bar and bat mitzvah programs at the Midrasha in Oranim and at the traditional community "Darchey Noam" in Pardes Hanna. Rivi is a graduate of the third cycle of the Israeli Rabbinical Seminary of the Hartman Institute and the Midrasha in Oranim, lives in Pardes Hanna, is a mother of two daughters, and is married to Amir.

Atalia Lavi

Cantor and musical director

Athaliah Lavie is the cantor of an Israeli prayer house, singer and composer. Athaliah, born in 1986, originally from Ramat Hasharon, graduated from Rimon High School in 2009. As part of her military service, she served as a soloist in the IDF Orchestra. She is currently a music teaching student at the Levinsky Seminary and performs throughout the country in collaboration with many musicians in a diverse repertoire, and sings with the ensemble that performs her songs. As usual, she records with many Israeli pop musicians. Athaliah has been a musician and cantor in an Israeli prayer house since 2010, and has even composed several texts from the siddur.