CONGREGATION SHERITH ISRAEL CLERGY
Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller was ordained in May, 2004 at the New York campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Born in San Francisco, she grew up in Marin County where her family is a member of Congregation Rodef Sholom. Although she would often have preferred baseball practice to Hebrew school, Julie fell in love with Hebrew, which became a gateway for her understanding about Judaism. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley (1990), where she earned her B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies and a minor in Hebrew. She spent one year of college at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and returned to Israel following her degree to study Jewish text at Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies.
Prior to entering rabbinical school, Julie directed Tochnit Kesher, a high school Jewish education program in the East Bay, as well as founding and directing an intensive community service program for high school students during their school breaks. She directed the junior and senior high youth programs at the Marin JCC for two years. She also taught religious school for many years for 3rd grade through high school and substitute taught at a pre-school during college breaks.
Singing, celebrating Shabbat and working with others toward a vision of social justice are highlights of what Julie loves about Judaism. An avid bicyclist, Julie rode from San Francisco to LA in the California AIDS Ride in 1999, and enjoyed riding over the Brooklyn Bridge to school while she lived in New York. She is married to Michael Saxe-Taller, now program director of Congregation Kol Shofar in Marin, and the mother of Samuel, who was born in New York in 2003.