Rabbi Eliana Kayelle brings a deep love of education and community as the Bay Area Education and Training Manager. They hope to inspire people to think about how Jewish texts and traditions relate to them here and now—and how they can be used while working for an equitable future.

Eliana is originally from Long Island, NY where they’ve worked as a theater-maker, Jewish educator, and community organizer. They have directed and choreographed productions across the New York area at academic and professional levels. Eliana was on the steering committee and ritual team of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Long Island where they worked on local campaigns and ritual actions. Eliana was also on the Long Island roundtable of Jewish educators for The Jewish Education Project. They worked for Temple Beth El of Huntington as the youth group director and school t’fillah leader. Before that, they were the Assistant Director for Camp Ga’avah, a year-round program for LGBTQ youth. Since relocating to California, Eliana has joined the Camp Tawonga team as their summer ‘22 Jewish Program Director and as an educator for their B’nei Mitzvah program.

Eliana received rabbinical ordination as part of the first cohort of Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary. In spring 2022, Eliana launched You Gotta Give ‘Em Torah, which offers adult education focused on identity, sexuality, and spirituality. Their work has been published by Lilith and HeyAlma.

Eliana is a fat nonbinary queer Jew who believes in collective power and radical listening in order to work towards a future where there is liberation for all people.