Clergy
Rabbi Michael Fessler
A native of suburban Maryland and small-town Wisconsin, Rabbi Michael Fessler graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2001. Before attending RRC, he studied biology at Brown University and worked at an early electronic publishing startup in Providence, RI. After graduation, he participated in the Melton Senior Educators program at Hebrew University, focusing on Jewish adult education. (He has also studied at the Conservative Yeshiva and Mechon Schecter.) He served for twelve years as rabbi and co-rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tikvah-Beth Israel in Sewell, New Jersey in partnership with his spouse, Rabbi Miriam Hyman. Combining his technical skills with his rabbinic background, for six years he served as Associate Director of Online Content for Reconstructing Judaism (the central organization of the Reconstructionist movement).
Rabbi Miriam Hyman - Rosh Tefillah (Prayer Leader)
Rabbi Hyman earned a BA in Biology at SUNY-Binghamton and an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. She has taught Jewish Studies in a variety of settings, helped found a Jewish Family Education program in Rhode Island, and served as Education Director at Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley, CA. While attending The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Hyman served as High Holy Day cantor at Congregation Tiferes B'nai Israel in Warrington, PA., and as bar/bat mitzvah coordinator, teacher and Jewish family educator at the Germantown Jewish Centre in Philadelphia.
Rabbi Hyman is married to Rabbi Michael Fessler. Rabbis Hyman and Fessler served as co-rabbis of Congregation B'nai Tikvah—Beth Israel in Sewell, NJ from 2004-2014. Rabbis Hyman and Fessler are the proud parents of Ariella, Adora and Tamar.