Rabbi Maya Zinkow

Rav Maya is thrilled to be the Senior Jewish Educator at Berkeley Hillel! Maya is west coast-born, midwest-raised, and east coast-schooled, and is happy to be returning to her birthplace in the Bay. She received rabbinic ordination and a Masters in Jewish Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. While studying at JTS, Maya served as a rabbinic intern at the Columbia/Barnard Hillel and at Kehilat Romemu on the upper west side. Before starting her rabbinic studies, Maya graduated from Barnard College with a degree in English literature and creative writing and followed her love of text to the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, where she learned Torah for two years. Maya loves doing things your bubbe might do (speaking Yiddish, embroidering things, wearing comfortable footwear) and wants to know what you’re reading, what you’re watching, and what you’re singing when you think no one is listening.