Burt JacobsonRabbi Burt Jacobson was a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he studied with Abraham Joshua Heschel, and was mentored in Kabbalah and Hasidism by Rabbi Arthur Green. After moving to California in the early 970s, with Reb Zalman Schacter and others, Jacobson initiated the Jewish Renewal Movement, which has had a great deal of success in reintroducing Jewish spirituality and mysticism in the U.S.

In 1984, Jacobson founded Kehilla Community Synagogue in Berkeley, which presently has a membership of 560 families. One of his tasks at Kehilla was the creation of new Jewish liturgy that was both universal and non-patriarchal. Out of this work he co-edited with Rabbi Leila Berner Or Chadash: New Paths for Shabbat Morning, the first liturgy for the Jewish Renewal movement, published by P'nai Or Religious Fellowship. Rabbi Burt was also instrumental in designing the curriculum for the Rabbinic Training Program of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal.

Jacobson has been a student of the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, for fifty years. He lives in El Sobrante, California with his wife, Rabbi Diane Elliot.

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