Maria grew up in Massachusetts, blessed by the love and care of her parents and sister. Her family taught her the value of gathering for shared meals, showing up for each other, and greeting people with hugs. She has never lost her childhood delight in chipmunks, salamanders and wild blueberries; the created world continues to be one of her greatest sources of wonder.
Learning has always lit up Maria’s eyes and opened up new paths. She received her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her J.D. from Yale Law School. During Maria’s legal career, she worked at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and as a public defender representing death-sentenced prisoners. Before that, she was the executive director of the Moscow-based Russian Justice Initiative, a human rights litigation project. From her clients, Maria learned to center dignity in the face of injustice, locate shared humanity and hold people’s stories with care.
Building a Jewish home with her wife and children made Maria fall in love once more: this time with Torah. Jewish tradition is the most compelling framework she knows for understanding the world and our obligations in it. As a rabbi, she is thrilled to share the transformative power of Torah to make meaning in our lives.
During her time at RRC, Maria also studied at BINA in Tel Aviv, became a mikveh guide through Mayyim Hayyim, completed a two-year clergy certificate in congregational and family systems at the Council for Relationships, and received a master’s concentration in Israel Education from the iCenter. For five years, Maria has had the privilege of serving as student rabbi at Germantown Jewish Centre, where she has found great joy in connecting with people of all generations.
Maria is overcome with awe to hold both the beauty of the words of our sacred texts and the expansive possibilities of the spaces between the letters.
Maria is grateful to the Source of All for sustaining her and for making this day possible, and to her teachers and classmates for their wisdom, support and humor!
Maria’s family and her extended families are the greatest of the many blessings in her life.
מה יקר חסדך א־לקים ובני אדם בצל כנפיך יחסיון
How precious is Your love, Gd! Human beings shelter in the shadow of Your wings. — Psalm 36:8
רבונו של עולם אני שלך וחלומותי שלך
Great One of the universe, I am Yours, and my dreams are Yours!— Berakhot 55b
