Meet our Fellows!
Dana Bederson
Dana is a hardworking, resilient individual who is passionate about music, education, Judaism, and social justice. She is a multi-talented URJ camp songleader and soloist, working at congregations across the East Coast. As a Jew of Color, she is deeply committed to building an inclusive, welcoming community for everybody. Dana is a current 4th-year Cantorial Student at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music.
Rebeca Carrillo
Rebeca Carrillo was born and raised in Guatemala and is the daughter of the founders of the reform Jewish community in Guatemala City. For many years, she worked in collaboration with the Latin American Reform movement (UJR) in developing local and regional programming. At the age of 23, she served as the president of her Guatemalan Jewish community, making her one of the youngest board presidents to serve a congregation in the region ever. She has an MA in Hebrew Letters from HUC-JIR and a Master’s Certificate in Jewish Organizational Leadership from the Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management. Rebeca’s two-year student pulpit was at Congregation Brith Sholem in Ogden, Utah. She also served as a Spiritual Counselor at the sober living residency program Beit T’shuvah in Los Angeles, and worked as the intern rabbi at AMMUD the JOC Torah Academy initiative. Upon ordination, Rebeca will be the Jewish Chaplain at Loyola Marymount University in LA.
Grace Elizabeth Dy
Grace Elizabeth Dy (they/them) is a first-year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College. They most recently served as the inaugural Jewish chaplain at Seattle University and as a Leading Light Fellow with the LUNAR Collective, where they organized community programming by and for Asian Jews in Seattle and nationwide. Grace Elizabeth earned a B.A. in Comparative Religion and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Washington, where they later worked as the Events and Outreach Manager for the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies. They also have an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and served as a mental health clinician at Sound Behavioral Health. Grace Elizabeth seeks to cultivate a rabbinate grounded in an integrated commitment to mental health and holistic care, communal connections, and the celebration of Jewish diversity in all its forms.
Maetal Gerson
Maetal Gerson is a rising fourth-year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She is an educator and community organizer passionate about building vibrant Jewish communities and advancing social and climate justice. She has taught learners of all ages through institutions including JTS Prozdor teen program, Ammud: The Jews of Color Torah Academy, Camp Ramah, Hillel, and multiple synagogue communities. Maetal previously served as a leadership and development rabbinic intern with Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, helping cultivate Jewish leadership for climate justice, specifically among the Jews of Color community. She is also a participant in the Milstein Interfaith Fellowship, where she engages in interfaith learning and relationship-building across religious communities.
Marques Hollie
Marques Hollie (they/he) is an operatically-trained vocalist, ritual leader, and theatre maker, who has been telling (and singing!) stories for as long he can remember. He began singing professionally in the late aughts and has performed more than twenty operatic roles and on stages ranging from Opera Omaha to New York Fashion Week runways. Marques believes that Jewish practice and ritual are expansive, resilient containers and they enjoy exploring their identities as a Queer, Black, Jewish person through original songs and niggunim, liturgy, and theatrical work such as Go Down, Moshe; a work-in-progress monodrama exploring the Passover narrative through the stories of formerly enslaved people, the musical tradition of Negro spirituals, and song used and created during the civil rights era. Following a two-year course of study, Marques received ordination as a Maggid (sacred storyteller), and is entering his penultimate year of rabbinical school. In his spare time, Marques takes pole and aerial classes, plays dodgeball, and dreams about playing the Baker in Into The Woods.
Adrian Marcos
Adrian Marcos is a second-year, soon-to-be third-year student at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. Born in Texas to Army parents, Adrian spent their life in various states and countries; he currently calls Northern Virginia “home.” They completed their undergraduate studies in 219 at San Diego State University, earning a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (with a focus in Biology, English, and Religious Studies). Prior to pursuing rabbinical school, Adrian worked as the office and communications manager for Agudas Achim Congregation of Northern Virginia.
Adrian is passionate about all things Jewish. His identity as a Mexican-Filipino Jew shapes the way that he engages with his Judaism, as well as the conversations that he has with others. They believe deeply in the power of learning from others and using that power to create warm, welcoming, and accessible spaces where people can explore and develop their love for Judaism.
When not digging through Hebrew dictionaries or working in his capacity as the rabbinic intern at Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles, Adrian can be found knitting, crocheting, drashing about Jewish themes that appear in certain video games, or writing fiction with Jewish individuals and/or people of colour as protagonists.
Ziggy Valdez
Ziggy Valdez (they/them) is a Queer Mexican Jew currently studying at Hebrew Seminary, a Chicago-based rabbinical school rooted in accessibility. They were raised in a military family, being a proud Jew in every place they landed, and building a top notch game of Jewish Geography. Their love of learning and building community has led to their current role as a traveling educator for Tzedek America, where they lead over 300 students a year on immersive educational journeys. Ziggy is deeply committed to uplifting and highlighting those who live in the margins of the margins, and hopes to gain the skills needed to create a radically accepting community during their time in the JOC Becoming Clergy Fellowship.
Tony Westbrook
Tony J. Westbrook, Jr. grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and holds a degree in communication studies from Fontbonne University, along with certificates in Judaic studies and experiential Jewish education from the Pardes Institute. He is a student at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. Tony is passionate about building inclusive Jewish communities through education, storytelling, and justice work.
Dalia Woods
Dalia W comes to the Klei Kodesh fellowship in pursuit of the rabbinate through the Jewish Theological Seminary. As an alum of JOIN’s national fellowship focused on community organizers, Dalia seeks to serve the needs of “the whole person”. A Houston native with a Texas-sized personality, Dalia moved to Chicago in 2012, where she earned a BA in Anthropology and Sociology from Loyola University. She is set on rooting activism and organizing work with a spiritual leadership foundation. An artist, a writer, and a student of life, Dalia brings with her a refreshing perspective and desire for unity with relentless accountability, not only to the bimah but everywhere that she is recognized.
Hadasah Yaqob-Johnson
Hadasah Yaqob-Johnson is a native Texan and relocated to the Philadelphia area to pursue the rabbinate at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. By training, she is an educator specializing in EC-12 Special Education services, teaching courses in the sciences, mathematics, and English language arts and reading. She has also excelled in previous careers in financial management and administration.Yaqob-Johnson earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at The University of Texas at Dallas, concentrating in Healthcare and Management. She has committed her time to volunteering, with memberships in national service organizations and fellowships with foundations focusing on repairing communities through health. She believes her rabbinical career will focus on Food Justice and Jewish Outreach, uniting several pillars of Judaism within her purpose: Tikkun Olam, Hachnasat Orchim, Maakhal Revi’im, and servant leadership. She firmly believes that Jewish community is anywhere where Jews are, and that community is holy and necessary. Hadasah lives with her husband Ron, three young children, and a pet cat named Cleo, and loves to cook for her family and friends, talk about Torah, and write poetry.
