Rabbi Joanna Katz

Rabbi Joanna Katz (she/her) attended the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and was ordained in 1988. She cofounded Elat Chayyim in 1992. Has worked as a Chaplain in College, Hospital, Psychiatric and Prison settings. She is a Board-Certified Chaplain and an ACPE Certified Educator. Joanna is currently the Certified Educator at Union Theological Seminary where she teaches students who are in a Master of Divinity Program the ‘art of spiritual care’. She is a student of Eastern and Western contemplative practices and teaches meditation regularly. She lives with her family in New York’s Hudson River Valley.

Upcoming Programs by Rabbi Joanna Katz

Exploring the Self Through Jewish and Buddhist Contemplative Practice

Also Rabbi Jeff Roth

August 20 - 24, 2025

The Nature of the Self is naturally a prime phenomenon that is directly encountered through meditation practice. We can learn a lot about the experience of “selfing” by focused attention on each moment of experience. In addition, from certain Buddhist teachings we might learn that there is “no separate self”. A prime teaching from one […]