Rav James leads and directs the vision of Or HaLev. Ordained by Rav Daniel Landes, with a doctorate in Jewish Studies from the University of Chicago, he has been studying and teaching meditation and Jewish spirituality for over twenty five years. He was the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Romemu Yeshiva and has taught and innovated programs in Jewish thought, mysticism, spiritual practices and meditation at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Haifa University, Yeshivat Hadar and in a variety of settings around the world. He strives to integrate his study with his practice, and to help teach and live Judaism as a spiritual discipline.

Dev Noily serves as Senior Rabbi at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Oakland, California, Lisjan Ohlone territory of Huchiun, where they have led a weekly (now twice weekly) meditation sit since 2013. Dev trained in the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program (2016-17) with teachers Sheila Weinberg, Jordan Bendat Appel and Jeff Roth. They have practiced at Spirit Rock in northern California/Coast Miwok territory, Plum Village, and Blue Cliff Monastery in NY, and have taught at the East Bay Meditation Center.

A devoted mindfulness practitioner and teacher, Rebecca is a core faculty member at the Institute for Jewish spirituality and teaches with Wilderness Torah, Awakened Heart Project, Pardes, and Urban Adamah in addition to Or HaLev. She is the co-founder of the Shevet East Bay Jewish Mindfulness Collective, and co-authored the Mahloket Matters Schools curriculum with the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators. Rebecca lectures at Stanford School of Medicine, and was previously the Director of Student Health & Well-being at Stanford University's Hillel. A student rabbi at ALEPH, Rebecca is passionate about integrating ancestral wisdom traditions with innovative approaches to personal and collective healing and liberation. She teaches Jewish spirituality as an embodied, holistic, and accessible path, with relevant and timely wisdom for all.