Levite 2012-2014
Cantor Laura Stein, LCSW is a cantor, social worker, and researcher interested in how Jewish communities can help people live lives of greater wholeness, meaning, and flourishing. Music and prayer have been at the center of Laura’s Jewish life since childhood and eventually led her to the cantorate and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where she was ordained in 2018.
Along the way, her time leading and singing with Nava Tehila helped shape how she thinks about prayer, community, and the power of music to create meaningful spiritual experiences. She remains incredibly grateful for her time with Nava Tehila and considers the community one of the most formative experiences of her life. She is especially grateful to have been included as a vocalist on the group’s 2016 Havayah album, which she was also fortunate to support financially.
Laura is now finishing her PhD in Practical Theology at Boston University, where her research in the psychology of religion focuses on clergy formation, relational and spiritual development, virtue and justice, and religious trauma and healing. She continues to work as a cantor and clinician while exploring, both academically and personally, how music, research, pastoral care, and social justice can work together to build healthier Jewish communities that thrive.
One thing I learned from Nava Tehila:
How to let the power of communal love, relationships, and sacred purpose nurture and carry my leadership for the sake of the kahal, the prayer, and the music.
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