Levite 2011-2012
Aliza grew up in Denver, Colorado and found her spiritual home in the Jewish Renewal community of Boulder (Nevei Kodesh) learning with Rabbi Tirzah Firestone and Reb Zalman Schachter‑Shalomi z”l. Their teachings introduced her to a Judaism that was musical, embodied, and personally transformative. Because she experienced such powerful moments of meaning as a young person in synagogue, she knew early on that she wanted to become a rabbi.
In high school, Aliza began singing with the Denver Opera Company. While pursuing a degree in vocal music at Vanderbilt University, Aliza discovered that her deepest passion was not performing music but rather using music to build community and to help people feel connected, uplifted, and seen.
Aliza continued her studies at Machon Pardes in Jerusalem, with the Jerusalem-based musical prayer community Nava Tehila, and at Hebrew College, where she became the first person ordained as both a rabbi and a cantor through the Rav‑Hazzan program in 2017. Over the last decade at Temple Emanuel, she has focused her work on engagement and relationship‑building—founding Yisod for those in their 20s and 30s, co‑founding Gesher for those in their 30s and 40s, strengthening young family and teen programming, and helping members connect with the people, programs, and spiritual experiences that make their hearts sing.
Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger feels profoundly blessed to be part of the Temple Emanuel family. The greatest joys of her life have unfolded there: she was ordained in her first year there; she met her husband, Solomon, in the Gann Chapel while officiating the wedding of his high school friend; Temple Emanuel is where she and Solomon found the strength and support they needed to persevere through infertility and IVF; and today, both of their children are happy pupils in the Temple Emanuel Preschool and love coming up to the bimah on Shabbat.
One thing I learned from Nava Tehila:
The power of inviting every person to be fully present, and the magic we can create together through music and prayer.
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