ABOUT US
Our Mission
At Nefesh, our mission is to weave Jewish culture, rituals, and values into everyday life. We believe Jewish wisdom offers universal values that strengthen humanity, relationships, and society as a whole. Our approach to Judaism is accessible and inclusive, aiming to transcend the usual barriers that separate people into secular or religious identities.
Our community is committed to:
Making the world a better place by living the progressive Jewish values of environmental, economic and social justice.
Creating joyful, meaningful experiences for both children and adults.
Welcoming each other into our homes and other spaces for Jewish gatherings.
Celebrating Jewish holidays and rituals together, fusing secular Jewish culture with modern religious practice.
Educating ourselves, our children, and our non-Jewish neighbors.
Bridging gaps between those who participate in organized religion and those who do not.
Our Story
"Before I came to this, I didn't know I wanted it. This has been missing in my world.”
- Daisy F.
Nefesh started on January 2nd, 2021, in a living room in Shaftsbury, VT. Rabbi Jarah Greenfield and Shira Sternberg gathered six families to cook kubeh (a Jewish Iraqi stew) and challah to help those facing food insecurity. From this humble beginning, we’ve grown to include over 60 families across three states.
Shira and Jarah share a vision of a Jewish community that is engaging, supportive, and open to all. Being Jewish today means being part of a diverse community with varied cultural, religious, and socio-economic expressions. We believe in the power of Jewish community to ground us in our values and help us thrive. While recognizing the decline in traditional synagogue membership and engagement, we see Jewish life flourishing in homes and civic spaces. Synagogues, which have been vital to generations of Jewish communities, can serve as community hubs for cultural, spiritual, and educational activities, inviting people from all backgrounds to participate. In these times of rising antisemitism and global conflict, building strong community bonds and supportive relationships is crucial. Nefesh is committed to fostering these connections, educating one another, and overcoming hatred to build a better world. At Nefesh, all are welcome, Jewish or not, to share in our vibrant community and help create a more just and joyful world.
Our Team
Rabbi Jarah Greenfield: A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Greenfield has served congregations in various states and holds a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College. She studied at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education and has served as Education Director for several Jewish education programs including B’nai Jeshurun in NYC. She has served on the board of Rabbis for Human Rights - North America, has taught humanities and religion courses at Southern Vermont College, and has worked in interfaith settings as a hospice spiritual counselor. She serves as rabbi of Nefesh and Director of Youth and Family Learning for Congregation Beth Israel of the Berkshires. With a background in Jewish education and a love for art, music, and spirituality, she shapes enriching learning experiences for children, families and adults. She’s the proud Ima of an amazing 10-year-old and calls North Bennington home.
Shira Sternberg: A Bennington College graduate who lives in Shaftsbury, VT, with her three young children. Shira is also the proud stepmother of two children who live in Israel. Shira worked as a political organizer in college and joined Tammy Duckworth’s bid for Illinois’s 6th district congressional seat in 2006, and Barack Obama’s bid for the White House in 2008. After the election, she accepted a position in the Obama Administration at the EPA and worked a couple of short gigs at the White House. When her father died in 2012, Shira quit her job in politics, ran a brief business in gift-giving, and moved to Israel, where she lived from 2014 to 2020. While based in Tel-Aviv, Shira often traveled to Palestine and participated in trips with J-Street, Walk Palestine, and Breaking the Silence. She studied Hebrew with almost every ulpan in Tel-Aviv, her favorite one being, “This is not an Ulpan.” In 2016 Shira married into an Iraqi Jewish Israeli family and found a new love for Mizrahi culture. When she isn’t chasing toddlers, helping Rabbi Jarah run Nefesh, or assisting with the needs of her children’s school board activities, Shira loves to cook, run, hike, and surround herself with the arts. She also studies modern Hebrew and bakes challah every week.
Why we started Nefesh
Jarah grew up in a secular Jewish home in Miami, Florida, where the organized Jewish community felt like a distant, unfamiliar world. Her family didn’t attend synagogue, but she loved lighting Hanukkah candles and celebrating her friends' bar and bat mitzvahs. At 11, when she expressed her desire for her own bat mitzvah experience, she was turned away from a synagogue after failing an interview with the cantor because she couldn’t identify Moses— you know, the guy who led the Israelites out of slavery to freedom. Her next attempt to spiritually connect was in college where she built a sukkah on the main lawn of campus that blew down the following morning, but she was undeterred. She replaced the sukkah with a giant tent-like art installation in the shape of a tallit (prayer shawl) and accepted a job at a local synagogue teaching kindergarteners about Jewish holidays and celebrating some of them with her class of 5-year-olds for the very first time. Eventually, she discovered her spiritual and vocational calling in becoming a rabbi and creating Jewish learning opportunities that allow children and adults to explore, create, laugh, cry and truly be themselves because it doesn’t matter how old you are or how many mistakes you make when you want to learn about your Judaism.
Shira is inspired by the progressive Jewish values she was exposed to during her upbringing in Southern Vermont. She is dedicated to raising her Ashkenazi and Mizrahi children as cultural and religious Jews in a similarly vibrant Jewish community. She draws inspiration from life on an Israeli kibbutz, where secular progressive members are steeped in Jewish culture and life runs on a Jewish calendar. Shira is committed to building a community in Southern Vermont that immerses her children, herself, and others in the depth and beauty of Jewish life.
