Rabbi Julie Greenberg

Rabbi Julie Greenberg, Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City's dynamic rabbi, was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical college in 1989. She is also a therapist trained by the Council for Relationships, specializing in interfaith issues, family dynamics and spiritual development. She works with individuals, couples and families in her Counseling with Soul practice.

Rabbi Greenberg has a commitment to building caring community as a way to heal the world. "We are creating a congregation where people are welcome to bring their longing and their hope for a nourishing Jewish home. Together we build a meaningful house of God."

Greenberg has published widely on many topics relating to spirituality and family life. She is the mother of five children.

Greenberg says, "Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City is a place where your gifts will be appreciated. There are so many interesting things going on: really creative prayer services that make the best of the tradition relevant; great people who enjoy a good time together; projects that allow us to share our good fortune with others. We stand by each other during times of great sorrow and great joy. It's a very special community."

Visit Rabbi Julie's Greenberg's website.

Cantor Sharon Sigal

Sharon Sigal, our music director and High Holy Days cantor, received her musical training at Carnegie Mellon University, where she received a BFA in Vocal Performance.  She later earned a Masters Degree in Creative Art Therapy (with a focus on music and voice) from Hahnemann Medical College (now a part of Drexel University).  Her experience with the power of music in Jewish prayer came early.  “Growing up with my dad, Rabbi Phillip Sigal, z’’l, I had numerous opportunities to attend services and to observe the interactions between leaders and congregation.  When I stood on the bima at Temple Beth Zion in Bloomfield, NJ, for my bat mitzvah, I felt the power of connecting to the Mystery as well as the congregation through chant and prayer.”  During her studies at CMU, Sharon served as cantor at Dor Hadash, a lay-led Reconstructionist congregation.  She was the first woman to serve as a cantor in Pittsburgh.

After Sharon earned her MCAT from Hahnemann Medical College she remained in Philadelphia, where she uses both degrees in her work as a teacher and performer.  Today, Sharon teaches voice, piano, ear training, performance and more to a variety of students, some of whom are rabbis and cantors.  She believes that everyone has a unique voice and helps her students care for and nurture their vocal instruments. 

For the last seven years, Sharon has served as High Holy Day cantor for Congregation Ner Tamid in Cherry Hill.  She feels blessed now to serve Leyv Ha-Ir and looks forward to many sacred musical and prayerful experiences together with Rabbi Julie and the congregation.  Sharon writes:  “I pray that when we raise our voices together, we will do so with the awareness described so beautifully by Rabbi A.J. Heschel:

It is [our] task … to reveal what is concealed; to be the voice of the glory, to sing its silence, to utter, so to speak, what is in the heart of all things. The glory is here—invisible and silent. [We are] the voice; [our] task is to be the song. The cosmos is a congregation in need of a Cantor”.