Our Clergy
Rabbi Ellen Lippmann is founder and rabbi of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, an 18 year-old progressive community in Brooklyn, NY. Rabbi Lippmann is the former East Coast Director of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and former director of the Jewish Women's Program at the New 14th Street Y in Manhattan.
Rabbi Lippmann was co-chair of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America and continues to serve on the board. She is also on the rabbinic advisory board of J-Street, and served as the first social justice chair for the Women’s Rabbinic Network. She is the founder of the Soup Kitchen at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, and co-founder of the eight year-old Children of Abraham Peace Walk: Jews, Christians and Muslims Walking Together in Brooklyn in Peace.
Rabbi Lippmann was ordained in 1991 by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and also received there the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature from Boston University and an MS in Library Science from Simmons College. Rabbi Lippmann and her now-legal partner, Kathryn Conroy, are long-time Brooklyn residents and believe to be absolutely true what Kolot Chayeinu member Evan Ahearn z"l once said in jest: "IT DON'T GET ANY BETTER THAN BROOKLYN!"
Cantor Lisa B. Segal was a founding member of Kolot Chayeinu and served as Music Director and Hazzan for over 10 years until she was formally ordained as a Cantor on May 12th, 2011, at the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR) www.ajrsem.org. Both on and off the bimah, Cantor Segal feels proud and humble to participate in the full range of Kolot’s congregational work in partnership with Rabbi Ellen Lippmann. Over the past number of years she appeared in “Off the Bimah!”, a series of fundraising concerts with many Kolot musicians and other friends. She feels blessed to be in musical partnerships with these brilliant musicians who elevate all of us with their gifts, with special thanks to Kolot’s own Marty Ehrlich, Raul Rothblatt, and Marc Ribot, and dear Kolot friends Eve Sicular, Roy Nathanson, Alicia Jo Rabins, Zoe B. Zak, Judy Ribnick and Cantor Natasha Hirschhorn. Cantor Segal was a featured artist in Zero Church: the Prayer Project with Suzzy and Maggie Roche (of the Roches) presented at St. Ann ’s Warehouse in 2002 and spent 15 years as a non-profit arts administrator at the Brooklyn Philharmonic/BAM and St. Ann’s Warehouse. She is a proud member of the Women Cantors Network. She is married to Kolot’s Maggid Ha Makom (storyteller of the place), writer and performer Arthur Strimling, and stars as a lead character in one of the world’s best love stories! She and Arthur teach and perform together at synagogues and venues across the country. (photo by Edwin Davis)
Cantor Segal's favorite Jewish Music
Student Rabbi Scott Fox was born and raised in San Diego, California. He attended the San Diego Jewish Academy and the University of California, in Jewish Literature where Scott was a Teaching Assistant. While at the University, Scott co-founded the Student Coalition for Unity, a dialog group for Muslims and Jews. For his scholarship, Scott was awarded the Haas/Koshland Memorial Award of the San Francisco Jewish Federation, the Rubenstein Family Scholarship, the Rose Biller Scholarship and was elected as the San Diego County Jewish Student Scholar. Scott continued on to the rabbinical program at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he has been awarded the Jefferey E. Schwarz scholarship for two consecutive years. This past year Scott has served as the Pastoral Care Rabbinic Intern for DOROT USA, serving as the sole rabbinic presence for their thousands of Manhattan seniors and this summer and as Rabbinic Intern at Temple Sinai in Atlanta, Georgia. Aside from his studies in the Jewish world Scott has a passion for playing music, a commitment to the environment and great love of literature.
