Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann grew up on the South Side of Chicago, attended K.A.M. Isaiah Israel, and graduated from U-High. She graduated from Stanford University with Honors in Religious Studies and Philosophy, and was ordained by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in 2010. Rabbi Heydemann was the first Revson Rabbinic Fellow at IKAR, a dynamic Jewish spiritual community in Los Angeles, where, from 2006-2011, she was involved as a congregant, musician and finally as a rabbi.  She in the recent cohort of CLAL’s Rabbis Without Borders fellowship and is a 2013 ROI Fellow.  She was named one of Chicago’s 36 Under 36 by JUF’s OyChicago, and one of the Top 20 Real Rabbis by myjewishlearning.org in 2012.

Interested in creating spiritual experiences that integrate the spirit, body and mind, that meld music and harmony with intellectual rigor, Lizzi has been a student of many traditions, from early Christian mysticism to Hinduism to Buddhism, every flavor of Judaism, and ultimately has found her place among religiously traditional, spiritually dynamic, and socially progressive Jewish communities. She developed and performed music with the Nava Tehilah Levites in Jerusalem, and the IKAR Davening Team in Los Angeles. Lizzi has worked closely with the Jewish Farm School, the American Jewish World Service, Hazon, and Avodah, all organizations doing transformational work in the realms of environmental sustainability, local and global human rights.

When Lizzi returned to Chicago in Summer of 2011, she realized that Chicago lacked what Los Angeles and New York have become known for: young, dynamic spiritual communities that resonate with the next generation, as well as people who have felt on the fringes of the Jewish community: queer Jews, people in interfaith relationships, spiritual seekers, Jews of color, Jews by choice. Mishkan was born out of, and seeks to fill, this gap on Chicago’s spiritual landscape. If we’re doing our job right, you will walk out of an experience at Mishkan knowing that Judaism is alive with Spirit, connection, spiritual and intellectual challenge, and moral awakening.

Mishkan meets for davening/prayer on the second and last Friday night of the month: on the last Friday at Anshe Emet Synagogue, and once a month someplace else.

Connect with Lizzi at rabbi@mishkanchicago.org

Follow RLH on Twitter: @reblizzi

Hear more of her music here.