PRESENTING AVIV SIEGEL AS RABBI AND TEACHER IN ISRAEL
Presented by Cantor Michael Kasper
You can tell a lot about a person simply by knowing the title and lyrics of the song they pick for the AJR Blessing Circle and Semikhah Ceremony.
Aviv Siegel chose“ Love, Serve, and Remember.” Doesn’ t this tell you so much about the man being ordained today as a Rabbi? Doesn’ t it speak volumes about the man’ s vision, about the sort of rabbinate Aviv wants his efforts to be directed toward?
Aviv, born in Israel but having lived in California for a number of years, came to the Academy with a background and expertise in engineering and a successful career in the high-tech digital world. As an entrepreneur he was highly skilled and successful; as a thoughtful thinker he was a mature and soulful seeker. Aviv Siegel was on a path he knew would lead him to a deepening of his already developed sense of the Divine.
Early in his AJR studies, I had the opportunity to speak with Aviv, at length, about ideas, issues, feelings, and suggestions. This was a private conversation, away from the busy classroom, and I came away from this meeting feeling I had spent time with someone for whom quiet discernment was a natural process, one that he was not only familiar with but also comfortable engaging in. This conversation became the first of several important ones we would have over the next few years. Each served a purpose and each was a deepening marker for a mutual respect I could feel grow over the time we spent together.
Before coming to AJR Aviv was deeply immersed in his own spiritual practice. He credits his wife, Relli, for encouraging him to begin a journey down this path and to this day he is a serious student of his own formation. Aviv seeks to refine his temperament and to know, deeply, who he is, where he comes from, and what he stands for. That is a struggle to be proud of and it is a struggle all of us at the Academy are lucky to have witnessed.
Aviv, I am honored you asked me to be your presenter and more so to call you a colleague!
BEIT DIN
Rabbi Matthew Goldstone, PhD- Somekh Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman
18 AJR 2026