Meet Our Rabbis

A widely-published poet, essayist and ritualist, Rabbi Dr. Janet Madden was ordained by The Academy for Jewish Religion-California. She is the rabbi of the Jewish Home on the Westside of Los Angeles. She also serves as Rabbi of Providence Saint John’s Medical Center and leads weekly Torah Study for the Malibu Jewish Center, and Synagogue. She is a staff member of the Ben Zakkai Institute.

A former hospice rabbi, Janet is certified in Jewish End of Life practices through the Gamliel Institute. She completed 4 units of Clinical Pastoral Education and is certified in Jewish Spiritual Direction and Jewish Sacred Chant. She earned the Rabbinic Certificate in Gerontology and Palliative Care from Yeshiva University, is a Greenfaith Fellow and was selected for  the Clergy Leadership Cohort of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and is a 2024-25 Fellow of the Amen Institute. She is an ordained Animal Chaplain.

The recipient of a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship and a three-time research fellow of the National Institute for the Humanities, her earned doctorate was conferred by the National University of Ireland.

A dedicated hand quilter and a gardener and herbalist who is deeply invested in relationship with the more-than-human-world, Janet resides with her spouse, dog, cat and flock of backyard chickens.

Rabbi Schaktman received his Rabbinic Ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1989.  Since that time, the heart of his work has been as a congregational rabbi, where he has found enormous satisfaction learning, teaching, caring for members of the community and creating new approaches to meeting the challenges of synagogue life.  As a congregational rabbi, he has served congregations in Houston, Texas; Lake Charles, Louisiana; Livingston Manor, NY; New York City,  and Alexandria, Louisiana.  He was the rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of Honolulu from 2005-2012 and then served as the first rabbi of the OJO.  

Rabbi Schaktman also spent nine years working on the staff of the Union for Reform Judaism at their headquarters in Manhattan as a regional and national consultant in program development, synagogue management and the special needs of small congregations.

Rabbi Schaktman is a proud graduate of Oberlin College. Prior to becoming a rabbi, he also spent two years living in an Israeli Arab village as a community worker in Arab-Jewish relations as a participant in the Interns for Peace program.

In June 2013, Rabbi Schaktman was selected to be a participant in the Alternate Certification for Public School Administrator Program of the state of Hawaii.  He completed his residency as a Vice-Principal of the Niu Valley Middle School, a public school on the island of O’ahu, and was provisionally certified as a school administrator in July 2014.  He later served as the Vice Principal of King William Lunalilo Elementary School, a Title I school in urban Honolulu.  In 2014, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion awarded him the degree Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

Whether in sacred worship or as a public school administrator, in committee meetings or youth group events or his pastoral work, the central goal of his rabbinate has been to study, to teach, and to help others find meaning in their lives through the traditions of Judaism and of western intellectual life.

Rabbi Miriam Cotzin Burg is a dreamer and a doer, a teacher and a learner. She has been inspired and delighted by the adults, children and families with whom she has worked throughout her career. She is thrilled to be returning to serve as Rabbi for the High Holidays at the Oahu Jewish Ohana for the eighth time! Currently, she serves as the founder and CEO of Hava NaBaby, a new, soon-to-be national Jewish childbirth education initiative for expectant parents. Miriam is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. She was ordained in 2002 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion where she also earned a Master’s degree in Jewish Education. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the Honors College at the University of Michigan. She lives in Baltimore City with her husband and her son, Shamir. Her daughter, Eliyah, graduated from high school in June and Miriam still can't believe she doesn't live at home anymore! 

Rabbi Jessica Lenza, also known as the Rebel Rabbi, brings her signature irreverent style to everything she does. Her path to the rabbinate included studying at schools like Pardes, HUC-JIR’s School of Sacred Music, and Leo Baeck College in London. It was from the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College that she received her rabbinic ordination and earned an MA in Jewish studies. Rabbi Lenza has also completed training as a yoga teacher, a maven, and a mikveh guide seamlessly integrating all of these unique and diverse experiences into her rabbinate. As a singer and guitar player, Rabbi Lenza is known for infusing sacred Jewish moments with inspiring melodies. In New York city, she has served communities like the Manhattan JCC, Temple Shaaray Tefila, the Village Temple, the Streicker Center at Temple Emanuel and Congregation B’nai Jeshurun. As a freelance rabbi, she brings unique Jewish experiences to families worldwide including her beloved Hawaiian High Holiday community, OJO. She lives in Manhattan with her pleasantly plump cat, Dolci.