For over 20 years, Rebecca Leary Safon (she/her) has created sacred space to explore mind, body & breath in community, with nurturing and support. As a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT), Rebecca offers Therapeutic Yoga+Meditation, specializing in yoga for anyone touched by cancer, and yoga/meditation through a Jewish lens. Her classes are available virtually and in studios, schools and centers around the Atlanta metro area. In private practice, Rebecca works with individuals seeking balance in mind, body & breath, through yoga, yoga therapy, meditation, and bodywork.
Rebecca is a member of the Society for Integrative Oncology, serving on the Yoga Special Interest Group, and the Health, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging committee.
Harrison Bleiberg (he/הוא) is a lifelong educator who is passionate about Jewish Education and Inclusion. He is a graduate of Emory University’s Jewish Studies program and has a Masters in Jewish Education through Yeshiva University. While at Emory, he led award-winning education programs and fundraisers for Emory’s LGBTQ+ community and Lost-n-Found Youth. Outside of campus, he student-taught at Atlanta Jewish Academy, completed a fellowship with MEOR, and worked as a marketing intern for JScreen.
Following his graduation from Emory, he moved to Jackson, Mississippi and served as a Program Associate with the Institute of Southern Jewish life where he created, led, and supervised educational programming across several southern Jewish communities. During his tenure, he also served as a project leader in the development of an Adult Education curriculum, now used in over 60 communities across the South.
After two long years of missing Atlanta, he moved back to Smyrna where he served as an Assistant Director of a Day Care, a teacher at Congregation Bet Haverim’s religious school, and is now a full-time Hebrew and Judaics teacher at the Alfred and Adele Davis Academy in Sandy Springs.
Harrison has led educational programs in seventeen different synagogues across the country, been published on MyJewishLearning.com, and has partnered with Moishe House and the Union for Reform Judaism on educational projects serving hundreds of learners.
When he’s not teaching, he enjoys playing guitar, road-tripping across the country, and finding new ways to use his air-fryer.
Janet Ziffer (she/her) has a long history of volunteering in the Atlanta community and beyond. Her volunteer work includes Project Open Hand, AIDS educator at AID Atlanta’s AIDS 101 program, serving on Weinstein Hospice’s board of advisors, and volunteering with Temple Emanu-el regularly to serve clients at the Community Assistance Center. Additionally, along with her husband and several other families, Janet served as a founding member and Secretary for the PHACE Syndrome community, a non-profit organization that supports families impacted by PHACE Syndrome, a rare condition that her son was born with.
A career market researcher, Janet loves learning about what makes humans tick and why they do what they do. Janet has worked on both the agency side as well as corporations including Kimberly-Clark and Focus Brands, helping guide brand strategy and bringing new products to market.
Janet became aware of SOJOURN when her son was honored as a 2021 Michael Jay Kinsler Rainmaker Award recipient. He was at the beginning of a transformational journey that led to him coming out as a trans man later that year. SOJOURN has played a valuable role in supporting the Ziffer family and Janet is thrilled to be able to give back to the organization and help raise awareness and support for the Jewish LGBTQIA+ community.
Bio coming soon!
Zen Neer (she/they) is an accomplished children’s book author. Zen is fervently committed to advancing education and advocating for gender diversity and the rights of LGBTQ+ youth.
Vivienne Diaz (She/Her/Ella) is originally from rural northern New Jersey and graduated from Tougaloo College with a B.A. in Political Science. Vivienne is currently a 2024 cohort member of Mississippi Teacher Corps through the University of Mississippi. She has done peer-to-peer work in reproductive justice and voting rights. As a transplant to Mississippi, she is passionate about her Jewish community in Jackson and is a religious school teacher and a member of her synagogue’s Tikkun Olam committee.
Rabbi Jonathon (he/him) serves as the Assistant Rabbi at Congregation Etz Chaim in Marietta, GA. Jonathon has been marching and advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights since the early 1990s, and is passionate about teaching Torah, providing pastoral support, and leading services. He was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he received the United Synagogue Award for Congregational Service. He is an alumnus of Rice University in Houston, Texas. Prior to rabbinical school, he worked for over twenty years as a concierge at The St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan. His interests include knitting and needlework, and he loves baking challah on Friday afternoons. He currently resides along with his two cats in Marietta, a short distance from his mother’s childhood home of Rome, Georgia, where his family has deep roots in the Jewish community.
Molly Edlein (they/them) is a passionate Jewish educator and museum professional dedicated to honoring and strengthening Jewish life throughout the South. A lifelong Atlantan, Molly grew up at The Temple, where their commitment to Jewish learning and community first took root. Since 2019, they have taught Hebrew at the Breman Education Center, guiding 3rd through 6th grade students as they prepare for B’Mitzvah services and deepen their connection to Jewish tradition.
Molly earned a degree in history from Agnes Scott College, concentrating in Southern History with a particular focus on Jewish life in late 19th-century Atlanta. While at Agnes Scott, they presented original research on the Leo Frank case at the American Academy of Religion’s Southeast Regional Meeting, served as Chair of the Interfaith Council, and worked as an intern with the Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education, experiences that further deepened their commitment to dialogue, education, and historical preservation.
After graduation, they served as a middle school Jewish Studies teacher at Alfred and Adele Davis Academy before returning fully to the field of public history and archives. Today, Molly serves as archivist at The Breman Jewish Heritage Museum and Cultural Center, preserving and sharing the stories of Jewish communities across Georgia and Alabama.
Jessica Handler (she/her) is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. Her written work and teaching centers resilience, social justice, and identity. Jessica earned her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and her B.S. from Emerson College. In a former career universe, she worked behind the scenes on television shows that you probably watched in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Honors and awards for her writing include multiple “Best American Essays” shortlists, the Southern Book Prize, the “Indie Next” list, “Books All Georgians Should Read” the Kenyon Review Peter Taylor Nonfiction Fellowship, and writing residencies at The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, Georgia, and elsewhere. As a teacher, she has served as the Ferrol Sams, Jr. Distinguished Writer in Residence at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and is currently a visiting faculty member at West Virginia Wesleyan College’s low-residency MFA, a member of the faculty at the Etowah Valley MFA at Reinhardt College in Waleska, Georgia, and an in-demand workshop leader at writers’ conferences worldwide.
She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, novelist Mickey Dubrow, sometimes multiple cats, and a drum kit and guitar that she should play more often.
