Haviva Ner-David

Haviva Ner-David is an ordained rabbi and interfaith-interspiritual

minister, with a doctorate in philosophy and an M.F.A in Creative

Writing. She runs Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body and Soul, where she

officiates ritual immersion ceremonies and offers group workshops. A

certified spiritual director with a specialty in dreamwork, she works with

individuals and couples. Rabbi Ner-David is the author of two published

spiritual journey memoirs (Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey

Towards Traditional Rabbinic Ordination; and Chanah's Voice: A Rabbi

Wrestles with Gender, Commandment and the Women's Rituals of Baking,

Bathing and Brightening) and has a third, Dreaming Against the Current:

A Rabbi’s Soul Journey, on the way. She is also the author of a

soon-to-be-published guidebook for engaged couples, Getting (and Staying)

Married Jewishly: Preparing for Your Life Together with Ancient and

Modern Wisdom. Hope Valley is her debut novel. Rabbi Ner-David is involved

in peace work, promoting a shared society of Jews, Christians and Muslims in

Galilee, where she lives with Jacob, her life partner of thirty years, their seven

children and their dog and cat. She also lives with a genetic degenerative

muscular disease called FSHD, which has been one of her greatest teachers.