About Rabbi Chava Bahle

Guiding communities through storytelling, spirituality, and interfaith understanding in the heart of Northern Michigan.

Who is Reb Chava?

Rabbi Chava Bahle (Reb Chava) is a twice-ordained rabbi and maggid based in Suttons Bay, Michigan.

Fostering Inclusivity

Building bridges between cultures through collaborative teachings and interfaith advocacy for all families.

Rabbi Dr. Chava Bahle DV

Chava Bahle (formerly Stacie Schiff Fine) was the founding rabbi of Congregation Ahavat Shalom in Traverse City, which she and a group of families created to meet the needs of Jewish and inter-cultural families in northwest lower Michigan. She retired from the Ahavat Shalom pulpit in June, 2007 to pursue interfaith work nationally.

She is known across the region as visionary leader to people of all cultural backgrounds.

Chava is a twice ordained rabbi and Maggid, a Jewish inspirational preacher and storyteller.

She received her first smicha (rabbinic ordination) in 1998 from a beth din (rabbinical court) of ordained rabbis from 3 denominations in New York.

Rabbi Chava received rabbinic smicha from the ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal Smicha Program in July, 2005. click here to visit ALEPH’s Rabbinic Program site

She is also an ordained Maggid, a Jewish inspirational preacher and story teller in the lineage of Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum, Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. To read the text of her ordination certificate, click here to read the smicha document

Her current work is to live into the teaching of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, her teacher, of blessed memory, who taught that we can and should find nourishment in traditions other than our own. She earned her Doctor of Ministry from Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, where she focused on mystical aspects of inter-religious dialogue. Chava writes book reviews for academic journals, and since a brain injury in 2018, focuses her life on study and prayer. She is currently pursuing study for an ethical biography of German expressionist actor Conrad Veidt.

She lives in Suttons Bay and is married to Karl Bahle. Together they serve as staff to a fine and holy cat named Minnie Purrl.

Education

  • D.Min., Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, IL. August, 2019. Let All Who are Hungry Come and Eat: “In Good Faith” – Intentional Interreligious Encounter and the Spirit of Hospitality.
  • M.A., Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan, 1994.
  • B.A., College Honors, University of Michigan, 1986.
  • Ordination as a Maggid, Jewish Inspirational Preacher and Storyteller, May, 2007.
  • Rabbinic Ordination, ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal, July, 2005.
  • Rabbinic Ordination, private beth din, New York, New York, December, 1998.
  • Senior Madrikh (Guide/Leader) in Humanistic Judaism, International Institute for Humanistic Judaism, 1994.
  • Rabbinic Studies: International Institute for Humanistic Judaism, 1999.
  • Rabbinic Preparatory Studies, Reconstructionist Rabbinic College, 1992.

Employment

  • Rabbi/Senior Spiritual Leader, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse, Traverse City, MI (2015 – 2019).
  • Rabbi, Makom Shalom, The Community, Chicago, IL (2005 – 2015).
  • Rabbi, Jewish-Catholic Family School, Chicago, IL (2005 – present as Rabbi Emertia).
  • Instructor, Northwestern Michigan College Extended Educational Services, Traverse City, MI (1996 – 2015).
  • Rabbi, Congregation Ahavat Shalom, Traverse City, MI. (1997 – 2007).
  • Prison Chaplain, Michigan Department of Corrections, (1983 – 2002).
  • Special Programs Assistant, Northwestern Michigan College Extended Educational Services, Traverse City, MI (1997 – 1999).
  • Community Development Director, Society for Humanistic Judaism, Farmington Hills, MI (1995 – 1999).
  • Education Director, The Birmingham Temple School, Farmington Hills, MI (1992 -1995).
  • Teaching Fellow, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (1992 – 1994).
  • Organizational Development Consultant, Kepner-Tregoe, Princeton, NJ (1989 – 1991).

Invited Talks and Major Presentations  

  • Hebrew Spirituality Faculty Member, Academy for Spiritual Formation, 2013 to present.
  • “Leaps of Faith,” documentary on the Jewish-Catholic Family School of Chicago, 2019.  http://bit.ly/LeapsOfFaithDoc
  • “One and Many: Encountering Interfaith Spirituality,” School Sisters of St. Francis Spirituality Conference, 2017.
  • Keynote Presentation, American Medical Directors Association Annual Conference, 2017.
  • “The Common Heart,” Traverse City TEDx, 2013. http://bit.ly/ChavaTEDx
  • Scholar in Residence, Women’s Studies Program, Berea College, 2012.

Publications

  • “Outreach to Gentiles,” Renewing Ger Toshav: Opening the gates that More May Enter to Praise God, Rabbi Daniel Siegel, ed., 92 – 127.
  • “Toward Linguistically Hospitable Dialogue,” (New Voices column), New Theology Review, ISSN 0896-4297, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2018, p. 49-51.
  • Book Review: From Peace to Freedom: Quaker Rhetoric and the Birth of American Anti-Slavery, 1657 – 1761, Brycchan Carey (Yale University Press, 2012), in The Journal of Unitarian Universalist History (Volume XXXIX, 2015-2016), 110-113.
  • Nonfiction Essay: “Also Children of God,” Looking Over My Shoulder: Reflections on the 20th Century, Anne-Marie Oomen, Editor (Northwestern Michigan College Extended Education Services, 2000), 69-71.

Memberships and Community Leadership

  • Former Board Secretary and Chesed Liaison, OHALAH Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal.
  • Area Council on Religious Diversity, Traverse City, Michigan.
  • Former host of “Sacred Spaces: Interlochen Public Radio’s Monthly Faith Magazine,” an interfaith radio show dealing with spiritual issues.
  • City of Traverse City Sara Hardy Humanitarian Award Winner, 1999.
  • Named “Hometown Hero” by Northern Express Magazine, 1999.
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