Program and Administrative Staff  

Sandy Bredt, Executive Director

Sandy Bredt grew up in a Jewishly observant home on the outskirts of Philadelphia, where her family was active in a conservative synagogue. She has a bachelor’s degree in Public Communications, a California Teaching Credential, and a master’s degree in Community and Environmental Education.

Sandy spent about a dozen years in environmental education, including ten years at the Oakland Museum of California, where she specialized in urban and multicultural environmental education and environmental justice. She has also directed integrated support services for children and families at an elementary school in Oakland, and has taught pre-school and kindergarten children.

Sandy has served as Kehilla’s Executive Director since 2003. Her son Danny is currently entering Kehilla's Bar/Bat Mitzvah program.

Sasha Gottfried, Communications Coordinator

Sasha Gottfried has been working at Kehilla since 1998.  She is thrilled to be serving this community. Kehilla has helped her rediscover Judaism, after spending a good deal of her adult life following other spiritual paths.  She has found great healing here. 

Sasha grew up in a conservative Jewish household in New Jersey. She was in the very first group of girls to be Bat Mitzvah at her synagogue, and enjoyed sharing a double Bat Mitzvah with her twin sister, Caryn.  She lived, loved, and worked in Maine, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts in the 1970's and 1980's, before moving back to California in 1981. 

Sasha resides in Oakland with her life partner, Marc Winokur. In her spare time, she loves to read, write, and commune with nature.

Rabbi Dev Noily, School Director

Rabbi Dev Noily has worked for fifteen years as a Jewish educator, prayer leader, liturgist and lifecycle facilitator, serving at Congregations Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco, Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia, Beit HaChidush in Amsterdam, Bet Haverim in Atlanta and Beth El in Bennington, Vermont.  She has served as a chaplain and spiritual caregiver at Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Philadelphia, The Attic LGBT Youth Center (Philadelphia) and Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. Dev was a Rabbinic Intern with Greenfaith: Interfaith Partners for the Earth, and is currently active in LGBT interfaith work and intra-Jewish dialogue work, facilitating difficult conversations in Jewish communities about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  She was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia in 2009, where she received the Dvora Bartnoff Memorial Prize for Spiritually-Motivated Social Action. 

Dev is drawn to Kehilla School by its spirited practices of building joyful community, nurturing Jewish identity, fostering spiritual connection, and learning with and from interfaith families, queer families and Jews of all hues.  As the new School Director, Dev is working closely with Kehilla’s Youth Education Committee, spiritual leadership and staff to continue to bring to life our community’s vision of exciting, progressive Jewish education.

Sandra Razieli, Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program Director

Sandra Razieli has been teaching at Kehilla since 2000.  She is also a service leader and enjoys participating in the community as a congregant.  She has studied and lived extensively in Minnesota, Israel, and California and has degrees from the University of Minnesota and Stanford University. 

As an anthropologist with a focus on the modern Middle East, Sandra's academic interests overlap nicely with her work at Kehilla.  She created the 6th grade curriculum at Kehilla and is the author, along with Alaiya Aguilar, of Tree of Life: Torah for Bar/Bat Mitzvah Students.

Sandra also teaches yoga with a specific interest in yoga for scoliosis.  She holds a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT500) designation from Yoga Alliance and a teaching certification from the Institute of Yoga and Jewish Spirituality.  She is also an avid soccer player. 

Jan Caine, Accounts Receivable

Jan Caine has been employed as Kehilla's Accounting expert for four years.  She is a Certified Public Accountant.  Jan was born and raised in Illinois, and moved to the Bay Area n 1972.  Jan lives in Oakland with her husband, Arthur Dahl, and her two children, Allison and Jeremy.  In her spare time, Jan likes to play tennis, swim, and watch movies.

Josef Straub, Custodian

Josef writes:  I was born and raised in Germany, which I left in 1991. After an odyssey through a couple of countries, most of the time on an island in the Caribbean, I arrived in the San Francisco-Bay-Area in August 1993. I was employed with United Airlines, in the call-center office in San Francisco, when, on Sept. 9. 2001, I accepted a part-time custodial position at 1300 Grand Ave, with the former owner. At that time, a very small congregation used the sanctuary for Sunday service and All Nations Presbyterian Church just moved in. The use of the facilities was small und so were my duties: looking after the place for about 5 hours per week, more than enough time.

As a result of the happenings in September 2001 in New York, United Airlines closed all California offices, including ours, in San Francisco. The Woodland-based owner of the church building gave me, in addition, another large complex, with three medium to large congregations, in San Jose. I had a full-time job at last.

In August 2004, the Woodland-Management put the building 1300 Grand Ave.  on the market for sale and almost immediately I met Hal Feiger, Kehilla's representative. The negotiations went smoothly and I helped as well as I could, dedicated to the interests of my employer. I myself was not very fond of having to go through another job search, until I learned that Kehilla wanted not only to take over the building, but wanted to retain me as its custodian, to keep things running smoothly. Of course, I was available and excited about the new developments.

With a fresh morale, and dedicated to my employment and tasks, as it is my nature, I became part of Kehilla, doing whatever it takes to keep things running, in order, clean and well organized, to make the experience of the Synagogue a pleasurable one to all congregants. Sometimes things are difficult and time is always too short, but with the right focus and all the helpful cooperation I get, things mostly work out fine.

I live in Oakland with my wife, Hailon. I consider myself very lucky and am happy to be part of such a lovely community.  It is a great fit, not only for my needs in income and living, but Kehilla helps me a great deal on my personal spiritual path and development as well!  Rabbi David is certainly a gift to have great conversations with, and all other staff members and congregants I happen to work and socialize with make me feel comfortable, and happy to serve.

Sophia Cohn, Volunteer Coordinator & School Assistant

Sophia Cohn was hired by Kehilla in August 2009, but has been a part of the community since her family joined in 1999, in preparation for her Bat Mitzvah.  She spent her earlier years in Hebrew School in Sara Shendleman and Avram Davis’ living room, learning about the Hebrew alphabet and Jewish customs and holidays. 

Sophia is the daughter of Jill and Russ Cohn, an identity which she proudly references to reacquaint herself with the community.  She was born at home in Kensington, California, grew up in Berkeley, and is a recent graduate of Pitzer College with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Art.  She fondly remembers the time spent with her Bar/Bat Mitzvah Havurah, and missed Kehilla’s upbeat Renewal services while she was away at college.  She now lives in Oakland and is happy to be back in the Bay Area, reconnecting with her Jewish Renewal background at Kehilla!