Rabbi Yonah Bookstein

Head Rabbi

Rabbi Yonah Bookstein is the Deanna and Allen Alevy Rabbi in Community Outreach and Rabbi for Beth El Synagogue overseeing the mission to reach out and impact the global Jewish community. He the co-founder of our Los Angeles based Pico Shul, Director of Shabbat Tent, and Kesher Institute. Rabbi Yonah is a leading voice of American Jewry, defends the Jewish community against antisemitism, and is also an internationally recognized leader in Jewish innovation. He has 25 years experience leading communities in the United States, Israel, and Europe. Rabbi Yonah is an Oxford educated Fulbright Fellow, past member of the Forward 50, a 2009 Jewish Community Hero contest winner and former Director of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation in Poland. Rabbi Yonah lives in Los Angeles with his wife Rachel, Co-Founder of Pico Shul and their four fabulous children.

Meet Our Team

Rachel Bookstein is past Director of Long Beach Hillel, considered one of the most innovative Hillel’s in America. Rachel is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz, and completed her MA in Jewish studies at Oxford University. She served as Director of Community Development in Poland, for The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation from 1998-2001. In Poland, Rachel inspired and educated a new generation of Polish Jewry. Together with her husband Yonah, she founded the Warsaw Jewish Book Fair in 1998, now one of Poland’s largest cultural festivals, and a dozen other programs in Poland, England, and California. Rachel’s dedication to providing educational opportunities, and empowering women in former communist Eastern Europe, made her a leading Jewish figure in Polish Jewish rebirth.

Jesse Nowlin has been using technology to better operations for every organization he has been involved with for the past ten years. Drawing on his professional experience as an IT manager at a sizable real estate firm, Jesse is helping Jewish non-profits with their online presence and technological administration.