Kol Haverim Main Office: 860-633-3966
Born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in Los Angeles, Rabbi Biatch received his BA in Radio-Television Broadcast Management from California State University, Northridge (1976); an MA in Jewish Communal Service from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA (1980); and a Master of Hebrew Letters (1991) and Rabbinic Ordination (1992) from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, OH.
Before coming to Kol Haverim, he served as a Rabbi for congregations in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia; Alexandria, Virginia; Glendale, California, and Temple Beth El of Madison, WI, where he is the Rabbi Emeritus. He has also served fundraising and community planning and community relations functions for Jewish federations in Buffalo, St. Louis, and Houston. In his previous career, he worked as a production assistant at Golden West Video/KTLA-5 in Hollywood, CA, and at the Instructional Television Centre in Ramat-Aviv, Israel.
Rabbi Biatch has served as president of the Midwest Association of Reform Rabbis as well as regional boards of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (pursuing reproductive justice for women and men), and “Allies,” a human rights advocacy organization supporting LGBT individuals. He is a founding member of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, a statewide organization that will raise the profile of the voice of progressive religion in the dialogue of social justice issues.
Rabbi Biatch speaks fluent Hebrew and plays the accordion. He is married to Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, currently the Director of the Trinity College Hillel in Hartford. They have two children, Samantha and Joshua, who live in Silver Spring, MD.
Cantor Lauren Bandman joins us each year for the High Holidays.
Cantor Bandman is a consultant and worship leader in congregations throughout the U.S. She is founder, owner and instructor at The Studio: Private Music Lessons, LLC in the historic German Village neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, where she maintains a thriving studio teaching voice, piano, guitar, audition preparation (specializing in musical theatre), and Jewish Studies – including cantillation. She delights in teaching her students who range from age 7 to 70s!
Cantor Bandman is co-creator and performer of Love’s Journey, a one-woman show of musical theatre and American standards that tells of a woman’s journey through life and love. She was also honored to be selected to travel to Rome to perform in the first ever concert of Jewish music at the Vatican.
Cantor Bandman received her Bachelor of Music Education with high honors, summa cum laude, from The Ohio State University, where she studied a classical approach to singing through aria and art song and specialized in choral conducting. She earned her Master of Sacred Music and Cantorial Ordination from the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion.
For more information about Cantor Bandman, visit her website or find her on Facebook.
