A retired middle school teacher, Batya Podos received Maggid ordination from Rabbi David Zaslow and Maggidah Devorah Zaslow in 2012. Currently, she directs Congregation Nahalat Shalom’s education program, where she brings stories to life in the classroom and the Jewish community. Before that, she was Education Director for P’nai Or in Portland, Oregon. She was co-mother of Abraham’s Tent, an interfaith summer camp for Jewish, Christian and Muslim children. She served on the faculty of the Jewish Spiritual Education program, and co-directed the NewCAJE RISE Storytelling Initiative. With forty years’ experience as a storyteller, educator, writer and performer, she is the founder and director of the NM Jewish Storytelling Festival, now in its fifth year. Her first novel, Rebecca and the Talisman of Time, was nominated for the Oregon Spirit Book Award. Her second novel, B’one Deep, is available from Amazon.