More info coming soon!
Featuring:
Rabbi David Zaslow- is rabbi emeritus of Havurah Shir Hadash in Ashland, Oregon. He received the American Book Award for educational materials in 1988, and the Church/Synagogue Library Association Book of the Year award in 2015 for Jesus: First-Century Rabbi. He's also the author of Reimagining Exodus, and editor of the popular Renewal prayerbooks, Ivdu et Hashem b’Simcha and L’cha Dodi, featuring Reb Zalman Schacter-Shalomi's interpretative translations. He will be leading Friday night and Saturday services and bring music and story to other events.
Maggidah Devorah Gordon Zaslow has been telling stories and teaching storytelling and writing for thirty years. Her MFA in writing is from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and her memoir, Bringing Bubbe Home, chronicles midwifing her grandmother through death. Her new anthology, The Rooster Princess and Other Tales: Jewish Stories Repopulated with Spunky Heroines, Wise Women, Brave Crones, and Powerful Prophetesses, was just released and will be available at the Festival.
Gerald Fierst is an actor, storyteller, author, and literacy educator who has worked in film, television and theatre. A man of many talents, he has appeared in the first two seasons of the HULU series Only Murders in the Building, is the recipient of two Parents Choice Awards for his CD’s of world folktales, and has worked closely with the noted Holocaust historian Dr Yaffa Eliach and her award-winning collection of oral histories, Hasidic Takes of the Holocaust, adapting them into the musical play Dancing With Miracles.
He has been a featured storyteller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN, and a Storyteller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center. He brings his new show, Maybe I’m Crazy, Maybe I’m Not, to the Festival.
Cherie Karo Schwartz is a Jewish Storyteller sharing spirit-filled stories, Author of 3 books, and Educator for over 53 years around the the USA and abroad. She is co-founding coordinator of the Jewish Storytelling Network, was on faculty of the Jewish Spiritual Education program, and is founder of the RISE Jewish Educator training program. Most fondly: she has worked with Batya Podos on most of these programs, and is now co-authoring a book with her! She will be offering a beginner’s storytelling workshop on telling our own true tales.
Cassandra Sagan is a twice-ordained Maggidah in the lineage of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. She is an educator, poet, singer/songwriter, visual artist, an InterPlay leader, and creator of Moving Midrash, an embodied Torah study practice. Cassandra weaves her tales with humor and magical realism, while making ancestral tikkunim through her stories. She will be offering Moving Midrash on the weekly Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, combining movement and story to explore the relationship between ourselves and Torah.
Rivkah Coburn
Joey Netzorg is a Southern expatriate who learned storytelling at the knee of his father, a known tall tale teller and leg-puller. As a queer trans man he spends more than a little time thinking about what Judaism means to outcasts and exiles — the galutim. His great passion as a maggid is seeking out and uplifting queer voices through Torah study, midrash old and new, and original stories. He believes strongly that our stories tell us who we are, that all humans are family, and that we can find common ground with each other even when we disagree. Joey received maggidic s’micha in January 2012 from Rabbi David Zaslow and Maggidah Deborah Gordon Zaslow in the holy lineage of Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi (z"l). He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his partner Ari and the ghost of his Beloved Wife of Blessed Memory(tm) Miryam (z"l). He has five grown children, one perfect grandchild, and a passel of cats.
We welcome all of our visitors and storytellers to Albuquerque, as well as our wonderful local talent, for a weekend filled with story, workshops, and community. Our “Storyteller’s Shabbaton” on Friday night and Saturday morning are free to all, as is our Sunday morning children’s/family program.
To attend the rest of the Festival, you’ll need to buy a ticket. Don’t forget to become a Friend of the Festival for extra perks!
After Saturday’s service, join us for a Middle-Eastern feast and the “Rebbe’s Tische” where we’ll tell stories around the table. This is included in the price of the Festival ticket. If you are not attending the Festival, you can order only the meal.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Festival, November 14-16, 2025 - CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS.
For more information, please contact
nmjewishstorytelling@gmail.com