At Kol Ami, our clergy and leadership team are committed to fostering a welcoming and supportive community. Through services, programs, and personal guidance, they help each member participate fully and feel connected. Learn more below about who they are and how they serve our congregation.
Rabbi Doug Heifetz is honored to serve as Kol Ami’s rabbi. For nearly two decades, he has helped Reconstructionist congregations deepen Jewish learning, strengthen relationships, and create communities where people feel known, challenged, and inspired. He loves helping people discover that Judaism is at its richest when we bring our whole selves to the conversation – asking honest questions, exploring enduring ideas, finding moments of surprise and delight, and discovering together how Jewish tradition can illuminate the lives we live today.
Throughout his rabbinate, Rabbi Doug has partnered closely with lay leaders and volunteers to cultivate communities where people feel a deep sense of belonging, shared ownership, and purpose. Whether leading worship, facilitating discussion, teaching Torah, offering pastoral care, or celebrating life’s milestones, he strives to create spaces where tradition and contemporary life meet in thoughtful conversation, with room for reflection, laughter, music, and many different perspectives. He believes that some of the most meaningful moments in Jewish life begin not with easy answers, but with thoughtful questions that help us see ourselves, one another, and our tradition in new ways.
In addition to his rabbinate, Rabbi Doug is the founder of Lost & Forged, an award-winning metal art studio in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he designs and creates handcrafted jewelry, Judaica, and functional art from antique silverware. His work as an artist reflects the same spirit he brings to Jewish life: approaching familiar things with curiosity, uncovering hidden possibilities, and revealing unexpected beauty and meaning.
Rabbi Doug lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he treasures time with his two children, now young adults, whose curiosity, humor, and perspectives continually enrich his own. He is grateful to be part of the Kol Ami community. He looks forward to learning, celebrating, and growing together as they continue building a joyful, thoughtful, and inclusive Jewish home.
Rachel W. Friendly, Ph.D. is a third-generation Reconstructionist Jew, raised in the vibrant communities of Darchei Noam in Toronto and Dorshei Emet in Montreal. From a young age – reportedly standing on a chair to help lead services – Rachel found joy in Jewish music and ritual. A lifelong singer and music lover, she long dreamed of joining a Reconstructionist community where she could share her love of song and deepen her Jewish leadership. When she moved to Northern Virginia in 2022, she immediately knew she had found her home at Kol Ami.
Rachel is a regular lay service leader at Kol Ami and a proud member of the Kol Amite musical ensemble. She currently serves as Vice President of the Board and chairs the Ritual Committee.
Professionally, Rachel is a licensed clinical psychologist practicing in California, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington, DC. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from Tufts University in 2002 and her Ph.D. from Clark University in 2011.
She spent the next decade and a half working in university counseling centers, where she served in both staff psychologist and training director roles all over the East and West coasts of the United States. She currently owns a private practice in Springfield, VA specializing in women’s issues, college and graduate student mental health, and supporting the queer and gender expansive communities.
Rachel lives in Fairfax, VA, with her partner, Evan Wheeler – a financial services risk management professional and frequent Zoom gabbai – and their spirited daughter, Hazel, who’s often found dancing around during services.
Jim North joined Kol Ami with his husband, Rabbi Richard Ruth z’’l, in 2003, and together they participated fully in the life and learning of the community for many years. A Jew by choice, Jim studied with a range of Jewish teachers – including Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Rabbi Gershon Winkler, Rabbi Miriam Maron, and Rabbi Shefa Gold – across Reconstructionist, Renewal, Reform, and other diverse platforms.
The warm embrace of Kol Ami sustained them through many life events, including their wedding in 2008 and Jim’s bar mitzvah in 2005. Jim has always loved music and singing as a spiritual practice. He helps lead the Kol Amites musical ensemble, bringing his passion and skill to enhance worship and community gatherings. Most recently, he participated in cohorts 11 and 12 of the Jewish Renewal Movement’s Davennen Leadership Training Institute (DLTI), studying with cantorial and rabbinic students to explore ways of bringing kavannah (intention) and vitality to Jewish liturgical practice.
Jim retired from the U.S. Department of State in 2020 after 31 years leading and managing foreign language training programs for federal employees with overseas assignments requiring language skills. He enjoys playing guitar and co-leading services whenever possible.
Jason Wright serves as the music arranger and co-director of the Kol Amite musicians, helping shape the sound and spirit of Kol Ami’s musical offerings.
He holds a Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance and Music Education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Paul Ingraham.
For 14 years, Jason performed in orchestras across Mexico, including over a decade as principal horn of the Orquesta Sinfónica Sinaloa de las Artes. Now based in the Washington D.C. area, he performs and teaches horn while also working as a multilingual learner educator with Fairfax County Public Schools.
Rabbi Bruce D. Aft served as the spiritual leader of Adat Reyim in Springfield, VA from 1991 to 2020. A native of the Chicago suburbs, he developed an early love for both Judaism and the Chicago White Sox. He played on the University of Illinois varsity reserve baseball team for several years before turning his focus to the rabbinate and social work. He holds an MSW from Temple University, received rabbinic ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and was later awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.
In addition to teaching at Kol Ami, Rabbi Aft is a visiting scholar at George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. He is also an adjunct professor in both the Department of Religious Studies and the Honors College at GMU. He works closely with Jewish students on campus and regularly lectures for GMU’s Learning and Retirement Institute.
Rabbi Aft has held leadership roles including past president of the community board for Operation Understanding DC and the Hillel Community Board at GMU. He also serves as a visiting lecturer at Greenspring Village and as a chaplain with the Jewish Social Service Agency.
He continues to support small congregations in the South through the Institute for Southern Jewish Life and shares reflections on his blog: https://rabbibruceaft.blogspot.com.
Rabbi Julie K. Gordon is passionate about welcoming people into active Jewish life and building community. She is devoted to serving God and the Jewish people, teaching Torah to adults and students, leading services, and guiding meaningful life cycle celebrations.
She is an active member of Kol Ami, volunteers as a rabbi, and greatly enjoys teaching many of our fantastic B’Mitzvah students.
Rabbi Julie earned a Master of Arts in Hebrew Literature and was ordained at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York City in 1984. She served as rabbi of Conservative congregations in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY, and Green Bay, WI, and spent 14 years as rabbi at the Temple of Aaron in St. Paul, MN.
A creative and innovative Jewish educator, she served as Spiritual Life Director at the Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School and as Director of the Talmud Torah of St. Paul’s Afternoon and Hebrew High Schools. In 2010-2012, Rabbi Julie earned a Master of Jewish Education from Hebrew College in Boston and a Certificate of Advanced Jewish Studies from the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
She later directed the Torah School at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD, and served as Rabbi Educator at Hill Havurah in Washington, DC, where she launched their Yavneh education program on Zoom just two weeks into the pandemic.
Rabbi Julie lives in Falls Church, VA, with her partner Jeremy Epstein, a cybersecurity expert with Georgia Tech. She is the proud Eema of two adult children, Shoshana and Ari, who share a home in Washington, DC.
She enjoys planning Jewish cultural programs, spending time with her children and friends, exploring the DMV, reading, playing mahjong, yoga and traveling with Jeremy and on a special annual trip with Shoshana.
Our Rabbi and clergy team are here to support you. If you’d like to speak with a member of our clergy, contact us.
Discover more about our community on the About Us page, and stay up to date on our services, programs, and community life by signing up for our monthly Kol Ami newsletter.
Sign up for a monthly newsletter about upcoming Kol Ami services and programs.
