Ellen Triebwasser graduated from the University at Albany (State University of New York) with a B.A. in Spanish. In the midst of a 33 year career with New York State developing benefits and maintaining entitlement for people served by the Office of Mental Health and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, she was introduced to Jewish Renewal and the Elat Chayyim retreat center by Hazzan Micha’el Esformes. She participated in several two-year, four-part training programs: Davvenen Leadership Training Institute (DLTI), Lev Shomea spiritual director training, and Kol Zimra chant leaders training. She was also ordained as a maggid (spiritual storyteller) by Yitzhak Buxbaum z”l.

After she retired, she realized she was ready to take the Sage-ing Mentorship program, and it was while participating in that program that she realized that short programs were no longer satisfying, so she applied to and became part of the ALEPH Ordination Program, where she was ordained as a rabbi in 2018.She became involved in Yerusha soon after it began because of her respect and appreciation for her teachers who created it.

She is now part of the ninth circle of Wisdom School.Besides volunteering with Yerusha, she is an active volunteer at her shul, the Woodstock Jewish Congregation, where she organizes weekly Torah study, assists at services, and occasionally writes words of Torah for the shul’s weekly Shabbat email.