About Rabbi Samuels
Rabbi Ayala Ronen Samuels, PhD. is the founding Rabbi of a growing Reform Community in Caesarea -Congregation “Tfilat HaAdam”. She offers Reform Rabbinical services in the large area of the Carmel Shore County.
Since the summer of 2020, Rabbi Ayala has been serving as the chair of Maram: Council of Reform Rabbis in Israel.
A Jewish educator, Rabbi Ayala has been teaching in various countries and settings, ever since graduating from Haifa University with a BA in Jewish Thought and Psychology and a Teaching Certificate, and then concluding a PhD in Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Her Rabbinical education and ordination are from The Israeli Rabbinical Training Program at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Ayala’s teaching experience includes 10 years at Oranim Teachers' College, various educational leadership training programs, and curriculum development. She has also been teaching in Informal Jewish Education programs such as Batei-Midrash, Rosh-Hodesh Women's groups and other programs.
Rabbi Ayala was the founding director of an innovative community development project titled Olamot: Israeli- Jewish Identity in Nazareth Illit. She has also served as a special counselor for community development in the city of Haifa.
Ayala was born and raised in Kibbutz Shamir, in the Upper Galilee, Israel. She is married to Ami and they have three sons – Peleg, Amos, and Gilad.