Eve Ilsen of Jewish Renewal looks back, moves forward

a choice, Eve Ilsen would focus exclusively on her late husband Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, unrivaled leader of the Jewish Renewal movement until his death in 2014. Ilsen, 70 and white haired, downplays her current role in Jewish Renewal, which she championed well before meeting Schachter-Shalomi in the mid-1970s. “No, I’m not a leader in the movement,” she says from the Boulder home she and Schachter-Shalomi shared since 2000 — but their relationship spanned nearly 30 years. “I’m a psychotherapist and an ordained rabbinic pastor,” Ilsen obliges. “Occasionally I teach. I counsel individuals. I often refer people to other people who know what they’re doing. I do baby naming ceremonies and weddings.” Also a storyteller, meditation guide, blogger, photographer, creative artist and singer, she resolutely disdains […]