Kadima Office Staff & Rabbi

Rabbi David (he/him) joined Kadima in 2015. He has worked with a number of Jewish organizations and agencies in the Seattle area as an educator, spiritual leader, officiant, pastoral counselor, community organizer, interfaith partner, public speaker, and clergy activist. Prior work includes pre-school assistant teacher, produce clerk, cashier, educator, camp counselor, teen program director, non-profit administrator, pizza delivery, and Jewish community organizer.

Receiving his bachelor of science in business management from the University of Florida where he marched in the marching band, and his rabbinic ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi David currently serves as co-chair of the Washington Coalition of Rabbis, membership of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, and recently served on the task forces for antisemitism and the Jewish community relations council with the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. He is a public endorser of Real Rent Duwamish.

Growing up in Westchester County, New York; Manhattan, NYC; and Parkland, Florida, Rabbi David's roots are Ashkenazi secular familial Judaism. His ancestors empower him to build Jewish community with purpose, justice, healing, and solidarity. His partner and kids teach him humility, play, healthy living, and connection. Current interests include running, biking, bridge-building, Star Wars, and reading fantasy with his kids.
Rabbi David Basior
​Rabbi & Acting Director
[email protected]
                schedule a one-on-one with Rabbi David
You can read writings by or about Rabbi David on the Kadima blog, South Seattle Emerald, Real Change, Crosscut, The Seattle Times, Jewish in Seattle Magazine, Sojourners, Youtube, Facebook, and more.

Rabbi May Ye (she/her) is a Chinese-American Jew from unceded Wabanaki land. A weaver of tradition and fashioner of new liturgy and ritual, she seeks to center and highlight the experiences of those who have been disenfranchised and marginalized from Judaism and Jewish spaces. A passionate activist, she explores how to decouple Judaism from Zionism and is an ardent supporter of Palestinian liberation. 

R' May is a 2023 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC). She organizes with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and is honored to sit on JVP’s national rabbinical council. She also volunteers as a movement chaplain.

From 2023-2024 Rabbi May worked with Mending Minyan as their inaugural rabbi. She was also the 2023-2024 Walter and June Keener Wink fellow with the Fellowship of Reconciliation. 

As a rabbinical student, Rabbi May worked as a rabbinical intern at Tzedek Chicago and for Aurora Levins Morales on new liturgy that centers the voices of indigenous Jews and Jews of Color. She also served as a teacher for Ammud: The Jews of Color Torah Academy, as a climate justice fellow with POWER, an interfaith social justice organization in Philadelphia, and as a chaplain at Yale New Haven Health.
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Rabbi May is the founder of the Person of Color Havurah at Kol Tzedek Synagogue. In May 2022 she received the Tikkun Olam award from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College “for her inspiring & passionate Palestine Liberation rabbinate and for connecting our politics to the way that we pray.” She is also the 2023 recipient of the Rabbi Devora Bartnoff Prize for Spiritually Motivated Social Action. 
Rabbi May Ye
​Director of Member Development
[email protected]
Want to learn more about Rabbi May?
Check out her website.

Sarah
​Director of Youth & Family Learning
                   [email protected]
                   Schedule a one-on-one with Sarah

Makenna
Communications Manager & Admin Specialist
​                  office@kadima.org

Ashley
Finance Manager
                    [email protected]

Kadima School Faculty​

Nitzan (infants to 3-year-olds)

Marion - Nitzan teacher
"I’m excited to hold a space where families of young ones can connect, build supportive relationships, find communal joy, and explore what being Jewish and having Jewish values means for their family!"

Eli - Nitzan teacher
"I’m excited to meet adults, children, and families figuring out how to tell their Jewish story and start telling it together!"

Geshem (Pre-K and Kindergarten)

Fae - Geshem teacher
"I’m excited to get to work with Geshem, and to help introduce them to all the different ways there are to be Jewish!"

Shemesh (1st and 2nd grade)

Jade - Shemesh teacher
“I'm excited to share my passion for Jewish text study and my experience as an art teacher.”

Keshet (3rd & 4th grade)

Aster - Keshet teacher
"I'm so excited to learn with these children! This is my first year teaching at Kadima, and I love learning and art. "

Ra'am (5th & 6th grade)

Haley - Ra'am teacher
“I've been so grateful to people who have shown me how Judaism can mean different things for different people, yet still bring us together. I'm looking forward to teaching and learning from the Kadima students as they, too, explore Jewish history and identity.”

Gillian - Ra'am teacher
“I’m thrilled to be returning to delve into the oft-neglected and somewhat subversive corners of Jewish history for my ninth year. When I’m not teaching, organizing songful lefty Jewish spaces, and reading up on the histories I never learned in school.”

R' David- Ra'am teacher
“Teaching Kadima School is a joy. Our young people are engaging, curious, and challenging, with an emphasis on challenging, thank G-d. Celebrating Jewish young people and young people's Jewishnesses and Judaisms is fun, expansive, and a gift, week after week. Thank you for letting me learn with and from them.”

Barak (7th grade)

Maia - Barak teacher
“I’m continually grateful for the ways Kadima helped me grow up knowing that there is no one way to do Jewish.”

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