Pronouns: She/Her
Julie Nesnansky has been a Musical Prayer Leader at Kehilla since 2000. In addition to co-leading Shabbat and holiday services, she leyns (chants) from the torah during various services throughout the year. She also is a trope (the torah chanting system) teacher for students who are preparing for their Bar/Bat Mitzvahs.
After working as a Special Education Teacher in the West Contra Costa Unified School District for 31 years, she retired in 2019. For several years she taught students with special needs at Temple Beth Abraham (TBA) in Oakland. She has helped to create specialized Bar/Bat Mitzvah services for students both at TBA and Kehilla. She loves merging her two worlds when she has the opportunity to teach Jewish Special Education.
Julie has performed in folk, Balkan, and jazz groups, singing (and playing the acoustic folk bass) in venues as varied as folk festivals, birthday parties, weddings, memorial services, fundraisers, clubs, retirement parties, and classes. She has sung publicly for over 30 years, and has been recorded on several albums. Born and raised in Southern California, she has lived in Oakland since 1982, and recently moved to Richmond.