Rabbi Lisa Wharton

Rabbi Lisa Wharton
Rabbi Lisa Ann Wharton is a rabbi, cantor, educator, and ritual artist who advances education and interfaith understanding through music, creativity, and shared spiritual practice. She has been leading Jewish prayer with a guitar in hand since her Bat Mitzvah in Westbury, New York, in the 1970s. She co-leads P’nai Shore, a Renewal-inspired spiritual community in Huntington, New York, together with her husband, holy drummer Akiva the Believer. They offer music-filled prayer, learning, and artistic programs that cultivate spiritual, musical, and cultural skills while fostering justice, inclusion, and arts-based interfaith engagement. Rabbi Lisa is the founder and program director of Shir Chadash!, an annual Jewish music, arts, and spirituality retreat sponsored by Illumin8tion, a 501(c)(3) educational organization dedicated to advancing education in Jewish and intercultural arts through programs, workshops, and instructional resources that support skill-building, inclusive community engagement and interfaith bridge-building. Since 2010, she has served as Cantor of Temple Beth Emeth of Mt. Sinai, New York. She previously spent 36 years in publishing technology management at The New York Times.