Our Story
Homegrown Judaica is an amazing example of the power of teamwork and reconnecting with old friends. Rachel created HGJ in late 2010, with a great idea and no clue how to bring it to fruition. She was accepted into the PresenTense Fellowship, which gave her the basic tools needed to start a business (and it didn't hurt that she happened to be dating a start-up founder). But still, she needed help. She needed artists, a graphic designer, and someone to pull everything together on the website.
Family and friends were incredibly supportive. A small focus group of friends willingly traded an evening of brainstorming for a homecooked dinner of shakshuka - and the name Homegrown Judaica was born. Within hours, the domain was purchased, an initial "work in progress" graphic was created, artists were contacted, and a site was built. But still there were missing pieces.
Rachel had met Becky in a high school youth group years ago. They reconnected when Rachel served as the rabbi at Becky's family's synagogue during rabbinical school - and reconnected again over HGJ. Becky has been extraordinary in making this site look as beautiful as it does. She has been invaluable brainstorming new ideas, lending supplies for art shows, answering panicked emails all day long, and loving making improvements to the site.
Ari and Rachel grew up in the same small town outside of Boston, went to the same synagogue, and took art classes together in high school. But as many high school classmates do, they grew up, went separate ways, and lost touch. When Ari answered Rachel's Facebook plea for help creating a new logo, Rachel nearly jumped off her seat with joy. She remembered Ari as a talented artist, and was thrilled to get the chance to work with her. The experience creating a logo with Ari could not have been better.
Family and friends were incredibly supportive. A small focus group of friends willingly traded an evening of brainstorming for a homecooked dinner of shakshuka - and the name Homegrown Judaica was born. Within hours, the domain was purchased, an initial "work in progress" graphic was created, artists were contacted, and a site was built. But still there were missing pieces.
Rachel had met Becky in a high school youth group years ago. They reconnected when Rachel served as the rabbi at Becky's family's synagogue during rabbinical school - and reconnected again over HGJ. Becky has been extraordinary in making this site look as beautiful as it does. She has been invaluable brainstorming new ideas, lending supplies for art shows, answering panicked emails all day long, and loving making improvements to the site.
Ari and Rachel grew up in the same small town outside of Boston, went to the same synagogue, and took art classes together in high school. But as many high school classmates do, they grew up, went separate ways, and lost touch. When Ari answered Rachel's Facebook plea for help creating a new logo, Rachel nearly jumped off her seat with joy. She remembered Ari as a talented artist, and was thrilled to get the chance to work with her. The experience creating a logo with Ari could not have been better.
Meet the Homegrown Judaica Team
Rachel Silverman, Founder
Rabbi Rachel Silverman is Homegrown Judaica's founder and a PresenTense 2011 Fellow (read more about that process here). In her other life, Rachel is the incoming Director of Congregational Learning at Congregation Kehillath Israel, in Brookline, MA. She holds a BA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University, a master’s degree in Jewish Education from the Davidson School, and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Rachel is, perhaps, most famous for her creativity, which led to the creation of the “Real Men Marry Rabbis” T-shirt, of which hundreds have sold worldwide. In her spare time, she quilts, paints, and makes jewelry.
Rachel is, perhaps, most famous for her creativity, which led to the creation of the “Real Men Marry Rabbis” T-shirt, of which hundreds have sold worldwide. In her spare time, she quilts, paints, and makes jewelry.
Becky DiMattia, Website Designer
Becky is an artist, an art-lover, and a self-taught website designer living in Jamaica Plain, a neighborhood of her beloved Boston. She studied Art History and Art at Ithaca College and at SACI in Florence, Italy. During that time, she worked on the Virtual Chartres Cathedral Project, and interned at the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections and the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University.
You can see her work at http://beckydimattia.com.
You can see her work at http://beckydimattia.com.
Arielle Warnick Rogers
Ari has always been excited by color, shape and pattern. While studying illustration at Syracuse University, she explored my interests by creating mixed media collages and greeting cards. In 2008, she graduated Boston University with a masters degree in graphic design. It was there that Ari was able to bring her ideas to the computer. After designing everything from save the dates to invitations to table numbers for her own wedding, she realized that this is where her passion lies and created Red Turtle Invitations.
When she is not designing Ari can be found spending time with her husband in their new home, playing with their two cats Marty Mcfly and Harper, and taking her 14 year old turtle out for walks. And yes, of course his name is Red.
When she is not designing Ari can be found spending time with her husband in their new home, playing with their two cats Marty Mcfly and Harper, and taking her 14 year old turtle out for walks. And yes, of course his name is Red.
