Elyssa Cherney, Rabbi and officiant Tacklingtorah.com

this area. We met with her several times for planning and marriage counseling, during which Rabbi Elyssa asked us really thoughtful questions and we had many meaningful conversations about what it means to be an interfaith couple and Judaism. Rabbi Elyssa worked closely with the priest to lead an absolute beautiful and personal ceremony that embodied both of our cultures and traditions. Neither of us had heard the full ceremony beforehand and we were absolutely moved. Our guests our continuing to tell us how special and beautiful our ceremony was. We also really enjoyed the special moments praying with Rabbi before the ceremony and the intimate Ketubah signing. We cannot thank her enough and would recommend her to anyone!

ewish, my husband is, so we wanted to incorporate his traditions into our ceremony. Rabbi Elyssa found the perfect balance and explained the symbolism and significance for the portions of a Jewish wedding ceremony. I highly recommend Rabbi Elyssa, she was perfect!

day was immaculate--our favorite part was signing the Ketubah in an intimate setting with our closest friends and found family. Rabbi Elyssa's personalized ceremony was also a highlight for us and the rest of our wedding guests. Thank you so much for your guidance and encouragement Rabbi Elyssa!

s such thoughtful questions about us, our relationship up until this point, and our goals for our relationship moving forward. She incorporated Judaism into the conversations in a way that was meaningful to us as individuals, and offered advice and expertise on both the wedding planning process, but also for our future. Lots of people you work with for a wedding focus on ensuring the day is special; one thing I really appreciated about Rabbi Elyssa is that she brought everything we talked about back to our relationship and our marriage. This framing kept us grounded and excited throughout the whole wedding process as we got to imagine all the exciting things in our life ahead of us. Our conversations were focused mostly on why we wanted to be together, rather than why we were having a wedding, which we really appreciated. She used everything we talked about to completely personalize our ceremony, and made the entire experience so meaningful for us and our families. My favorite part of the day was the ketubah signing ceremony. Rabbi Elyssa began by doing a short grounding meditation with us, and organized our friends and family to welcome us into our marriage- it was beautiful. We cannot say enough about how wonderful it was working with Rabbi Elyssa, and highly recommend anyone to reach out to her to work together!

we found Rabbi Elyssa and we couldn’t be more grateful. Prior to our wedding we met with Rabbi Elyssa 3x for premarital wedding sessions to talk about our relationship, why we chose marriage, and why now. She really engaged with us deeply, she let us know that she wasn’t just going to be our officiant, but she would be there for us always as our Rabbi; that made us feel incredibly safe, happy, and happy to have her. When the pandemic hit, she made sure to stay in contact and check in on us through the many stressful setbacks, cancellations, and numerous postponements. She was so gracious, every time we needed to change our wedding date, she was able to accommodate. When we decided to have a civil ceremony during the pandemic in 2020, she was there to guide us and made herself available to officiate in a park at a safe distance. She made our civil ceremony special by taking notes from conversations we had and created a wonderful script for the event. For our full wedding and ceremony in August of 2021, Rabbi Elyssa outdid herself! She took elements of each of us, special things that we requested to blend our faith and culture backgrounds. We included a Yoruba tradition of Tasting the Four Elements, sour, spicy, bitter, and sweet and she incorporated it seamlessly into the Jewish ceremony, as well as incorporating breaking the glass and jumping the broom. She personalized our ceremony so much that there was not a dry eye in the room, including us. We will never forget how special she made us feel and how connected we feel to Rabbi Elyssa as a part of our family. Thank you Rabbi Elyssa! Tychelle & Ben

She asked many thoughtful questions beyond just the wedding logistics and ceremony details to help us think about our lives as a Jewish couple building a family. Rabbi Elyssa made us both feel at ease and let us be our genuine selves which was especially important to me so that my non-Jewish partner would be comfortable with having a Jewish wedding. The ceremony ended up being so personal to her experiences getting to know us as individuals and as a couple. We got married four weeks ago and people (both Jewish and not Jewish) are still telling us how beautiful the ceremony was and how impressed they were with Rabbi Elyssa. We had a microwedding with no bridal party so she even fixed my train under the chuppah, helped cue the violinist with music during and after the ceremony, and taught our non-Jewish guests how to do the hora. Rabbi Elyssa truly went above and beyond and I can not recommend her enough for a wedding or any other life event that you need a rabbi for.

eep us calm, and delivered the perfect ceremony. She did a mix of Jewish and non-jewish traditions (at the request of myself and my fiance) and delivered a unique ceremony that perfectly represented us. Several of our guests commented how much they loved how personal and tailored to our needs the ceremony was. We are so grateful to have had Rabbi Elyssa on our team!

o connect. Not only did we appreciate the effort she put in to tailoring her blessings and kind words to us, but guests brought up what a great job she did as well. I recommend Elyssa without reservation for any wedding as she is excellent.

act on your ceremony than your officiant. And you won't find a better officiant than Rabbi Elyssa. She made the ceremony absolutely beautiful, and all of our guests commented that it was one of the best ceremonies they had ever experienced. Rabbi Elyssa did an amazing job making the ceremony personal and meaningful while still keeping it lighthearted and funny. We also truly valued the meetings that we had with Rabbi Elyssa leading up to the wedding. These conversations really pushed us to focus on the importance of marriage in general and the meaning of marriage in the context of our relationship. We couldn't have asked for a better experience, and we hope to continue working with Rabbi Elyssa through future milestones!

to move forward with her. She not only was warm and welcoming but she was extremely accommodating in terms of meeting locations and times as we do not live close to our venue where she is located. As we got deeper into the process, I could see she had an organized strategy that both educated us on the process of having a traditional Jewish wedding and gave us the freedom to explore each tradition and choose for ourselves what we wanted to include in the ceremony. She was very helpful with all aspects including choosing text options to Ketubah art/text to asking questions that guided our own writing of the vows and giving her info to personalize our ceremony. She was spot on during the ceremony and made us both laugh and cry happy tears! However, most importantly, Rabbi Elyssa was the beam of light on the day of our wedding. It is a long and sometimes stressful day with a lot of attention, high demands and is really easy to get caught up in the chaos. My husband and I were having a particularly chaotic moment with family photos and came into the ketubah signing just a wee bit overwhelmed. She took us into a private section of the venue, didn't let anyone talk to us for 5 minutes and literally had us holding hands and meditating, it was honestly an amazing experience. We were both immediately calmed, more in touch with the joy that was this day and felt connected to each other despite the chaos ensuing around us. We tell everyone that she saved the day and grounded us in a way we both desperately needed at that moment. After that moment, I felt confident and ready for the ceremony and reception. We will both be forever grateful to Rabbi Elyssa for ensuring our day was special and meaningful and grounding us to remember the whole reason we were there in the first place!

at she was a part of our special day that we will remember forever!

t Jewish ceremony. She really took the time to get to know us and that allowed her to make the ceremony extremely personal. I highly recommend her.

ng for our journey forward as a family. Rabbi Elyssa was both professional and caring during our meetings together and was very flexible towards accommodating our schedules. When our wedding day started she made sure that we took time aside to connect with each other as a couple and remember the purpose and love of the day. Also, her words and singing during our ketubah signing were remarkable and really made the moment feel special and inclusive for our families and witnesses. And she made our ceremony truly meaningful with personalized comments and connections to both of our heritages (Jewish and Chinese). We are deeply thankful and appreciative that she was our Rabbi. Our guests all commented on how beautiful the ceremony was and how elegantly Rabbi Elyssa spoke. We cannot thank her enough for joining us on our wedding day and helping us take the next step in our journey!

ent our vision. I emphasize OUR vision as many times in conversation she reminded us that this was our day and asked....what did we want? Her warmth, insight, connection and passion were palpable. Rabbi Elyssa truly has a gift!

and had raised now grown up children . Starting and developing a new family and circle of love many years later can be a tricky thing, but Elyssa navigated that relationship beautifully and was a tremendous guide and support system at the same time. She truly has a gift and loves her work .

nd her to anyone needing an officiant who cares & makes the process so easy.

ocess. Rabbi Elyssa made us very comfortable during our meetings with her while answering your not-so-everyday questions. On our wedding day, she took us aside for before the ceremony for us to take in the moment and a blessing. We loved how she incorporated our immediate families and bridal party for the ketubah signing. As far as the ceremony, Rabbi Elyssa could not have lead a better ceremony. Multiple people came up to us afterwards to say that it was the best ceremony they’ve been to and that the whole ceremony was beautiful; everyone was moved by her words. We cannot wait to continue using Rabbi Elyssa as our rabbi and cannot recommend her highly enough.

g in Jewish traditions, while also keeping the focus on us and our relationship. Rabbi Elyssa emphasized that while the ceremony and wedding day are very important, she was also interested in setting us up for success for our married life together, post-wedding day. We also appreciate that she will be here for us as we navigate married life and other lifecycle events. We highly recommend her to officiate your wedding! Thank you Elyssa!!

wedding ceremony in a way that made it incredibly meaningful to both us and our families! So many people came up to us after the wedding to tell us what a meaningful ceremony we had, and I credit Elyssa for that. She really took the time to understand what was important to us. Elyssa was also great about working with all of our vendors (including going back and forth with my ketubah artist to make sure the language was correct). I'd highly recommend her as a wedding officiant, or for any other lifecycle event!