Rabbi Zvika Krieger is the Spiritual Leader of Chochmat HaLev, a progressive spiritual community in Berkeley, CA for embodied prayer, heart-centered connections, and mystical experiences. He is a subversive ritualist and radical traditionalist who is passionate about harnessing ancient wisdom to create modern meaning, fostering mindfulness and authentic connection amidst digital distraction, and bridging the sacred and profane. He has served in board and leadership positions for Sukkat Shalom/Milk+Honey camp at Burning Man, Jewish Studio Project, DC Minyan, Temple of the Stranger, and other organizations dedicated to nourishing the mind, body, and soul.
Zvika has worked on mitigating some of the most damaging impacts of new technologies on individuals and society as Facebook/Meta’s first-ever Director of Responsible Innovation, creating and leading the World Economic Forum’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and as the US Department of State’s first-ever “Ambassador to Silicon Valley.” He has taught courses on ethical design and social impact technology at Stanford, UC Berkeley, and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Zvika previously served as Senior Vice President of the Center for Middle East Peace in Washington DC, and was Newsweek’s Middle East correspondent, based in Egypt and Lebanon and covering most of the Arab world. Zvika’s work and writing have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic, and New Republic, and he has appeared as an analyst on NBC News, CNN, and Fox News.
He has a BA from Yale University and studied at the American University in Cairo and Yeshivat Sha’arei Mevaseret Zion near Jerusalem. He is a certified Shadow Work facilitator, a certified Design Thinking facilitator by the Luma Institute, certified as “God” with “Talk to God”, and trained as an ecstatic dance DJ by Embodied Sound. He is currently studying for rabbinical ordination at ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal and is a Rabbinic Entrepreneur Fellow at the Center for Rabbinic Innovation.
Originally from Los Angeles, Zvika lives in Berkeley with his son. In his spare time, he loves to surf, dance, backpack, rock climb, and sing karaoke occasionally on-key.
Read this fun profile to learn more about Zvika’s approach to spirituality and community: NOT YOUR BUBBE’S RABBI: Zvika Krieger brings traditional texts, radical self-expression to Berkeley’s Chochmat HaLev
Read Zvika’s drashot (teachings) below
High Holidays 5783/2022:
- On Being Understood, Rosh Hashanah Teaching
- On Falling Apart, Yom Kippur Teaching
High Holidays 5784/2023:
- Remembering Yourself, Erev Rosh Hashanah Teaching
- Sarah’s Trauma and Our Own, Rosh Hashanah Teaching
- Firemen and Troubled People, Yom Kippur Teaching
High Holidays 5785/2024:
- Crying with Our Enemies’ Mothers, Rosh Hashanah Teaching
- Brushing God’s Teeth: A New Take on God and Prayer, Yom Kippur Teaching
Other teachings:
- Make A Window in Your Ark, Drash on Parshat Noach, Delivered on October 20, 2023
- Three Steps to Prepare for Difficult Family Encounters, Drash on Parshat VaYishlach, Delivered on December 1, 2023
- “What does it feel like to believe in God?” Listen to Zvika in this intimate and vulnerable interview on Search Engine (named a best podcast of the year by Vulture, Time, The Economist, & Vogue), where he weaves together his professional and spiritual journey. He shares wisdom on dispensing with childhood notions of God, finding a deep sense of belonging, and discovering the Divine in the most unexpected places. You can listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
- Bitter Waters: How to Cope After the Elections, Drash, November 6, 2024
- A Heart of Many Chambers, Drash for Lab B’Omer, May 15, 2025
