Haviva Ner-David is an ordained rabbi and interfaith-interspiritual minister, with a doctorate in philosophy and an M.F.A in Creative Writing. She runs Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body and Soul, where she officiates ritual immersion ceremonies and offers group workshops. A certified spiritual director with a specialty in dreamwork, she works with individuals and couples. Rabbi Ner-David is the author of two published spiritual journey memoirs (Life on the Fringes: A Feminist Journey Towards Traditional Rabbinic Ordination; and Chanah’s Voice: A Rabbi Wrestles with Gender, Commandment and the Women’s Rituals of Baking, Bathing and Brightening) and has a third, Dreaming Against the Current: A Rabbi’s Soul Journey, on the way. She is also the author of a soon-to-be published guidebook for engaged couples, Getting (and Staying) Married Jewishly: Preparing for Your Life Together with Ancient and Modern Wisdom. Hope Valley is her debut novel. Rabbi Ner-David is involved in peace work, promoting a shared society of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Galilee, where she lives with Jacob, her life partner of thirty years, their seven children and their dog and cat. She also lives with a genetic degenerative muscular disease called FSHD, which has been one of her greatest teachers.