Religious Committee

My Beloved Congregation,

I want to share a few thoughts with you as we complete almost six months of praying, laughing, and growing together. Over these past months serving as your rabbi and cantor, I have felt your deep appreciation and love. What an extraordinary journey this has been!

This is an incredible community. Your tenacity, your openness, and your shared desire not simply to sustain our congregation, but to strengthen it, inspire me every single day. Together, we have worked to build something meaningful—something rooted in warmth, spirituality, and genuine care. And it shows. You feel it the moment you walk through our doors. You hear it in our voices when we sing. You see it in the way we show up for one another.

The most beautiful gift of all, however, is this: we have become a family. A real one. We care about one another. We bless one another in moments of joy and in moments of challenge. We share gratitude freely and generously, knowing that none of us walks this path alone.

Thank you for trusting me, for welcoming me, and for allowing me to walk alongside you in sacred moments both large and small. It is a privilege beyond words to serve this congregation—not only as your rabbi and cantor, but as part of our wonderful Cuban Hebrew Congregation at Kehillah on the Beach.

May we all be blessed with good health and sweetness in the year to come.

With gratitude,

Rabbi/Cantor Rachelle Nelson

Cantor/Rabbi Rachelle Nelson was born and raised in Miami Beach Florida. She attended the University of Miami on a music scholarship in music education and minored in voice and theory composition. She also served as Cantorial soloist at her future congregation, Temple Israel of Greater Miami. 

Cantor Nelson is a major composer of Jewish music in the world today, and her compositions can be heard in almost every Reform and conservative synagogue (even Chabad), in the U.S. and Europe. She has received numerous rewards and honors for her contributions in music and her volunteerism within the community. 

After graduation from U.M., Rachelle applied to Hebrew Union College, School of Sacred Music in NYC, now known as the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. She was one of the very first women to enter the college to begin a five-year program. 

In her last two years of Cantorial School, Rachelle traveled weekly back and forth, New York to Miami and Miami to New York to serve as the Student Cantor at Temple Israel of Greater Miami. This would become her first long-term pulpit after graduation in 1984 for the next 8 years.

In 1991, Rachelle became the Cantor of Temple Beth Am in Pinecrest, Fla. She served Temple Beth Am for almost 30 years. During that time, Rachelle studied long distance at the Mesifta Adath Wolkowisk, (The Rabbinical Academy), and graduated on June 11, 2015, in New York. 

In the past three years, Cantor Nelson has had the joy and opportunity to serve Temple Israel once again as Cantor in Residence. She has been able to be part of an incredible community of very committed Jewish leaders. As this extraordinary congregation will be closing its doors after 103 years of service to the Jewish community, Rachelle is ready to embark on her next journey as Cantor/Rabbi for Shabbat eve. services at Cuban Hebrew Congregation on Miami Beach.

Cantor Nelson is an extremely proud mother of twin daughters, Dr. Rebecca Yaras (Dr. Reed Yaras and baby Samuel Harrison Yaras), and Leah Goldstein (Jesse Goldstein and baby Sarah Ella. Goldstein). She is also mother of Lyla Nelson, a trained 14-pound service dog whose Hebrew is better than her moms.

Cantor Nelson feels blessed everyday of her life!