Since joining the STS family in July 2017, Cantor Rafii has brought her vision for building, engaging, and invigorating Jewish community through music and spiritual leadership. She has created exciting new initiatives, including Songstruck, the Shabbat Around the World series, the Zamru Friday Night experience, Koleinu Shabbat Morning services, and the STS Adult, Youth and Teen Choirs. She is the B’nai Mitzvah Program Director at STS and oversees the Teen Torah Trainer program. Cantor Rafii conducts our incredible STS house band and guest musicians to bring meaningful music and prayer to our community. She is also a pianist and composer, and in addition to Hebrew sings Jewish music in Ladino and Farsi.

Since the global pandemic, Cantor Rafii has developed STS’s virtual community through co-leading interactive online prayer services, teaching adult education classes, hosting and participating in various virtual concerts and programs, and creating and conducting multiple STS virtual choir projects. In the coming year, Cantor Rafii will continue to nurture the vibrant and expanding virtual community at STS, which has drawn members and engagement from all over the country.

Cantor Rafii was ordained as a Hazzan and earned her Master’s in Sacred Jewish Music from the Academy for Jewish Religion California. She is a Wexner Graduate Fellow, one of twenty young Jewish leaders in North America selected annually to help strengthen the future of Jewish America. Prior to becoming a cantor, Cantor Rafii earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law and subsequently practiced entertainment law in Los Angeles for three years. She also served as cantorial soloist at Sinai Temple, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Temple Emanuel, Kehillat Ma’arav, and other congregations throughout Los Angeles.