Clergy
Rabbi David L. Locketz
Senior Rabbi
Rabbi Locketz was installed as Bet Shalom’s Senior Rabbi in January of 2016. He came to Bet Shalom after rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2004.
Rabbi Locketz earned his undergraduate degree in Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Before entering Rabbinical School, Rabbi Locketz worked for three years as the Assistant Camp Director for our Union for Reform Judaism Camp, Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute (OSRUI), while also working as the North American Federation of Temple Youth advisor to the Northern and Chicago Regions. His rabbinic thesis is entitled, “Rabbi Joseph Rauch: A Biographical Study.”
Rabbi Locketz has been active in several organizations in addition to his work at Bet Shalom and currently serves serves as a Board member for the Minneapolis Jewish Federation. He is also a member of the Rabbis, Educators and Cantors Committee supporting OSRUI. He served on the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council and is a graduate of the Synagogue Transformation and Renewal Program. Rabbi Locketz is a past president of the Minnesota Rabbinical Association and currently sits on the board of the Jewish Family and Children’s Service and the OSRUI Rabbis, Educators, and Cantors Committee. He was a Co-Chair of Yachad: A Collaborative Initiative in Jewish Education.
Since receiving certification from the Minnesota Emergency Service Chaplain Association, Rabbi Locketz has served as a Police Chaplain for the Minnetonka Police Department. He was also a founding board member of the nonprofit Drops Fill Buckets Minneapolis Chapter. Rabbi Locketz is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
A native Minnesotan, Rabbi Locketz enjoys most things having to do with a lake – fishing, boating and water-skiing. He takes great interest in history, genealogy, and music.
Together with his wife, Debbie, they have two young adult daughters and live in Minnetonka.
Cantor Tamar Havilio
Cantor
Cantor Tamar Havilio was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where as a child, she loved to walk amongst the great evergreen trees that reach to the sky and embrace the loon-filled lakes around Eagle River, Wisconsin. Here she first felt the sense of prayer in her life and the awesomeness of God’s Creation.
After completing an undergraduate degree in theater at the University of Iowa, Cantor Havilio was inspired to become a cantor after walking into a synagogue in Chicago and experiencing a female cantor for the first time. Shortly thereafter, she began cantorial studies at the Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Jerusalem. After completing the cantorial program in 1996, Cantor Havilio served congregations in New York, New Jersey and Milwaukee before pursuing a Master’s program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in the Performance Studies Division.
In 2002, Cantor Havilio returned to the HUC in Jerusalem as a member of the faculty, where for the past 17 years, she has been teaching the Reform Movement’s future Jewish leaders. In 2008, she became Head of Cantorial Studies on the Jerusalem Campus. She has also been active with the Women of the Wall Movement, where she is known as the “Cantor of the Kotel.” Her cantorate has been built upon the rich soul of Jewish music and the teachings of our sacred text, both of which she is passionate about sharing with people of all ages. Cantor Havilio is an accomplished cantor and teacher with expertise in the cantorial arts, the art of chanting sacred texts, choir conducting, worship innovation, spiritual development and public prayer protest.
In 2004, Cantor Havilio married Shmulik Havilio, a 20th generation Jerusalemite. They have three boys—Nadav, Tal, and Noam. In 2018, Cantor spent a year on sabbatical serving as a cantor at Temple Israel, during which time she and her family fell in love with the Minneapolis area.
Rabbi Samantha Thal
Assistant Rabbi
rabbi.thal@betshalom.org
Rabbi Samantha Thal grew up in St. Louis, MO, where she attended Congregation Shaare Emeth. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Educational Studies and a Minor in Mathematics from Webster University in St. Louis, MO.
Rabbi Thal attended URJ Goldman Union Camp Institute (GUCI) in Zionsville, IN, and worked there as a Counselor and Songleader for three summers and on Leadership Staff for two. The summer before rabbinical school, she staffed a NFTY in Israel trip through Prague, Poland, and Israel. Rabbi Thal was an active member in her Jewish community growing up, teaching religious school and playing guitar at services through high school and college. After college, she spent two years working at Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School, a pluralistic Jewish day school in St. Louis, MO. For several years, she traveled monthly to help lead services at Temple Shalom in Louisville, KY.
Rabbi Thal attended Rabbinical School at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on the Los Angeles campus and was ordained in May of 2024. In her time in LA, she served as a Rabbinic Intern at Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas. She was the Student Rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in Redding, CA. Rabbi Thal served in a summer Pastoral Internship at Los Angeles Jewish Health, a local Jewish nursing home. She also taught Religious School at Temple Israel of Hollywood and Temple Judea in Tarzana. As an HUC student, Rabbi Thal served as Student Body President and Treasurer of HaKesher, the Los Angeles campus’s student government.
Rabbi Thal enjoys playing guitar, listening to audiobooks, crocheting, and learning new skills like juggling.
Rabbi Norman M. Cohen
Rabbi Emeritus
Rabbi Norman M. Cohen is the Founding Rabbi Emeritus of Bet Shalom Congregation. During his tenure as senior rabbi Bet Shalom grew from 34 charter families when he arrived in September 1981 and grew to over 800 in December 2015, when he became rabbi emeritus.
In 1972 Rabbi Cohen received his bachelor’s degree cum laude from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. During this period he also studied on a Junior Year Abroad Program in Jerusalem at the Hiatt Institute of Brandeis University. He did his graduate work at Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Cincinnati where he earned his masters degree in 1975 and was ordained in 1977. In 2001 he was also awarded a Doctorate of Divinity.
Prior to his arrival in the Twin Cities, Rabbi Cohen served Rockdale Temple in Cincinnati, the oldest Jewish congregation west of the Alleghenies, while also teaching at HUC and other colleges in Cincinnati. He has continued to serve on college faculties in the Twin Cities area, including the College of St. Catherine, Macalester College, the United Theological Seminary, and St. Olaf College in Northfield. He is the annual fall semester rabbi-in-residence at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. He has also been the Rabbinic scholar each year for over two decades at Mary Mother of the Church in Burnsville. Rabbi Cohen returns to Holy Cross College every year to serve as chaplain and advisor to the Jewish students and faculty. He is a Rabbinic Mentor to Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion rabbinic students. In the winter, Rabbi Cohen spends time in Scottsdale, AZ, where he teaches Torah at Congregation Beth Israel and Solel Congregation. He leads an annual Shabbat gathering of Bet Shalomians and other Minnesotans who winter in Arizona. He also leads High Holy Day services for the Desert Foothills Jewish Community Association.
In addition to congregational and academic duties, Rabbi Cohen is active in local civic and Jewish community affairs and plays an active role in Jewish-Christian relations. He serves as chaplain for the Minnetonka Police Department, and has been a member of the Hopkins Crime Prevention Fund Board, the International Center for Victims of Torture, and the State Board of the Minnesota Fraternal Order of Police.
He is past president of the Midwest Association of Reform Rabbis, and the Minnesota Rabbinical Association and has been active in numerous organizations, locally and nationally. Rabbi Cohen has been on the Religious Advisory Council of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities, has served as a board member and honorary advisor to the Minneapolis Jewish Family and Children’s Service, and has been active with the Minneapolis Jewish Federation, being twice appointed to its Executive Board. He helped to create the Jewish Free Loan Program of Minneapolis and served on its initial steering committee.
He has been to Israel over 20 times, often leading tour groups from our congregation. One was with Bet Shalom and Mizpah United Church of Christ, our interfaith partner for many years. The last pilgrimage he led was with 40 of his Catholic classmates from Holy Cross.
He has authored numerous magazine and newspaper articles and the book Jewish Bible Personages in the New Testament. In his first year of “retirement”, he wrote the book Sacred Architecture: The Building of Bet Shalom. A signed copy is available for every member of Bet Shalom. Just ask. Rabbi Cohen has appeared as scholar in residence in over two-dozen cities, sharing his research on the Book of Ruth, a Jewish understanding of Christianity and the New Testament, and stereotypes and misconceptions that Christians and Jews have about each other.
He is married to the former Andrea Winnick of St. Paul. They are the parents of TJ and Carley Rubin and he is called Saba (grandfather) by their three grandchildren.
Cantor Sarah Lipsett-Allison, z"l
Cantor Emerita
Cantor Sarah Lipsett-Allison served as part of the Bet Shalom Congregation staff from 1997 to 2017. Cantor Lipsett-Allison started as Bet Shalom’s soloist and then in 2006, she completed the Cantorial Certification Program under the auspices of both the School of Sacred Music (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion) and the American Conference of Cantors and became Bet Shalom’s first Cantor.
Cantor Lipsett-Allison was an active member of the Minnesota Cantors Association. She also served on the Social Action Committee of the American Conference of Cantors and on the Board of Directors of Hillel at the University of Minnesota.
Cantor Lipsett-Allison held a Master of Arts in Music from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, and a Bachelor’s of Music from the University of Utah, both in Vocal Performance. Her love of Judaism was expressed through the use of both traditional and contemporary styles, as well as her work with Bet Shalom members of all ages, including young Religious School students in Shir Tzair (Children’s Choir), Bar and Bat Mitzvah students, adult Hebrew students, the Adult Choir, and the Ruach Ensemble.
Before becoming a Cantor, Cantor Lipsett-Allison was a professional singer and voice teacher, and she performed as soprano soloist with many Twin Cities organizations, including the Minnesota Chorale and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Chamber Music Society, and the Minnesota Youth Symphony; several works were composed expressly for her. She also performed with the Minnesota Opera and had extensive professional choral experience.
Cantor Lipsett-Allison is remembered by so many whose lives she touched with her beautiful voice and caring personality. She is survived by her husband Brent Allison, and their son, Ethan.
