Rabbi Ranon Teller

Ranon grew up in suburban Detroit as the second of three children of Rabbi Dr. Gerald Teller and Judy Teller. Raised in an Orthodox Jewish home, he attended Orthodox Day School, then Skokie Yeshiva High School near Chicago. Afterward, he moved to Israel, where he studied Talmud, Jewish philosophy, theology, ritual, and sacred text in an Orthodox yeshiva.

Ranon eventually began questioning the Orthodox fundamentalism he encountered in the yeshiva world. Returning to Chicago, he explored secular creativity and earned a degree in television writing from Columbia College Chicago. He worked in television, writing and producing This Week with Wanda Wells, while also studying blues guitar and performing with a rhythm-and-blues band.

Ranon returned to Israel in 1996 to seek broader ways to practice and understand Judaism. He studied alternative Jewish spirituality, contemporary Chasidic music, and the teachings of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. After auditing classes at a Conservative rabbinical school and training in experiential Jewish education, he realized Jewish leadership was his calling.

Ranon came back to the United States in 1998 and enrolled at the University of Judaism, now American Jewish University, in Los Angeles. He earned a master’s degree in education in 2000 and was ordained in 2002, receiving honors for academic excellence and Talmudic study. In 2022, the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Ranon first served Congregation B’nai Amoona in St. Louis as associate rabbi from 2002 to 2005. During a period of senior leadership transition, he offered vision, steadiness, and creativity. He engaged young families, introduced interactive prayer services, and strengthened congregational life through a personable style rooted in learning, music, and community care.

Ranon moved to Houston in 2005 to become the senior rabbi of Congregation Brith Shalom. Over the past two decades, he has led musical prayer services, supported membership growth, and helped secure major gifts, including a $1.5 million endowment and a $5 million renovation gift, while serving local organizations addressing hunger, homelessness, and family needs.

Ranon Teller, Rabbi, is also devoted to family, creativity, and the outdoors. He and his wife, Vicki, raised four children: Ariella, Maya, Jake, and Nava, who has shown interest in becoming a rabbi. Outside the pulpit, he enjoys blues and folk guitar, song-leading, biographies, juggling, magic, backpacking, hiking, and writing for Jewish publications and Peaceful Bones.