About Rev. Tera Klein
Rev. Tera officiating a wedding
What truly makes a life? Filling it with people and activities you love. I'm fortunate to have a lot of love in my life - Jonathan, family, friends, and my congregation.
I also enjoy many interests in life: gardening, singing in a local gospel choir, learning to play guitar, vegan cooking, hiking, puttering around our home and garden, watching how the light changes with the seasons.
I didn't grow up thinking my life path would be ministry. But the twists and turns of life took me there, and one day I realized - that was my calling. Ministry takes many forms: serving a congregation, doing social justice work, walking with people through the tender times of their lives, and celebrating life's joyful moments with them. I proudly serve as the minister at Throop Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena, where I've been since 2012.
I went through a rigorous seminary education at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, completed a hospital chaplain internship at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, worked as a congregational intern with the UUs of Santa Clarita Valley, was successfully vetted by the national Unitarian Universalist ordination board, and in 2011 was ordained by my internship congregation, the UUs of Santa Clarita Valley.
I also enjoy many interests in life: gardening, singing in a local gospel choir, learning to play guitar, vegan cooking, hiking, puttering around our home and garden, watching how the light changes with the seasons.
I didn't grow up thinking my life path would be ministry. But the twists and turns of life took me there, and one day I realized - that was my calling. Ministry takes many forms: serving a congregation, doing social justice work, walking with people through the tender times of their lives, and celebrating life's joyful moments with them. I proudly serve as the minister at Throop Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena, where I've been since 2012.
I went through a rigorous seminary education at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, completed a hospital chaplain internship at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, worked as a congregational intern with the UUs of Santa Clarita Valley, was successfully vetted by the national Unitarian Universalist ordination board, and in 2011 was ordained by my internship congregation, the UUs of Santa Clarita Valley.
About Rabbi Jonathan
Rabbi Jonathan officiating a wedding
Life was not easy for my family growing up. Between my brother’s Down Syndrome and my parents’ financial struggles, I came to learn early on that people are not dealt equal hands. Despite our societal love for the “self-made man,” I came to learn that not all people have equal opportunities to live joyous lives. That uneven reality has become my professional obsession: To ensure that all people have the opportunity to enjoy meaningful lives without lack, without fear.
I was raised in a family that put the pursuit of justice at the forefront of what it means to be a Jew, and I embraced the call for justice as an inseparable component of my identity. Blessed by thoughtful teachers along the way who pointed me toward the rabbinate, I graduated from UCLA in 1992 and then Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 1997. After years as a Hillel director in Los Angeles, I came to realize that a purposeful life meant applying my rabbinical work toward economic justice, and I have been blessed with my dream job, directing a multi-faith economic justice organization since 2009 committed to worker rights, immigrant rights, and restorative justice.
I also love music; all genres, all forms. I play a little guitar and have been told I can sing nicely! Both my voice and my guitar skills are yours for your wedding if so desired. Like Tera, I am also a firm believer that earth and all of its inhabitants, human and non-human, need our protection and care. The world is beautiful; we can create a more just and sacred society if we work together with love in our hearts. I feel blessed to have Tera as my thought and life partner as we collaborate “L’taken et Ha’Olam,” to fix this struggling planet.
I was raised in a family that put the pursuit of justice at the forefront of what it means to be a Jew, and I embraced the call for justice as an inseparable component of my identity. Blessed by thoughtful teachers along the way who pointed me toward the rabbinate, I graduated from UCLA in 1992 and then Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 1997. After years as a Hillel director in Los Angeles, I came to realize that a purposeful life meant applying my rabbinical work toward economic justice, and I have been blessed with my dream job, directing a multi-faith economic justice organization since 2009 committed to worker rights, immigrant rights, and restorative justice.
I also love music; all genres, all forms. I play a little guitar and have been told I can sing nicely! Both my voice and my guitar skills are yours for your wedding if so desired. Like Tera, I am also a firm believer that earth and all of its inhabitants, human and non-human, need our protection and care. The world is beautiful; we can create a more just and sacred society if we work together with love in our hearts. I feel blessed to have Tera as my thought and life partner as we collaborate “L’taken et Ha’Olam,” to fix this struggling planet.
A little about our story.
We became friends at a social justice rally. And not just any social justice rally - but Occupy Los Angeles in 2011! We were part of an interfaith clergy group that offered spiritual support to activists who needed it. Our friendship continued, and before long we fell in love. We navigate the curious waters of a "bi-religious" relationship, in which Tera affirms her Unitarian Universalist commitments and Jonathan affirms his Jewish traditions. We embrace the practices of one another's religions in our lives, recognizing that our core beliefs about the world around us and the nature of God are quite close and compatible.
We were happily married on April 2, 2017 and we worked hard with our own wedding officiants to create a ceremony that honored each of our religious traditions, and authentically spoke to who we are as a couple. So we know from our own experience just how important crafting a meaningful ceremony is to set the tone for your whole wedding day.
Our values are what brought us together into lives of joy and meaning; we will bring that energy and ethos, embodied by your own shared values, into your wedding ceremony.
We were happily married on April 2, 2017 and we worked hard with our own wedding officiants to create a ceremony that honored each of our religious traditions, and authentically spoke to who we are as a couple. So we know from our own experience just how important crafting a meaningful ceremony is to set the tone for your whole wedding day.
Our values are what brought us together into lives of joy and meaning; we will bring that energy and ethos, embodied by your own shared values, into your wedding ceremony.
