Rabbi Nicholas Losorelli 

May 2025 was a big month for Rabbi Nicholas Losorelli. In the span of 48 hours, the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies graduate married Eli Shavalian and was ordained as a rabbi. He soon stepped into a leadership role at Ziegler as an assistant dean, becoming part of the Jewish journey for many students. 

While a rabbinical student, Losorelli benefited from the support of Torah Fund, and now he sees how Torah Fund is benefiting new students. “While it takes a lot of inspiration, hard work, and learning to make a rabbi, it also takes resources, and how lucky have I been, and how lucky are our students, to be the beneficiaries of Torah Fund, an organization made up of people who put their money where their values are in the interest of a thriving Jewish future and Conservative Movement? I’d say we’re pretty lucky.” 

Losorelli’s own journey has not been typical, nor is he himself a typical rabbi. After spending many years working in television production and earning a bachelor’s degree in music from UC Berkeley, he came to realize that being a rabbinical student synthesized many of the things he had experience with and was passionate about: Judaism, community building, lifelong learning, and music. 

Now, as he works with students, he feels there are few joys greater than being part of someone’s Jewish journey and seeing them meet and surpass their goals. “Our students here at Ziegler are hard-working, thoughtful, and spirited folks who are constantly sharing their Torah with the Ziegler community, as well as with the broader Jewish world. Their positive impact as both rabbinical students and rabbis-to-be cannot be understated,” Losorelli said. “As part of my work at Ziegler, I have the opportunity to work with students one-on-one as they meet their proficiencies as prayer leaders and grow both technically and spiritually within that role.” 

Losorelli brings much to his role as assistant dean, including perspectives shaped by his experience as someone who is queer, a term he uses for its inclusivity. “I am here to serve all students,” he said, adding he occasionally has students who say they are especially appreciative to have “someone like him” in this role. Losorelli is queer, Mexican American, a husband, a rabbi and more. 

“I want to be seen as the fully integrated human being that I am, who carries the many experiences that come with varied identity. It is through seeing someone in their fullness – as opposed to one isolated part we choose to see – that we can engage with dignity and compassion. My Jewishness is inextricable from my rabbinate, is inextricable from my Mexican-ness, is inextricable from my queerness, and so on and so forth, so when you get one, you get all,” he said. 

In talking about the queer Jewish community, Losorelli said there is still much work to do within the Conservative Movement, as well as the broader Jewish world. “The place at which we have arrived with regard to the inclusion and empowerment of the queer community is one that we owe both to queer Jews within (and outside of) the Conservative Movement, and our allies in the realization of human dignity for all Jews and all peoples.” 

Losorelli plans to continue sharing his story and bearing witness to the stories of others. “We stand on the shoulders of our predecessors. And as Rabbi Tarfon in our Mishnah Pirkei Avot says:  “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.” I take this wisdom in conjunction with the wisdom of my sister, Shannon Doronio Chavez, which is: “Especially on those days when it is hard, it is up to us to hold the door open for the next person. ” 

Then Losorelli added, “And for those who might be surprised that queer identity is both an integral part of the Conservative Movement and ascendant in leadership, I invite you to be part of this important work toward the realization of human dignity for all peoples, both with curiosity and an open heart, in the hopes that we can, all of us together, be the ones that hold the door open for the next person.”