Ranon Teller

About Ranon Teller

Rabbi Ranon Teller is a spiritual leader who deeply loves Jewish music, education, and community. With a background in television writing and music, he has developed a unique ability to lead his congregation through creative worship, educational programming, and community involvement. As the senior rabbi at Congregation Birth Shalom in Houston, Rabbi Teller has transformed prayer services, strengthened membership engagement, and fostered connections in the greater Jewish community and beyond.

Early Life and Education

Ranon Teller, the second of three children born to Rabbi Dr. Gerald Teller and Judy Teller, grew up in a suburban Detroit home centered on the values and practices of Orthodox Judaism. He attended Orthodox Day School for his early education and then Skokie Yeshiva High School outside Chicago. After high school, Ranon moved to Israel to study at an Orthodox yeshiva, where he immersed himself in more advanced Talmud study, Jewish philosophy, theology, ritual, and sacred text.

But questions began to emerge.

Secular Career Beginnings

Toward the end of this time in Israel, Ranon became disenchanted with the Orthodox fundamentalism he was experiencing in the yeshiva world. He returned to Chicago and started to pursue more secular interests. He discovered a passion for creative writing and earned a degree in television writing at Columbia College Chicago. He then worked in the television industry, writing and producing a Sunday morning news program called This Week with Wanda Wells.

In addition to writing, Ranon began studying blues music, which became a central part of his life. After learning to play guitar, he joined a rhythm and blues band. In one particularly memorable gig, he and his band played on Maxwell Street, the birthplace of Chicago blues.

He was also returned to his Jewish roots and the Land of Israel.

Rediscovering Judaism

In 1996, Ranon returned to Israel and began exploring alternative ways to practice and understand Judaism beyond the orthodoxy of his youth. He immersed himself in alternative forms of Jewish spirituality and study, particularly contemporary Chasidic music and the teachings of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. After a year of auditing classes at the Conservative rabbinical school in Jerusalem and training in an intensive experiential Jewish education program, Ranon reached a turning point. He realized that his true calling was a career in Jewish leadership.

Ranon returned to the United States in 1998 and enrolled at the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University) in Los Angeles, where he pursued a degree in Jewish education and rabbinic ordination. In May 2022, he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies.