lila glenn rimalovski

Lila Rimalovski is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School exploring how spiritually-grounded leadership might shape systemic change. An artist, community facilitator, and chaplain in training, Lila walks in devotional service to the third way— the path where more liberation is always possible. Lila has led large-scale initiatives across nonprofit, higher education, and civic sectors, ranging from yearlong educational programs to sold out symposiums for 500+ attendees. Lila’s current research exists at the intersection of psychedelic practice, ecological justice, and organizational governance. She is currently training as a practitioner of spiritual care, aiming to infuse grounded ethics into the vast corners of institutional and communal life where heart-centered leadership is needed.

education

  • Master of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School, 2027

  • B.A., New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study, 2019

awards & residences

  • Awarded Scholar, The Usona Institute, 2026

  • Aleph Fellow, The Shalom Center, 2025

  • Climate Leaders Fellow, Harvard University Center for the Environment, 2024-2025

  • Artist-Activist in Residence, The Firehouse, 2023-2024

  • Artist Fellow, LABA Bay Area, 2023

  • Residential Fellow, Place Corps, 2019-2020

training

  • Tending the Spiritual in Psychedelic Care for Community Settings, The Center for the Study of World Religions, 2025

  • Sitting and Integration Training, The Zendo Project, 2025

  • Permaculture Design Certificate, The Ecological Literacy Immersion Program, Omega Center for Sustainable Living, 2019

  • Herbalism Certificate, California School of Herbal Studies, 2022

  • Social Forestry, Siskiyou Permaculture, 2024

  • Restoration Ecology, Earth Activist Training, 2024

  • Non-Violent Communication, Good Work Institute, 2021

  • Regenerative Facilitation, Regenerate Change, 2021

  • Mindful Self-Compassion Level 1, Esalen Institute, 2020

  • Carpentry, Salmon Creek Farm, 2022

  • Environmental Leadership, National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), 2015 & 2017

lineage

My lines reach deep into the realms of Ashkenazi Jewery. My people have been complaining and eating pickles in Jewish American ghettos for six generations, since my paternal and maternal ancestors arrived to Turtle Island around the turn of the 20th century. My bones come from Poland, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Russia, and other Eastern-European soils obscured by war and borders. Raised on stories of Lower East Side tenements and school fights in Brooklyn, the New York Jew lives large and loud in my family, even though my childhood was shaped in New Jersey. I’m the eldest of 10 first cousins, the only one born on Ramaytush and Ohlone land in Palo Alto, California. 

The photo below comes from the book of my great, great grandfather Abraham Hochman, a Jewish mystic and fortune teller feared and revered for his Yiddish wizardry on Rivington Street.