Rabbi Lara was ordained and received her Masters of Arts in Education from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, and has been dedicated to Jewish education for over 20 years. She joined TIOH after serving as Rabbi and Director of Jewish Living and Learning at Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael, CA, where she oversaw all programs for children and their families, including their religious school and teen programs. Prior to her work there, Rabbi Lara worked in various youth programs in California and Cleveland, OH, including NFTY regions and URJ Camp Newman in Santa Rosa. She is dedicated to teaching Jewish values and encouraging kids and their grown-ups to be their best selves, helping make this world better every day. 
 
As the Religious School Director, Rabbi Lara leads our TK-6 grade Traditional Religious School and 7-12 grade Teen Program. She provides a vision for our schools, develops curricula, designs social justice trips, facilitates professional development, and supervises Family Education Programming. She serves as the touch point for our Religious School and Teen Program parents and families and is excited to continue to build on what has been and imagine what can be for our kids and teens.
Rabbi Lara is passionate about helping kids and teens find their own way to connect and their own path to Judaism. She cares deeply about the well-being of all of our learners and wants TIOH to be a place where they can be loved and cared for, share openly about who they are, and feel comfortable building their own community and support as they need in their lives. She encourages creativity and critical thinking and invites all students to embrace their curiosity so that they can make their own informed choices about their Judaism and teach others in this world about how to be better people. Rabbi Lara aims to support kids and teens as they forge their own Jewish identities steeped in the values they have learned, their challenges, and their life-changing experiences with their Jewish community and beyond.
 
Rabbi Lara is happy to return to Los Angeles with her husband, Rabbi Yoni Regev, and their two children Noah and Jacob.