Wine Country Rabbi

My husband and I were married in Napa in May 2025, and we were so lucky to have had our ceremony overseen and guided by the wonderful Rabbi Steve! Our journey with him began shortly after we got engaged in summer 2024, and we knew right off the bat that Rabbi Steve would be a perfect fit for us. He took very special care to get to know us, and his light-hearted, warm, and open demeanor really made us feel at ease. Most importantly, Rabbi Steve fully respected our wishes to honor both of our traditions through an interfaith ceremony (I'm Catholic, and my husband is Jewish). He even went so far as to introduce us to his dear friend, a deacon at a Catholic parish in Sonoma, who went on to be the other half of our officiant team (special shout-out to Deacon Dave from St. Francis!). The ceremony itself was everything we wanted, and it struck the perfect balance of both of our traditions (our friends and family still talk about it!). We feel so blessed that we found Rabbi Steve, and we couldn't recommend his services and guidance more.

Rabbi Steve was the perfect choice to officiate our wedding. We cannot recommend him enough. 

He took the time to meet with us regularly, getting to know us and our relationship, guiding us with different options for our ceremony, and helping to craft our ceremony in a way that is personalized to us and the Jewish traditions that mean the most to us. We’re so grateful he invited us up to his congregation for Shabbat. We were able to see him in his element, leading the service, and got more connected to our Jewish heritage. 

All the rabbis we interviewed said we would fill out a questionnaire they would use to draft their script for the ceremony, but Rabbi Steve meticulously reviewed and incorporated our responses. After the ceremony ended, my husband and I both expressed how we felt Rabbi Steve talked about important traits that we didn’t have time to cover in our vows. We filled in the gaps and helped to tell our story in such a beautiful way. His guidance for the ceremony was paramount. We were able to take the Jewish traditions and tailor them in a way that felt the most connected to us — whether that was taking them as is, finding a modern interpretation, or finding a combination. I am not exaggerating when I tell you we heard from multiple people that our ceremony was the best, most authentic, meaningful wedding ceremonies they’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. 

He went above and beyond in providing kippahs for the wedding ceremony, even allowing my husband to select a beautiful woven one from Israel for him to keep as a keepsake from the wedding.

Rabbi Steve was a true professional on the day, bringing in the wisdom and Jewish traditions, supporting our union, while letting us and our love truly shine. Any couple working with him is incredibly lucky. Bonus tip, ask for his script after the wedding so you can revisit his beautiful words and keep them as part of your wedding day memories. 

Rabbi Steve was absolutely amazing. He co-officiated our wedding with his best friend, Pastor Jason, and together they created a ceremony that felt so natural, personal, and full of laughter.

What stood out most about Rabbi Steve was how focused he was on building a genuine connection with us first. That’s ultimately why we chose him—he felt different from the other officiants we met because he truly cared about getting to know us as people, not just planning the ceremony.

He even invited us to Shabbat, which brought us all closer and helped lay the foundation for the beautiful ceremony we created together. The entire experience felt meaningful, warm, and authentic.

We’re so grateful we met Rabbi Steve and know we’ll continue to stay in touch.

Rabbi Steve was an incredible blessing for us both. He guided us through the wedding process, was communicative and offered strong support for us. Completely professional with the added value of his kindness and care that we needed as an interfaith couple, as an Israeli bride and an Indian groom. The jewish ceremony was right after the Hindu ceremony and he did a beautiful job in welcoming and highlighting both cultures and people during the ceremony. Definitely recommend to work with him !

Rabbi Steve is an incredible rabbi and made our ceremony as beautiful as it was. Meeting with him prior to the ceremony was critical for us all to get to know each other. He was so accommodating to our preferences and needs, and offered a great perspective on the ceremony, but also on life. Our ceremony was beautiful, largely because his words were sentimental and personal. He brought a wonderful spirit to the ceremony and we would recommend him to everyone looking for a rabbi in the area. 10/10, the best vendor we worked with.

Rabbi Steve made our ceremony very special. He took the time to get to know us and craft a ceremony that would match our wants and needs. Lots of folks told us they loved the ceremony, and we felt like it was a great mix of older traditions and modern customs. Would recommend!

Rabbi Steve was an exceptional officiant and made our day all the more special. He wormed with us to make sure the ceremony was truly reflective of our values. We are so happy to have worked with him!

Rabbi Steve took the time to get to meet with us via zoom - we live across the country - and in person leading up to our wedding. We felt like we got to know him and he got to know us during our months of preparation. Rabbi Steve educated us on our options for what we could include in our ceremony and provided us with many choices ranging from non-religious to religious and we got to create a wedding ceremony that was uniquely ours. We are so thrilled we found Rabbi Steve and our friends and family loved the ceremony and really enjoyed his officiating.

Where do we even begin? We found Rabbi Finley via an online search for rabbis in the Napa area. As a mixed faith couple (Jewish and Catholic), we wanted a rabbi that would be understanding and respectful of both religious backgrounds, but also able to maintain the traditions of a Jewish ceremony. After our initial meeting with Rabbi we could tell he was very patient, honest, forthcoming, and warm and respectful of all cultural and spiritual backgrounds. He will limit his services based on what you desire out of the relationship, from very traditional to more liberal / progressive. In our case, we wanted a more hands-on experience with monthly meetings and counseling as we wanted our ceremony to be more traditional and intimate. We discussed various options on how we wanted our ceremony to proceed, Rabbi Finley would provide suggestions on what the more traditional ceremony steps were, and educated us on Jewish rituals and ceremonial traditions and their significance. We had multiple meetings with him leading up to our ceremony and were even invited to some of his congregation's events, which we appreciate and happily attended. We were welcomed with open arms by his congregation in Sonoma, and appreciated building a relationship with the Rabbi and his congregation that we want to continue beyond our ceremony, but note this is not a requirement, we just like him and his congregation that much.

On our wedding day, he led our ceremony seamlessly and confidently. We received so many compliments from our guests on how well he officiated our wedding. Everyone from both sides of our families and friends loved how well Rabbi Finley made the ceremony feel traditional, intimate, reverent, and also warm and welcoming to all backgrounds with the perfect amount of humor and mirth. The groom's side is the Jewish side in our case, and all of his relatives agreed it was the best Jewish ceremony they've attended.

Rabbi Finley was a pleasure to work with and made our elopement ceremony wonderful! The planning process was easy since Steve was incredibly friendly and responsive throughout. He enthusiastically accommodated our unique desires into a customized ceremony still rooted in tradition. Steve is also flexible and keeps your day stress-free and focused around you--he happily met us pre-dawn to hike rocky trails so we would reach our ceremony location at sunrise. We highly recommend Rabbi Finley to others as an exceptional officiant who goes above and beyond to make your special day unforgettable.