Rabbi Elyssa Cherney at Tacklingtorah Reviews
Reviews
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![Zachary]()
Zachary Sent on 05/18/2026Special Wedding Ceremony Experience with Rabbi Elyssa Cherney
We could not have asked for a more meaningful and personal experience working with Elyssa Cherney. From the moment we met her for coffee in Philadelphia, we knew she was someone special. She took the time to genuinely get to know us as a couple, our families, and what we wanted our ceremony to feel like.
Rabbi Elyssa has such a warm, calming, and thoughtful personality. She made the entire process feel personal and effortless, and she struck the perfect balance of heartfelt, spiritual, and joyful during our ceremony. So many guests came up to us afterward, saying how beautiful, authentic, and the ceremony felt, and that is completely because of her.
She brought incredible energy, kindness, professionalism, and care to every interaction. We are so grateful she was part of our wedding day and would recommend her wholeheartedly to any couple looking for someone who truly cares and makes the ceremony unforgettable. -
![Simon]()
Simon Sent on 05/17/2026Thank you Rabbi Elyssa!
Rabbi Elyssa Cherney officiated our wedding and did an amazing job. Leading up to the day she spent quality time with us learning about us as a couple, giving helpful advice (both wedding and non-wedding related), and helping us incorporate the Jewish traditions we wanted in our day while making it our own given our different heritages. She was knowledgeable and approachable (fun to be around, too!). In our ceremony service she thoughtfully wove everything she had learned about us into a meaningful personalized ceremony. Many of our guests commented on how great the service was and how much it reflected us as a couple. Thank you Rabbi Elyssa! -
![Carly]()
Carly Sent on 05/06/2026Highly Recommend!!
Rabbi Elyssa was an incredible officiant. She led a beautiful ceremony that incorporated Jewish traditions and personal anecdotes. She also led a very special Ketubah signing before the ceremony. My favorite part, though, was when she guided my husband and me in a private grounding meditation and prayer. This truly helped calm my anxiety and feel ready for the festivities. We also had multiple meetings before the wedding, and she was always available for any questions that came up. I highly recommend Rabbi Elyssa for any life event! -
![Evan]()
Evan Sent on 01/06/2025Gave Us Meaning
We knew Rabbi Elyssa was the best choice from our first meeting. She was eager to get to know us; attentive to our needs as an interfaith, interracial couple; and always responsive when we had a question. During the chaos of wedding planning, she was always reassuring and kept us centered. Just before the ceremony, within the marathon of the wedding day, Rabbi Elyssa pulled us aside and gave us a much needed moment of silent meditation. After the ceremony, all of our guests - and we mean all of them - came up to us and told us how it was possibly the best ceremony they'd ever been a part of. It was intimate, spiritual, and had a gravity that struck everyone in the room. We could not recommend Rabbi Elyssa more. -
![Vinny]()
Vinny Sent on 10/20/2024Rabbi Cherney was excellent
Rabbi Cherney was kind, thorough and patient with us as we prepared for our wedding. Because we are an interfaith couple, Rabbi Cherney took her time explaining the rituals and their meaning, underscoring the importance of our wedding beyond the big party. During the ceremony, she was a calming presence that helped guide us through the process without any stress. Her words during our ceremony were beautiful, and brought laughter and happy tears to everyone in attendance. Our loved ones have repeatedly told us that the ceremony was one of the best they have attended. -
![Alyssa]()
Alyssa Sent on 02/02/2024Rabbi Elyssa is AMAZING!
Working with Rabbi Elyssa was truly delightful. Her warmth and friendliness instantly put us at ease, making the connection with her effortless. Our discussions leading up to the wedding were not only meaningful but also immensely helpful. We delved into topics such as our relationship, future plans, and family aspirations, creating a comprehensive picture around the wedding.
Rabbi Elyssa transformed our wedding into more than just an event; she turned it into a magical experience. The ketubah ceremony she crafted for us was unparalleled, evoking a sense of spirituality and transcendence. The chuppah ceremony was equally extraordinary – intimate and personalized, yet wonderfully inclusive for our guests. The impact of her touch on our special day is still resonating, as our guests continue to express how uniquely special and memorable it was! -
![Ashley]()
Ashley Sent on 12/05/2023Like having a friend guide you
Rabbi Elyssa was incredibly supportive throughout wedding planning. She provided one-on-one sessions for marriage counseling and took the time to not only explain the Jewish wedding traditions but helped us create our own unique ceremony. One of our favorite parts of our wedding was our Ketubah signing ceremony where she held space for us to catch our breath before we walked down the aisle. Rabbi Elyssa also did a magnificent job co-hosting an interfaith union. Finally, she made herself available as we navigate our first year of marriage together. We highly recommend Rabbi Elyssa for your future wedding! -
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![Victoria]()
Victoria Sent on 11/21/2023A Perfect Ceremony
We were so grateful to have the opportunity to get to know Rabbi Elyssa. She was wonderful to work with, and her guidance through our engagement was incredibly helpful. Our ceremony was absolutely beautiful. Rabbi Elyssa held a small intimate Ketubah signing with our immediate family first before our larger wedding ceremony. Both ceremonies were full of meaning and our family members and guests told us so many times throughout the night how much they loved Rabbi Elyssa. We are an interfaith couple- my husband is Jewish and I am Christian- and Rabbi Elyssa was so inclusive and mindful of our separate and shared faith traditions. I would recommend Rabbi Elyssa to any couple looking to be married in a Jewish or "Jew-ish" ceremony. She is phenomenal. -
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Marissa Sent on 06/02/2023
Rabbi elyssa is the best!
Rabbi Elyssa made our wedding magical! We’re an interfaith couple and she made both parties feel very comfortable and she helped calm us down throughout the whole process. Our ketubah signing was so perfect and she had our whole wedding party involved which was amazing. Rabbi Elyssa is now our forever Rabbi! She even made some of our non jewish friends want to convert!
If you’re getting married you should without a doubt go with Rabbi Elyssa!!!
Thank you Rabbi Elyssa! -
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![Samantha]()
Samantha Sent on 12/20/2022Helpful, smooth, flawless
Working with rabbi Elyssa was easy, helpful, and smooth. She walked us through the entire Jewish ceremony process, and got to know the both of us and our relationship leading up to the wedding. The wedding ceremony itself was perfect. It was personal, meaningful, and eloquently done.
When rabbi Elyssa first arrived she reminded my husband & I why we were there, and gave us the perfect moment before the ceremony began. After a crazy day of photos, it was exactly what we needed to start the night & be present in the moment.
Our ketubah signing was also meaningful and flawless, and rabbi Elyssa made it a moment we will forever cherish.
I would recommend her to any Jewish or interfaith couple, as she made everyone (Jews and non Jews) feel included in the ceremony and ketubah process and explained what every little thing meant to our guests. -
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![Ariana]()
Ariana Sent on 11/14/2022Book rabbi elyssa immediately!
We cannot say enough about how much we LOVED working with Rabbi Elyssa!! She was tremendous throughout the entire process, and getting to know her over the last year has been rewarding, enlightening, and such a privilege. When we originally hired her as our officiant, we went in with the standard expectation that she would have a call with us a couple of weeks before the wedding and then officiate the wedding. This is FAR from what we received. Over the span of a year, we met with her over five times (once in person which was awesome!), and each time we had an in-depth couples' counseling session about what marriage meant to us and how we plan to live our lives together. Her questions were always thought provoking, and she was incredibly present in making sure my wife and I were in the best headspace to walk together in marriage. She specializes in interfaith weddings and each of us felt our heritages/cultures/religions were completely respected, encouraged, and amplified. In addition, we are a same sex couple and have never felt more supported by a spiritual leader. We technically got legally married a couple months before our actual wedding celebration, and she graciously offered to officiate that as well (and she went above and beyond)! By the time we got to the "real" wedding ceremony, we truly felt like Rabbi Elyssa knew us well. The ceremony was incredibly beautiful, and we received an endless amount of compliments. She tailored the ceremony to our personalities, our relationship, and our vibe. She added a multitude of thoughtful touches that made the audience feel truly connected to us and for that we will be forever grateful. I highly recommend Rabbi Elyssa to anyone who is interested in having not only an amazing wedding, but an everlasting relationship with their Rabbi. She is now our Rabbi for life, and we cannot wait for the next life milestone to include her in!! -
![Dana]()
Dana Sent on 10/27/2022Thoughtful, meaningful, and individualized ceremony!
Rabbi Elyssa made wedding day truly perfect. She tailored the ceremony and ketubah signing to exactly what we were hoping for, which was a primarily secular ceremony with Jewish traditions woven throughout. We were initially hesitant about working with someone who we had never met before, but over the course of our 3 meetings with Rabbi Elyssa, she took so much time and care to get to know us individually and as a couple. The ceremony that she was able to build was completely "us" and really took into account the qualities that we most cared about, like including our family and community. I also really appreciated that Rabbi Elyssa didn't want us to be *too* involved in the ceremony planning, so we could really be in the moment and experience it for the first time on our wedding day. One of my favorite moments of the day was when she had us turn towards our guests during the ceremony and soak in those who have supported us individually and as a couple. We couldn't have asked for a better experience, thank you! -
![Melissa]()
Melissa Sent on 01/09/2022Working with Rabbi Elyssa was the best part about our wedding
We were matched with Rabbi Elyssa through Unorthodox Celebrations, and from the first time we spoke with her, we knew it would be a great partnership.
We were immediately impressed with how easy it was to connect with Rabbi Elyssa. She asked us such thoughtful questions about us, our relationship up until this point, and our goals for our relationship moving forward. She incorporated Judaism into the conversations in a way that was meaningful to us as individuals, and offered advice and expertise on both the wedding planning process, but also for our future.
Lots of people you work with for a wedding focus on ensuring the day is special; one thing I really appreciated about Rabbi Elyssa is that she brought everything we talked about back to our relationship and our marriage. This framing kept us grounded and excited throughout the whole wedding process as we got to imagine all the exciting things in our life ahead of us. Our conversations were focused mostly on why we wanted to be together, rather than why we were having a wedding, which we really appreciated. She used everything we talked about to completely personalize our ceremony, and made the entire experience so meaningful for us and our families.
My favorite part of the day was the ketubah signing ceremony. Rabbi Elyssa began by doing a short grounding meditation with us, and organized our friends and family to welcome us into our marriage- it was beautiful.
We cannot say enough about how wonderful it was working with Rabbi Elyssa, and highly recommend anyone to reach out to her to work together! -
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![Tychelle]()
Tychelle Sent on 09/25/2021Rabbi Elyssa made us feel so special!
Rabbi Elyssa officiated our wedding. Well…. actually, she officiated both of our weddings due to COVID. Because my husband is Jewish and I am not we wanted to find a Rabbi that performed interfaith marriages, through a series of recommendations we found Rabbi Elyssa and we couldn’t be more grateful. Prior to our wedding we met with Rabbi Elyssa 3x for premarital wedding sessions to talk about our relationship, why we chose marriage, and why now. She really engaged with us deeply, she let us know that she wasn’t just going to be our officiant, but she would be there for us always as our Rabbi; that made us feel incredibly safe, happy, and happy to have her.
When the pandemic hit, she made sure to stay in contact and check in on us through the many stressful setbacks, cancellations, and numerous postponements. She was so gracious, every time we needed to change our wedding date, she was able to accommodate. When we decided to have a civil ceremony during the pandemic in 2020, she was there to guide us and made herself available to officiate in a park at a safe distance. She made our civil ceremony special by taking notes from conversations we had and created a wonderful script for the event.
For our full wedding and ceremony in August of 2021, Rabbi Elyssa outdid herself! She took elements of each of us, special things that we requested to blend our faith and culture backgrounds. We included a Yoruba tradition of Tasting the Four Elements, sour, spicy, bitter, and sweet and she incorporated it seamlessly into the Jewish ceremony, as well as incorporating breaking the glass and jumping the broom. She personalized our ceremony so much that there was not a dry eye in the room, including us. We will never forget how special she made us feel and how connected we feel to Rabbi Elyssa as a part of our family.
Thank You Rabbi Elyssa! Tychelle & Ben -
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![Sabrina]()
Sabrina Sent on 06/06/2021Positive Personalized Experience with Rabbi Elyssa Cherney
Rabbi Elyssa Cherney was amazing to work with for our wedding. We found her through our original rabbi who was accidentally double booked and we feel so lucky to have found her! Rabbi Elyssa was easy to talk to, relatable, funny, and organized. She asked many thoughtful questions beyond just the wedding logistics and ceremony details to help us think about our lives as a Jewish couple building a family. Rabbi Elyssa made us both feel at ease and let us be our genuine selves which was especially important to me so that my non-Jewish partner would be comfortable with having a Jewish wedding.
The ceremony ended up being so personal to her experiences getting to know us as individuals and as a couple. We got married four weeks ago and people (both Jewish and not Jewish) are still telling us how beautiful the ceremony was and how impressed they were with Rabbi Elyssa. We had a microwedding with no bridal party so she even fixed my train under the chuppah, helped cue the violinist with music during and after the ceremony, and taught our non-Jewish guests how to do the hora. Rabbi Elyssa truly went above and beyond and I can not recommend her enough for a wedding or any other life event that you need a rabbi for. -
![Jamie]()
Jamie Sent on 10/15/2020Perfect fit
Booking Rabbi Elyssa was one of the easiest decisions we made for our wedding. We aren't religious but still wanted to honor our Jewish culture and upbringing. Rabbi Elyssa did just that. She took the time to get to know us and performed a beautiful ceremony. During the pandemic, she continued to be flexible and supportive. She routinely reached out not just about the wedding, but to also offer support and guidance. What really sealed the deal is during our first conversation, she said "I'm not just your rabbi for your wedding, I'm your rabbi for life." We look forward to continuing our relationship with Rabbi Elyssa for a long time to come! -
![Dave]()
Dave Sent on 10/13/2020Exactly what we were looking for
Rabbi Elyssa was amazing through this whole experience! I've seen and been part of several weddings, but her ceremony was the most personalized that I've ever seen. She really managed to impart our personalities and interests into the ceremony.
Throughout the night our guests kept complimenting how personal the ceremony was and asked how long we've known her. In reality because of COVID we never met Rabbi Elyssa in person before the day of the wedding, only through zoom calls and emails. She was so easy to talk to that from the first time we video chatted we knew she would be perfect for our wedding.
If you have any doubt about Rabbi Elyssa creating the most perfect ceremony for you I can assure you from personal experience that you will not be disappointed.
10/10-Would have her officiate my wedding again. -
![Yori]()
Yori Sent on 08/16/2020Thank you so much
I feel SO LUCKY to have worked with Rabbi Elyssa. Because of Covid, my fiance and I had many last-minute changes to our wedding- including a new venue, date, and downsize only 4 weeks before our wedding date! Rabbi Elyssa was flexible, helped keep us calm, and delivered the perfect ceremony. She did a mix of Jewish and non-jewish traditions (at the request of myself and my fiance) and delivered a unique ceremony that perfectly represented us. Several of our guests commented how much they loved how personal and tailored to our needs the ceremony was. We are so grateful to have had Rabbi Elyssa on our team! -
![Marianne]()
Marianne Sent on 10/19/2019Reminds you of the importance and purpose of a wedding!
It was an absolute pleasure working with Rabbi Elyssa from the very beginning. I found her on The Knot and we began emailing. She was extremely responsive right away. We met with two Rabbis and after meeting with Elyssa, we immediately decided to move forward with her. She not only was warm and welcoming but she was extremely accommodating in terms of meeting locations and times as we do not live close to our venue where she is located.
As we got deeper into the process, I could see she had an organized strategy that both educated us on the process of having a traditional Jewish wedding and gave us the freedom to explore each tradition and choose for ourselves what we wanted to include in the ceremony. She was very helpful with all aspects including choosing text options to Ketubah art/text to asking questions that guided our own writing of the vows and giving her info to personalize our ceremony. She was spot on during the ceremony and made us both laugh and cry happy tears!
However, most importantly, Rabbi Elyssa was the beam of light on the day of our wedding. It is a long and sometimes stressful day with a lot of attention, high demands and is really easy to get caught up in the chaos. My husband and I were having a particularly chaotic moment with family photos and came into the ketubah signing just a wee bit overwhelmed. She took us into a private section of the venue, didn't let anyone talk to us for 5 minutes and literally had us holding hands and meditating, it was honestly an amazing experience. We were both immediately calmed, more in touch with the joy that was this day and felt connected to each other despite the chaos ensuing around us. We tell everyone that she saved the day and grounded us in a way we both desperately needed at that moment. After that moment, I felt confident and ready for the ceremony and reception. We will both be forever grateful to Rabbi Elyssa for ensuring our day was special and meaningful and grounding us to remember the whole reason we were there in the first place! -
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![Dan]()
Dan C. Sent on 02/11/2019Our journey home after finding love later in LIFE
Elyssa was very personal and thorough in her research about our "Big Day" and made sure that she had a complete understanding of who we were and what we both expected out of this upcoming wedding day. My wife and I had been married previously and had raised now grown up children . Starting and developing a new family and circle of love many years later can be a tricky thing, but Elyssa navigated that relationship beautifully and was a tremendous guide and support system at the same time. She truly has a gift and loves her work .
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