Social Justice Cohort
Jamie Beran
Chief of Staff, Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice
Renanit R. Levy
Director of Philanthropic Partnerships, Hazon
Renanit@hazon.org
Renanit Levy is Hazon’s Director of Philanthropic Partnerships. She previously served as director of The Gottesman Fund, a family foundation focused on supporting Jewish life. Renanit worked as a grantmaker and communal planner focused on Jewish education and identity, government relations, and health and human services at UJA-Federation of New York, and in admissions for The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Renanit holds a graduate degree in Jewish Communal Leadership and Nonprofit Management from the University Of Michigan School Of Social Work, where she was the Ernie Michel Fellow. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughters.
Rabbi Elizabeth Richman
Program Director and Rabbi in Residence, Jews United For Justice
Rabbi Elizabeth Richman is Program Director and Rabbi in Residence at Jews United for Justice. She also serves on the Rabbinical Assembly’s Social Justice Commission and the steering committee of DC Interfaith Worker Justice. A trained community organizer and teacher, Rabbi Richman has taught about Judaism and justice around the world, from California to Qatar. Rabbi Richman was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow and where she led KeshetJTS, the organizing campaign for the full inclusion of LGBTQ Jews in the Conservative Movement. Before entering the rabbinate, Rabbi Richman worked in the field of human rights and international development, and as an educator and project manager in the Jewish community. She holds an AB from Princeton University and a certificate in Talmud, Tanach, and Halacha from the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. Rabbi Richman lives with her husband Ben Dreyfus on the DC-Maryland border, close to the future Purple Line.
Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield
Director of Experiential Education, American Jewish World Service
rrosenfield@ajws.org
Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield serves Director of Experiential Education at the American Jewish World Service. Prior to this, she was the founding director of the Jewish Greening Fellowship, an initiative that aims to cultivate environmental change leadership among Jewish communal professionals and generate meaningful responses to global climate change. She was a fellow in the national Selah Leadership Program, is a graduate of the Muehlstein Fellowship for Jewish Professional Leadership and earned her M.A. in Comparative Literature at U.C., Berkeley. She lives in Riverdale, NY with her husband Paul, a psychiatrist, and their two children, Maayan and Yonah.
Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay
Director for Alumni and Community Engagement, AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps
Ariella Sidelsky
Director of Strategic Partnerships and Director of Outreach, Eastern US New Israel Fund
ariella@nif.org
As Director of Strategic Partnerships at the New Israel Fund, Ariella manages collaborations with organizations and coalitions in the Israel and Jewish social justice sectors. As Director of Outreach, Eastern U.S., she stewards NIF’s donor base in unstaffed regions, and works with regional leadership to expand NIF’s presence and community in these areas. Ariella’s previous roles at NIF include New York Associate Director and Director of New Generations. A South African-born Israeli New Yorker, Ariella grew up in Jerusalem and worked for several of the city’s cultural institutions, including the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Mishkenot Sha’ananim.
Merrill Zack
Director of Strategic Learning, Research & Evaluation for National Programs, American Jewish World Service
mzack@ajws.org
Merrill develops learning and evaluation processes that support AJWS staff in creating and leading innovative, evidence-based initiatives that mobilize AJWS supporters in the U.S. to advocate for global justice. Over the last 18 years, Merrill has directed initiatives at several Jewish social justice organizations, engaging segments of the U.S. Jewish community in putting their Jewish values into action for social change. Merrill graduated from Kenyon College with a BA in religion and anthropology and holds an MPA in public and nonprofit administration and policy from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.