Global Justice Fellowship 2019–2020 Fellows and Staff Bios
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GLOBAL JUSTICE FELLOWSHIP 2019–2020 FELLOWS AND STAFF BIOS The AJWS Global Justice Fellowship is a selective program designed to inspire, educate and train key opinion leaders in the American Jewish community to become advocates in support of U.S. policies that will help improve the lives of people in the developing world. AJWS has selected the latest cohort for its Global Justice Fellowship, which will include leading clergy from across the United States. The fellowship period is from October 2019 to April 2020 and includes travel to Guatemala, during which participants will learn from grassroots activists working to overcome poverty and injustice. The travel experience will be preceded by innovative trainings that will prepare clergy to galvanize their communities and networks to advance AJWS’s work. Fellows will also convene in Washington, D.C. to serve as key advocates to impact AJWS’s priority policy areas. The 14 fellows represent a broad array of backgrounds, communities, experiences and networks. RABBINIC FELLOWS DAVID BAUM ANALIA BORTZ Rabbi David Baum is the first Rabbi Dr. Analia Bortz is the first full-time Rabbi/Spiritual Leader of Latin American female rabbi, Congregation Shaarei Kodesh in ordained in 1994 by the Seminario West Boca Raton. He was ordained Rabínico Latinoamericano in in 2009 by the Jewish Theological Buenos Aires. Since 2003, she has Seminary, where he also received served as Rabbi of Congregation an MA in Jewish Education. While in rabbinical school, Or Hadash in Sandy Springs, Georgia, which she co- Rabbi Baum gained valuable and diverse experience founded with her husband, Rabbi Mario Karpuj. Rabbi ranging from congregational work in the Northeast and Bortz is the founder of the Jewish Fertility Foundation of South, to Hillel and organizational work, to social justice Atlanta; founder of Hope for Seeds, a group for couples work and community organizing. Rabbi Baum is the past struggling with infertility; and co-founder of BaKeN, an president of the Southeast Region of the Rabbinical initiative to support people battling mental illness. Rabbi Assembly, immediate past president of the Palm Beach Bortz earned her MD from the University of Buenos County Board of Rabbis, and a member of the Rabbinical Aires, her PhD in Ethics from the Catholic University of Assembly’s Social Justice Commission. He is also the Valparaiso, and she is pursuing her Doctor of Hebrew vice president of the Palm Beach Board of Rabbis, serves Letters at Hebrew Union College. She was a Senior on the Levis JCC Board of Directors, and is an active Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute, and member of the Boca Raton Interfaith Clergy Association. she is a certified life coach. In 2018, Rabbi Bortz was Rabbi Baum and his wife Alissa, a Doctor of Clinical recognized as one of “BBC’s 100 Women” for her work in Psychology, have three children: Avi, Harrison and Layla. addressing the holistic treatment of women struggling with infertility. Rabbi Bortz and her husband have two daughters, Tamar and Adina. continues VERA BROEKHUYSEN FELIPE GOODMAN Cantor Vera Broekhuysen serves as Rabbi Felipe Goodman became spiritual leader of Temple Emanu-El Rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom in Haverhill, MA. A Massachusetts in July 1998. Rabbi Goodman’s native, she was ordained by Hebrew charisma has made a profound College in 2016, simultaneously impact on the Jewish community earning her MA in Jewish Education. of Las Vegas. In 2013, he was Cantor Broekhuysen brings community together in joyful, chosen by The Daily Forward as one of America’s Most curious, passionate and musical Judaism, which lifts up Inspiring Rabbis, in “36 Rabbis Shaping The 21st Century.” the voices of all participants and responds to our world’s He was appointed by the Rabbinical Assembly to serve urgent call, “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof” – “Justice, justice you in the Joint Placement Commission of the Conservative shall pursue.” She is a member and former Secretary of Movement and was also recently appointed by the the New England Board of Cantors, a member of the Jewish Theological Seminary to the Joint Retirement Greater Haverhill Clergy Association, and a chaveirah Board of the Conservative Movement. He currently (fellow) of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. serves on the Executive Council of the Rabbinical In 2017, she co-founded the Merrimack Valley Interfaith Assembly. In 2010, Rabbi Goodman was selected to Sanctuary Network. In 2018, Cantor Broekhuysen attend a series of meetings at the White House to received Merrimack Valley Project’s MICAH Award discuss the dynamics and relationship between the (Ministry in Community Action Honoree), given for her Obama administration and the Jewish community. work on immigration justice in the Merrimack Valley. Rabbi Goodman is also part of the AIPAC National Cantor Broekhuysen, her husband Mike and their sons Leadership Council. live in North Andover, MA. CAPERS FUNNYE RACHEL GRANT MEYER Rabbi Capers Funnye currently Rabbi Rachel Grant Meyer is the serves as the Rabbi of Beth Shalom Rabbi-in-Residence at HIAS, the B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew world’s oldest and only Jewish Congregation. He has been the refugee resettlement agency. She spiritual leader of the synagogue develops educational materials, since 1991, and he has worked resources, and programs with several community organizations throughout the that educate American Jews about refugee issues, city of Chicago on issues of social justice and police connecting the plight of contemporary refugees to accountability. Rabbi Funnye is a member of the Chicago Jewish values and history, and she travels around the Board of Rabbis, and he has worked with other rabbis on United States teaching and speaking about the global several batei din bringing converts into the Jewish people. refugee crisis. A graduate of Columbia University, Rabbi Meyer was ordained by Hebrew Union College in New York. Before joining HIAS, Rabbi Meyer served as Assistant Rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City. Her writing has been featured in The Forward and The New York Daily News, and she is the author of an essay that appears in the book “Seven Days, Many Voices: Insights into the Biblical Story of Creation.” continues COREY HELFAND SARAH MACK A native Midwesterner, Rabbi Corey Rabbi Sarah Mack has served Helfand grew up a diehard Kansas Temple Beth-El since 2003. She was City Royals, Chiefs and Jayhawks ordained by Hebrew Union College fan. After attending Jewish day and spent a year studying at the school for 13 years, he went on to Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies pursue a love of studying politics in Jerusalem. A native of Seattle, and law while deepening his passion for Jewish, Islamic WA, Rabbi Mack graduated from Brandeis University in and Near Eastern Studies. In rabbinical school, Rabbi 1996 with degrees in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Helfand learned to bring entrepreneurship and the English. Rabbi Mack currently serves as President of the rabbinate together, a perfect fit for serving as the Senior Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island. Rabbi Mack has Rabbi of Peninsula Sinai (PSC) in the Bay Area. Under his served previously on the boards of the Jewish Alliance, leadership, PSC has revolutionized the financial model the Chaplaincy Center, Jewish Community Day School of for synagogues. Rabbi Helfand is a master community Rhode Island and the RI Interfaith Coalition to Reduce builder, a gifted teacher, speaker, and storyteller. He Poverty. She currently sits on the board of the Center for is married to Jenny Ackerman, and together they have Reconciliation. Rabbi Mack is one of the founders of the three children: Eden, Matan and Jonah. Rhode Island chapter of Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom. Rabbi Mack and her husband, Jeffrey Isaacs, enjoy raising their two sons in the smallest state in America LAUREN HENDERSON SUZANNE SINGER Rabbi Lauren Henderson grew Rabbi Suzanne Singer joined up in a small-but-mighty Jewish Temple Beth El (TBE) in 2008. She community in Spartanburg, South serves as a member of the Reform Carolina, as part of an interfaith Movement’s Commission on Social family and went from there to Action and has led advocacy efforts Rice University in Houston, where through interfaith organizations. she graduated cum laude in Religious Studies and She was named a Riverside “Champion of Justice” History. She was ordained by the Jewish Theological and “Woman of Distinction.” She has been published Seminary with a master’s in Midrash and a Certificate in in “The Torah: A Women’s Commentary”, “The Reform Pastoral Care in 2016. After serving as a Jewish Emergent Jewish Quarterly”, and in two CCAR Press collections. Network Fellow for two years at Mishkan Chicago, Rabbi In addition to two master’s degrees from Hebrew Henderson now serves as a fulltime Rabbi with Mishkan, Union College, Rabbi Singer holds an MA in Journalism where she focuses on developing family learning, from the University of California, Berkeley, where she spirituality and social justice. She is married to Joel also earned a BA in Comparative Literature. She was Dworkin, an outdoor experiential educator, and they live ordained by Hebrew Union College in 2003. Before in Chicago with their dog, Sophie. the rabbinate, Rabbi Singer was a television news and public affairs producer. As executive producer of the documentary series “POV” she won two national Emmy awards. She also produced a national preschool series, “The Puzzle Place”. Rabbi Singer is married to actor Jordan Lund. continues GORDON TUCKER ELYSE WECHTERMAN Rabbi Gordon Tucker was the Rabbi Elyse Wechterman has Senior Rabbi at Temple Israel served as Executive Director of Center in White Plains, NY for 24 the Reconstructionist Rabbinical years (now of Emeritus status). Association since 2015. She has Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at brought a commitment to social the Shalom Hartman Institute of justice, a passion for interfaith and North America.