CONTACT:
Thea Hillman, Chief Communications Officer, Keshet
thea.hillman@keshetonline.org 

Keshet’s Bay Area Educator & Training Manager Recognized by Renowned Covenant Foundation

Boston, MA — October 22, 2026 — Keshet, the nation’s leading Jewish organization advancing LGBTQ+ equality, is proud to announce that Bay Area Education & Training Manager Rabbi Eliana Kayelle (they/them) has been awarded one of the 2026 recipients of the Covenant Foundation’s Pomegranate Prize. The Pomegranate Prize recognizes emerging leaders in the field of Jewish education, offering the resources and connections necessary to accelerate their development, deepen their self-awareness, and amplify their impact on the field. Rabbi Eliana and the other 2026 Prize recipients will be honored at a celebration in New York City on October 28. 

“I am incredibly honored to be a recipient of this year’s Pomegranate Prize,” Rabbi Kayelle said. “I have deep appreciation for The Covenant Foundation investing in my approach to hope-centered Jewish education. I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn with other Jewish educators who are top in the field and celebrate the work I’m privileged to do everyday.”

Joni Blinderman, Executive Director of The Covenant Foundation, said of the award: “Over the millennia, those in each generation who have been invited into learning communities have given us new insights into our collective cultural and wisdom tradition. We also know that not everyone had access to this birthright. We are grateful to those who understood the importance of bringing new voices into the Jewish story. Together, all these voices have imbued new vitality into Jewish life, and so it is with our 2026 Pomegranate Prize Recipients. Their stories offer hope and optimism, which we all need now.”

Rabbi Kayelle’s nontraditional journey to becoming a rabbi and educator included growing up a misunderstood neurodivergent child, involved with the juvenile justice system. In addition, being queer and transgender, Rabbi Kayelle sees their journey as a powerful example of queer Jewish resilience and knows that a future of abundant hope and possibility exists because it has been their experience for over three decades. They want to be a resource so that no one has to feel the way they did as a child.

Rabbi Kayelle wants to see Jewish education foster resilience and pride through our joy. So much of Jewish history is celebratory and hopeful, and they want to build from that place of abundant joy, beauty, and love instilling that in learners of all ages and identities: “Jewish tradition teaches that we were all at Sinai and Lo Bashamyim Hi, Torah is not in the heavens, it is very close to us. It’s here for all of us to engage with and interpret, and it’s our moral obligation to commit ourselves to these lessons that are still critical for our time.”

Based in Berkeley, California, Rabbi Kayelle inspires learners to think about how Jewish texts and traditions are relevant today and how they can be used to create a more just world. Their writing has been published in The Jewish News of Northern California, The Forward, Lilith, and Hey Alma. Kayelle received rabbinic ordination in the first cohort of the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary. 

ABOUT KESHET

Keshet envisions a world in which all LGBTQ+ Jews and our families can live with full equality, justice, and dignity. By strengthening Jewish communities and equipping Jewish organizations with the skills and knowledge they need to make all LGBTQ+ Jews feel welcome, we work to ensure the full equality of all LGBTQ+ Jews and our families in Jewish life. We also create spaces in which all queer Jewish youth feel seen and valued and advance LGBTQ+ rights nationwide. Visit keshetonline.org to join us.