Dr. Joy Ladin has long worked at the tangled intersection of literature, Judaism, and transgender identity, publishing a memoir of gender transition, National Jewish Book Award finalist Through the Door of Life the first book-length work of Jewish trans theology, Lambda Literary and Triangle Award finalist, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective, and ten books of poetry, including Shekhinah Speaks (selva oscura 2022) and 2021 National Jewish Book Award winner The Book of Anna. She became a nationally recognized speaker on trans and Jewish identity after her transition at Yeshiva University made her the first openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution, and has been named to both the “Forward Fifty” list of influential or courageous Jews and to LGBTQ Nation’s Top 50 Transgender Americans list, and featured on a number of NPR programs, including an “On Being” with Krista Tippett interview that has been rebroadcast several times. Her writing has been recognized with a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, an American Council of Learned Societies Research Fellowship, and a Hadassah Brandeis Institute Research Fellowship, among other honors. Episodes of her online conversation series, “Containing Multitudes,” are available at JewishLive.org/multitudes; her writing is available at joyladin.wordpress.com.
Marc Maxwell has degrees in both planning and architecture. Having earned his Bachelor of Urban Planning from the University of Cincinnati, and then his Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his career has consistently focused on integrating thoughtful planning and architectural design into a single practice. Maxwell’s career has included academic research and teaching, corporate employment, and private consulting and design firm positions. Maxwell has specialized in several building and project types, all focused on keeping the eventual building user’s needs in the forefront of the design process, looking towards the long term value of the completed project and renovation of existing structures as the ultimate “green” environmentally conscience philosophy. Maxwell maintains strong community involvement in a number of projects and organizations, sitting on several not-for-profit boards including: Temple Israel Boston, BGLAD (Boston Gay Lesbian Architects and Designers) and Stonewall Communities, Inc., and providing at least 10% of his professional time annually to pro bono activities.
Rabbi Deborah Newbrun’s career as a Jewish community leader (particularly in Jewish environmental education) spans thirty years, including working twenty-five years as Camp Tawonga’s Director, four years as Hazon’s Director in the Bay Area, and eight months as Keshet’s Interim Bay Area Director. Additionally, she serves on the faculty of multiple fellowships including Lekhu Lakhem and Hiddur for the Foundation for Jewish Camp. Before entering the Jewish not-for-profit world, Deborah was a National Park Service Ranger.
Deborah co-authored Spirit In Nature/Teaching Judaism and Ecology on the Trail. Recently she co-founded JOLT (Jewish Outdoor Leadership Training)–for staff working in Jewish summer camps across North America–which she directs for Hazon’s JOFEE Fellows. Deborah is known for being an engaging and creative Jewish educator and infusing deep spirit into her teachings. She is married to Sue Reinhold. They have four children and are about to become empty nesters.
Dara Papo, a licensed clinical social worker, was born in the Bay Area and is continuing a family history of involvement in the Jewish community. She has over two decades experience supporting individuals and communities increase their health and wellness through provision of behavioral health services in community-based settings. Papo is the Director of Whole Person Integrated Care at the San Francisco Department of Public Health which provides services to people experiencing homelessness. Papo participated in the first cohort of the Pathways LGBT Leadership program — a partnership between Keshet and the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco. She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and holds a Master of Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley.ornia, Santa Cruz, and holds a Master of Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jason is originally from Montreal. There he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce (major in Finance) and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting from McGill University. Jason began his career working in public accounting and consulting, mainly with Ernst & Young. He is now the Head of Risk & Resiliency at Autodesk, a software company in San Francisco.
Jason was previously the Chairperson of the Young Adult Division of Federation CJA (Montreal), serving as one of the first openly gay chairs of a Federation division. Jason also sits on the Board of the Jewish Film Institute.
Rabbi Becky Silverstein believes in the power of community, Torah, and silliness in transforming the world. He strives to build a Jewish community and world that encourages and allows everyone to live a life that reflects their inherent divinity / dignity. Becky is a member of the faculty at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, co-initiator of the Trans Halakha Project, and a Schusterman Fellow. He has spent many hours facilitating Keshet workshops and staffing shabbatonim. Becky currently serves as the chair of the boards of SVARA and the Jewish Studio Project. Becky grew up in New York, holds a B.S. in Engineering from Smith College and Rabbinic Ordination from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. Becky resides in Jamaica Plain, MA, with his spouse, Naomi Sobel, and kiddo, Edie Gefen, for whom he makes pancakes or waffles almost every Sunday morning.
Dana is a retired eye surgeon who, after seven years on the board of Equality Maryland, served for eight years as Executive Director of Gender Rights Maryland, the state’s trans political organization, which worked the Maryland gender identity bill to passage in 2014. She served a term as a senior adviser for Councilmember Trachtenberg on the Montgomery County Council. She was chair of the national advisory board of Freedom to Work and wrote a weekly column for the Huffington Post from 2012-18. She has served on the Rules Committee of the national Democratic Party, and has twice run for state delegate and twice for state Senate in Maryland’s District 18. She was inducted into the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame in 2014, and served on the county’s Committee on Hate/Violence from 2015-18. She is a recipient of the University of Pennsylvania Women in Medicine Award for 2020. Dana is a proud mother of two sons and grandmother of two very cute granddaughters.
Jeremy Burton is the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC). Through advocacy, organizing, service and partnerships JCRC defines and advances the values, interests and priorities of the organized Jewish community of Greater Boston in the public square. Previously he was the Senior Vice President of Programs at the Jewish Funds for Justice, and Vice President of Programs at the Jewish Funders Network. Jeremy also served as a board member of Keshet, working for the full inclusion of LGBT Jews in Jewish life. Jeremy came to the Jewish community from a career in political strategy and public communications, having worked for New York Mayor David N. Dinkins, Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, the 1996 Clinton/Gore Re-Election Campaign, and the New York State Assembly & Attorney General, among others.
Jeremy writes and speaks widely about challenges and opportunities facing the Jewish community. He has been published widely, including in the New York Jewish Week, the Jewish Forward, Zeek, Sh’ma, and the Washington Post: On Faith. The JTA included him in their 2010 “Twitter 100” list of the most influential Jewish voices on Twitter. You can follow him @BurtonJM. Jeremy has a B.A. in political science from Queens College of the City University of New York.
Forty-one years ago, Ann moved from Manhattan to Newton, Massachusetts to share her life with her husband, Myron. Their family grew to include three incredible daughters who gifted them with four grandchildren. During the years, Ann served on the boards of the Solomon Schecter Day School, Temple Mishkan Tefila, Jewish Family and Children Service and Keshet.
Ann participated in raising funds for Mass Equality and was present when Governor Deval Patrick signed the bill for marriage equality. Her goal is to leave this world a safer and equal place for all.
S. Asher Gelman is a director, choreographer, actor, dancer, playwright, and producer. Through his production company, Midnight Theatricals, he produced and directed his first original play, Afterglow, which ran for 14 months Off-Broadway at the Davenport Theater. In 2019, Gelman’s second play, safeword., opened Off-Broadway in April, and he also produced the Off-Broadway musical, We Are The Tigers by Preston Max Allen. Most recently, Gelman directed, choreographed, and produced the short dance for film The Greatest City in the World. Originally from Chevy Chase, MD, Asher received his Bachelors Degree in Dance and Theater from Bard College in New York in 2006 and his Masters in Fine Arts in Dance from The George Washington University in Washington DC in 2012. From 2006 to 2016, Asher lived in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he became one of the founders of The Stage, Tel Aviv’s premier English language performing arts organization, serving as its first Artistic Director from 2013 to 2016. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. Asher lives in New York City with his husband, Mati.
National Office - Boston
1860 Washington St.
Newton, MA 02466
Phone: 617.524.9227
New York / Bay Area / Chicago / Florida / Texas
