It has been an honor to serve as the President and CEO of Keshet for nearly 24 years. I am writing to share with you that I will be leaving my role at Keshet at the end of July 2025. Building and leading Keshet since I was 28 — at first, from a room in my apartment in Boston and, today, with a national staff of 34 and offices in six states — has filled my heart.
When I look back on these years, I am struck by how dramatically the landscape has shifted for LGBTQ+ people, both in the Jewish community and the broader world. There are aspects of life today that were simply inconceivable a decade or two ago. I think about marriage equality across the nation or the prevalence of GSAs in Jewish high schools and I remember when these felt like distantly attainable, almost unimaginable goals. Today, in many places, they are a gloriously ordinary part of our reality.
And yet, the work is far from over. The surge in attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, particularly on trans kids, and the exclusion of too many queer Jews in Jewish communal spaces still require Keshet’s full focus and attention. I am deeply proud to share that Keshet is fully equipped for this task. Indeed, the organization is stronger than ever with an exceptional staff, a high-performing Board, and a deep and committed donor base.
Over the years, I have often returned to these words by the poet Grace Paley: “Let us go forth with fear and courage and rage to save the world.” I’ve always added to her list: “and joy and love.” Because although I have called upon fear and courage and rage to strengthen or motivate me to take action, more than anything else, joy and love have animated me.
I am proud to be part of a larger LGBTQ+ rights movement in which joy and love are at the heart of what matters. And I am profoundly grateful that joy and love are at the heart of Keshet’s work — and deeply embedded in our organization’s culture. We laugh with each other. We find joy in our many LGBTQ+ communities. And we love the Jewish people. At the end of the day, love is at the center of it all. When I reflect on my most important contributions, I think of seeing queer kids at a Keshet Shabbaton feel joyfully and unselfconsciously at home in a Jewish community for the first time.
Thank you for being a part of this journey — for making all of this possible — and for your continued commitment to Keshet.
Our work is critical, life-changing, and life-saving. With you as our partner, I know that Keshet will continue to thrive and transform our world.
Read and share the press release about this upcoming transition.
Now in her 24th year as Keshet’s leader, Idit has built an organization that serves and supports a vibrant, diverse, and pluralistic Jewish community and consistently rises to meet challenges and opportunities. It has been a pleasure and an honor to work alongside Idit and the Keshet staff to advance LGBTQ+ rights and LGBTQ+ equality in Jewish life. Idit has led Keshet with a bold vision and a generous heart that has changed the world for so many people, over many years. Like a planet that pulls others into its orbit, through her magnetism and inspired leadership, she has built an organization staffed by creative and effective people who are universally passionate about Keshet’s mission.
We are grateful that Idit has provided a long runway to enable the Board of Directors to select Keshet’s next CEO. As part of her commitment and care for Keshet, Idit has worked closely for over two years with our Board and senior staff on succession planning to ready the organization for such a transition whenever the time came. The Board has formed a search committee and is engaging a search firm to ensure that we find the right person to lead Keshet’s next chapter.
I am proud to share that Idit is preparing to leave Keshet at a time when our organization has never been stronger — fiscally, structurally, and culturally. Thanks to Idit’s extraordinary leadership, Keshet has built a stellar staff team, highly effective programs, long-term relationships with individual donors and institutional funders, a clear set of strategies, and a strong funding model for the future.
There will be many opportunities in the coming months to celebrate Idit’s leadership and I look forward to sharing those with you.
For now, please join me in thanking Idit for her many years of leadership as Keshet’s President and CEO. I trust that you join me in deep gratitude for all she has made possible in the Jewish community and broader world.
Thank you for being a part of the Keshet community. If you have any questions for me or the Keshet Board, please reach out to me at [email protected] and I encourage you to take a look at and share our press release.
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