Idit Klein

May 6, 2019

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Idit is a national leader for social change with more than 30 years of experience in the non-profit justice sector. Since 2001, she has served as the leader of Keshet, the national organization for LGBTQ+ equality in Jewish life. Idit built Keshet from a local organization with an annual budget of $42,000 to a national organization with a multi-million dollar budget and offices in six states. Under her leadership, Keshet has supported tens of thousands of rabbis, educators, and other Jewish leaders to make LGBTQ+ equality a communal value and moral imperative. Idit also spearheaded the creation of leadership development programs for queer Jewish teens and mobilized Jewish communities nationwide to join the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. In addition, she served as the executive producer of Keshet’s documentary film, “Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School.”

Prior to leading Keshet, Idit was a leader in the LGBTQ+ community in Israel and helped envision the Jerusalem Open House. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale University, Idit earned her Master’s in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a focus on social justice education. She also serves on the board of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable. Idit publishes frequently in the Jewish and LGBTQ+ press and has been honored by Jewish Women International, the Jewish Women’s Archive, Mayyim Hayyim, Brandeis University’s Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership, and the Forward as one of its ‘Forward 50,’ a list of American Jews who have made enduring contributions to public life. She lives in Boston with her family.