Featured Presenters

The Tri-Faith Initiative is a unique and ambitious project in the field of interfaith relations in design, scale, and scope. It brings together into permanent residency a synagogue, church, mosque, and interfaith center on one 38-acre campus in the middle of America’s heartland.
By its very model it challenges people of faith and goodwill to be conscious and proactive about the assets of faith in civil life in a religiously pluralistic society. The Tri-Faith Initiative aims to create a more inclusive culture in which religious pluralism is socially normative.
Maurice N. Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award

Over the past eight years, Julie Fisher has taken a personal interest in the conversation about the safety, care, and education of the children of African asylum seekers in South Tel Aviv and has worked with NGOs and other partners to improve conditions in schools and childcare facilities through fundraisers and hands-on repair projects. In 2018, she created the Consortium for Israel and the Asylum Seekers in order to bring attention to the issue of supporting the African asylum-seeking community in Israel.
Daniel B. Shapiro was named Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Institute of National Security Studies (INSS) in March 2017, following a a diverse career of over 20 years in senior foreign policy and national security positions in the United States government including United States Ambassador to Israel, a position he held from July 2011 until the end of the Obama Administration.
Alexander M. Schindler Award for Service to World Jewry

At age twenty-two Barbara Ostfeld became the first woman ordained as a cantor. Now that Barbara is 66, the female Reform cantorate is 336 women strong! Barbara served for twenty-seven years as cantor of congregations in Clifton, New Jersey, in Great Neck, Rochester, and Buffalo, New York, and then for ten more years as the placement director of the American Conference of Cantors.
Debbie Friedman Award for Contributions to Jewish Music
(List in formation)

Amy Asin
Vice President, Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Marla Feldman
Executive Director, Women of Reform Judaism

Marc Freedman
President & CEO, Encore.org & Author

Rabbi Matthew L. Green
Assistant Rabbi, Congregation Beth Elohim, Brooklyn, NY

Sarah Hurwitz
Author & Speechwriter

Jodi Kantor
Pulitzer-Prize Winning Journalist

Rabbi Karyn Kedar
Senior Rabbi, B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim

Deborah Lipstadt
Professor of Holocaust Studies, Emory University

Ferne Pearlstein
Documentary Filmmaker

Sue Phillips
Co-Founder,
Sacred Design Lab

Rabbi David Saperstein
President, World Union for Progressive Judaism

Pamela Schuller
Comedian, Speaker, Inclusion Advocate

Casper ter Kuile
Co-Founder,
Sacred Design Lab

Rich Cohen
Award-Winning Author

Rabbi Allie Fischman
Director,
URJ Camp Newman

Marra Gad
Author, Independent Film & Television Producer

Rabbi Rachel Greengrass
Associate Rabbi,
Temple Beth Am, Miami, FL

AJ Jacobs
Author, Journalist, & Speaker

Jennifer Kaufman
Chair Nominee,
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Gilad Kariv
President & CEO, Israel Movement for Reform & Progressive Judaism

Michael Masters
National Director & CEO, Secure Community Network

Rabbi Hara Person
Chief Executive, Central Conference of American Rabbis

Abigail Pogrebin
Author

Rabbi Amy Schwartzman
Senior Rabbi, Temple Rodef Shalom, Falls Church, VA

Alden Solovy
Teacher, Writing Coach, Essayist & Journalist

Rabbi Mary Zamore
Executive Director, Women's Rabbinic Network

Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus
Rabbi Emerita, Shir Tikvah, Homewood, IL

Kathryn Fleischer
Gun Violence Prevention Activist
Rabbi Laura Geller
Rabbi Emerita, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills

Anat Hoffman
Executive Director, Israel Religious Action Center
Rabbi Rick Jacobs
President, Union for Reform Judaism

Idit Klein
President & CEO, Keshet

Rabbi Seth Limmer
Senior Rabbi, Chicago Sinai Congregation

Daryl Messinger
Chair, URJ North American Board

Rabbi Jonah Pesner
Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Andrew Rehfeld
President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Susan Weidman Schneider
Editor-in-Chief, Lilith
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Soul Children of Chicago
Community Musical Group