Eryca Kasse

Eryca Kasse is a Jewish lesbian poet of the written and spoken word. Her poetry has been published in Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry and she has been a featured performer at DC area spoken word poetry venues. Eryca is also social worker at a community mental health agency working with youth and adults in recovery from mental illness and addiction. She provides individual and group therapy and incorporates writing therapy into her practice. Eryca has been a volunteer with Nehirim and GLOE. She lives in Washington, DC, with her two cats Nina and Olive.

Jonathan Lipton

Jonathan Lipton is pursuing a degree in Interdisciplinary Political Sciences and an MA in Public Administration. He recently served as the the LGBT Partnership Coordinator in the Office of the Secretary of State, and oversaw the Global Equality Fund, an initiative of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Last year, Jonathan served as the Chair of the National Union of Jewish LGBT Students (NUJLS) the organization connecting LGBT Jewish college students from throughout North America, bringing the organization to new heights and expanded its constituency across the country. Jonathan was the recipient of the 2010 LEAGUE Foundation Matthew Shepard Memorial Scholarship and a Finalist for the Point Foundation.
 

Sabrina Sojourner

Sabrina Sojourner was the first open lesbian to be elected to Congress, in the “shadow” seat representing the District of Columbia. Today, with two decades of experience in management and public policy, she works as an independent consultant.  She was recently the cantor at Temple Beth Emet in Washington, D.C.

 

 

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Jay Michaelson

Jay Michaelson is the founder of Nehirim. For the last ten years, Jay has been a leading advocate for the inclusion of sexual minorities in religious communities, and his work in this area has been featured on NPR, CNN, and the New York Times. Jay is also a contributing editor to the Forward, Associate Editor of Religion Dispatches magazine, and a regular contributor to the Huffington Post. In 2009, he was included on the “Forward 50” list of “the men and women leading the American Jewish community into the 21st century.” He is the author of four books, most recently God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality.

Dr. Warren Hoffman

Warren Hoffman is the Senior Director of Programming for the Gershman Y, was recently hailed by the Jewish Exponent as the “next wave” of Jewish arts and culture in Philadelphia. Prior to that he served as the literary manager and dramaturg for Philadelphia Theatre Company where he dramaturged world premieres by Bill Irwin, Chris Durang, and Terrence McNally. Warren holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of California-Santa Cruz and has taught at multiple universities. He earned rave reviews for his book The Passing Game: Queering Jewish American Culture, published by Syracuse University Press.

Neil Manel Frau Cortes

Neil Manel Frau-Cortes is a hazzan and teacher who currently serves as a cantor in Mechanicsburg, PA. He has experience as a service leader, Jewish educator and performer, with an emphasis in Jewish spirituality, meditation, and mysticism. In addition to liturgical Jewish music, he has composed music for theater and for short films and has received several composition awards. He has earned a PhD in Medieval Hebrew Literature from the University of Girona and an master’s in Jewish Music from Gratz College, and has studied classical piano, composition, and jazz arrangement.

Julie Enszer

Julie R. Enszer is the author of Handmade Love (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2010) and Sisterhood, a chapbook (Seven Kitchens Press, 2010). She is the editor of Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2011), which is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry. She has her MFA from the University of Maryland and is enrolled currently in the PhD program in Women’s Studies at the University of Maryland. She is the co-editor of Sinister Wisdom, a multicultural lesbian literary and arts journal, and a regular book reviewer for the Lambda Book Report and Calyx.

Wayne Firestone

Wayne L. Firestone, a lawyer and Jewish community professional who has been called the “Jewish Steve Jobs,” is the President and CEO of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, the largest Jewish student organization in the world with more than 500 college campus affiliates across the globe. Innovative initiatives emerging from this effort include the Campus Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Senior Jewish Educators program, which have twice been honored with the Slingshot Award, and Ask Big Questions, which was named by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark one of the 12 major organizations to change the world in 2012. Wayne has also focused on expanding Hillel’s global network. Since becoming president of Hillel, he has twice been named to the Forward 50.

Coco Jervis

Coco Jervis is Senior Policy Associate of Treatment Action Group where she works towards improvements in domestic and developing countries’ overall health systems to fight AIDS, TB and Hepatitis. Coco has also worked at the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the Whitman-Walker Clinic in DC. Coco’s experience includes grass-roots organization, community mobilization, policy analysis, and developing public policy positions on a wide range of issues including stigma and criminalization of HIV positive people. Coco holds a law degree from Howard University School of Law.