Rebecca Hornstein Rebecca was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she has been active in worker’s rights and economic justice movements from a young age. Rebecca learned the mantra of the late, great Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone: “We all do better when we all do better” early in life and uses these words to guide her life and work. Rebecca recently graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN with a major in Religious Studies. At Macalester, Rebecca co-created an on-campus anti-foreclosure campaign asking Macalester to adopt responsible banking policies and practices and worked alongside Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, a coalition of faith, labor and community groups joined together in the fight for economic justice. Rebecca is working with the North Shore Labor Council.
Shaina Kasper Shaina recently graduated from Macalester College in Minnesota with a double major in Political Science and Environmental Studies. She was born and raised in Vermont, spent two years in New Mexico attending the United World College of the American West, three years in St Paul attending Macalester College, and one year studying around the world in Turkey, Tanzania, India, New Zealand, and Mexico. The past four years Shaina has focused on community water and sanitation rights and autonomy. Always politically involved, she has worked on local, gubernatorial, presidential, and ballot measure campaigns in three states, and in Vermont’s lone congressional office. She has also worked on environmental campaigns while at Macalester with training and support from Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG), 350.org, Campus Camp Wellstone, and many others. As a JOIN Fellow, Shaina is organizing communities around Massachusetts with the political advocacy organization Progressive Massachusetts.
Dylan Kaufman-Obstler Dylan is a recent graduate from Hampshire College, where she studied Religion and Social/Political theory. At Hampshire, Dylan focused on the impact of Jewish nationalism on American Jewish religious life and politics. Dylan has held internships with a number Jewish social justice organizations, including Tikkun Magazine and the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. With Bend the Arc, Dylan worked on a campaign to pass Proposition 30, a progressive tax to protect California public schools and public programs from state budget cuts. Dylan has a love for Jewish music, and has worked on adapting and arranging Jewish liturgical songs. Dylan is currently organizing with the Boston Workmen’s Circle: Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice.
Etta King Etta was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After 10 years as an active camper and member in Habonim Dror North America (a Labor-Zionist youth movement), Etta left the Mitten State to participate in Habonim’s Workshop program, spending 9 months in Israel exploring movement ideology and collective living (think: 20 people, 2 apartments, one bank account). Her experience volunteering in an Israeli school led Etta to major in Education Studies at Brandeis Univeristy, where she earned her BA in 2010 and co-founded Brandeis Playback Theatre Society, an improvisational community theater company. Etta is a passionate educator with experience in preschool, outdoor education, and Jewish education. As a JOIN Fellow she will be continuing her position as the Jewish Women’s Archive‘s Education Program Manager, working with educators across the country to share the rich legacy of American Jewish women with their students and empowering both educators and students to be agents of change.
Rose Levy Rose, a native of Austin, Texas, graduated from Bates College in 2012 with a degree in Political Theory and Spanish. During her college years, Rose focused on a variety of political and Jewish activities, ranging from political campaigns, involvement in Bates Hillel and interfaith campus life, working at a Jewish, social-justice-oriented residential summer camp in Northern California, and studying the exploitation of coffee workers in Nicaragua. After graduating, Rose travelled to the Dominican Republic to work on a public health campaign. She then returned to Austin and worked at a progressive worker center, organizing with immigrant workers, primarily in the construction industry. While she has diverse interests and passions, Rose is currently focused on organizing for workplace justice at SEIU Local 32BJ, District 615, organizing service workers at Logan Airport.
Jake M Jake is a recent college graduate from Bates College with a degree in Cultural Anthropology and French. Jake’s academic focus of study for the last several years has led him to explore microfinance networks in Dakar, Senegal considering power dynamics and relations between communal women borrowers and institutions. His degrees and work with on campus groups have expanded his interests to areas of feminism, class inequalities and race issues. The past summer Jake worked with the Restaurant Opportunities Center in New York, New York on restaurant worker rights, and is continuing to work with ROC in Boston.
Dani Moscovitch Dani hails from Santa Monica, California and recently graduated from Tufts University, where she studied International Relations and Religion. She first got her feet wet in organizing while working with the Foundation for Sustainable Development at a Community Care Center for people living with HIV/AIDS in rural Rajasthan, India. Upon her return, she produced/directed The Vagina Monologues, a play by Eve Ensler associated with V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. Concurrently, Dani collaborated with other feminist groups on her campus to organize around women’s issues at her university. Dani is working with Massachusetts Senior Action Council as a JOIN Fellow this year.
Henry Neuwirth Henry grew up in New York City and recently graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota, majoring in religion. In college Henry worked to create more curricular civic engagement opportunities and was the program director of the Carleton College radio station (KRLX). He has worked extensively with the Haiti Justice Alliance, a nonprofit organization that connects Minnesota colleges to grassroots organizers in Haiti. He wrote his senior thesis on Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s theology and linguistic theory. Henry is organizing at the Merrimack Valley Project.
Erica Rothschild Erica, hailing from Riverdale, NY, can’t seem to get enough of Jewish Social Justice fellowships. After she graduated from UMass Amherst with a degree in Social Justice Education and Conflict Resolution in 2012, she participated in AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. During that year, Erica loved her role as the Community Organizing Coordinator at Gay Men’s Health Crisis- the nation’s oldest HIV/AIDS services organization. In 2010, she served as a fellow for Uri L’Tzedek (Awaken to Justice), the first Orthodox Social Justice organization, and worked towards labor justice with local restaurant workers and compiled Jewish text source sheets on issues like withholding pay and minimum wage. Passionate about storytelling, community building, and Judaism, Erica is working at Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action this year.
Aliza Schwartz Aliza graduated from Brandeis University in 2011 with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy. After graduating, she spent 10 months in Israel, first interning at Tel Aviv University’s graduate program in International Conflict Resolution and Mediation and then participating in a program called Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Through Tikkun Olam, Aliza worked with Sudanese and Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers, Arab Israelis, and Ethiopian Jews, teaching English and assisting with work on refugee status determination and relocation. Upon returning to the USA, Aliza served with AmeriCorps at Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Boston, where she is continuing on as a Community Organizer.
Marisa Turesky Marisa grew up on the rocky Maine coast and after living abroad, she considers Barcelona and Amsterdam to be her second homes. At Brandeis, Marisa spent her time studying Cultural Anthropology and Women’s and Gender Studies, as well as advocating to shift her University’s food procurement policies. These studies and campaigns culminated in her eight-month study of how women farmers’ interaction with technology shape power structures and gender norms on their farms in the Netherlands. Picking up where her great-grandmother left off, Marisa is delighted to be a labor union organizer for human service workers union, SEIU Local 509.
Chloe Zelkha A Bay Area native, Chloe recently finished a 4-year stint in Minnesota, where she graduated from Carleton College with a degree in Religion and a focus in Gender Studies. While there, she developed a passion for the intersection between education and organizing, which led her to study and practice popular education pedagogies in Mexico, El Salvador, and Senegal. She brought this work home as an educator at Carleton’s Gender and Sexuality Center—where she taught anti-oppression and sex ed workshops and organized around issues of sexual violence; and with the Alternatives to Violence Project—where she facilitated nonviolent communication courses in local prisons. After a whirlwind summer teaching an English course on race, class, and ability to Minneapolis 8th graders, Chloe is working alongside teenagers again at The Food Project – North Shore, where she supports youth interns in their work on food justice.
