J Street Los Angeles Annual Reception

Featuring J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami and
Former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes
With Remarks By:
IKAR Founder and Senior Rabbi Sharon Brous
Sunday, December 9 | 2pm

An event to support the J Street Education Fund, a 501(c)3 Organization.

In a time of political turmoil and threats to our values in Israel and the US, J Street gives voice to the American Jewish majority and fights for pro-Israel, diplomacy-first policies in Washington and in communities across the country. From opposing demolitions of Palestinian villages; to supporting and educating Congressional candidates in tight races around the country; to supporting immigrants rights here at home, J Street is making a major impact in the fight for political change in 2018 and beyond.

 


Ben Rhodes
From 2009 to 2017, Ben Rhodes served as deputy national security advisor to President Barack Obama, overseeing the administration’s national security communications, speechwriting, public diplomacy, and global engagement programming. Prior to joining the Obama administration, from 2007 to 2008 Rhodes was a senior speechwriter and foreign policy advisor to the Obama campaign. Before joining then–Senator Obama’s campaign, he worked for former congressman Lee Hamilton from 2002 to 2007. He was the co-author, with Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, of Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission. A native New Yorker, Rhodes has a BA from Rice University and an MFA from New York University.


Jeremy Ben-Ami
As the founder and President of J Street, Jeremy brings both deep experience in American politics and government and a passionate commitment to the state of Israel to the role. Ben-Ami’s family connection to Israel goes back 130 years to the first aliyah when his great-grandparents were among the first settlers in Petah Tikva. His grandparents were one of the founding families of Tel Aviv, and his father was an activist and leader in the Irgun, working for Israel’s independence and on the rescue of European Jews before and during World War II.

Rabbi Sharon Brous
Rabbi Sharon Brous is a leading voice in reanimating religious life in America, working to develop a spiritual roadmap for soulful, multi-faith justice work in Los Angeles and around the country. Brous is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR which was started in 2004 and has become a model for Jewish revitalization in the US and beyond. With the goal of reinvigorating Jewish practice and inspiring people of faith to reclaim a moral and prophetic voice, with IKAR quickly became one of the fastest growing and most influential Jewish congregations in the country. Today it is widely credited with sparking a rethinking of religious life in a time of unprecedented disaffection and declining affiliation. Brous was named #1 on the Newsweek/The Daily Beast list of the most influential Rabbis in America, and has been recognized numerous times by The Forward and the Jerusalem Post as one of the fifty most influential Jews. She received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Columbia University, was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.

Reserve your spot for the J Street Los Angeles Annual Reception