Mission Statement
We encourage and help Jews to embrace plant-based diets as an expression of the Jewish values of compassion for animals, concern for health, and care for the environment.
Meet the Leaders of JVNA
Jeffrey Cohan, Executive Director
Jeffrey came to JVNA after successful careers in journalism and Jewish communal service. A vegetarian since 2007 and a vegan since 2010, Jeffrey has a Master's in Public Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Board of Directors
Richard Schwartz, President Emeritus
Richard Schwartz is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the College of Staten Island, New York. He is the author of several books, including the seminal work, “Judaism and Vegetarianism.” He is the assistant producer of the documentary "A Sacred Duty" and the author of more than 200 articles.
Noam Mohr, Vice President
Noam Mohr has played a central role in JVNA leadership since 1999, and among other things manages JVNA’s social media sites and newsletter. A graduate of Yale and Penn, he has worked for a number of organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States and PETA. He has published a number of reports and appeared in several documentaries on animal agriculture.
Abigail Kurtz
Abbey is the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Bend the Arc, a Jewish organization dedicated to championing equality and justice for the disenfranchised residents of our nation. She is a graduate from SUNY New Paltz where she studied Psychology and Evolution.
Alex Hershaft
Alex Hershaft, Ph.D. is the Animal Rights Conference Chair and founder of Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM). He launched World Farm Animals Day in 1983, the Great American Meatout in 1985, Gentle Thanksgiving in 1990, and has organized 20 national Animal Rights conferences. He is a member of the Vegetarian and the Animal Rights Halls of Fame and has a doctorate in chemistry.
Steve Schuster
Steve, a resident of Boston, is the founder and CEO of Rainier Communications, a public-relations firm serving clients in the high-tech sector.
Karen Shakerdge
Karen, a resident of Brooklyn, is a graduate of the New School and has extensive experience in television production. Currently, she is a producer on "The Search for Israeli Cuisine," a PBS documentary.
Jennifer N. Vogel
Jennifer is general counsel for Copperpebble Solutions, a global consulting firm in New York. A Yale graduate, she earned her J.D. and M.B.A. at Washington University.
Rabbinic Council
Rabbi Steve Gutow
Rabbi Gutow is the President and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. He has been named one of the nation's Top 50 most influential rabbis by the Daily Beast for three consecutive years. Rabbi Gutow is a graduate of the University of Texas Law School and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
Rabbi David Wolpe
A leader in the Conservative Movement, Rabbi Wolpe was named the Most Influential Rabbi in the United States in 2012 by Newsweek. He is the author of seven books and the spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.
Rabbi Robert Judd
Rabbi Judd is the chief rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami, a Conservative synagogue in Tampa, FL. He is working on a doctorate in English and American Literature.
Rabbi Dovid Sears
Rabbi Sears, of Brooklyn, is a leader of the Breslov Center in New York and the author of several books, including, "The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism" (Orot 2003).
Rabbi Katy Allen
Rabbi Allen, of Wayland, Massachusetts, is the spiritual leader of Ma'yan Tikvah, which holds outdoor Shabbat and holiday services. She also serves as a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Rabbi Boris Dolin
A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Dolin serves as the associate rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, OR. He is an avid runner and is a strong advocate of Jewish veganism.
Rabbi Barry Silver
Rabbi Silver is the rabbi of Congregation L'Dor Va-Dor in Lake Worth, Fla. He is also a practicing attorney, handling cases in civil rights, environmental law, public-interest law, among other areas. Rabbi Silver founded and chairs the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition and the Interfaith Justice League.
Rabbi Eliyahu Soiefer
Rabbi Soiefer, of Monsey, N.Y., is a mashgiach ruchani at the Stein Yeshiva in Yonkers, N.Y. An accomplished musician and composer, he graduated from the Berklee College of Music before going on to earn a Master's degree from Adelphi University and smicha from Yeshiva Kol Yaacov.
Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb
Rabbi Dobb has served Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation --a progressive community of nearly 500 households in Bethesda, Maryland --for a more than a decade. He serves on the national boards of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life and Shalom Center and as Chair of Greater Washington Interfaith Power & Light.
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz
Rabbi Yanklowitz is the founder and president of Uri L'Tzedek, the Orthodox Jewish social justice organization; the executive director of Valley Beit Midrash in Phoenix; and the founder of the Shamayim V'Aretz Institute, an organiztion which collaborates with JVNA in promoting veganism in the Jewish community. He is the 3rd rabbi on the JVNA Rabbinic Council to be named one of the nation's Top 50 influential rabbis by the Daily Beast.
Advisory Council
Caryn Ginsberg
An expert in vegetarian advocacy, Caryn is the author of "Animal Impacts: Secrets Proven to Achieve Results and Move the World." She is the co-founder and CEO of Priority Ventures Group, which provides a wide range of strategic consulting services to animal-protection organizations.
Paul Shapiro
Paul is the vice president of farm animal protection for the Humane Society of the United States. He founded Compassion Over Killing, which has grown into one of the nation's leading veg-advocacy organizations, while a high school student.
Dan Brook
Dan created and maintains The Vegetarian Mitzvah Website, one of the leading sources of information on the Web about Jewish vegetarianism. Having earned a doctorate in sociology from UC Davis, Dan now teaches at San Jose State University and San Francisco City College.
Maxim Hammer
Max is an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, specializing in the treatment of stroke victims. He is an advocate of veganism as an effective preventive-health measure.
Roberta Kalechofsky
Roberta is the founder and chief editor of Micah Publications, the leading publisher of books on Jewish Vegetarianism. She is the author of "Vegetarian Judaism: A Guide for Everyone," and the editor of "Rabbis and Vegetarianism: An Evolving Tradition," among several other books.
Nina Natelson
Nina Natelson is the founding director of Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (CHAI), a non-profit organization established in 1984 to improve the lives and treatment of Israel’s animals through education, legislation and direct support.
Stewart Rose
Stewart is the vice president of Vegetarians of Washington, the largest regional veg-advocacy organization in the country. He is the author of "The Vegetarian Solution: Your Answer to Heart Disease, Cancer, Global Warming and More," and a co-coordinator of Seattle Vegfest.