2021 Festival Presenters

Brad Lander is a member of the New York City Council, and its Jewish Caucus, representing the 39th District in Brooklyn. Brad serves as the Council’s Deputy Leader for Policy, and is currently running for City Comptroller in an effort to build a more resilient post-COVID city that is better prepared for coming crises, including the climate crisis.

COUNCILMEMBER Tammy J. Morales is a member of the Seattle City Council. She is trained as a community and regional planner, and has spent her career working on local issues including food security, displacement in low-income neighborhoods, and community-centered development. She is an advocate for the Seattle Green New Deal.

Aura Vasquez was the Commissioner for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and a candidate for Los Angeles City Council in 2020. She is a Colombian-born immigrant, community leader and social and environmental justice advocate. In Los Angeles, she also serves as a board member of the League of Conservation Voters.

Chloe Maxmin is a Maine State Senator, elected in 2020 after unseating a two-term Republican incumbent and (former) Senate Minority Leader. Chloe is about a new politics for rural America.

Mike Greenhaus is the editor-in-chief of Relix, the longest-standing print magazine dedicated to improvisational and independent music. He also cohosts the bi-monthly Friday Night Jam speaking series, which explores the intersection of music and spirituality, and is the cofounder of Shalom Y'all Jams, a non-profit that organizes holiday services at non-traditional locations.

Adam Gardner the guitarist and vocalist of the band Guster, and a co-creator of The LeeVees. Adam and his wife Lauren started Reverb, a nonprofit organization that partners with Musicians, Festivals and Venues to green their concert events while engaging fans to take environmental and social action.

Mimi Kravitz is Hillel International’s chief experience officer. In this role, she oversees a team responsible for finding, growing and keeping talented Hillel professionals at every local Hillel. Mimi joined Hillel as its inaugural CTO after more than six years as a Google Executive in the Marketing and People Operations.

Dr. Stephanie Kaza is professor emerita of environmental studies, University of Vermont, and Soto Zen practitioner. Her books include Green Buddhism: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times; and Conversations with Trees: An Intimate Ecology.

Dana R. Fisher is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland. Her research explores democracy, civic participation, activism and environmental policymaking. She has written extensively on activism and protest. Fisher is a member of the Advisory Board of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action.

Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright serves as the Policy Coordinator and Green New Deal lead for Climate Justice Alliance and its members. He uses his organizing, policy and outreach experience to advocate for a variety of social justice campaigns including environmental justice, affordable health care access, income inequality and civil rights for LGBTQIA persons.

Sara Blazevic currently serves as Managing Director of Sunrise. She has been organizing since she was 15, where she was first introduced to environmental justice work in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.

Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman is a rabbi, writer, mother, activist, and song-leader in Boston. She serves as the Director of Professional Development at Hebrew College, and as a rabbinic consultant to Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action. She is a contributing author to Rooted & Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis (Rowman & Littlefield 2019).

Arielle Korman is a Jewish educator, performer, and lifetime learner. She has been a featured teacher at the Jewish singing retreat “Let My People Sing”, performs traditional and original Jewish music, is part of the davening team at Kehilat Romemu, and is an active member of JFREJ (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice).

Rabbi Micah Shapiro is the rabbinic innovation fellow and a campus rabbi at Penn Hillel. Previously he was a Rising Song Fellow with Hadar's Rising Song Institute, and trained with Nava Tehila in Jerusalem. His Kabbalat Shabbat album Ta'ir Eretz - Light Up The Earth was released in spring 2019.

Liz Glazer is a standup comedian, actor, and writer who used to be a law professor, a job she was very funny at. Recently Liz was the first place winner/champion of the Boston Comedy Festival. In 2021 Liz will be part of the HBO Women in Comedy Festival, assuming it happens.

David Spector is a New York City based Stand Up Comedian who has been featured on Sirius XM, Tru TV, and has performed in the New York Comedy Festival.

Talia Reese is a seasoned stand-up comedian who performs regularly at comedy clubs and, now, on Zoom. The New York Post featured Talia as a "Hot Ticket" and The Wall Street Journal referred to her as "Keeping Kosher, With a Side of Jokes".

Alison Laichter is a consultant, facilitator, meditation teacher, and urban planner. She founded and directed the first ever grassroots and community-led Jewish Meditation Center in NYC.