Last night I attended the Jewish Funds for Justice "Women of Valor" event in New York City.It was an inspiring evening, as we honored Temple Israel of Boston's Rabbi Stephanie Kolin. 

Rabbi Kolin has been a leader of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization's campaigns for access to higher education, banking regulation, and "No on One".  Nationally, she is noted as the founder of the "Leadership for Public Life" fellowship, a community organizing training that has produced more than 140 rabbinic graduates. They have learned critical leadership skills to engage members of their congregations to work collectively on synagogue transformation; and they learn how to lead successful campaigns for social and economic justice. The stories we heard last night were remarkable. 

I am thrilled that as of August, Rabbi Kolin will join the staff of my own organization, Just Congregations of the Union for Reform Judaism as she opens our Los Angeles office. She will be sorely missed at Temple Israel and in Boston; she leaves behind an incredible group of leaders who continue to engage Jews and non-Jews alike in the sacred work of tikun olam.