We're excited to announce that JLF's annual political education series is back. Join us this fall and winter for Jews, Money, and 2026, a series of conversations about philanthropy and the way it shapes the Jewish community's politics, conversations, and culture.
The Series:
Throughout this series, we'll analyze the role that American Jewish philanthropy plays in each of these topics: how it's shaped where we are, and how it can help us build where we need to go.
Featured Speakers
Akela Lacy Akela Lacy is a Senior Politics Reporter at The Intercept and co-host of The Intercept Briefing podcast. She was previously The Intercept’s inaugural Ady Barkan Reporting Fellow; prior to that, she was a Politics Fellow in the D.C. Bureau. She has also worked at Politico and the Pulitzer Center. She is currently a PhD student at the City University of New York Graduate Center and graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in sociology and Italian. She is based in New York.
Molly Schultz Hafid, MPA Molly is the Executive Director (part-time) of the Butler Family Fund, a limited lifespan foundation whose mission is to seek lasting solutions to homelessness and an equitable criminal legal system. She also manages a consulting practice, MSH Consultants, and works closely with individual donors and foundations, providing strategic guidance on grantmaking, next-generation engagement, lifespan strategies, leadership transitions, governance assessment, and organizational development.
A sector leader who provides strategic guidance and thought leadership, Molly is a co-founder and the current Chair of the Board of JustFund, the only nonprofit grantmaking solution created by funders and organizers of color. She serves as the Vice Chair of the Philanthropy New York Board of Directors and recently completed a decade of service on the Board of Directors of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), which promotes accountability and the highest standards of integrity and openness within the philanthropic sector. She regularly serves as an expert panel reviewer for Lever for Change awards, including a recent round of the Yield Giving Open Call (Mackenzie Scott) grants. Molly was honored to be selected as an Aspen Institute and Neighborhood Funders Group Philanthropy Forward Fellow in 2021-2022 and to receive the Neighborhood Funders Group Award for Excellence in Philanthropy in 2018.
Molly is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Service at New York University and part-time faculty at The New School, teaching strategic philanthropy, nonprofit management, and fundraising. In 2023, she was appointed to the U.K-based National Centre for Social Research International Advisory Board, which guides the Centre’s social research expertise with a global outlook. She also teaches a course on corporate sustainability at the Africa Business School in Rabat, Morocco, and served for over a decade as a faculty member for Philanthropy New York’s Essential Skills and Strategies course for new grantmakers. She has a Master of Public Administration specializing in International Nonprofit Management from New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, an executive education certificate in Nonprofit Financial Sustainability from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School, and a bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Literature from Antioch College.
Alex Kane (Moderator) Alex Kane is the senior reporter for Jewish Currents.
Sarah Anne Minkin Sarah Anne Minkin, PhD, works at the intersection of human and civil rights advocacy, philanthropy, and education, with a special focus on Israel/Palestine. She is the Director of Programs and Partnerships at the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), where she leads programming, works to deepen FMEP’s relationships with existing and potential grantees, and builds relationships with philanthropic and other partners. She co-founded the Palestinian Voices Study Group, a program that guides Jews in leadership positions through rigorous engagement with Palestinian texts in an effort to develop empathy, insight, and tools for engagement. Sarah Anne earned a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley for research focusing on Jewish American identity, the sociology of emotion and nationalism, and Jewish relationships to Israel/Palestine. She is a trained community mediator.
Noa Yachot Noa Yachot is a senior editor at the Guardian. She works across news, features and investigations teams on coverage linked to US dimensions of the Israel-Palestine story, along with other pressing issues relating to civil liberties and power. She also oversees the Guardian's "featured essay", which is published on Sundays, and was a co-producer on the film NAZA. Prior to joining the Guardian, she edited at the ACLU, +972 Magazine (where she is a board member), and Haaretz. She is based in New York.
Annie Chabel (Moderator) Annie Chabel is The Intercept’s inaugural Chief Executive Officer. Annie was previously the Chief Operating Officer at the Center for Investigative Reporting, where she oversaw all business operations for the organization and served as interim CEO in 2021. During her time at CIR, Annie developed organizational strategy, improved and professionalized CIR’s financial management and operations, and worked to create a more equitable and inclusive workplace. Prior to serving as the CIR’s COO, Annie focused on institutional fundraising and philanthropic partnerships, significantly expanding the organization’s foundation giving. Annie served on the Institute for Nonprofit News’s Emerging Leaders Council in 2021. She is based in the Bay Area.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is the award-winning author of eight books who now makes her primary writing home at Life is a Sacred Text. She has received the Lives of Commitment Award from Auburn Seminary, and the Rabbinic Human Rights Hero Award from the human rights organization T’ruah, was named by Newsweek as a “rabbi to watch,” and as a “faith leader to watch” by the Center for American Progress, and has been a Sunday Washington Post crossword clue (83 Down). Her most recent book, On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World is a National Jewish Book Award winner and an American Library Association’s Sophie Brody Honor Book. It was hailed by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley as “A must read for anyone navigating the work of justice and healing.” Her North Star is the belief that we have a moral and religious obligation to care for one another, and to fight for a more just world.
Graie Hagans (he/they) is an organizer, political educator, and casual midrashist who helps people discover their own capacity to build a better and more beautiful world. He currently serves as a full-time consultant supporting the Jewish Bridge Project, The Shalom Center, and the Black Jewish Liberation Collective.
A longtime movement leader, Graie previously served as Chief Vision Officer at Bend the Arc, where he led political education, training and narrative strategy on antisemitism, anti-Black racism, and multiracial democracy building. He is also a founding member of the Black Jewish Liberation Collective, a member of the steering committee for the Jewish Liberation Fund, and serves on the board of Kehillat Sankofa.
Graie holds an MPP from the Bloustein School of Public Policy at Rutgers University.
Marty Levine A lifelong advocate for progressive social change, Marty founded the Jewish Alliance for Economic Justice. He is a long-time member and past leader of the Chicago chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. Marty is the Co-chairman of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) Votes Political Committee and actively works as a member of JCUA as it combats antisemitism and works for a more equitable community. He is a member of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
Marty Levine, a social worker by training, lead the Jewish Community Centers of Chicago for 40 years until he retired in 2016. Since he stepped down, he has consulted and helped build the strength of small, community service organizations from Gary to Waukegan. He was a contributing writer for Nonprofit Quarterly and currently publishes regular opinion pieces on Changecounts.net
Ari Bloomekatz (Moderator) Ari Bloomekatz is interim executive director at In These Times, where he was previously editor-in-chief. Before joining the team, Ari was managing editor of Rethinking Schools and Tikkun magazines, as well as an investigative reporter for Voice of San Diego and a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times from 2007 to 2014. His writing has also been published by the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Seattle Times, among others. Ari is editor of the Haymarket Books–In These Times book series "Books for These Times" and also produced the popular volume Teaching for Black Lives. Ari was books editor at Jewish Currents, where he published The Israeli Black Panthers Haggadah and A Flag of No Nation. He also consults on both legacy and emerging media projects, is a veteran digital organizer and strategist, and enjoys teaching and coaching, most recently with a brilliant cohort at the Disability Justice Culture Lab. You can try to follow him @bloomekatz, but you're more likely to find him fishing.