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Dear Member, Please vote for Brit Tzedek's Board of Directors 2009-2012. Simply fill in the ballot and reply to this message. If you have already submitted your vote, you do NOT need to vote again. The election process for board members is a single slate system, whereby a nominating committee of board members and activists will recommend a list to the organization's general membership for ratification. Printed below is a ballot with the names of the proposed slate members. You have the option of voting for the entire slate or for individual members. To vote, please reply to this email and place an "x" next to the entire slate option or next to the individual name(s) you wish to support. Please submit your vote no later than 5pm PT on Monday, October 12, 2009. More information follows:
BALLOT FOR BRIT TZEDEK BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2009-2012 ____ I support the entire slate. ____ I wish to vote for the following individual candidates (I)=Incumbent: ____ (I) Rainer Waldman Adkins ____ (I) Gil Kulick ____ Rabbi Bonnie Margulies ____ Ylana Miller ____ Jeff Oakley ____ (I) Allison Pepper ____ (I) Sue Swartz ____ (I) Beth Wasserman ____ Mark Zivin
Brit Tzedek's Board consists of up to 27 members. The Board term is 3 years. Brit Tzedek has a grassroots working Board. Board members commit 10-15 hours a month, either as an active committee member, chapter leader or activist, or by providing specialized knowledge and skills. One to two hours of this time is spent on monthly board calls. We meet in person once or twice a year, as possible, usually for a day-long meeting. A great deal of our business is conducted by email. Keeping up with and participating in email discussions and votes can add an additional 4-5 hours to the monthly time commitment. RAINER WALDMAN ADKINS is a Seattle native and 25-year activist for Israeli-Palestinian peace. As Greater Seattle chapter chair, Rainer has been a leader in intra-Jewish dialogue, and successfully pushed for a Washington Democratic Party platform reflecting Brit Tzedek's perspective. He has been deeply involved in persuading half the Washington state congressional delegation to take positions supportive of Brit Tzedek. He is Community Programs Director for Kadima Reconstructionist Community, teaches elementary students, and is a freelance arist. Rainer is also involved with Congregation Beth Shalom, a pluralistic Conservative synagogue. GIL KULICK was present at the creation of Brit Tzedek in 2002 and has served on the Board and its Policy Advisory Committee since 2003. His experience with Israel began with study at the Hebrew University, and includes two years as Israel desk officer at the State Department and three years as Deputy Chief of the Political Section at the U.S Embassy in Tel Aviv. During the momentous years between the first Camp David summit and Israel's withdrawal from Sinai and its invasion of Lebanon, Gil -- who speaks Hebrew fluently -- was a regular kibitzer in the Knesset Members' Dining Room and was the Embassy's West Bank settlements monitor. He also wrote speeches about the Middle East and other subjects for Secretary of State George Shultz. For four years, Gil served as Director of Communications of the New Israel Fund and is a member of the American Jewish Press Association and a former member of the Board of Overseers of the American Friends of the Hebrew University. He currently works as a communications consultant. RABBI BONNIE MARGULIES was ordained at Hebrew Union College (HUC) in 1992. Currently working as a Jewish educator in Madison, WI, she was the Director of Clergy Programming for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice for twelve years. Prior to that, she served as rabbi of the Blacksburg Jewish Community and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute Hillel. Rabbi Margulis is proud to be a member of the Reform Movement's Commission on Social Action, where she sits on the Women and Minorities Task Force. She is also a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis Justice and Peace Committee, co-chairs the Women's Rabbinic Network Social Justice Committee, and is a leader in the Brit Tzedek Wisconsin chapter and active in Brit Tzedek's Rabbinic Cabinet. YLANA MILLER has been a member of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom since 2003 and the Durham/Chapel Hill Chapter Leader from 2005 until June 2009. Ylana has a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley and is currently a Visiting Associate Professor at Duke, where she teaches a range of courses on the history of the Modern Middle East (including Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict). She is the author of Government and Society in Rural Palestine, 1920-1948 as well as many articles on the region. Ylana is also an academic associate of the Duke-UNC Psychoanalytic Institute and has a private practice as a psychotherapist. JEFF OAKLEY is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington DC, where he advocates for socially just policies in Congress, leads youth educational programs, and promotes synagogue-based Muslim-Jewish dialogue. His areas of specialty at the RAC include active American diplomacy for Israeli-Arab peace, social justice & equality in Israel, and arms control & nuclear nonproliferation. Jeff is the former Programming, Advocacy, and Membership intern with Brit Tzedek's Seattle chapter. He graduated from Occidental College in 2007 with a B.A. in Diplomacy and World Affairs, where his thesis explored how change within the Jewish community might help the U.S. forge peace in the Middle East. ALLISON PEPPER has served on the Board since 2003. She serves as the editor "Inside Brit Tzedek" newsletter. Alison has a life-long commitment to peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. She lived in Israel for 10 years during the 1970's and is a founding member of Kibbutz Ketura. Alison is an active member of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun. Professionally, she is the Senior Director of Accreditation Program Support at the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Washington, DC. SUE SWARTZ Vice President, is Chair of the national Advocacy Committee, and founding co-chair of the Bloomington, Indiana Brit Tzedek chapter. She brings her many years of expertise in building organizations to her role as Brit Tzedek's Vice President, working closely with President Steve Masters and Interim Executive Director Diane Balser on strategic direction and internal organization. As Advocacy Committee chair, Ms. Swartz works with Brit Tzedek grassroots activists and staff to maximize the effectiveness of our collective voice in Washington D.C. and in home districts. Like many individuals leading a chapter, she has helped facilitate a wide range of outreach and educational efforts in her community, including joint events with peace activists in the Muslim and Christian community. Ms. Swartz has been an advocate for social justice throughout her life as a labor organizer, feminist activist, and multicultural educator. She received an M.S.W. in community organizing, and presently teaches part-time at Indiana University. Ms. Swartz is also an award-winning poet. She recently spent a six-month sabbatical spent in Haifa, Israel. BETH WASSERMAN is community liaison of the Boston chapter of Brit Tzedek and recent past chair of the chapter. She has been a leader on local advocacy work, coordinating city council resolution efforts and home district lobbying. She currently represents Brit Tzedek on the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Boston and sits on the JCRC's Israel Strategy Group. Committed to providing space for open dialogue on Israel, Beth helped coordinate an Israel discussion group for young adults in the Boston area. Beth works as an environmental engineer in Boston and lives in Somerville. MARK ZIVIN of Evanston, Illinois, has been
Treasurer of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation since 2006
and before that served as Director at Large for a number of
year. Recently, his interest in Israel and the Middle East has
led to increased political action: he serves on the Finance
Committee of J Street's PAC and has advocated in Washington DC
with both J Street and Brit Tzedek. He is also active with the
National Iranian American Council, with a focus on diplomatic --
rather than military -- approaches to Iran's attempt to obtain
nuclear weapons. Aaron Ahuvia Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, The Jewish Alliance
for Justice and Peace
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