The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles appoints Rabbi Noah Farkas as the next President and CEO – The Forward
Courtesy of the Jewish Federation of …
Rabbi Noah Farkas becomes the next President and Chief Executive Officer.
Rabbi Noah Farkas becomes the next President and Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.
The association announced the selection by email on Wednesday.
Farkas, 41, currently serves in Valley Beth Shalom, the largest Jewish community in the San Fernando Valley. Previously, he worked as a rabbi for the Beth Israel Congregation in Gulfport, Mississippi, helping rejuvenate Jewish communities on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.
While at Valley Beth Shalom, Farkas focused on improving synagogue life through social interventions and mental health initiatives.
Farkas has devoted much of this work to fighting homelessness in Los Angeles County. Farkas helped build the largest housing coalition in LA history to pass a bill that provided $ 5 billion in housing and services for the homeless. He is an appointed commissioner and past chairman of the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority.
“The solutions have more to do with poverty, racial differences, lack of housing and continuity of care than specifically with homelessness itself,” Farkas said in a December 15, 2020 Forward Zoom forum on homelessness in LA.
Farkas also writes a weekly commentary, Torah from Within, in which he offers his modern interpretations of the weekly Torah portion and is a regular contributor to the Forward.
“If we are to unite this country, we must revive the idea of an enduring belief in the transcendent that will not pull us out of our world but push us back in,” he wrote in Forward Biden after President Joe’s inauguration. “A politician, no matter how skilled he is, can only work on the political body. It is up to the rest of us to work on our souls. “
In 2016, the Forward named Farkas one of America’s “Most Inspirational Rabbis”.
In addition to his pulpit duties, Farkas started the Seminary Leadership Project, which trains Jewish clergymen nationwide to bring about social change through the JOIN for Justice organization, of which he is also a board member.
“Noah is an enormously talented leader who combines a sensible and principled approach to meeting the greatest needs of our community with a heart and soul dedicated to the welfare and safety of the Jewish people,” said the chairman of the Federation, Albert Praw, in the press release.
Farkas, who is on vacation and not immediately available for comment, said in the press release that the federation is “uniquely positioned to promote a thriving Jewish community.”
Farkas, who lives in Encino with his wife Sarah and their four children, will take up his new role in January 2022, replacing outgoing President and CEO Jay Sanderson.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles appoints Rabbi Noah Farkas as the next President and CEO
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