Welcoming the New IJS Board Members

• • • Éloge Butera is a human rights advocate and public servant whose journey—from surviving the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda to working in the Canadian government and in global peacebuilding—has been shaped by a deep commitment to justice and healing. He has led work in national security, reconciliation, and international development around the world. Rooted in a spiritual practice that honors memory and human dignity, Éloge strives to help build a more compassionate and connected world. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario with his family.
    • Havi Carrillo-Klein is a social impact organizer and consultant dedicated to building spaces for constructive, nuanced dialogue and decreasing polarization across the country. Throughout her career, Havi has worked on building and executing learning cohorts and international travel delegations focused on multi narrative perspectives in Israel and Palestine, Jews of Color and our intersecting identities, multi stakeholder criminal justice reform, and more. In her professional role as Project Shema’s Program Manager and in her independent consultancy, Havi is dedicated to confronting antisemitism, racism, and other intersecting forms of hateful rhetoric. Havi lives in Cleveland, Ohio where she can be found rooting for the Cleveland Browns or browsing new reads at Loganberry Books.
    • Lisa Colton is a strategic systems thinker who loves interdisciplinary approaches to solving complex problems. With a passion for intentional community building and thoughtful design, she has built a consulting practice over the past 25 years, working with a wide array of Jewish organizations, nonprofit organizations and other social causes. Through Darim Online, a nonprofit, she runs grant funded programs for communities and foundations, and during the pandemic, executive produced the Great Big Jewish Food Fest and the Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest, online festivals that engaged top talent and over 35,000 people collectively. Through Darim Consulting, LLC she works with organizations to align their work to be successful in today’s attention economy.  Lisa is a graduate of Stanford University and the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, currently also serves on the board of Jewish Family Service in Seattle, and is involved in a range of other local and national civic efforts. She and her husband are the parents of 2 college age young adults, a resident canine and a rotating cast of foster dogs.
    • Aliza Kline is a dynamic leader and social entrepreneur. She served as the founding CEO of OneTable, a powerful platform designed to make hosting and guesting at Shabbat dinners easy, beautiful and meaningful. Since launching in 2014, OneTable has convened more than 160,000 dinners for close to 300,000 people in 700 cities across North America. Aliza was also the founding executive of Mayyim Hayyim, a community mikveh and education center open to the full diversity of the Jewish people, near Boston. She has served as a board member of multiple organizations including JPro and JOIN for Justice. You can find Aliza, her husband, Rabbi Bradley Solmsen, their three daughters, her parents, and her siblings’ families all in Brooklyn, NY.
    • Benjamin Richman is the founder of Openlev, a Brooklyn-based community nonprofit that cultivates purpose and belonging in daily life, rooted in ancestral Jewish wisdom. Openlev brings together curious minds for inspiring programming, intentional coworking, and intimate gatherings. Benjamin serves as VP of Digital Assets at Nexus, a technology startup based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Benjamin is also a certified Tantric Hatha yoga and meditation teacher, and regularly leads Kabbalah-inspired meditation and movement practices. He facilitates men’s gatherings and retreats that cultivate vulnerability, accountability, and the capacity to give and receive care.
    • Chloe Zelkha Chloe Zelkha is the rabbi at Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, MA. She is drawn to Jewish spaces where we can taste the world as it could be and also practice being with things just the way they are. Chloe has spent fifteen years designing transformative experiences for young people and adults. As Fellowship Director at Urban Adamah in Berkeley, she led cohorts through residential deep dives into organic farming, Jewish spirituality, mindfulness practice, and social action. She began her career as a community organizer in Boston, building youth power around environmental justice. More than most things, Chloe trusts in the Torah of song and silence. A dedicated meditation practitioner, she has sat over 150 nights on silent retreat, and regularly teaches classes, retreats, contemplative song, and prayer for communities nationwide.

This new class of board members includes younger Jews, individuals from varied geographic backgrounds, as well as Jews of Color and Mizrahi Jews—reflecting IJS’s vision for an inclusive board that represents more of our participants and the greater Jewish community.

We are entering an exciting period of growth and innovation at IJS, and we know these new voices will help guide us with wisdom, creativity, and heart. Please join us in welcoming Éloge, Havi, Lisa, Aliza, Benjamin, and Chloe to the IJS Board!