Welcome to the Be’chol Lashon Speakers Bureau
We invite you to browse through the list of dynamic presenters who address a wide range of topics of interest to congregations, organizations, and communities across the country and around the world. The speakers include community leaders and pre-eminent scholars in history, philosophy, sociology, demography and other fields. They are African American, Latino, Asian, mixed-race Jewish men and women from the United States and around the world who are emissaries for racial and ethnic diversity in the Jewish community.
Speakers are available for lectures, concerts, or scholar-in-residence weekends. Fees vary.
For more information about booking a speaker please call 415-386-2604, email speakers@bechollashon.org.
Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder
Ruth Abusch-Magder PhD, Rabbi in Residence at Be'chol Lashon, received her doctorate from Yale University. The recipient of many grants and fellowships for her work on Jewish food and women's history, in 2006 she was a Jerusalem Fellow at the Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem.
Sarah Aroeste
With Ancestral roots in Greece and Macedonia, American-born Sarah Aroeste works to reinvent Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and Sephardic music for a new audience.
Ruth Behar, PhD
Ruth Behar was born in Havana, Cuba, and grew up in New York. Ruth has worked as an ethnographer in Spain, Mexico, and Cuba, and is known for her humanistic approach to understanding identity, immigration, and the search for home in our global era.
Siona Benjamin
Siona Benjamin is an artist of Bene Israel Indian Jewish descent. Her lectures and workshops reflect her complex cultural background.
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, senior cantor of Central Synagogue, NY, was born in Seoul, Korea and is the first Asian-American to be ordained as a rabbi and cantor.
Rabbi Romiel Daniel
Rabbi Romiel Daniel is of Bene Israel descent and president of the The Indian Jewish Congregation of USA. He is also a cantor, having studied at Yeshiva University.
Galeet Dardashti, PhD
Galeet Dardashti, PhD, Middle Eastern vocalist, composer and anthropologist, is the granddaughter of Persian singer, Yona Dardashti, and daughter of cantor Farid Dardashti.
Rabbi Capers Funnye
Rabbi Capers Funnye is the Associate Director of Be'chol Lashon and spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, Chicago.
Jane Anna Gordon, PhD
Jane Anna Gordon teaches in the Department of Political Science at Temple University, where she also is Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought and the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies.
Lewis R. Gordon, PhD
Lewis Gordon PhD is the Laura H. Carnell professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Judaic Studies at Temple University and founded the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies.
Carolivia Herron, PhD
Professor Carolivia Herron is an author and educator best known for her controversial children's book, Nappy Hair, and recent book, Always An Olivia, about her Jewish ancestor.
Vanessa Hidary
Vanessa Hidary, AKA The Hebrew Mamita, is an inspired performance and spoken word artist and speaker, based on her experiences as a Sephardic Jew with close friends from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Ephraim Isaac, PhD
Ephraim Isaac PhD, of Ethiopian-Yemenite heritage, received his PhD from Harvard University and is the director of the Institute of Semitic Studies in Princeton, NJ.
Kenny Kahn
Camp Be'chol Lashon Co-Director, is the son of a Jewish mother and black father, is drawn to the message and mission of Be'chol Lashon, and has been involved since its founding. Kahn is exceptional in relating to young Jews navigating their multiple identities.
Andre E. Key, PhD
Andre E. Key, PhD earned his doctorate in African American Studies from Temple University. He engages in historical and ethnographic research on Black Jews.
Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, PhD
Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, of Yemenite descent, holds a PhD in Communication, and a Master’s degree in Communication and Journalism. She is a professor of Journalism and Media at Suffolk University.
Rabbi Juan Mejía
Rabbi Juan Mejia, born and raised in Columbia, lives in the Southwest and is helping spanish speaking Jews overcome past persecution and rejoin the Jewish people.
Avishai Mekonen
Yeganyahu Avishai Mekonen’s latest film, 400 Miles to Freedom, is about his dangerous journey from Ethiopia to Israel to the United States.
Rahel Musleah
Rahel Musleah tells the story of her Calcutta Jewish family that traces its roots to 17th-century Baghdad through multi-media song, story and slide programs.
Aaron Samuels
Aaron Samuels is a Pushcart-nominated poet, a TEDx speaker, and an acclaimed facilitator of critical identity discussions. After declining the advice of a teacher to not break meter, Aaron went on to become one of the premiere performance poets in the country.
Lacey Schwartz
Lacey Schwartz, Harvard graduate and Bechol Lashon’s National Outreach Director, is directing a courageous documentary, Outside the Box, about her mixed-race identity.
Rabbi Gershom Sizomu
Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, the leader of the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda, is the first black rabbi from sub-Saharan Africa to be ordained in an American seminary.
Sarah Spencer, LMFT
Sarah Spencer, Camp Be'chol Lashon Co-Director, earned her Masters in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco. Her marriage and family therapy practice is focused on adolescent identity development and multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-religious blended families.
Diane Kaufman Tobin
Diane Kaufmann Tobin, is the founder of Be’chol Lashon (In Every Tongue), a community-building initiative of the Institute that seeks to grow and strengthen the Jewish community through a global understanding of the Jewish people.
Rabbi Manny Viñas
Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel Viñas born in Cuba of converso or anusim heritage, is rabbi of Lincoln Park Jewish Center and founder of Torat Emet.
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