Idit Klein

Idit Klein is a national leader for social justice with more than 25 years of experience in the non-profit sector.

Since 2001, she has served as the leader of Keshet, the national organization for LGBTQ equality in

Jewish life. Klein built Keshet from a local organization with an annual budget of $42,000 to a national

organization with a five million dollar budget and offices in six states. Under her leadership, Keshet has

supported tens of thousands of rabbis, educators, and other Jewish leaders to make LGBTQ equality a

communal value and moral imperative. She also spearheaded the creation of leadership development

programs for queer Jewish teens and mobilized Jewish communities nationwide to join the fight for

LGBTQ rights. Prior to leading Keshet, Klein was a leader in the LGBTQ community in Israel and helped envision the Jerusalem Open House. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale University, she earned her Master’s in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a focus on social justice education. Klein publishes frequently in the Jewish and LGBTQ press and has been honored by Jewish Women International, the Jewish Women’s Archive, Mayyim Hayyim, Brandeis University’s Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership, and the Forward as one of its "Forward 50," a list of American Jews who have made enduring contributions to public life.

 

 

 

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Lesléa Newman

Lesbian feminist writer Lesléa Newman made history in 1989 with her controversial children’s book, Heather Has Two Mommies. Inspired by Newman’s friend, a lesbian mother who complained that there were no children’s books with families that looked like hers, the book sparked national controversy. Newman has written countless books for children, adolescents, and adults on homosexuality, Jewish identity, eating disorders, and AIDS.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Idit Klein." (Viewed on December 4, 2024) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/klein-idit>.