As the one organization that identifies and addresses our community’s greatest challenges and opportunities, our Federation is committed to applying our knowledge and resources to L.A.’s mounting housing and homelessness crises. Meet us at El Cab on Thursday, January 16th, to hear from experts Rabbi Noah Farkas* and Dara Papel** and join the conversation around our united response to these pressing issues.
Space is limited — RSVP as soon as possible! ! If you have any questions, please contact Dylan Dorenfeld at DDorenfeld@JewishLA.org or (323) 761-8122.
Lisa Hess
Federation Off the 101 Event Chair
Laura & Larry Cohen, Robin & Jim Felton, Jan & Ron Field, Laurie Friedman, Cheryl & Bob Green, George Hess, Victor Kohn, Ellen Silverman, Michelle & David Spiegel, and Laurel Warner
Federation Off the 101 Event Committee
$1,000 minimum household gift to The Jewish Federation’s Annual Campaign required to attend.
*Rabbi Noah Zvi Farkas is a clergy member at Valley Beth Shalom, the largest Jewish congregation in the San Fernando Valley. He is also the former Chair of the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority commission, which oversees the regional strategy between public and private partnerships to end homelessness. Rabbi Farkas recently led a three-year campaign to address homelessness in Los Angeles County and galvanized the largest coalition for housing in County history. He worked to pass historic legislation that has moved nearly $2 billion dollars to build affordable homes, permanent supportive housing, and social services. He has been featured on NPR as a changemaker and rising voice of Jewish leadership.
He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2008, where he won numerous academic prizes in the areas of Jewish Philosophy and Talmud. He is a faculty member of the Florence Melton Graduate Studies Program and a guest lecturer at the American Jewish University. Before coming to VBS, Noah served as the Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Biloxi, Mississippi where he helped rebuild the Gulf Coast Jewish community after Hurricane Katrina. Under his leadership, the congregation reformed its board structure, built a new building, and worked with civic officials to ensure the Jewish community’s future in Southern Mississippi.
While in Rabbinical School, Rabbi Farkas served as a chaplain for the United States Navy Reserve during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Rabbi Farkas worked with military families of all faiths to prepare them for deployment and help them spiritually and emotionally when they returned home.
Noah is a social entrepreneur, launching Seminary Leadership Project that has trained hundreds of Jewish clergy nationwide to create social change through JOIN for Justice where he also serves as a board member. Rabbi Farkas is also the founder of Netiya, an interfaith organization that works on food issues in Los Angeles and boasts a membership of over 40 congregations. He is also the founder of VBSNextGen, which creates a home for Jews in their 20s and 30s at Valley Beth Shalom through innovative learning and social programs.
Rabbi Farkas publishes widely on topics of spirituality, social justice, and millennial engagement. For two years he had a syndicated column in The Forward that focused on food and Jewish spirituality called Turning the Tables. He is a regular contributor to the Jewish Journal and speaks nationally at conferences. He is the author of The Social Action Manual: Six Step to Repairing the World. He is currently writing a book about the Binding of Isaac.
Noah lives in Encino with his wife Sarah and four children.
**Dara Papel has worked in social and economic justice for over a decade, striving to address homelessness through a lens of human connection and collaboration. As a Senior Program Manager at the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), Ms. Papel advises public agencies on needed systems change and policy reform to prevent and end homelessness in Los Angeles County. Currently, she is working with Los Angeles County’s Chief Executive Office to facilitate conversations between public social services, public workforce, and homeless response systems and provide recommendations on areas of alignment to increase access to employment for homeless jobseekers.
Prior to joining CSH, Ms. Papel served as Site Director for Chrysalis for five years where she led her direct services staff to assist homeless and low-income individuals to reenter the workforce through job preparation, support, and retention services. She developed strategic partnerships among service providers, law enforcement, and elected officials to enhance regional efforts. Ms. Papel also worked at Beyond Shelter, implementing $2.5 million Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program (HPRP) in four major regions in L.A. County through HUD’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in response to the economic recession.
Ms. Papel holds a BA from the University of Colorado - Boulder in Sociology and Criminology, and certificates in Fundraising and Nonprofit Management from UCLA. She graduated from The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ Rautenberg New Leaders Project in 2015 and currently sits on the Associate Board for Shelter Partnership.
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