Jeremy Burton is the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC), defining and advancing the values, interests and priorities of the organized Jewish community of Greater Boston in the public square. Through advocacy, organizing, service and partnerships, JCRC pursues social justice, ensures a vibrant Jewish community, and builds a network of support for Israel.
Jeremy is currently a board member of Keshet, working for the full inclusion of LGBT Jews in Jewish life, and on the advisory board of Eshel, dedicated to creating understanding and support for LGBT people in traditional Jewish communities.
Previously he was the Senior Vice President of Programs at the Jewish Funds for Justice, and Vice President of Programs at the Jewish Funders Network. He has also served as Executive Director of Amos: The National Jewish Partnership for Social Justice, housed at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
Jeremy came to the Jewish community from a career in political strategy and public communications, having worked for New York Mayor David N. Dinkins, Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, the 1996 Clinton/Gore Re-Election Campaign, and the New York State Assembly & Attorney General, among others.
Jeremy’s father, the son of a secular Jewish interfaith household, and his mother, a Mexican-American convert to Orthodox Judaism, raised him on New York’s Upper West Side where he grew up in Lincoln Square Synagogue and attended Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in Manhattan &Yeshiva OhrHaMeir. After two years in Jerusalem attending Yeshiva MercazHaTorah and one year at the BeisMedrashL’Talmud of Lander College for Men in New York, Jeremy completed his studies for a B.A. in political science at Queens College of the City University of New York.
Before moving to Boston Jeremy was a gabbai and co-chair of Darkhei Noam, an independent minyan on New York’s Upper West Side committed to halachic& inclusive community.
He was a founding board member of Bikkurim, a joint project of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Kaminer Family Foundation to incubate new Jewish ideas; board co-chair of Jews For Racial and Economic Justice, a grassroots social change group in New York City; a member of Synagogue 3000’s working group for emergent sacred communities; and on the board of Hillels of New York and of Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, as well as on the UJA-Federation of New York Young Leadership Cabinet. He was also on the advisory board for the Human Rights Campaign’s Jewish Workplace Equality Program.
For several years Jeremy was a contributor to Beyond the Pale: the Progressive Jewish Radio Hour on WBAI New York. He writes and speaks widely about inclusive Jewish community, timeless Jewish values, and new models for building dynamic Jewish spaces. He has been published widely, including in the New York Jewish Week, the Jewish Forward, Zeek, Sh’ma, and the Washington Post: On Faith. The JTA included him in their 2010 “Twitter 100” list of the most influential Jewish voices on Twitter.
Jeremy tweets about his passions including sports and science fiction. You can follow him @BurtonJM.
Recent Comments