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Yael Shy is the founder and director of Mindful NYU and the senior director at NYU Global Spiritual Life. Growing up Jewish and being a student of Buddhist and Zen practices, Yael has become a bold leader in New York City, touching the lives of students everyday from incredibly diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. Her new book is “What Now? Meditation For Your Twenties And Beyond.”

April Baskin is the VP of Audacious Hospitality at the Union for Reform Judaism. As a strong activist for groups on the margin, April has been positively impacting the dialogue across communities, and she shares her own reflections on how being an interracial Jew has affected her personal and professional trajectory.

Rabbi Rachel Grant Meyer is the Director of Education for Community Engagement at HIAS. HIAS has been supporting refugee aid and assistance and has been a beacon of refugee advocacy for over 130 years. Rabbi Meyer is a graduate of Columbia University and was ordained as a Rabbi at Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Meyer has a long history as a defender of human rights, interning with Rabbis for Human Rights and being a vocal activist during her time as an assistant Rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City. Since 2015 when she joined HIAS, Rabbi Meyer has dedicated her time bridging the information gap between Jewish values and history, and the contemporary challenges being faced by today’s refugee communities. She has been published in the Forward and wrote an essay that is featured in the book “Seven Days, Many Voices: Insights into the biblical stories of creation.

Abby is a transgender activist who’s impact across communities in 2016 landed her as one of Jewish Week’s 36 under 36 emerging Jewish leaders. Growing up and being raised as a man in a Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Abby struggled fitting into an identity that ultimately didn’t match the person she knew she could be. Today, Abby is a major trans-rights activist and also a supporter for individuals moving out of ultra-orthodox and other fundamentalist societies. A growing icon in progressive circles, Abby’s story has been featured in major publications including Haaretz, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

The Newish Jewish Episode 1 - Wrestling Jerusalem with Aaron Davidman by The Newish Jewish