Naomi Ackerman is the Founder and Executive Director of The Advot Project in Los Angeles. At Advot, Ackerman began a movement that uses theater and the arts to promote Jewish values to effect social change. A staunch advocate for raising awareness of domestic violence in the Jewish community, Naomi’s Home Shalom healthy relationship workshops and her one-woman show Flowers Aren’t Enough have reached hundreds of thousands around the world.

Susie Tanchel is Head of School at JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School. At JCDS, Tanchel focuses on infusing school life with intentional pluralism. The JCDS curriculum guides teachers and students through challenging conversations, strengthening the community while building a new generation of Jewish students who can thrive in an ever-changing and complex world. Tanchel’s students learn how to engage respectfully and productively with others who have different perspectives.

Ilana Ruskay-Kidd is the Founder and Head of School at The Shefa School in New York, a pluralistic Jewish day school that provides a Jewish environment for children with language-based learning challenges. Under her leadership, Shefa has grown exponentially in its short life, enrolling 24 students in grades 2 to 5 in its first academic year and surging to 80 students in grades 1 to 7 in the fall of 2016. With the founding of Shefa, Ruskay-Kidd has emerged as an advocate for Jewish day schools to more effectively recognize and support children with learning challenges. In the last year, she has convened over 150 professionals from more than 40 Jewish day schools in an effort to change the communal conversation on serving this population of students and their families.

Rabbi Benay Lappe, founder of Chicago’s SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, accepted the award from James Crown. At SVARA, Rabbi Lappe has established a learning environment where students represent the full spectrum of Jewish life and diversity. Under her leadership, enrollment at SVARA has risen from eight students in its first year, to 600 students studying in SVARA’s Beit Midrash today. Rabbi Lappe is also Senior Fellow and Director of Education at the Institute for the Next Jewish Future in Chicago, where she oversees the faculty and staff Beit Midrash and participates in its Judaism Unbound podcasts.

Guided by the leadership of Founding Principal Rabbi Tully Harcsztark, SAR High School in Riverdale, New York has become a national model of Jewish education. At SAR, the integration of general and Judaic Studies reflects Harcsztark’s ideal of education as a “fusion of horizons.” Each activity at SAR, from Israeli dancing to discussions of Midrash mixed with literary theory to exuberant pick up games of field hockey and soccer are imbued with a climate of deep respect where students, faculty and staff are invited to engage in open and honest intellectual exploration.

As Co-Founder of OROT: Center for New Jewish Learning in Skokie, IL, Dr. Jane Sherwin Shapiro teaches students of all ages from across the religious spectrum. Founded in 2014, OROT serves over 500 students each year through weekly classes and immersive learning experiences where students learn to integrate serious text study with alternative creative expression, in learning spaces that range from artists’ studios to Yoga studios, and from botanical gardens to kitchens.

Meredith Englander Polsky is the National Director of Institutes and Training at Matan in New York, and Developmental Support Coordinator at Temple Beth Ami Nursery School in Rockville, MD. The Matan Institute has created systemic change by educating over 1,000 school directors and teachers on inclusion practices in various educational settings. At the Temple Beth Ami Nursery School, Polsky ensures that every family and every child, regardless of developmental need, find a place where they are welcomed and educated according to their way.

A pioneer of Jewish a capella singing, Daniel Henkin has been dubbed “our beloved Jewish rock star” by those who spend summers with him at Camp Ramah Nyack. There, Henkin produces the annual Ramah musical celebration, a highlight of the season that attracts thousands of parents, alumni and community leaders. At the Ramaz School in New York, Henkin directs the music program and teaches chamber choirs. At Queens College, he directs the Hillel’s Jewish a cappella group, which draws singers from colleges throughout the New York City area and has been a three-time national champion in Jewish collegiate a cappella competitions.

Amy Meltzer, the lead Kindergarten teacher at Lander-Grinspoon Academy (LGA) in Northampton, MA, is proving that a small classroom in a small school in a small town can be a nucleus of inspired Jewish education and a model for the entire field.

Michelle Shapiro Abraham, Director of Program Development for the Campaign for Youth Engagement at the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), has spent nearly two decades as a Jewish educator and has altered the educational landscape in myriad settings and for a cross section of students and colleagues.