Jason Klein

Rabbi Jason Gary Klein became the first openly gay man chosen to head a national rabbinical association of one of the major Jewish denominations in the United States in 2013, when he was chosen as president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.[1][2] He was also the first Hillel director to hold the presidency, the chief volunteer position of the organization.[3] As of his election as president, Klein was the executive director of Hillel at UMBC, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a post he held from 2006 until 2013.[4] He served as president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association for two years—until 2015.[3] As of July 2013 he became the Director of the Center for Jewish Life at JCP Downtown, the Jewish Community Project of Lower Manhattan,[5] where he served until 2018, when he became the Director of Lifelong Learning at Temple Israel, Minneapolis. [6]

Klein grew up in East Brunswick and Montclair, both in New Jersey, graduated from Columbia University in 1997, and was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2002.[4][3]