February 10, 2010
IKAR’s Brous Tapped as ‘Woman to Watch’
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Rabbi Sharon Brous
Jewish Women International celebrated their 12th annual group of “Women to Watch” by honoring IKAR’s Rabbi Sharon Brous with one of its 10 national awards.
The event, held in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7, recognizes “exceptional Jewish women” who are “inspiring change.”
Brous founded IKAR, a traditional spiritual community with an emphasis on social justice in 2004, and it has since become a focal point of Jewish innovation. In 2008, Brous received the inaugural Inspired Leadership Award from the Los Angeles Jewish Community Foundation, which came with a $100,000 donor-advised fund.
“I live, perpetually and perhaps permanently, in a space that is ben hashmashot — between the world as it is and the world as it ought to be,” Brous said at the Women to Watch luncheon.
“I am driven by the timeless Jewish dream that our work is to narrow the chasm between these two — between the world defined by fear, hunger and oppression, and the world in which human dignity is real, love triumphs over loneliness, and God’s presence is manifest.”
Mayim Bialik, best known for her role on the TV show “Blossom,” emceed the event, which also honored Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus and JJ Ramberg, host of MSNBC’s Sunday morning show, “Your Business,” among others.
