The Jewish Emergent Network director, Justin Rosen Smolen leads collaborations across the seven Jewish Emergent Network communities to advance a bold and inspired vision for Jewish life.

Rosen Smolen says he “loves the collaboration of visionary leaders and organizations reimagining Jewish life and creating new pathways for Jews and co-journeyers to build community, making meaning, and pursuing justice. I am inspired by the Network’s innovative, optimistic, and inclusive approaches to Judaism, and strengthening and forging new and diverse partnerships to collectively transform our communities and our world in service of these values.”

Rosen Smolen brings over 15 years of experience in the Jewish professional world, where he launched and scaled innovative national programs with a focus on education, access, and inclusion, and built robust networks and ecosystems to support them. He is a Certified Diversity Practitioner through The People Company Inclusion Institute. He holds an MPA in nonprofit management and an MA in Jewish Studies and is an alum of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and the Generation Now Fellowship. Rosen Smolen lives in northern New Jersey with his partner and their two young children. Rosen Smolen succeeded Jessica Emerson McCormick, who has led the Jewish Emergent Network as its inaugural director since 2016.