Steven Klein first came to IKAR in 2004 as a single young adult, in a late-20s period of testing and re-exploring his values. Amusingly, he decided IKAR – indeed, any synagogue – was not a fit and instead started a Shabbat study group with Rabbi Daniel Greyber that ran for nine years. 

Fast forward another decade, and Steven had learned, in collaboration with his wife, Kristine, that he is a “synagogue Jew.” He finds his life and family deepened in shul community, so much so that Kristine and Steven have joined several synagogues over the years, finding unique value in each. But in 2023, Kristine and Steven were still trying to find the shul that felt like it offered the mix of infrastructure, community, and traditional depth to fit them and their two kids, Eliza and Ronen. Then they had one of those times: it suddenly felt like they kept running into old friends who would say “You should try IKAR.” As a capper, they met Ethan Goldstine at a bat mitzvah, and… 

Upon first (re)entering IKAR, Steven immediately ran into an old teacher he hadn’t seen in years, both he and Kristine saw familiar faces scattered across the room, and the Klein kids came downstairs from Limudim eager to sign up. They haven’t looked back. 

When Steven isn’t playing with his family, he’s probably trying to crack a better way to tell a story, either as an actor-producer at his production company, Firefly Theater & Films, or through Firefly Fundraising, a fundraising consulting firm he founded that specializes in strategic grants campaigns for nonprofits. Steven grew up in Boston and received his BA from Yale. He previously served on the board of the Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center and now chairs the board of the La Maida Project, sits on the board of advisors of Endcrawl, and serves on the School Site Council of LAUSD’s Ivanhoe Elementary.