Rabbi Doug Kahn is the Executive Director Emeritus of the Jewish Community
Relations Council Bay Area. The views expressed in this article are entirely the author’s own and not associated with any organization. He has devoted more than 40 years to advocacy on behalf of the American Jewish community and continues to consult with Jewish communities across the country on sensitive community relations issues. He joined the JCRC in 1982 and became Executive Director in 1989, a position he held until his retirement in June 2016. Doug served as a member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Jewish Student Life and Campus Climate at UC Berkeley and on the President’s Task Force on Intergroup Relations at SFSU. He chaired the Foundation Board of United Religions Initiative and served on the Board and Executive Committee of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He also serves on the Advisory Board of URJ Camp Newman. A fourth-generation San Franciscan, Doug received his rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College in New York and his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley.