Janet Tobin – President of MERCAZ USA

Janet Tobin comes to the presidency of MERCAZ USA, the Zionist arm of the Conservative Movement, after a distinguished career in Jewish community affairs. A former president of Women's League for Conservative Judaism from 1998 to 2002, Janet currently serves as Senior Vice President of the World Council of Conservative Synagogues/Masorti Olami and Co-President, along with her husband Irwin, of American Friends of Neve Hanna, a premiere children's village in Kiryat Gat, Israel.

Janet has long been active in the Conservative Movement. In addition to her many roles for Women's League for Conservative Judaism, including Chair of the 1992 Biennial Convention and the current Masorti Women International Chair, she was President of both Marathon Jewish Center and its Sisterhood as well as the North Shore Branch of Women's League. A veteran member of the national board of MERCAZ USA, she also serves on the board of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and is active in her current congregation, Little Neck Jewish Center.

A committed Zionist, Janet has attended the Zionist Congresses in 1997, 2002, 2006 and 2010 as an elected delegate representing the Conservative Movement. She has participated on the WZO Zionist General Council (Vaad HaPoel) and the Jewish Agency Assembly and was recently appointed as a committee member of the Jewish Agency's Board of Governors. She is also a member of the cabinet of the American Zionist Movement and has chaired the AZM's Purim Campaign.

Janet Tobin is the recipient of numerous achievement awards from her Sisterhood, synagogue, Israel Bonds, UJA and Jewish National Fund. In 1998, she was awarded the presigious National Community Leadership Award from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Janet is a graduate of Brooklyn College. She and her husband Irwin have three children by birth, three more through marriage, and 13 grandchildren. Both of her married sons and their families have made aliyah and live in the center of the country.

MERCAZ USA is the Zionist voice of Conservative Judaism within the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Zionist Movement and the Conference of Presidents for Major American Jewish Organizations. A grass-roots organization lobbying on behalf of Conservative/Masorti Judaism, MERCAZ is supported by individual and family memberships. MERCAZ USA works together with MERCAZ Olami, the international umbrella for Conservative Zionist affiliates with chapters in North and South America, Europe and Israel.

top of page | Sitemap

MERCAZ USA
136 East 39th Street, 4th floor, New York, NY 10016-0914
tel 212.533.2061 | fax 212.533.2601
info@mercazusa.org | www.mercazusa.org