Bethesda Resident Tapped to Head National Council of Jewish Women

After three decades working with the National Council of Jewish Women, a Bethesda resident was tapped to lead the civil rights organization effective Feb. 9, the organization announced.

Jody Rabhan began at NCJW in 1994 after a graduate school internship there. She worked her way up to the C-suite and, eventually, executive vice president of NCJW, a role she assumed in October.

Rabhan, a recognized expert on public policy, is now the CEO.

“This moment is such a particular moment in time, both for our country and for our organization, and to be tapped to lead when the stakes are so high just feels so gratifying and very, very humbling,” Rabhan told Washington Jewish Week.

She is “exactly the leader NCJW needs right now,” Laura Monn Ginsburg, NCJW’s president and board chair, wrote of Rabhan in the press release.

“She brings moral clarity, strategic discipline, and a profound understanding of how this organization creates real impact every single day,” Ginsburg wrote. “Jody knows our mission inside and out — not just because she has helped lead it, but because she has lived it throughout most of her career.”

Rabhan’s predecessor, Sheila Katz, now works for the Jewish Federations of North America after leading NCJW for 6 1/2 years. She praised Rabhan as a “powerful and deeply trusted choice” to lead the organization in a text message to the Forward.

Rabhan looks forward to fully implementing NCJW’s strategic plan.

“We’re 133 years old, and we want to keep doing work for 130-plus more years, if we’re needed,” Rabhan said, also citing engagement of changemakers and building the organization with an eye towards the future.

Another goal is to publicize NCJW’s contributions in Israel. “Just as folks know about us and the work that we do in the U.S., [I hope to] bring the work that we do in Israel front and center,” Rabhan said.

Antisemitism is another big issue for the organization. “Post-Oct. 7, our work in that field has really picked up,” she added.

NCJW has a seat at many coalition tables alongside both secular and Jewish groups.

“As a legacy organization with lots and lots of coalition partners, we get to play a particular role and work with a lot of groups,” Rabhan said.

She also hopes to streamline NCJW’s priority issues in the U.S., with a focus on speaking out and combating antisemitism through state legislatures.

Now is a “very hard time” to build something constructive, Rabhan said: “So many of our issues are on the line.”

NCJW works on issues that impact women, children and families. Its priorities are threefold: reproductive health rights and justice; fair, independent, qualified and diverse federal judiciary; and economic justice for women and families, according to Rabhan.

She said she’s up for the challenge, adding that her fellow advocates at NCJW are the reason she’s stayed with the organization since 1994.

“The fact that we get to do this great work, we get to show up every day and do something about what’s happening in our country, it’s an incredible place from which we can make change,” Rabhan said. “To be able to do that great work with incredible people, you can’t ask for anything better.”

Rabhan recalls her first impression of NCJW being a good one. After studying political science at Boston University, Rabhan pursued a dual master’s in social work and Jewish studies at the University of Maryland, which required students to take on an internship.

“Everyone told me, ‘You have to check out NCJW,’” Rabhan said. “I can remember interviewing and just had no idea that a place like that existed, where you could work on issues that you care about from a big perspective with a gender lens. For me, it’s just everything. It’s so close to my values [and] my beliefs.”

Some of her career highlights since then include leading the NCJW team’s work on judicial nominations — she helped confirm the first Black female United States Supreme Court justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson. Rabhan also helped to write and pass the first Violence Against Women Act with then-Sen. Joe Biden: “I’ve been honored representing NCJW for some time,” she said.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time for our community, where there is so much we need to do, and we need to be doing it together,” Rabhan said. “So I’m excited to be working across aisles, across political differences within the Jewish community, to really be able to make a difference.”