Who We Are

Close-up of Rabbi Eli DeWitt, a white person with light skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes, wearing large silver glasses and a pink button-up shirt, outdoors with blurred trees in the background.

Rabbi Eli DeWitt

Co-Director

Eli (they/them) has dedicated the last decade to working in Jewish and multifaith communities, collaborating with young people to grow the spaces where people of all ages are honored as culture builders and active participants. Eli brings their rabbinic training, alongside many years of experience as a youth worker in community programs, public schools, and movement spaces to Simchat Diaspora, a resource they have dreamed of building, sharing, and using for many years. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Eli is skilled in offering spiritual care to people of LGBTQIA+ experiences, individuals impacted by the carceral system, young adults, people living with disabilities, and parents and caregivers of young children. Eli lives in their hometown of Durham, North Carolina, where they are raising their five-year-old daughter and playing their part in a large, multigenerational family.

A picture of Amy Jaret, a white woman with long, curly, dark brown hair smiling outdoors in a wooded area, wearing a black long-sleeve shirt and a backpack.

Amy Jaret, MAT

Amy (she/her) brings twenty years of experience as an educator to Simchat Diaspora, having taught students from ages to 1 to 91 in settings as diverse as outdoor play-based community programming, parent education and adult literacy, public high school, and homeschooling. She offers educational consulting on topics including teaching/raising multifaith kids, talking to kids about “tough topics,” multi-sensory reading instruction, classroom differentiation and universal design, and accessing special education services in public schools. Amy is an Atlanta native and lives on the south side with her partner of 12 years and their three children.

Co-Director