MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 5: Sexual Assualt, Survivor Advocacy and Activism with Marissa Hochstetter

Activist Marissa Hoechstetter joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Marissa is a survivor advocate who writes and speaks about sexually abusive doctors, enabling institutions, and corrupt politicians. She’s been fighting for change since her own reports of assault by an OB/GYN received inadequate responses from the medical system and law enforcement.

Marissa spearheaded a successful campaign in New York City to allow patients to remove the names of abusive doctors from birth certificates. She has given testimony on medical abuse to lawmakers and medical boards, and she founded Reform the Sex Crimes Unit, a group calling for increased transparency and accountability within the Manhattan DA’s Sex Crimes Unit and Special Victims Bureau. She is also a member of RAINN’s Speakers Bureau and the Patient Safety Action Network’s Medical Board Roundtable. Marissa is a senior advancement and communications professional for non-profit organizations and lives with her family in Massachusetts. Follow her @mhoechstetter and reformthescu.com

Episode 43: Two Jews/Three Opinions, The Tree of Life Shooting, and Saving Starfish with Rabbi Leora Kaye

Rabbi Leora Kaye is the Director of Programs at URJ, Union for Reform Judaism, and she joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. They discuss Anti-Semitism, parenting while Jewish, and how we can be more inclusive as Jews and as humans. As a Rabbi, Leora seeks ways to expand people's understanding of Judaism, encouraging them to approach their spiritual lives on their own terms.

Leora's work experience spans the Jewish world and includes education, programming, and filmmaking. She first combined her interests in media and ethics by working on the Sundance award-winning documentary Blue Vinyl. She went on to work as the rabbinic consultant for Shalom Sesame, and has been an adviser on many other media projects. As Director of Community Engagement at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, Leora spearheaded innovative initiatives including the synagogue's groundbreaking conversion program. She also served as the Youth Director of Temple Israel in Boston and as Associate Director of Programming for Synagogue 2000.

In her current position at the URJ, Leora is responsible for creative advancement of the core priorities of the Reform Movement: Tikkun Olam, Strengthening Congregations, Audacious Hospitality, and Youth. Leora graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and received rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She and her husband Doug Gordon, a writer and television producer, live in Brooklyn with their children, Galit and Zeb. She is on twitter @LeoraKaye.

Read more on the Tree of Life Synagogue by Mallory Kasdan in the Washington Post.