COEJL Staff

Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director, COEJL/JCPA

Rabbi Steve Gutow, after working for nearly 30 years as an attorney and in Jewish and political activities, focused his career on his faith and community and attended the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he received his ordination in 2003. Gutow, who spent more than a decade practicing law in Texas, served as chair of the Dallas Jewish Community Relations Council and then went on to serve as the founding regional director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s Southwest Region, where he forged alliances with Republicans and Democrats. He went on to become the founding executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, where he led national groups in formulating strategies to maintain First Amendment religious freedoms. Following his ordination, Gutow became the first full-time rabbi at the Reconstructionist Minyan of St. Louis where he served as the St. Louis Rabbinical Association representative to the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis. At the same time, he served as Adjunct Professor of Law at St. Louis University Law School teaching a seminar on Jewish law. His article “Tikkun Olam: A Public Policy Focus” in the Fall 2001 issue of The Reconstructionist journal expressed his understanding of the underpinnings of the Jewish rationale for social justice and environmental sustainability - - something so central to Steve’s being that in 2001 he was awarded both the Reconstructionist Student Association Prize for Social Action within RRC, and the Rabbi Devora Barnoff Memorial Prize for Spiritually Motivated Social Action.

Lauren Rothstein Elcott is the Administrative Coordinator for COEJL. After high school, she moved to Israel for four years at which time she joined the Israeli Defense Force to work on the English program for soldiers. After a year and two months in the army, she went on to learn at the University of Jerusalem and The Interdisciplinary Center for Computer Sciences. For the last two years of her stay in Israel, she worked as the Executive/Administrative Assistant to the CEO of the Arison Foundation and The United Way of Israel. Most recently, she spent six years working at the Law Offices of Gary L. Tysch and Law Offices of Todd D. Thibodo in Los Angeles as the Executive Legal Administrator and Personal Assistant to both head attorneys while pursuing an education at Pierce College. During her time in Israel and on trips up the coast to Northern California, she became very aware of the unhealthy condition of the environment and wanted to do something to help. She moved to New York in October 2008 to work on the Barack Obama campaign in Pennsylvania and pursue a career in an environmental non-profit organization.

Liore Milgrom-Elcott, Project Manager - on leave

Liore Milgrom-Elcott is the Project Manager for the “A Light Among the Nations” campaign. Liore’s environmental passions took root and grew as she spent summers camping in the backcountry of America's National Parks. She received a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Natural Resources from Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with a concentration in Environmental Science. There, she focused specifically on the scientific and social aspects of the environment and pollution. She continued on at Cornell to receive a Masters of Professional Studies in Environmental and Developmental Economics, focusing on how monetary factors will and do play a role in environmental decisions. As an undergraduate, she sat on the Hillel programming board and founded Teva, the campus Jewish environmental group. After graduating, she spent five months representing the American Jewish World Service in rural education and its tsunami relief work in Kanchipuram, India, a conglomerate of fifty-plus individual villages. She has also worked in the Dominican Republic and Mexico on environmental and social justice projects. Most recently she was a Community Liaison for Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) in her campaign and Assembly offices with a specific focus on environmental issues and advocacy.