The Jewish Council for Public Affairs announced that Cincinnatian Walter E. Spiegel has been elected chairman of the board of directors. The JCPA added five new members to its board of directors, including Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, Rabbi Emeritus at Wise Temple.
“JCPA has never been more essential than it is right now, when antisemitism and threats to our democracy are on the rise together,” said Spiegel.
Antisemitism has seen a dramatic increase since 2023, while democratic norms and institutions have been degraded since 2016. According to a Pew research poll published in 2026, multiple indicators showed a decline in the health of American democracy.
JCPA ceo, Amy Spitalnik rose to national attention as part of the legal team that led the lawsuits against the white supremacists who organized the deadly Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017. She became CEO of the JCPA just months before the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in 2023.
“All of our work is rooted in the recognition that Jewish safety and democracy are inextricably linked,” Spitalnick told Cincy Jewfolk in a July 2025 interview. “It means that at a moment when democracy is under threat, when we’re seeing democratic norms, the rule of law, or institutions under attack, it’s so inherent to our safety and values as Jews to show up and mobilize. And at the same time, there’s no inclusive, pluralistic democracy without Jewish safety, without confronting antisemitism in all of its forms.”
Kamrass spent 40 years at Wise Temple. During that time, he also held leadership roles across the national Reform movement, sitting on the boards of the CCAR, Hebrew Union College, and the Union for Reform Judaism.
Spiegel is the chief legal, compliance, and government relations officer for Standard Textile. He’s a past president of the Cincinnati Jewish Community Relations Council and sits on the boards of the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center and the Immigrant and Refugee Law Center. He’s also a past board member of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, Rockwern Academy, and Camp Livingston.
“We know that Jewish safety and inclusive democracy are inextricably linked, and the work of defending those values only gets done when communities come together across their differences,” Spiegel said. “JCPA is at the center of building those coalitions – leading difficult conversations, bridging communal gaps, and providing the institutional know-how to break through polarization and binary thinking.”
