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Dr. Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr. 

Chairman Of The Board

Dr. Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr. (Born: January 22, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina) is an African American civil rights leader, United Church of Christ (UCC) ordained minister, author,  journalist, organic chemist, environmentalist, global entrepreneur, and currently President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) based in Washington, DC since 2014. Dr. Chavis is a professor  at Duke University in Durhan, NC as the 2025 Senior Fellow for Divinity and Interdiscipline Studies.  Dr. Chavis is Chairman of Spill the Honey,  and National Co-Chair of the Black Jewish Action Alliance (BJAA).  Dr. Chavis is on the faculty of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). Dr. Chavis is the Executive Producer and Host of The Chavis Chronicles, www.TheChavisChronicles.com, broadcast weekly on PBS TV Network stations reaching over 90 million households throughout the U.S.  THE GOOD NEWS is a nationally syndicated, daily radio commentary www.TheGoodNewsRadio.com  hosted by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.  In the early 1960s, Chavis was the North Carolina statewide youth coordinator for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Dr. Chavis is the former Executive Director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and a graduate of University of North Carolina, Duke University, and Howard University. Dr. Chavis was inducted in April 2024 to the Board of Preachers of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr International College of Ministers and Laity at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Rabbi Dr. Judy Schindler

Executive Director

Rabbi Dr. Judy Schindler is thrilled to join the Spill the Honey Team as Executive Director. In 2020, she co-founded the Charlotte Black/Jewish Alliance and recognizes the power of this work to deepen relationships that then can serve as the building blocks for advancing social change. Rabbi Judy is also the Sklut Professor of Jewish Studies at Queens University of Charlotte. She served as founding Director of the Stan Greenspon Holocaust and Social Justice Education Center at Queens University from 2016-2024. She was named Rabbi Emerita of Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina, after serving as Senior Rabbi from 2003-2016 and as Associate Rabbi from 1998-2003. Rabbi Judy loves to learn. Beyond receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Clinical Psychology from Tufts University (magna cum laude, 1988); her Master’s from the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles (1993); her rabbinic ordination at the Hebrew Union College in New York (1995); and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Hebrew Union College (2020); in May 2025, she received her doctorate of Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Her dissertation was titled “Pioneering Documents of Interfaith Dialogue: Christian and Jewish Milestones in Reaching Out to the Religious Other.” Rabbi Schindler was founding co-chair of the North Carolina Jewish Clergy Association (established in April 2022). She is a founding leader of the Charlotte Racial Justice Consortium (CRJC) — a partnership between Johnson C. Smith University, Johnson & Wales University – Charlotte Campus, and Queens University of Charlotte, that trains students in racial equity and leadership skills. She is on the Board of WFAE, Charlotte’s public radio station, and chairs the Equity and Fairness Committee. She is Chair of the Reform Israel Rabbinic Cabinet of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. And she is a member of Board of Governors of The International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) which represents, maintains, and develops relations with the Vatican’s Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews, the Orthodox Christian Church, the World Council of Churches, and other international religious bodies. Rabbi Schindler has contributed chapters and articles to more than a dozen journals and books. She co-authored Recharging Judaism: How Civic Engagement is Good for Synagogues, Jews, and America (CCAR Press, 2018). She was a 2017-2018 contributing columnist for the Charlotte Observer and delivered a TEDxCharlotte talk in 2018 entitled “Mastering the Art of Loving your Neighbor.” Among the many awards she has received, Rabbi Schindler was named Charlotte Woman of the Year in 2011. Judy is married to Chip Wallach. They have two sons who are young adults, Maxwell and Alec. She is the daughter of the late Rabbi Alexander Schindler, of blessed memory, who was president of the Union for Reform Judaism 1973-1995.

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23179 Telegraph Rd: Southfield, MI 48033

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