Ruben Shimonov (He/Him)
Born in Uzbekistan, raised in Seattle, spread his wings in New York City, and currently based in Detroit, Ruben is an educator, community builder, and social entrepreneur passionate about Jewish diversity. He previously served as director of community engagement and education at Queens College Hillel, where he had the unique role of cultivating Sephardic-Mizrahi student life and other inclusivity initiatives. Currently, Ruben is the American Sephardi Federation’s national director of Sephardi House and young leadership. He is also the founding executive director of the Sephardic Mizrahi Q Network, the sole international organization building a supportive and much-needed community for LGBTQ+ Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews, as well as director of educational experiences and programming for the Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee. As a visual artist, Ruben uses his multilingual Arabic-Hebrew-Persian calligraphy to build Muslim-Jewish interfaith bridges. In 2018, Ruben was listed among The Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” emerging leaders and change makers. He is an alumnus of the COJECO Blueprint, Nahum Goldmann and ASF Broome and Allen Fellowships for his work in Jewish social innovation and education and is currently a Jewish pedagogies research fellow at M²|Institute of Experiential Jewish Education. Ruben has lectured extensively on the histories, cultures, and wisdom of the Sephardic and Mizrahi communities, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Jewish world. Among his speaking engagements, Ruben has taught at New York University and the University of Southern California, at multiple Limmud conferences (U.K., South Africa, New York), the Jews of Color Torah Academy, and Hillel International.
Calligraphy
Calligrapher Ruben Shimonov of Sephardic-Mizrahi Q Network created this image in honour of JQT Heritage Month 2022 - Queer Jewish Languages! It features the gender neutral 3rd person pronoun ( او - pronounced as “ū” or “oo”) in Farsi with the word “aziz” (meaning “dear”) inside and with colours inspired by the non-binary flag.
For more of his work, follow Ruben on instagram