Rabbi Joel Pitkowsky, a vocal leader in efforts to end hunger and a decades-long supporter of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, began his first week as chair of the organization’s board of directors. He will be chair for three years, and follows the strong leadership of Liz Kanter Groskind.

Pitkowsky, who is also the rabbi at Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck, assumes this new role amid a hunger crisis in which one in four people in the United States are facing food insecurity—more than any other period in the country’s history since the Great Depression.

“I first became involved with MAZON over 30 years ago, motivated by my Jewish values to reach for the world that should be and imagine how we can live in a country where no one experiences the injustice of hunger,” said Pitkowsky.

Rabbi Pitkowsky will serve as chair of the board of directors alongside Vice Chair Morgan Powell, Treasurer Carolyn Schwarz Tisdale and Secretary Randall Lewis.