IPA Staff

Nathan J. Diament

Nathan J. Diament is the Washington DC-based Executive Director of Public Policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, where he develops and coordinates public policy research and initiatives on behalf of the traditional Jewish community. He is an honors graduate of Yeshiva University and the Harvard Law School.

Mr. Diament has testified before congressional committees and has worked closely with members of both political parties to craft legislation addressing religious liberty issues, education reform, family friendly social policies and life issues.

In 2009, Mr. Diament was appointed by President Obama to serve as one of twenty-five members of the President's Faith Advisory Council.

Diament has been described in the press as "the public face of Orthodox [Judaism] in Washington" and was named to The Forward's list of the 50 most influential Jews in 2005.

He is a co-editor of Tikkun Olam; Social Responsibility in Jewish Thought and Law (Aronson Press, 1997) and the author of articles and essays on issues including religion and state, constitutional law, social policy and international affairs. His writing has been featured in law journals as well as publications including The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Times, The Forward, and The Jewish Week and he has been a guest on CNN, FOX News, NPR and other broadcast media.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Diament practiced law in New York at Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, served as a law clerk to Judge I. Leo Glasser of the United States District Court. Diament has also served as an adjunct professor at American University in Washington and Yeshiva University in New York.

Maury Litwack

Maury Litwack is Director of Political Affairs for the Orthodox Union's Institute for Public Affairs. In this position, Maury heads up a state-by-state plan for political action and advocacy in the OU's many communities around the country, with a principal focus on seeking greater government support for Jewish day schools and their families in order to address the acute education affordability challenge the Orthodox community is facing.

Prior to this promotion he was National Deputy Director, a position he held for the last three years. Maury has helped lead the Union's federal advocacy efforts in key issues including energy and domestic policy development while working to mobilize and teach communities the importance of active civic engagement. In his time with the Union, Maury has arranged over 100 meetings with elected officials and candidates with Orthodox communities around the country.

A recognized advocacy expert and author of the Capitol Plan - a comprehensive Washington advocacy strategy, Maury has worked with elected officials, municipalities and the Union on major aspects of their federal and state agendas during the last eight Congressional Sessions. Maury served on the staff of two Congressmen during the 108th and 109th Congress, where he provided legislative expertise and political strategy. Maury left the Hill to expand the Washington office of Miami-Dade County, the 6th largest county in the country prior to taking a position with the OU.

Maury's thoughts on Washington politics is regularly quoted and has appeared in publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Politico and Forbes. Maury has been a contributor to a number of political and print op-ed pages including the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Fox News, Orlando Sentinel, The Bergen Record, Business Insider, and The Hill. Maury writes a regular column for OU.org titled "Political Problems, Torah Solutions."

Josh Pruzansky

Josh has been involved in Jewish communal work for more than twenty years, beginning his career in 1989 as the Executive Director of the Yeshiva of the Telshe Alumni in Riverdale one of the foremost Yeshivos in America.

Following Riverdale, Josh assumed the role of Executive Director of Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva in Edison from 1998-2002 and then decided to involve himself in the world of Jewish outreach and became the Executive Director of Partners In Torah.

In 2005 at the behest of the Rosh HaYeshiva in Riverdale, Josh became the co-founder of Yeshiva Me'on HaTorah in Roosevelt, NJ. It was at that position where Josh first experienced firsthand the way the government worked when the local community worked hard to expel the Yeshiva from its midst. He saw how a few people in power could control the entire political process and make decisions and appointments that could affect the lives of an entire community. It was after that experience that Josh decided to devote his efforts to public policy and advocate and advance the needs of the Jewish community in the halls of the State House in Trenton.

Josh was hired by Agudath Israel of New Jersey to become its State Director. In that role Josh became the first full time advocate for the Jewish community in Trenton. During the past 4 years, he has cultivated a relationship with the political leadership of this State in a bi-partisan fashion and has become a fixture in the State House. He has served as the Chairman of the Non-Public School Advisory Committee at the Department of Education and was a member of the Non Public Education Funding Commission, appointed by Governor Jon Corzine.

This past June, Josh has joined the Orthodox Union as its NJ Regional Director of Public Policy for its Institute for Public Affairs. Josh looks forward to working with the entire Jewish community in their quest to forward legislation that would provide government funding for every child regardless of the school they attend.

Michael Cohen

Michael Cohen is the New York State Political Director for the Orthodox Union's Institute for Public Affairs. In this position, Mr. Cohen leads the OU's policy portfolio on the local and state level in New York, with the larger goal being tuition reduction public policy.

At the tender age of 20, Mr. Cohen earned the attention of the national media when he constructed the first Black/Jewish Relations Conference on Capitol Hill in many years, bringing together the Congressional Black Caucus, Jewish members of Congress and each community's national leadership organizations. Since that time, he has built a reputation for being a leader in building coalitions and relationships between those and other communities.

Mr. Cohen served as Chief of Staff to New York State Senator and Senate Democratic Conference Leader John L. Sampson. In that capacity he has been part of a team which negotiated a Senate rules reform package which dramatically increased the openness of state government.

Mr. Cohen has been part of a team that has demonstrated unparalleled effectiveness in ensuring that the issues affecting the Jewish community of New York regain and maintain the prominence necessary to achieve substantive results. From helping to extend the Tuition Assistance Program to rabbinical students; to successfully advocating for a restoration of funding of the Comprehensive Attendance Program, which brings millions of dollars annually into the yeshiva system; to fighting for capital funding for yeshiva buses and protecting job placement and job training programs administered by Jewish community agencies, he has been front and center in every major issue in which the Jewish community and the State of New York have interacted for more than 15 years.

Mr. Cohen served the Brooklyn Community where he was raised as a four-term member of Community Planning Board 14, representing Flatbush and Midwood, having been appointed to that position by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Mr. Cohen has formerly held positions on the staffs of Congressman Edolphus Towns, then New York State Assemblyman; current Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; NYC Public Advocate Mark Green; New York City Councilman Mathieu Eugene and others. He has served as a campaign strategist to nearly 100 Democratic political campaigns.

Michael Cohen is a graduate of Brooklyn College and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science. He was profiled in the Capital Newspaper's "Rising Stars - 40 under 40" edition of 2010. Mr. Cohen is an active member of Englewood's Congregation Ahavath Torah.