Since that auspicious day more than 30 years ago, Brother Carr's journey, both fraternally and professionally, have been dedicated to doing the right thing, fighting for freedom and the Jewish people and helping to ensure that the next generation of Jewish leaders follows in his footsteps. Earlier this year, Brother Carr was appointed the U.S. State Department's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.
After graduation, Elan attended law school at Northwestern University and then worked as a lawyer in Los Angeles before joining the U.S. Army Reserve, Judge Advocate General's Corps. In 2003-04, he was mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and spent close to a year on military deployment to Iraq. He helped to lead a joint anti-terrorism team in life-saving missions throughout the country, and he prosecuted terrorists who attacked U.S. troops. He was also part of the Coalition Provisional Authority's efforts to establish an independent Iraqi judiciary, and he helped to train Iraqi judges and lawyers on topics such constitutional law and criminal defense.
"I remember when Elan called me and said, 'Dude, I'm in the Army, come join me!' He wanted to serve his country but he also wanted to be a Jew in the Army. He saw that as very important at that time in our history. He always saw a bigger role for himself," said Brother Ackerman.
For the last several years, Elan has served as a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, prosecuting violent felony crimes including hate crimes, murders, attempted murders, robberies, and some of Southern California's most notorious criminal street gangs. As a special victim prosecutor, he focused on sexual assault, domestic violence, and child molestation cases. He was also one of Los Angeles County's few specially designated animal cruelty prosecutors.
"There is nobody in the world that I know who could be better suited for this job than Elan. His knowledge of Israel and Jewish history is unparalleled. He knows the facts. He's passionate about the Jewish people and Israel and he is, without a doubt, the single best extemporaneous speaker I have every heard," said Andy Borans, the CEO of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Foundation.
Brother Carr's first few weeks in the position have been a whirlwind. He's been to a conference on anti-Semitism in Bratislava organized by Slovakia, which currently holds the chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and then to a European Union conference on anti-Semitism in Brussels. When he returned to the U.S., one of his first stops was at his alma mater for the West Coast conclave of AEPi.