Our People

Rabbi Yehudit Werchow was born in Argentina and grew up in Israel. She is an educational consultant with the iCenter, specializing in Arts and Experiential Education and Change Management. Yehudit holds a BA in Political Science and Literature from The Hebrew University, an MA in Jewish Education from HUC-JIR NY, and was ordained at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem. She is the former Director of Education for Masa and has served in the position of the Jewish Agency’s Senior Shlicha for the Reform Movement in North America and the UK. Prior to her Shlichut to the URJ, Yehudit worked in Merkaz Maase, a leading Israeli social change organization.

Tamara is the Founder & Chief Experience Officer of Coriphery Holistic Consulting Solutions. A strategic thought-partner and facilitator to Jewish organizations, she advises senior leadership on project optimization, reimagining priorities and designing transformative experiences. Tamara is most passionate about developing strategic learning spaces, bringing them to life and assessing their impact for scale. Engaging thousands in exploring Jewish identity, Tamara trains leaders to be peer-educators and consults on strategy and engagement. Serving in formal, experiential and informal settings for over 20 years, Tamara has worked closely with Jewish day and supplemental schools, youth movements, synagogues, summer camps, Hillels, federations and foundations.

Steven Jacobson is Executive Director of the Dorot Foundation, a family foundation committed to pursuing justice in the United States and in Israel. A lifelong student, and sometimes teacher of the American Jewish experience, Steven was a Senior Fellow of the Melton Center for Diaspora Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he was a student of Nachama Leibowitz and a mentee of Professor Michael Rosenak. Steven has served as Director of the Curricular Project for International Jewish Communal Service and an Instructor of the Hornstein Program at Brandeis University and as Hillel Director at the University of Kansas. For two decades as Director of the Dorot Fellowship in Israel, he guided the development of an innovative leadership training curriculum and established and led an annual seminar in Budapest about the historical and contemporary Jewish experience of Hungary. He has completed the Coach Development Program with the Teleos Leadership Institute, has served on numerous boards and committees, and consults to a variety of early-stage Jewish initiatives. He and his wife, Andrea Katzman, live in Providence, RI where they were raised by two children.

Stephen has dedicated the last 25 years to working with nonprofit organizations and educators worldwide.  He has held senior positions in leading Jewish organizations including The Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Torah Mitzion, The Jewish Agency and M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education. Stephen has created his own consultancy initiative based on a psychodynamic approach to personal and organizational wellbeing, under the guidance of The Institute for Leadership and Transformation (SA), affiliated with the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (UK). A graduate of the Hebrew University (MA Education) and WITS University (South Africa), Stephen was born and raised in South Africa, lives with his wife and four children in Jerusalem and is devoted to empowering people to get the most out of their professional and personal lives.

As the CEO of M², Shuki helps provide educators and organizations in Israel, North America, and Europe with knowledge, tools, and skills to advance the theory and practice of experiential Jewish education. Previously, Shuki served as director of Service Learning and Experiential Education at Yeshiva University, where he founded the Certificate Program in Experiential Jewish Education and a range of programs mobilizing college students to serve underprivileged communities worldwide. A Schusterman Fellow, Shuki studied Jewish philosophy, education, and scriptwriting.

Shira is an Education director at M²’s Values in Action Initiative. She is an educational entrepreneur, attorney, and writer. She brings with her over fifteen years of experience teaching Jewish Studies and designing interdisciplinary curricula in the classroom and immersive learning environments. Prior to her career in Jewish education she practiced corporate law at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. She is the author, together with Hanoch Piven, of Dream Big, Laugh Often: And More Great Advice from the Bible (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2023). Her written work appears in both scholarly and popular publications and she lectures widely on topics of creativity, family life and Jewish texts. She holds a JD from Cardozo School of Law, and is a graduate of the Advanced Talmud program at Midreshet Lindenbaum. She is an avid tennis fan and loves exploring the world with her partner Aaron and children Dalya, Shachar, Amitai and Aiden.

Rhoda is the founder and chief creative officer of Rhoda+CO. She previously served as the Dean of the Graduate School of Nonprofit Management at American Jewish University. She has a 25+ year career in identifying, educating and coaching Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennial talent to become excellent leaders. Rhoda is one of the original founders of the Jewish engagement model used today and believes that every person deserves a high-level connection to Jewish life and tradition. In her position at AJU, she helps develop and place top leaders throughout the nonprofit sector.

Rabbi Lisa Goldstein teaches a wide variety of online courses with an emphasis on spiritual resilience, cultivating the capacity for love and awe, meditation, and other Jewish spiritual practices. She also works one-on-one to support people in their spiritual journeys. She lives in New York City with her husband and foster son.

Mollie has over 10 years experience teaching in a variety of Jewish educational settings – from formal classroom teaching to nature education, theatre education to collaborative philanthropy education. She enjoys being in the field, as well as building programs and trainings to support others. Mollie holds a double Masters in Midrash and Jewish Experiential Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary, a BA in Religion from Bard College, and is a graduate
of M²’s Senior Educators Cohort. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and children.

Jonny is a connoisseur of experiential education. He founded and led Makom: the Israel Education Lab’s pioneering efforts of “hugging and wrestling” with Israel and the Jewish People for 12 years. He has researched, designed and delivered educational experiences for 35 years in public school, university and in adult and travel settings and held senior positions at the Jewish Agency, the Mandel Leadership Institute, the United Jewish Israel Appeal and Melitz. He’s currently writing a book on educating people to become cosmopolitan patriots. He teaches experiential education at the Hebrew University’s Melton Centre for Jewish Education. Born in the UK, he lives in Israel with his family.

Rabbi Ilana Schachter serves as Associate Rabbi at Temple Sinai of Roslyn. She was ordained as a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where she also received an MA in Hebrew Letters and received her AB With Honors in Comparative Literature and Judaic Studies from Brown University. In addition to serving as adjunct faculty for various M² programs, Ilana is a graduate of M² Senior Educators Cohort and M² Relational Engagement Circle. Ilana lives with her husband, John, and their two children, Jacob and Aviva.

Elyssa Moss Rabinowitz creates worlds of Jewish meaning and beauty by using all forms of media to create interactive, participatory events and programs of Jewish content. She is a co-founder and the Executive Director of Kol HaOt- Illuminating Jewish Life through Art, a Jerusalem-based organization dedicated to weaving the magic of the arts into Jewish educational experiences. Previously, Elyssa founded and ran A Day Away productions, created the Zer Mitzvot experience for Bat Mitzvah girls, has worked on creative content for television at Techelet Jewish Television and has acted in and produced live theater. An experienced facilitator and Jewish education entrepreneur, Elyssa loves bringing people together through meaningful Jewish experiences. Originally from California, Elyssa has lived in Jerusalem most of her life, with her life partner Dovi, and their five children, two children-in-law and dog! She is a proud graduate of M²’s Senior Educators Cohort and has been serving as M² adjunct faculty for the past few years.

Elizabeth (Bronfman ’01) leads the Fellowship’s portfolio of programs aimed at creating an interconnected network of alumni who can empower, inspire and engage one another towards enhanced leadership in the Jewish community and beyond. Elizabeth lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband and son. She concentrated in Urban Studies at Brown University and received a Master’s in Education from Antioch University. Elizabeth’s work (www.elizabethochs.com) focuses on educational program design, nonprofit leadership, and communications. Her previous positions include community organizer, newspaper editor, and program manager at an urban high school.

Clare Goldwater is a Jewish educator and leadership coach with expertise in professional and organizational development and experiential education. Working in close partnership with a wide range of organizations,  Clare oversees the development, dissemination of M²’s approach and ideas about experiential Jewish education, through consulting projects to Jewish organizations, publications, curricula materials, and more. Clare has a BA in English Literature from Oxford University, an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University, and a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. She also holds passports from those three countries and lives in Jerusalem with her family.

Rebecca Voorwinde is Executive Director of the Bronfman Fellowship. Becky oversees the strategic planning for all aspects of the Fellowship in Israel and the US, including working closely with the global alumni community of over 1,300 and selects incoming fellows. Becky’s professional experience includes work in the Corporate Responsibility Group at Ernst & Young LLP and at the non-profit human resources consultancy, Diversity @ Work in Melbourne Australia. Becky graduated Summa Cum Laude from Barnard College with a B.A. in American Studies. In addition to serving on the board of M², she also serves on the board of Tivnu, a Jewish social justice gap year program based in Oregon. Becky resides in Brooklyn with her husband and their three children.

Ayal Beer is the Israel Program Director at M². An experienced Jewish educator, Ayal has been managing a pre-Army leadership educational program focused on Jewish Israeli identity and social change since 2017. Prior to that, he participated in training educational staff for a variety of Jewish organizations in the U.S and Canada for over 5 years. Ayal earned a B.A in Social Work at Bar Ilan University and a Masters degree in Talmud and Religious Law from Shechter Institute. A licensed tour guide, Ayal lives with his wife and four kids in Kibbutz Hannaton in the Lower Galilee and is a graduate of SEC 1.

Abby joined M² in 2022 as Program Director of the Center for Values in Action and spent her career prior to that working in a variety of settings including Jewish camping, academia, and as a clinical therapist. Abby is a graduate of M²’s Camp Educator’s Cohort and the current community coordinator for M²’s Chicago Educator’s Cohort. Abby lives in Evanston with her partner Zach, her 3 adorable kiddos Max, Ayla, and Asa, as well as her mini shih-tzu Badger.

Dr. Tanya Zion-Waldoks is a gender scholar, feminist activist and mother of four – intertwined callings. Tanya is fascinated by the intersection of religion, gender, and politics, with a focus on education and social change. Current research explores feminist activism and women’s political subjectivities in religious communities or traditional contexts in Israel, examined through qualitative studies with a comparative lens. In addition, she explores issues of gender equality in education and anti-racist activism in Israel. She is a lecturer at Hebrew University’s School of Education and formerly visiting postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Religion. Beyond academia, she edited an anthology on human questions in Genesis as well as initiating and directing national Israeli campaigns on religious LGBTQ, human trafficking, Agunot, and community-based social justice. Active in partnership-minyanim (Shira-Hadasha Jerusalem, Be’erot Beer-Sheva) and innovator of Jewish life-cycle rituals, she is a Jerusalem native who is now a proud resident of the Negev.

With over 20 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector, Mike oversees all aspects of finance, governance, and administration at M². Previously in his private practice, Mike worked with over 30 different organisations on building and implementing financial infrastructure, budgeting, financial strategy and more. Mike also served as Head of Finance and Operations at MAOZ and prior to that served as the Director of Young Judaea’s post-college programs in Israel. A graduate of the MBA program specializing in sociaI leadership and nonprofit management from Ben-Gurion University, Mike made Aliyah from Glasgow in January 2000 and lives in Jerusalem with his family. You can find him playing soccer every Wednesday night come rain or shine!