Meet Our Speakers

Rabbi Lauren Berkun

Rabbi Lauren Berkun is the Director of Rabbinic and Synagogue Programs for the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.

She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University with a BA in Religion. Rabbi Berkun was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001 and was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, a CLAL Rabbinic Intern, and a Rabbinic Fellow in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Leadership Initiative. She has also served as the JTS Midwest KOLLOT Rabbinic Scholar, Director of Lifelong Learning at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan, and Scholar-in-Residence for the Women’s Department of Federation.

Rabbi Berkun has written and taught extensively on the topics of mikveh, sexual ethics, and body image. She is also a certified Sivananda yoga instructor. She lives in Aventura, Florida, with her husband, Rabbi Jonathan Berkun of Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, and their children, Jeremy, Jonah, and Eliana.

Fran Katz

Fran Katz is now in her sixteenth year with The Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade, the only gender specific grantmaker in Miami-Dade County. She serves as Director of Programs and Grants with primary responsibility for managing the organization’s programming which includes the organization’s signature grantmaking program.

Fran is The Women’s Fund liaison with the grantee partners and in-house resource person for grantee partners and grant applicants. She feels privileged to interact with amazing women in our community who are doing incredible work every day to address the most challenging issues faced by women and girls. During her tenure with The Women’s Fund she has interacted with over 400 grantee partners representing a multiplicity of issues, communities and strategies and has worked to build a sense of shared vision and collaboration amongst organizations and individuals. She also leads the annual community grant selection process which utilizes dozens of community volunteers. Additionally, her role involves providing technical assistance and support to current and potential grantees as well as managing the Women’s Fund’s signature “grantee roundtable” program where The Women’s Fund grantee partners meet quarterly to share challenges and strategies. She has also been the trainer and in-house resource person for Making the Case, the on-line reporting system used by our grantee partners. Last year, Fran also led an initiative to convert all aspects of the grant applications to an on-line process.

Representative of The Women’s Fund’s long-term investment in programs that serve at-risk girls and work in leadership development, Fran leads monthly meetings of the Girls Coalition which bring together professionals in girl-serving organization to network and share best practices. As part of the organization’s commitment to work to end violence against women, Fran also leads monthly Freedom from Violence community meetings and helps to raise awareness about the scope of domestic minor sex trafficking in South Florida. She is also the point person for collaborations that The Women’s Fund has forged with Stop Sex Trafficking Miami that includes over 35 other non-profit partners and One Billion Rising Miami that invites all community members to come together to stop the violence.

Dr. Anat Maor

Dr. Anat Maor was a member of the Israeli Knesset for the Meretz Party between 1992-2003.

During that time, she served as Deputy Knesset Speaker, chaired the Science and Technology Committee and the Sub-Committee for Women at Work and the Economy, and headed the Lobby for Children. She had initiated the legislation of 41 bills.

​Dr. Maor has been a lecturer for contemporary Israeli politics, social and economic policies in Israel and gender at the Open University and Ruppin Academic Center in Israel since 2003. She published 5 books as a writer and editor.

Michal Yudin

Born and raised in Israel, and educated (English and Psychology) in the United States, Michal served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as an officer, training recruits, as a squad leader in the women's officer training course and an education and welfare officer. While in the army Michal was assigned to take part in a speaking tour in the United States, under the auspices of the United Jewish Appeal.

Michal was later appointed by the Jewish Agency to its New York office in order to promote study programs in Israel, including the Kibbutz program, Ulpan Hebrew language studies and various university programs.

Upon her return to Israel, Michal was appointed as the supervisor of the "Kibbutz Ulpan Hebrew program" in Israel's central district. Among her various responsibilities, Michal consulted students concerning their future plans in Israel.

In 1979 Michal was assigned to represent the Jewish Agency in New York and in1990 she was elected head of the Absorption department in Woman’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) Israel. Michal took up the post almost immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union and as the great wave of former Soviet and Ethiopian immigration began. WIZO played a major role in the absorption process of more than half a million Jewish immigrants during Michal's term. As a result of this work, Michal recognized the importance of women in leadership positions in the political arena.

In 1995 Michal was elected to head WIZO's committee for the Advancement of Women in Politics. As a deep believer in equal opportunity and true democracy In 2000 together with a group of friends, she founded WEPOWER.

To date Michal serves as WEPOWER's Chairwoman.