Yael Hershfield
Yael Hershfield is the Interim Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League’s Florida Region.
Deeply committed to ensuring the safety and security of the Jewish people and protecting the rights of all citizens alike, Yael brings significant leadership and experience in programming, leadership development, and inter-group relationships.
With a decade of experience with ADL, Yael has been responsible for fulfilling the three core areas of the League’s work: Protection, Investigation, and Education. In a world filled with hate, Yael currently acts as an advocate to victims of anti-Semitism, is the liaison between the Jewish community and law enforcement, and provides resources to enhance Jewish institutional security throughout Florida.
An ADL trained facilitator, she focuses on “Words to Action”– an ADL program designed to empower and equip students with effective responses to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias on campus. Through ADL’s acclaimed Holocaust education curriculum, Mrs. Hershfield has helped train educators teaching this difficult subject matter, and was recently appointed to serve on the Florida Department of Education’s Commissioner’s Task Force on Holocaust Education.
Originally from Venezuela, Yael has a unique cultural background that allows her to build relationship between Jewish and other ethnic/religious groups. She had notably worked to establish bridges with the Hispanic and Muslim communities of South Florida.
Prior to joining ADL, Yael held positions with the American Jewish Committee in Palm Beach County and with the Boston Public Health Commission in Massachusetts.
Yael came to the United States in 1994 to earn her Master’s degree in Community and Social Psychology at the University of Massachusetts. Mrs. Hershfield is married to Lee Hershfield and is the mother of twins, Ariella and Joseph. She resides with her family in Palm Beach Gardens.
