Meet the incredible members of Hadassah’s Attorneys & Judges Council.
We invite you to join us!

I am delighted to have the opportunity to introduce myself to the Attorneys and Judges Council. I recently took over the position of Chair of the Professional Councils Department in the Engagement Division. Together with my Vice Chair, Joyce Backman, we are here to provide whatever support we can to the four Hadassah Professional Councils—Attorneys and Judges, Nurses and Allied Health Professionals, Physicians, and our newest Council, the Educators Council. I feel that the Councils offer Hadassah members a special way to engage with the organization, a way to utilize our skills to promote the goals of HWZOA and an additional reason to support Hadassah financially.

As a retired attorney, I feel a special interest and kinship with the Attorneys and Judges Council. I was a Council member and participant in the Supreme Court Swearing In before I took on this role. I came to Hadassah relatively late in life, when I retired from my practice nearly 20 years ago. I spent all of my career working for the New York State Department of Public Service in various capacities — as a staff and later managing attorney, as an Administrative Law Judge and finally as Secretary to the Commission and senior advisor to our Chairman. When I retired from my paying job, Hadassah provided ways to use my skills to promote my Zionist passion. Although I grew up among a large Jewish community on Long Island, my adult life was spent in upstate New York, with a much smaller Jewish population and the need to actively seek opportunities to engage in Jewish and Zionist activity.

I held a number of chapter and region positions, ultimately became a Region President and moved on to National positions. I have held a number of portfolios, was elected to the National Board, and, most recently, served a term on the Executive Committee as a National Vice President. My husband, a Hadassah Associate, and I have two grown sons, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and a very special two and a half year old grandson.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to introduce myself to the Attorneys and Judges Council. I recently took over the position of Chair of the Professional Councils Department in the Engagement Division. Together with my Vice Chair, Joyce Backman, we are here to provide whatever support we can to the four Hadassah Professional Councils—Attorneys and Judges, Nurses and Allied Health Professionals, Physicians, and our newest Council, the Educators Council. I feel that the Councils offer Hadassah members a special way to engage with the organization, a way to utilize our skills to promote the goals of HWZOA and an additional reason to support Hadassah financially.

As a retired attorney, I feel a special interest and kinship with the Attorneys and Judges Council. I was a Council member and participant in the Supreme Court Swearing In before I took on this role. I came to Hadassah relatively late in life, when I retired from my practice nearly 20 years ago. I spent all of my career working for the New York State Department of Public Service in various capacities — as a staff and later managing attorney, as an Administrative Law Judge and finally as Secretary to the Commission and senior advisor to our Chairman. When I retired from my paying job, Hadassah provided ways to use my skills to promote my Zionist passion. Although I grew up among a large Jewish community on Long Island, my adult life was spent in upstate New York, with a much smaller Jewish population and the need to actively seek opportunities to engage in Jewish and Zionist activity.

I held a number of chapter and region positions, ultimately became a Region President and moved on to National positions. I have held a number of portfolios, was elected to the National Board, and, most recently, served a term on the Executive Committee as a National Vice President. My husband, a Hadassah Associate, and I have two grown sons, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and a very special two and a half year old grandson.

I joined Hadassah nearly 25 years ago, as soon as I learned about the organization at a joint meeting of my local chapter and my temple’s Sisterhood. A Hadassah Life member invited me to join, and Hadassah quickly became my favorite cause, especially because of the medical research and health care that Hadassah supports. For several years, I served as President of the Lansing Chapter, and then I became involved at the Region level. I have enjoyed actively participating in Hadassah’s advocacy efforts.

My involvement with the Attorneys and Judges Council began approximately four years ago, when the President of Hadassah Greater Detroit asked me to help form a local council. My Co-chair at the time was Mandy Garver, who is the current Region President. The first program we organized was in-person and our speaker was a local family court judge. Subsequent programs have been held online and featured attorneys discussing the Holocaust Art Recovery Initiative, immigration law and trends in hate crimes and domestic terrorism. In addition to chairing my local Attorneys and Judges Council, I am looking forward to my new role as Co-Editor of the council’s newsletters.

Professionally, I enjoyed a nontraditional legal career with a nonpartisan agency within the Michigan Senate, where I oversaw legislative analysis and served as legal counsel. Since retiring in 2018, I’ve kept busy walking the dogs, gardening when the weather permits, reading mysteries and doing whatever I can to support Hadassah’s mission. Besides helping to make a difference, I get to work with phenomenal leaders who exemplify The Power of Women Who Do.

I joined Hadassah nearly 25 years ago, as soon as I learned about the organization at a joint meeting of my local chapter and my temple’s Sisterhood. A Hadassah Life member invited me to join, and Hadassah quickly became my favorite cause, especially because of the medical research and health care that Hadassah supports. For several years, I served as President of the Lansing Chapter, and then I became involved at the Region level. I have enjoyed actively participating in Hadassah’s advocacy efforts.

My involvement with the Attorneys and Judges Council began approximately four years ago, when the President of Hadassah Greater Detroit asked me to help form a local council. My Co-chair at the time was Mandy Garver, who is the current Region President. The first program we organized was in-person and our speaker was a local family court judge. Subsequent programs have been held online and featured attorneys discussing the Holocaust Art Recovery Initiative, immigration law and trends in hate crimes and domestic terrorism. In addition to chairing my local Attorneys and Judges Council, I am looking forward to my new role as Co-Editor of the council’s newsletters.

Professionally, I enjoyed a nontraditional legal career with a nonpartisan agency within the Michigan Senate, where I oversaw legislative analysis and served as legal counsel. Since retiring in 2018, I’ve kept busy walking the dogs, gardening when the weather permits, reading mysteries and doing whatever I can to support Hadassah’s mission. Besides helping to make a difference, I get to work with phenomenal leaders who exemplify The Power of Women Who Do.

I decided that I wanted to be an attorney when I was about seven years old, after traveling from Miami, FL to visit my uncle, Ed Koren, in Washington, DC.  He was a prisoners’ rights litigator for the ACLU for decades, and he inspired me to follow in his footsteps. I went from the University of Florida to Boston University School of Law, where I met my husband, Jim. I have worked as a litigator for the National Labor Relations Board for 22 years. I enjoy my colleagues and my work and believe in the mission of enforcing workers’ rights that we help to fulfill every day. I have two children, Judy, who is finishing her first year in the double degree program at Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Sara, who is finishing their first year of high school at Commonwealth Academy. We also have a rambunctious cat named Stitch.

I became involved with Hadassah when I moved to DC in 1994 at the behest of my mother-in-law, Barbara Goldstein. It was a life-altering suggestion because I quickly found all of my best friends through Hadassah, as well as making my connection to the NLRB. My Hadassah activities include serving as President of the Young Professionals group and as Vice-President for fundraising of the Greater Washington Chapter  and starting the Attorneys Council in DC.  One of my favorite Hadassah memories was being sworn into the Supreme Court with one of my very closest friends, Gony Frieder Goldberg. Meeting Justices Ginsburg, Z"L, and O’Connor was a stunning life highlight. For the last several years, I have been the Chair of the Amicus Brief Committee. I truly adore being able to combine my geek love for the Supreme Court with my devotion for Hadassah.

I decided that I wanted to be an attorney when I was about seven years old, after traveling from Miami, FL to visit my uncle, Ed Koren, in Washington, DC.  He was a prisoners’ rights litigator for the ACLU for decades, and he inspired me to follow in his footsteps. I went from the University of Florida to Boston University School of Law, where I met my husband, Jim. I have worked as a litigator for the National Labor Relations Board for 22 years. I enjoy my colleagues and my work and believe in the mission of enforcing workers’ rights that we help to fulfill every day. I have two children, Judy, who is finishing her first year in the double degree program at Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Sara, who is finishing their first year of high school at Commonwealth Academy. We also have a rambunctious cat named Stitch.

I became involved with Hadassah when I moved to DC in 1994 at the behest of my mother-in-law, Barbara Goldstein. It was a life-altering suggestion because I quickly found all of my best friends through Hadassah, as well as making my connection to the NLRB. My Hadassah activities include serving as President of the Young Professionals group and as Vice-President for fundraising of the Greater Washington Chapter  and starting the Attorneys Council in DC.  One of my favorite Hadassah memories was being sworn into the Supreme Court with one of my very closest friends, Gony Frieder Goldberg. Meeting Justices Ginsburg, Z"L, and O’Connor was a stunning life highlight. For the last several years, I have been the Chair of the Amicus Brief Committee. I truly adore being able to combine my geek love for the Supreme Court with my devotion for Hadassah.

Back in 1997, Hadassah, determining that it wanted to fund serious and sustained research into the experiences of Jewish women, made a gift to Brandeis University to create the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI). I’m proud to be the director of the institute as we enter into our 25th year of supporting a wide range of research on Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies.

I received my LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and had the privilege of clerking for Justice Frank Iacobucci at the Supreme Court of Canada. As in the US, a case only makes it to the Supreme Court when there are compelling arguments founded in the law to be made for both sides of a case. I enjoyed doing research to assist the judges in grappling with these difficult questions and determined to pursue a career in legal research and teaching.

I completed an LL.M and SJD at Harvard Law School, working under the supervision of Dean Martha Minow. My work focused on issues of gender and multiculturalism, in the context of aboriginal rights in Canada and the rights of women under African customary law in post-apartheid South Africa. As part of the fieldwork for my doctorate, I was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, where I wrote submissions to the Law Reform Commission on the reform of customary family law and briefs argued before the newly formed Constitutional Court.

My first teaching job was at the Faculty of Laws at University College London. While on leave in the US, I spent a term as a visitor at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and attended a conference organized by HBI and the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance. I found there was significant overlap between the questions they were posing about the relationship between respect for Jewish law and advancing the rights of women and the work I had been doing in other national and religious contexts. I shifted the focus of my research to explore the rights of women in Jewish law and moved to Brandeis to become director of the HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law. I took over leadership of the HBI in 2017.

I now teach courses and conduct research on Jewish feminism and Jews in the philosophy of multiculturalism. A central focus of my research is on the intersection of women’s rights in religious and secular law. I am a member of my local chapter of Hadassah and am always delighted to give talks to Hadassah groups across the US and Canada.

Back in 1997, Hadassah, determining that it wanted to fund serious and sustained research into the experiences of Jewish women, made a gift to Brandeis University to create the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI). I’m proud to be the director of the institute as we enter into our 25th year of supporting a wide range of research on Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies.

I received my LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and had the privilege of clerking for Justice Frank Iacobucci at the Supreme Court of Canada. As in the US, a case only makes it to the Supreme Court when there are compelling arguments founded in the law to be made for both sides of a case. I enjoyed doing research to assist the judges in grappling with these difficult questions and determined to pursue a career in legal research and teaching.

I completed an LL.M and SJD at Harvard Law School, working under the supervision of Dean Martha Minow. My work focused on issues of gender and multiculturalism, in the context of aboriginal rights in Canada and the rights of women under African customary law in post-apartheid South Africa. As part of the fieldwork for my doctorate, I was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, where I wrote submissions to the Law Reform Commission on the reform of customary family law and briefs argued before the newly formed Constitutional Court.

My first teaching job was at the Faculty of Laws at University College London. While on leave in the US, I spent a term as a visitor at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and attended a conference organized by HBI and the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance. I found there was significant overlap between the questions they were posing about the relationship between respect for Jewish law and advancing the rights of women and the work I had been doing in other national and religious contexts. I shifted the focus of my research to explore the rights of women in Jewish law and moved to Brandeis to become director of the HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law. I took over leadership of the HBI in 2017.

I now teach courses and conduct research on Jewish feminism and Jews in the philosophy of multiculturalism. A central focus of my research is on the intersection of women’s rights in religious and secular law. I am a member of my local chapter of Hadassah and am always delighted to give talks to Hadassah groups across the US and Canada.