Julie Childers (she/her)
Chief Executive Officer | juliec@mayyimhayyim.org
Julie Childers is an executive leader in nonprofit management, strategy, and operations with experience in education, women and girls’ health, and Jewish philanthropy. She is past executive director of Our Bodies, Ourselves and former Vice President of Education at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. Julie is proud of her work at the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles supporting innovative organizations engaging young adults in Jewish life. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology and seeks to build synergy between the nonprofit and academic sectors through evidence-based practices to make a difference in people’s lives. A nature lover at heart, Julie enjoys eco traveling and gardening. Her favorite place in Israel is Amirim, a vegetarian moshav near the Kinneret. You can ask her where to find the best Korean-Italian pizza in LA or TexMex enchiladas in Houston.
Rachel Eisen (she/her)
(on parental leave through October 2024)
Chief Operations and Advancement Officer | rachele@mayyimhayyim.org
Rachel first discovered Mayyim Hayyim when she brought a group of college students on a field trip to learn about mikveh and ritual innovation. Rachel grew up in New York and Maryland, and has an extensive background in the Jewish communal field. Previously, she was the Senior Engagement Associate at Brown RISD Hillel in Providence, RI. Rachel holds dual master’s degrees from Brandeis University’s Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership and Near Eastern & Judaic Studies and a BA in History and Jewish Studies from Vassar College. She has also studied at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, the Shalom Hartman Institute, and Hebrew College. Rachel is a co-founder of Mentoring for Equity, a national initiative to connect women-identified Jewish communal professionals in mentoring relationships in order to help close the gender leadership gap and work toward gender equity in the Jewish non-profit sector. In 2021 she was selected for UpStart’s Change Accelerator, JWI’s Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project, and Schusterman Family Philanthropies’ Leading from Within Fellowship. She volunteers with the Gender Equity in Hiring Project and sits on the New England Regional Council and New Gen Leadership Committee at the New Israel Fund. Rachel lives in Dedham with her husband, Nathan.
Bev Klau (she/her)
Director of Programs and Partnerships | bevk@mayyimhayyim.org
Bev is an educator, facilitator, and connector who has been facilitating the Beneath the Surface program at Mayyim Hayyim for over a dozen years. She has been a classroom teacher in Jewish day schools, a religious school principal, and part of the URJ Eisner Camp staff. She’s also an entrepreneur and a community activist who has launched multiple programs to build community in her town. Bev holds a master’s degree from Bank Street in Museum Education. Bev met her husband Max at Pardes in Jerusalem. She loves to cook vegetarian food and support her two teenage children through their performances in community theater productions. Bev lives in Natick with her family and two cats.
Rabbi Amalia Mark (she/her)
Senior Consultant | amaliam@mayyimhayyim.org
Amalia joined the Mayyim Hayyim staff after working as Mayyim Hayyim’s Rabbinic Intern. Amalia earned her Semicha, rabbinic ordination, at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. She holds a B.A. in Theatre with a concentration in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Amalia has worked as the Director of Jewish Student Life at the University of Arizona Hillel, and served as a rabbinic intern at Etz Chayim in Atlanta, GA. She studied at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies for two years, where she met her husband in the Beit Midrash (study hall). Amalia received a certificate in Experiential Education from the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators and believes that every Jew deserves literacy and meaningful access to text, tradition, and ritual.
Soreh Ruffman (she/her)
Director of Rising Tide | sorehr@mayyimhayyim.org
Soreh comes to Mayyim Hayyim with over ten years of experience as an educator and community organizer, with a background in sustainable Jewish farming, trauma and disability informed special education, and transformative justice. Mikveh has been instrumental in marking several critical life transitions in Soreh’s life. She is honored to be part of the team making mikveh accessible and welcoming to those seeking to mark one’s own important life transitions.
Michaela Wagner (she/her)
Director of Administration| michaelaw@mayyimhayyim.org
Michaela first learned about Mayyim Hayyim through Temple Beth Elohim in 2007 and immersed prior to becoming bat mitzvah. Michaela was a Judaic studies major at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She forged a strong Jewish identity through her upbringing at Temple Beth Elohim as a cantorial mentee, assistant teacher and youth choir director, personal tutor, and congregant Shabbat service leader for 14 years. She attended URJ Eisner camp and traveled to Israel, where she connected with Jews of all denominations and gained a deep understanding of and love for the broader Jewish community. In addition to her work within the Jewish community, Michaela has a decade of customer service experience and classical musical training, earning accolades as a top scoring soprano at the Massachusetts’s All State Choir festival. She is passionate about mikveh and its ability to uplift the soul, to heal, and to foster joy in life’s transitions. Michaela lives in Quincy and is raising a Siberian Husky puppy, as well as two Blue and Gold Macaw Parrots.