Michele Braun

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Michele Braun, a life member, Elana Chapter, Hadassah Westchester Region, provides adult Jewish education classes and consulting services to synagogues and community organizations. Her life-long love of Jewish learning began in nursery school class (the first ever) at Temple Emanuel in San Jose, CA. In some form, she has been a student of Jewish life and texts ever since. Growing up in Pittsburgh, her high school life revolved around Israeli folk dance, Young Judaea, and Camp Tel Yehuda. In lieu of a first year of college, Michele participated in Young Judaea’s Year Course in Israel. Returning to attend Cornell University, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations, followed by an MS in Public Management and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. Building on private sector experience in corporate treasury and financial management, Michele joined the Federal Reserve System where she helped oversee the US payments system, the rarely heralded plumbing of a modern economy. More recently, she became a volunteer Torah Study leader at her local synagogue, reigniting her love of Jewish study. Thus, forty years after earning her first master’s degree, she returned to graduate school, earning an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University to launch a new career. Areas of particular interest include Contemporary Torah Study, Jewish Textile Art as Modern Midrash, and making mainstream classrooms more accessible to students with disabilities. Michele and her husband, Norman Bernstein, live in Pound Ridge, NY, and have a daughter, S. Judith Bernstein, who just published their first novel.