All’s Fair in Love and War: A Reflection on Motherhood and Leadership During Operation Iron Swords 

We are honored to welcome to the Bayit Shira Reifman, Director of Keren Or in Israel and resident of Southern Israel to speak after Kiddush in the Main Sanctuary.

Shira will discuss the effects of the Operation Iron Swords on Keren Or and on her own family. Keren Or is an organization in Israel dedicated to the education and care of children who are visually imparied and cognitively, developmentally, and/or physically disabled. 

Shira Reifman is the director of Keren Or. Based in Jerusalem. She oversees all of the organization's' programs, as well as development and engagement efforts worldwide. Shira joined Keren Or in 2019, after ten years at Kishorit, a kibbutz in the Galilee for adults with special needs, where she was a Development Director, managing all of the organization's fundraising and public relations initiatives overseas and in Israel. 

Prior to making aliyah in 2007, Shira worked for the Orthodox Union in both their youth and special needs divisions as the Coordinator of National Projects for the OU’s National Jewish Council for Disabilities and the Coordinator for Junior Yachad.  Additionally, she served as a Regional Director for the Upstate New York region of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY).

Shira holds a Bachelors Degree, a Masters in Social Work (MSW), and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), from Columbia University and was selected by the Wexner Foundation as a Wexner Graduate Fellow.  Shira is married to Rabbi Daniel Reifman, a teacher at the Pardes Institute and the Bar Ilan kollel, and they are the proud parents of five daughters.