Michele Friedland

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I was born in Skokie and moved to Highland Park in first grade. One of the first things my parents did when they moved here was to join Beth El, and I am a proud Beth El graduate!

 

After college I moved to New York where I earned my MSW in Social Work and Certificate of Jewish Communal Studies from Yeshiva University.

 

My first professional position was as an Associate in JUF’s Womens’ Division.  I then moved to Tempe, Arizona to be the Program Director of Hillel at Arizona State University, a position I held for two years until I was recruited to become the first Director of the newly-formed Young Leadership Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix.

 

My husband and I moved back to Chicagoland, while we were expecting our first child, to be near family.  We moved even closer to family less than a year later when we moved to Highland Park, at which time we re-joined the Beth El Community. 

 

All three of our children are proud Beth El graduates, and two of them continue to study in the Sokol Hebrew High School and work in the Cohen Religious School as Madrichim.

 

I was fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home-mom for many years, though immediately before coming to teach at Beth El several years ago, I served as the Education Director for Financial Poise, an on-line continuing education company for accountants, attorneys, and business owners/executives.