Miryam Kabakov

Miryam Kabakov

Miryam Kabakov, M.S.W., is the Executive Director of Eshel, Inc., where she was a founding board member. An organization that supports and advocates for LGBTQ Orthodox individuals and their families, Eshel’s work has gained national recognition and broad media coverage for its innovative mission and unique reach. It offers national and regional programs on the East Coast, Los Angeles and Chicago. Through all of her work, Miryam shares her vision of an open, accepting Orthodoxy. Prior to being a leader at Eshel, Miryam was the New York and National Program Director of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, Director of LGBT programming at the JCC Manhattan, and was the first social worker at Footsteps. Miryam received her BA from San Francisco State University, master’s degree in social work from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work. She holds certificates in program evaluation, Informal Jewish Education, and fundraising. She founded the New York Orthodykes, a support group for lesbian, bisexual and transgender Orthodox women. Miryam understands visionary leadership as “having the ability to see what is not yet visible and creating a new reality that doesn’t yet exist.”