On the Pro Tour

By Emily Raij

If you’re reading J Life, you already know the Jewish community in Central Florida is full of movers and shakers working hard at local organizations. But did you know we also have several community members giving their time and talent on the national stage? Read on to learn more about these passionate professionals.

Dori Gerber, director of professional earning, institute for curriculum services.

After being a classroom educator for 17 years at both the Gotlib Jewish Academy (formerly Jewish Academy of Orlando) and in Seminole County, Dori Gerber began working with the Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) in 2017 as a regional educator. ICS is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the quality of K-12 education on Jews, Judaism, and Jewish history by creating curriculum and offering professional development.

In September of 2023, Dori became the director of professional learning, overseeing a team of regional educators as well as the data and systems manager in order to provide professional learning opportunities to teachers and serve as a resource for teachers, district supervisors, and other partners nationwide. She was drawn to the opportunity to connect and learn alongside educators on a national scale.

“I am an educator at heart,” says Dori, “so knowing that on a daily basis, I play a role in ensuring that Jewish history is learned accurately and in ways that support national educational standards and pedagogical best practices brings me so much pride and joy.”

Dori has also been a presenter at The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida during their 2021 summer institute. A resident of Altamonte Springs, Dori enjoys participating in events through SPARK and Congregation of Reform Judaism and spending time with husband Doug and daughters Jacqui – a recent University of Central Florida graduate – and Lila, a rising Lake Brantley High School senior.

Jaclyn clark somke, counsel for the lawfare project

I n June, Jaclyn Clark Somake started at The Lawfare Project, a nonprofit organization of attorneys dedicated to combating antisemitism and defending the civil rights of the Jewish people through impact litigation. Although her role as counsel is new and developing, her work focuses on speaking with Jewish college students and preparing lawsuits on their behalf against universities nationwide that have allowed severe antisemitic harassment and discrimination to permeate their campuses. The Lawfare Project also works closely with grassroots movement #EndJewHatred.

“I love that I’m able to do meaningful work that I’m passionate about and that contributes to making a better, more just world,” says Jaclyn. “This type of work is extremely rare in the legal field, and I’m incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to use my law degree to help the Jewish community and make the world a less hateful place.” Jaclyn grew up in Longwood and attended Lake Brantley High School, UCF, and the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Before her current position, Jaclyn was an employment litigator in private practice for nearly a decade, focusing on claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other civil rights statutes.

“After spending the greater part of my career litigating employment discrimination claims, it was especially jarring for me to witness the double standards and selective outrage applied toward Israel and the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on October 7,” says Jaclyn. “I was inspired to join The Lawfare Project to help to combat the rise of discrimination and disparate treatment toward the Jewish people as a result.”

When she’s not practicing law, Jaclyn creates nature-inspired ceramic Judaica at her home pottery studio. Her business, Somake Ceramics, was featured in the Spring 2024 issue of J Life. She and husband Joseph, dog Ziggy, and cat Zorro live near downtown Orlando.

Beth rose, senior event manager at the harold grinspoon foundation

Beth Rose’s job as senior event manager with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) makes good use of her hospitality degree from UCF and her years working in Jewish family engagement. HGF partners with Jewish and philanthropic organizations to offer programming, such as the beloved PJ Library, that connects people to Jewish values and culture. In her role, Beth leads the event team in planning and implementing four to five conferences and events each year.

Prior to this job, Beth, a Maitland resident, was the director of family engagement at the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando (JFGO), overseeing the Orlando PJ Library program. Before that, she and her family were in Chicago, where she was a part-time parent ambassador for jBaby Chicago, a program for parents looking to find their village and connect to Jewish life. She quickly moved into a full-time role with the Jewish United Fund (JUF) Young Families team planning programs for jBaby and working parallel to PJ Library Chicago for almost five years. When the pandemic began, she and husband Dustin, a pilot for United Airlines, daughter Hannah, and son Brandon moved back to Central Florida, where Beth was raised.

“Almost a year into my job at JFGO, I saw a Facebook post from Jamie Light, one of my favorite role models and former national director of Alpha Epsilon Phi, my sorority at UCF. The Facebook post mentioned hiring an event coordinator for a newish team, planning the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s internal conferences. I quickly Facebook messaged her and said, ‘Hi! I want this. Hire me!’”

Hired as the event coordinator, Beth was promoted three years ago to manage the team. She also attends local PJ Library events and the Congregation of Reform Judaism with her family and has volunteered for her sorority and served as her daughter’s Girl Scout troop leader. Beth is currently preparing to go on the SPARK Momentum Israel trip in November.

Beth loves that her job with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation allows her to “create magic and watch people’s reactions to moments within our events that began as a ‘crazy idea.’” In her role, Beth has done everything from driving a famous Israeli celebrity around Aspen, Colorado, to cleaning a Porta Potti.

“An added bonus is that I work with really awesome people and we laugh a lot,” adds Beth. “In all seriousness, the values and purpose of HGF make the work so important.”

Lila Hruby, senior manager, Jewish Changemakers, part of the Jewish Federations of North America

Since March 1, Lila Hruby has been working with Jewish Changemakers, a leadership development fellowship that helps Jewish 20- to 25-year-olds expand career options, network, and effect change in the community and world. Her main responsibilities include supervising the program’s faculty, fellows, and network alumni as well as managing projects for the fellowships, which are five weeks long and provide a stipend.

Lila participated in the program as a college student at Florida Atlantic University and then interned in 2022 for the same team she’s working with now.

“I love how close-knit my team is. This has been an amazing full-circle moment to be working with the same group of women I interned with,” says Lila. “This position became available shortly after my college graduation, and I was excited to get involved in the Jewish community professionally.”

Lila lives in Baldwin Park and is involved with Moishe House and Jewish National Fund (JNF). Outside of work, she spends time with her parents and sister on cruises, at Disney, and playing pickleball. Lila’s sister Zipporah is the family engagement director and PJ Library professional at Shalom Orlando and was featured in the Summer 2024 issue of J Life.

Lander Gold, vice president of advancement for Moishe House

For more than a decade, Lander Gold has been involved with Moishe House, a nonprofit providing Jewish community for young adults in their 20s through the creation of meaningful, home-based Jewish experiences that help foster lifelong involvement. To date, the organization has programming in 28 countries, engaging more than 82,000 Jewish young adults last year alone.

Starting as the organization’s first field fundraiser in 2013, Lander moved into the role of senior director of advancement and philanthropic partnerships and then associate vice president of advancement before assuming his current position two years ago. He is now responsible for overseeing all of Moishe House’s field fundraising and supervises a team across the United States and the globe to ensure they meet their annual budget of nearly $19 million. Lander also works closely with the board of directors and senior team members of Moishe House.

“I love that no two days are the same for me,” says Lander. “I also get to meet some of the most fascinating people in the world of Jewish philanthropy and feel so fulfilled getting to support an organization whose mission I am so passionate about. The team at Moishe House is really a family.”

Lander has been involved in Jewish philanthropy since he was in college at the University of Florida, interning at UF Hillel and falling in love with fundraising. From there, he worked for the pluralistic Jewish teen movement BBYO, where he helped start the Friends & Alumni Network to support local BBYO regions. Lander then moved on to the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) Foundation, raising funds to support Jewish and pro-Israel programming, scholarship, and other educational programs for the international Jewish fraternity. He has also been on the board of directors of UF Hillel for four years and recently began his term as chair.

Locally, he is involved in The Roth Family JCC’s Early Childhood Learning Center, where daughter Henley recently graduated from and son Maddox attends. Lander’s parents, Barry and Penny Gold, are well-known in the Jewish community. Lander, his wife Kari, and their children live in Baldwin Park.

“I have been fortunate to have a front-row seat to the growth and maturation of Moishe House over the past 11 years,” says Lander. “I have seen the impact the organization has on Jewish identity, Jewish engagement, and Jewish pride of literally hundreds of thousands of Jewish young adults across the globe.”

This story was originally published in print in Fall 2024.