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Meet Our Team

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SHIRA LANKIN SHEPS, MSW

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & FOUNDER OF SHVILLI

Shira Lankin Sheps is a writer, editor, workshop facilitator, and clinically-trained therapist. 

 

She founded and published  The Layers Project Magazine, an online magazine that explores in-depth insights into the challenges and triumphs of the lives of Jewish women for six years. She has always been passionate about creating spaces for stories that need to be told and changing the dialogue around stigmatized topics. She has written and consulted with hundreds of women guiding them through exploring, reflecting, and sharing their personal stories during her work on Layers and through her workshops at The Layers Writing Workshops. 

 

Shira’s first book, “LAYERS; Personal Narratives of Struggle, Resilience, & Growth of Jewish Women” was published in 2021 by Toby Press, an imprint of Koren Publishers Jerusalem. 

Her essays and articles have been published by Times of Israel, JTA, The Jewish Press, Kveller, The Jewish Link, The Jerusalem Post, World Mizrachi, and of course, The Layers Project.

 

She earned a B.A. in English Literature at Stern College of Yeshiva University and a Master of Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College in 2012; she made aliyah in 2018 and lives in Jerusalem with her husband and children. 

She can be reached at Shiralsheps@gmail.com

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RACHEL HERCMAN, LCSW

CLINICAL DIRECTOR OF SHVILLI

Rachel Hercman, LCSW is a psychotherapist specializing in relationships, sexual intimacy, and trauma. She graduated from CUNY Queens College with a BA in history and secondary education, went on to earn an MSW as a merit scholar at Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. Rachel maintains a private practice in Manhattan and serves as a trainer for clergy, educators, and mental health professionals. She has lectured in premarital education programs of Shalom Task Force, the OU, Chabad, Yeshiva University, the RCA, Nishmat, and The Eden Center. 

 

Rachel joined The Layers Project Magazine as Clinical Director for its online launch in 2017 and she continues to share mental health content through her Instagram handle, @rachelhercman. 

 

She lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.

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ANDREW DAVID SHILLER, M.D.

SHVILLI MEDICAL DIRECTOR & EDUCATOR

Andrew David Shiller, MD is a medical doctor who loves helping people grow and heal despite difficult circumstances. For more than 20 years, he has been integrating the best of conventional medicine and natural healing to help people heal chronic pain or illness, and live their highest level of well-being and purpose. 

 

He earned his MD at Duke University and completed post-graduate residency training at Harvard Medical School. He also completed extensive training in mind-body healing, osteopathic manual medicine, spiritual psychology, and functional medicine. Since the late 1990s, he has guided thousands of people to live better lives while healing from chronic pain and illness. 

 

The knowledge and tools of integrative medicine are not only for people facing chronic pain and illness. Dr Shiller is passionate about integrating modern science with the wisdom of the Torah sages, to support people in living lives of greater vitality, purpose, and fulfillment.

 

Dr. Shiller believes that the wise things you do for yourself are the keys to a good life. Practices like physical exercise and nutrition are essential. But your mind-body-spirit connection is your most important superpower. The Torah Sages provided an exquisite map of human consciousness relevant to all human beings. Dr Shiller’s soul-powered-healing curriculum goes "beyond mindfulness" to mobilize your inner wisdom for healing. Regardless of your religious practice, it can guide you to optimal well-being and fulfillment. It helps you embody your soul's highest wisdom, so you can transform your health, live your highest purpose, and elevate the world around you. 

 

Dr. Shiller provides integrative medicine consultations for people with pain and chronic illness, and wellness coaching for those who want to live their soul’s highest purpose. He sees people in-person in Ramat Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem, and via telemedicine in NY, NJ, VA, FL, and CT. You can get more information about consultations at www.drshiller.com/consult. Or peruse his blog at www.drshiller.com/blog.

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SHERRI MANDELL

SHVILLI EDUCATOR

Sherri Mandell received a National Jewish Book Award in 2004 for her spiritual memoir, The Blessing of a Broken Heart, which was translated into three languages and produced as a play in Jerusalem and the U.S. Her latest book is The Kabbalah of Writing: Mystical Practices for Inspiration and Creativity. She is also the author of Reaching for Comfort: What I Saw, What I Learned and How I Blew It Training as a Pastoral Counselor; The Road to Resilience: From Chaos to Celebration; Writers of the Holocaust; and two children’s picture books, The Elephant in the Sukkah and The Upside- Down Boy and the Israeli Prime Minister.

She has published articles in the Washington Post, the Jerusalem Post, USA Today, Hadassah Magazine and is a blogger on the Times of Israel. A certified pastoral counselor, she is co-founder of the Koby Mandell Foundation which runs healing groups and camps for bereaved families and children. She received PJ Library’s Author Incentive award, Jewish Women International’s Woman to Watch Award as well as an ADL Partners in Peace Award.  She also won Moment Magazine’s fiction prize and an essay prize from the Simon Rockower Foundation.  

 

Sherri offers writing seminars in Jerusalem. You can be in touch with her at

sherrimandell@gmail.com

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RACHEL SHARANSKY DANZIGER

SHVILLI EDUCATOR

Rachel Sharansky Danziger is a Jerusalem-born writer and educator who writes about the intersections between life, text, and the art of storytelling. Her work can be found in The Times of Israel, Tablet Magazine, Kveller, and other online venues.

 

Rachel teaches Tanach at Matan, Pardes, Maayan, and Torah-in-Motion, and incorporates literary theory and creative writing in her work. Currently a Sefaria Word-by-Word fellow, Rachel is working on a book about family drama in the biblical Book of Judges.

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