Rabbi Lauren Berkun is Dean of Rabbanut North America and Senior Faculty at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. She is a summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, graduate of Princeton University with a BA in Religion and was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Lauren was a Wexner Graduate Fellow, a CLAL Rabbinic Intern, and a Rabbinic Fellow in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Leadership Initiative. She has also served as the JTS Midwest KOLLOT Rabbinic Scholar, Director of Lifelong Learning at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan, and frequent scholar-in-residence for leadership seminars at Jewish Federations across North America. At the Hartman Institute, Lauren has played multiple professional roles over the past twenty years, including serving as Vice President of Rabbinic Initiatives and founding director of Rabbanut North America.

Lauren is a certified Sivananda yoga instructor. She is also a graduate of the Flourish mindfulness program at Sefira Wellness and the Yesod program at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and Or HaLev. She is a current fellow in the inaugural cohort of the Marbeh Fellowship for senior Jewish mindfulness teachers at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.