Meet Us

Yaakov Lyons is from Philadelphia, where he grew up skiing with his parents and playing in the forest next to his house with his brother. Yaakov was in Queens earning a bachelor’s in psychology when he met and married his wife, Michaella. Then he joined Beth Medrash Govoha, the premier American institution for the study of Jewish law and thought in Lakewood, New Jersey. Yaakov earned a master’s degree in Talmudic law, and after advanced post-graduate studies he received Rabbinic ordination. He is currently working on a second Rabbinic degree from Beth Medrash Govoha. In addition to spending time with his wife and kids, Yaakov enjoys studying world history, writing, and working in his garden, where you can join him, especially if you like pulling weeds.

In 2014 Yaakov joined MEOR at the University of Pennsylvania to learn about their unique brand of advanced Jewish education and community-building on campus. After a year of working with the Penn team, Yaakov is excited to create an engaging MEOR program at Yale with the brightest of America’s Jewish students.

Michaella is originally from Phoenix, where she spent much of her early childhood spending time by the pool or lost in a book. Interested in the rapidly changing world of genetics research, she worked in labs at Washington University in St. Louis and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She decided to pursue genetic counseling in order to balance her love of genetics with the opportunity to support families on a day-to-day basis. After earning an MS in genetic counseling from Arcadia University and a BA in biology from Yeshiva University, she specialized in perinatal and oncology genetics. She also spent a gap year in Israel studying at Michlalah Jerusalem College.

In addition to genetic counseling, you can find Michaella hiking, writing, baking, and spending time with her four adorable kids. She is looking forward to teaching and connecting with Yalies in her role as Educator for MEOR at Yale.