Our Staff
Attorney Ella Sakat brings a deep commitment to women’s rights, alongside extensive professional experience in law and public policy. In her previous role at the ITIM organization, she led the legal department and spearheaded significant social change initiatives.
Ella holds an LL.B. from Bar-Ilan University and an LL.M. from Tel Aviv University.
In her role as CEO, Ella works to shape the organization’s strategic direction, strengthen partnerships, and expand efforts to eradicate the phenomenon of aginut, while advancing legal representation and support for women in need.
Ayelet is a social worker and a Jerusalem-based community arts activist. She facilitates groups and processes, and believes in creating safe spaces that enable voices to be heard and healing to take place. She is committed to integrating personal, communal, and public processes in order to bring about meaningful change in addressing get refusal and agunot.
Shir is a lawyer and social worker, a graduate of the pre-army preparatory program ‘Beit Israel’, with a bachelor’s degree in social work and a bachelor’s degree in law from the Hebrew University. The unique combination of her training as a both a social worker and lawyer contributes to her understanding of the legal and social challenges faced by women who are victims of divorce refusal, and the effect on their children. Shir has the ability to channel the legal process as an empowering tool as much as possible.
Prior to her role at Matirot, Shir specialized in the consulting and legislation department at the Ministry of Justice’s division of religious and family law. She has been active for six years in various organizations working to eradicate divorce refusals and its consequences. Her expertise is in dealing with the difficulties which arise due to the application of religious law within the framework of civil law. In addition, she raises the awareness of these problems and the need to solve them.
Chagit is an attorney holding an LL.B. in Law and Cognition (magna cum laude) and an M.A. in Cognition (summa cum laude) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She clerked at the Supreme Court and, prior to entering the legal field, worked in data roles within the high-tech industry.
In her role as a staff attorney at Matirot, Chagit represents women who are denied a get and agunot before the rabbinical courts, accompanying them throughout the legal process. She believes deeply in the importance of both legal and personal support for women facing get refusal and is committed to advancing their rights.
Maor is a graduate of the Pelech School in Jerusalem and the Ein Hanatziv Midrasha. She also served as a youth group leader (komonarit) in Bnei Akiva at Kibbutz Ein Hanatziv. She completed the prestigious “Chavatzalot” program of the Israel Intelligence Corps and served in the IDF as an officer and section head.
Maor holds a Bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies and Philosophy from the University of Haifa, a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Bar-Ilan University, and a Master’s degree in Talmud from Bar-Ilan University.
Resource Development Manager
Talya received a B.A in the Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences – Psychology, Sociology, Criminology at Bar Ilan university (cum laude) and a Master’s degree in Management of Nonprofit and Community Organizations at the Hebrew University (cum laude). Talya worked for three years as the coordinator for ICAR, The International Coalition for Agunah Rights.
Working on behalf of several non-profit organizations whose missions center around the issue of finding solutions for victims of Get Refusal and Agunot, is a cause very close to Talya’s heart.
Talya lives in Efrat with her husband and four children.
Moshe has joined our staff as a lawyer. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bar Ilan University and is currently a master’s degree student in law, specializing in family mediation.
During his undergraduate studies, Moshe was a scholar of the ‘Ilanot’ program and served as an editorial member of the journal ‘Law Review’ and also served as a research assistant to Prof. Benjamin Shmueli. Moshe published, together with Prof. Shmueli, the article “Contractual Claims for Divorce Refusal”, which was published in the journal DIN UDVARIM as well as inGabriela Shalev’s book – Essays on Contract Law and Theory (Yehuda Adar, Aharon Barak, Efi Zemach editors, 2021).
Moshe specialized and worked in the litigation department of two of the largest law firms in Israel. Moshe believes in the power of social litigation to help people and especially to improve Israeli society.
Debbie is an accomplished lawyer with several degrees: she holds a Bachelors and a Masters in Law from Hebrew University. She also holds a Masters in Public Administration from Edinburgh University, Scotland, and a Masters degree in Jewish Studies from London University, in the UK. Debbie is also an expert in prenuptial agreements and conditional marriage and has worked with Matirot for many years as a consultant to couples on this subject. In her professional career Debbie has worked for many years in the legal department of Hebrew University and also in the university administration. She also served as Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Hebrew University and she continues to represent the University till today in disciplinary procedures
