About The Center

Irwin Katsof MA, Transpersonal Psychology with a major in Applied Spirituality ,CCEP, TRE certified, and a Pastoral Addiction Practitioner worked as a Rabbi from 1982 to 2005. After 25 years of serving his community, he decided to move into business and became an investment banker. In 2012, he realized he had achieved the material possessions that signify success: beautiful home, cars and vacations. Yet, despite his perfect home, wife and grandchildren, he realized that he was missing something in life and that all the success in the material world did not bring him happiness. He began Jungian analysis, telling his analyst that though his life looked great from the outside, he simply couldn’t go on. He had hit rock bottom and had stopped being able to function at work or home. He spent a year in analysis before realizing he wasn’t connecting with it. At this point, Irwin discovered Gestalt Therapy and Core Energetics. These modalities are a full body experience, and fit into his belief that early childhood wounding stays with us as a full body experience. In essence, our bodies never forget shame, they remember every little hurt and every time we feel we aren’t enough. The body is a full muscle memory. Over time, most of us contract our bodies, emotions and muscles and allow ourselves to experience and express less and less emotional range due to a fear of being hurt.

Irwin spent a year in Core Energetics starting to work through his childhood pain. Following this therapeutic breakthrough, he decided to invest time and effort in helping others through Core Energetics practices. Together with his wife, Judy, he began a four- year training program that included intense group therapy retreats. During this time, they worked to move through their own pain and discomfort. Irwin then also spent 3 years working with Tension & Trauma Release Exercises (or TRE®), a simple yet innovative series of exercises that assists the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma, created by Dr. David Berceli, PhD. After a rigorous training program in TRE, Irwin was certified as a TRE facilitator by the Worldwide TRE Institute. Irwin received Rabbinical ordination in Jerusalem. Irwin completed his Masters in Transpersonal Psychology with a major in Applied Spirituality at Atlantic University. Irwin completed the Pastoral Addiction Practitioner certification through the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals.

Irwin has also studied the use of plant based medicine in healing. He also enjoys running daily, his cold plunge pool and sauna as forms of self-care. As a guide at the Jerusalem Center, Irwin believes in holding space for others. He works to release trauma while creating a feeling of safety, through a journey that is uniquely curated for each individual. His practice is a process of guiding through transformation where he provides the tools needed for self-empowerment and trauma release. Irwin is publishing his fourth book entitled :Living Dangerously: How I tried to get rich without losing my soul”.

Today, Irwin divides his time between his home in New York and in Jerusalem with his wife Judy of 42 years, eight children and twenty-five grandchildren.
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Judy Katsof, CCEP grew up in Connecticut. She has 8 children, 20 grandchildren, and is married to Irwin Katsof. She has a degree from the University of Connecticut, and completed a four year training program at the New York Institute of Core Energetics. She has training in somatic therapy as well as marital therapy. Additionally, Judy studied TRE with her husband, and together they are now working to bring TRE to individuals and empower them to heal themselves. 

Judy has worked as a counsellor for the better part of 40 years, and as a licensed therapist for 2 years. She has a great deal of experience working with addiction, including addicts and the spouses of addicts. Her practice is geared towards women and women’s issues, including marriage and motherhood. She also helps women suffering from trauma, ranging from sexual abuse, incest, spousal abuse, and addiction, as well as women suffering from stresses linked to motherhood and womanhood.  

Her focus is currently Enneagram coaching. She believes in finding the right treatments and modalities for each individual, since everyone is unique. Judy helps to empower people to live as who they were meant to be and not define themselves by their trauma or issues.

Judy is also focused on the Jewish community. She and her husband founded AISH LA in 1982. Her counseling work started in her home, where she held sessions and classes for young Jewish adults. Many of these young people knew little about Judaism. Judy works with an empathetic and non judgmental approach which remains the core of her practice.

In marital therapy, Judy focuses on communication and somatic therapy. The key is to create honest communication; couples must learn to express their emotions. She works to teach couples active listening and boundary setting.

Judy believes in putting family first. She spent time raising her 8 children and believes motherhood requires a great amount of ego strength and compassion. Her parenting philosophy of letting her children be who they are is also the guiding philosophy of her practice.

Judy has overcome hardships, including the loss of her mother who suffered from illness before passing. She believes death teaches us to look at life and live it fully. Life is finite. We must make the best of each moment. We create our own heaven and hell.  

Judy has experienced marriage therapy first hand and knows that there can be a light at the end of the tunnel. She believes that with teamwork, time, responsibility and empathetic therapists and practitioners, most marital issues can be successfully resolved.

Sara grew up in New York. She moved to Israel 7 years ago and now lives in Jerusalem. Sara is trained in CranioBalance Therapy, a holistic treatment that utilizes a light touch to bring deep healing and relaxation to mind and body. It combines the modalities of Cranio Sacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation and Zero Balancing. Created by Stuart (Shmuel) Berger, student of Dr. John Upledger (who founded Cranio Sacral Therapy) it combines three modalities in one holistic form, to treat all aspects of body and mind.

Sara has trained with Shmuel Berger and Liba Claven in adult and pediatric CranioBalance Therapy. She began her journey two years ago after badly injuring her ankle in a bicycle accident. She couldn’t walk for 3 months, relied on crutches and physical therapy, and knew that she didn’t feel right, but doctors assured her there was nothing else to be done. This is when she discovered Cranio Sacral Therapy. She was amazed to see how much tension was stored in her body from the experience of the accident, and the therapy provided an outlet for release. Ultimately, trauma is not just in the brain, it’s stored in the cells: they are alive and hold memory. She uses the same treatments to help her clients heal trauma, release stored tension, and recover from difficult experiences.

Sara’s injury started a personal health revolution for her, which made her realize her diet and lifestyle weren’t feeding her as a person. This allowed her to take stock and resolve her own digestive issues and low energy. Following nutritional advice from Nilli Grutman, The Jerusalem Nutritionist, she switched to a wholesome plant-based diet, and fell in love with nutrition. These changes have had a huge impact on her life, improving her sinus problems, asthma, low energy, and more. 

Sara has a great deal of experience releasing tension from the body, helping to relieve stress and anxiety, and empowering her clients to relax and recenter. She has dealt with anxiety, insomnia, digestive issues, pregnancy and birth related issues, and more. Sara believes the therapy can go beyond addressing specific issues and also work wonders for grounding you in who you are, ultimately making you feel more like you, and creating deeper emotional calm. The therapy she practices is commonly used for both physical and emotional trauma.

As well as her work in CranioBalance Therapy, Sara has studied holistic nutrition, and is currently working towards a certification in nutrition and health coaching. Recent research shows the important connection between the gut and brain through the vagus nerve, and ultimately demonstrates that a healthy gut is essential for overall mental and physical health. 

Sara’s vision is to build a practice that combines a range of holistic healing modalities. Sara recently completed a course in Theta Healing, an alternative healing practice that utilizes the theta brain wave: the state immediately prior to sleeping and waking. Sara believes that health is a combination of nutrition, lifestyle, deep healing and community, and that community is a key component in any healthy lifestyle.

She has a daily meditation practice and is constantly learning and educating herself in alternative healing modalities, NLP, diet, lifestyle, and meditation.

While serving in positions such as a Managing Partner in the world’s largest financial communications company and as Vice President for Corporate Relations at an international Israel-based pharmaceutical company, Danny’s real passions have been spiritual transformation, mind and body therapy, and meditation, for himself and others.

Danny is a Certified Core Energetics Practitioner, having studied Core Energetics for three years at the New York based Core Energetics Institute.  Core Energetics, which bridges body, psychotherapy, and spirituality is based on three tenets: 1) that an individual is a psychosomatic unity, 2) that healing lies within and 3) that all of life moves toward creative evolution. Danny also served as an assistant for three years at the Radical Aliveness Institute in Los Angeles, an offshoot of Core Energetics.

He believes in applying the tools of meditation to daily life, moment by moment.  He founded and operated a weekly Meditation in Sailing program in Los Angeles for three years before his most recent move to Israel and is an avid sailor, having owned six sailboats. Danny has sailed on the East and West coasts of the US, around the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic. 

Danny has dual US-Israel citizenship, has lived in Israel for a total of 18 years, and most recently moved back to Israel from the United States 5 years ago.  He lives in Tel Aviv with his wife, Michal, a Marriage and Family Therapist who has a private practice in Tel Aviv and also provides counseling services through Enosh, the Israeli Mental Health Association. He has two daughters, a Gastroenterologist based in Portland, Oregon, and a Master’s student of Digital Media at Tel Aviv University. 

Danny has a daily practice of yoga and meditation.  He practices Kundalini yoga and two forms of meditation, Open Heart and Vibrational Healing, also incorporating these into Core Energetics. Danny believes that meditation is a powerful tool to gain insight and help process therapeutic experiences.

At the Israel Center, Danny guides, journeys, and holds space, with a focus on Core Energetics and meditation. He is currently part of a men’s group where he often leads the spiritual aspect of the session. 

Danny practices yoga and meditates for two hours most days, including a one-hour walking meditation on the beach in Tel Aviv, and has the daily challenge of applying his meditation practice to all that he encounters.  

Aimee Falchuk, MPH, M.Ed, CCEP is a therapist, published writer, facilitator and teacher. Aimee is the founder of the Falchuk Group, a personal and corporate consulting firm and contributing writer for the online wellness platform, Goop. Aimee is a Board member of Mental Health America and the Hadassah Foundation. 

Before becoming a therapist, Aimee worked for over 15 years in health policy and advocacy for both the public and private sector including Pfizer and Genzyme where she focused on public policy issues relating to central nervous system disorders and rare disease. 

Aimee holds a B.A. from Barnard College, M.P.H. from Columbia University, M.Ed. in counseling and psychology from Cambridge College and earned a clinical certification in body-centered psychotherapy from the Institute of Core Energetics.

Visit these sites to learn more about Aimee’s work: https://goop.com/goop-authors/aimee-falchuk/ & www.thefalchukgroup.com

Neal Brodsky, M.A., M.P.A., CCEP, EMM is dedicated to helping people of many cultures and backgrounds move towards authentic life expression as a holistic psychotherapist focused in Core Energetics, Embodied Couples Work and family systems. He is a contributor to the forthcoming International Handbook of Play Therapy, has written for The Jewish Forward and blogs for The Times of Israel.

For adults, as a movement-inclusive therapist, Neal specializes in healing unresolved issues from childhood and giving voice to the “inner child” in each of us who cries out to be heard.

For children and adolescents, he is a dynamic play provider, using sandplay and expressive methods to break through to tough-to-treat young people, guiding parents on strategies that promote an individual child’s strengths and greater harmony within the family.  

For couples, he works as a solo therapist and also offers a premium service with his wife and co-therapist Judy Gotlieb, LMFT accessing the perspective of two therapists in each couple’s session. Neal and Judy provide internet couples mentoring on video and are long distance relationship specialists for couples across the globe who want to heal and grow.

Neal serves as a Board Member of the To Be Heard Foundation supporting the Power Writers program and powerpoetry.org, the world’s first and largest mobile community for young writers.

Judy Gotlieb, MA, LMFT, LMT, CCEP, EMM is a seasoned body psychotherapist with a private practice in Connecticut, New York City and online. She taught on the faculty of the Institute of Core Energetics for 15 years, also serving on the Ethics Committee.

Judy has an open-hearted warm approach, dedicated to helping clients develop deeper self-compassion, self-love and self-care. She believes that from a place of love, comes the courage to risk being more of your authentic self, allowing your inner essence to shine in the world. 

She encourages clients from four years old to 100, in individual, couple and group sessions, to discover new parts of themselves through open expression of breath, sound, movement, and play. 

For more information on Judy, including work she does with her husband Neal Brodsky, visit www.lovelifecounseling.com