Sherri Mandell is an award-winning writer who has contributed to numerous magazines and journals, including USA Today, The Times of Israel, Hadassah Magazine, and the Jerusalem Post. She is the author of several books, including a spiritual memoir The Blessing of a Broken Heart, which won a National Jewish Book Award in 2004. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing and studied Kabbalah with teachers in Jerusalem. For the past 20 years, she and her husband have directed the Koby Mandell Foundation in Israel whose flagship program is Camp Koby, a therapeutic sleepaway camp for bereaved children. She lives in Israel.