Arnav

By Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld“I don’t know when window shades were invented, but clearly that isn’t an option the Gemara is considering here,” I found myself saying to a class of fifteen college-aged students. At the time, I didn’t realize this would be a life-altering observation, tossed out nonchalantly in the middle of my course on […]

By Devora Steinmetz “But why do you call it a yeshiva?? A yeshiva is for men. Women learn in midrashot!” This is often the first question that people ask when they hear about the yeshiva that Drisha opened in Israel a year ago—especially in Israel, where there is no other learning program for women that

Drisha opened its doors in September 1979. Brochures had been distributed listing classes from morning till evening, Monday through Thursday. Women could come to a single class or could come to learn full-time. We were to hold classes in a rented space in a synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan—in the upper story,

The Evolution of Women’s Learning—and My OwnBy Pam ScheiningerAs international women’s Jewish learning and scholarship have evolved in previously unimaginable ways, so has my own relationship with Jewish text. When I think of myself as a learner, I remember that during high school, I routinely lost my Humash and Navi books during the first week

By Mira NiculescuI never saw myself as a feminist. That’s because I never had to. I was born in the 1980s in Paris into a secular family. I was raised by an old angry Romanian intellectual (my father) and a nurse/social worker who was really a hidden intellectual (my mother). I never had to be

By Beverly Gertler The Unorthodox, a film sponsored by JOFA in the 2019 Israeli Film Festival at the Marlene Meyerson Jewish Community Center in Manhattan,. is based on the true story of the early days of the Shas political party in Israel. As I watched the film, I found myself wondering why JOFA had chosen

By Dvorah Levy As a psychotherapist, I am the instrument of my work.In addition to my degree and education, my own personal experiences and the work I’ve done with myself are what I bring to the individuals and couples who entrust me to help them with their pain and their challenges.I also bring my relationship

By Abby KoganMy teaching experiences began in May of last year when my synagogue’s youth group was planning to do a joint tikkun leil Shavuot program with one of the synagogues in the neighborhood. They wanted teenagers to teach—not only to their peers, but to the adults there too. The theme chosen for the tikkun

“My Body, Whose Decision?” On July 29, at the Sixth Street Synagogue in New York City, JOFA held a panel on reproductive choice, looking at the issue from medical, halakhic, and legal perspectives. Dr. Susan Lobel spoke from her experience as an OB-GYN, describing the medical issues involved in abortion and fertility. Dr. Elana Stein-Hain

By Yonina Bendheim Jacobson A few Shabbatot ago, while speaking about Parashat Korah, the rabbi of our shul took the opportunity to exhort all of the members of the congregation to “stay in [their] lane[s].” He implored them to limit their aspirations to their determined lot, to be happy and content with their place, and