Today, we’re live! I’m at the Orthodox Women’s Torah Leadership Convening with Ann Pava and Elizabeth Walder, trailblazers of Jewish philanthropy, strategically growing the field of Orthodox Jewish women’s Torah leadership.

As we sit onstage at the Convening that Ann and Elizabeth made happen, they reveal how they choose where to invest, and how they go forward as partners with those organisations lucky enough to receive their help. We marvel at how far this field has come - programmes in learning and leadership that are now available for women and girls, and positions held by women that were traditionally reserved for men. We discuss the challenges for Orthodox women seeking a career in Torah leadership as well the hurdles we’ve overcome, and the work still to do in this field.

Anne Pava is the president of Micah Philanthropies. An activist, philanthropist, thought leader and community builder, she loves to mentor and empower women, especially to lead, and to make the world a better place and has been pivotally to the Prizmah Centre for Jewish Day Schools, the Jewish Federations of North America, the Hebrew High School of New England and the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusets. She is involved in many other boards and has won an award for outstanding women philanthropists.

Elizabeth Walder is president and executive director of the Walder Foundation and the board chair of Walder Operations. She is a lawyer by training and led a multicultural immigration law practise helping thousands of immigrants reach their full potential. Later she served as the chief sustainability officer at IDT before establishing The Walder Foundation with her husband. Through its Jewish Life pillar the Walder Foundation founds many initiatives to empower Orthodox women’s Torah leadership and Elizabeth was awarded the Hinda Institute’s Heroines of Hope award in 2022 given to a visionary broad-minded philanthropist who personifies leadership and compassion.

Special thanks to Dr. Elana Stein Hain, who organized the convening. (You can hear Jo's Women's Gallery interview with her here.)

Listen to Jo's interview with Rabbanit Michelle Cohen Farber here.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you.

Suzy Goldberg is a pillar of the London community who embodies humble leadership. She’s a mother, grandmother, shadchanit (Jewish matchmaker) and Torah teacher of over 30 years. She’s also a graduate of the LSJS BA and MA degree programmes in Jewish Education and she works today with an organisation called Shidduch.im, the UK’s branch of the fabulously-named Saw You at Sinai Jewish dating app, and she’s encouraged, counselled and guided many couples to the chuppah with incredible skill.

We discuss the common thread connecting Jewish education and matchmaking, what it feels like to watch a couple you connected get married, our responsibility to help people find their other halves and of course, how to know if this is the right match for you!

This podcast is powered by LSJS - the London School of Jewish Studies. Connect with our Jewish education courses, tours and events, online and in person, via lsjs.ac.uk/connect.

Hadassa and I met over Chanukah when she was in London promoting her new book - a book which has made a huge impression on both me and my daughter. Hadassah started this book project in the wake of October 7th to help parents talk about the trauma of that terrible day, and to cope with the trauma that developed in its wake. Hadassah has emerged as a genuine role model in that sense, and I'm very excited to talk with her more about the book and its impact, as well as about her life, her world, and particularly about parenting. She’s a mother of seven which, as a mother of four, sounds impressive!

We talk mother to mother about parenting in the digital age, setting digital boundaries, self regulation, the power of stories, and resilience. We also focus on taking social responsibility and connecting with your inner hero, and discover the surprising truth about when she learned English!

The Heroes of October 7th may be purchased in the UK here, and in the US here.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you.

My dear friend Rebbetzen Dr Hadassah Fromson is rebbetzin of Golders Green United Synagogue here in the UK. She is a counselling psychologist who works with individuals and couples both privately and for Chana, a fertility charity in the UK. She’s also a yoetzet halacha and a teacher here at LSJS.

We discuss the importance of strengthening your relationships, and what brings satisfaction - in work, in relationships and yes, even in the bedroom, based on her research into sexual satisfaction in long-term Jewish relationships,

Learn with Hadassah in Unpacking Parasha at lsjs.ac.uk/parasha.

Join us for Unlocking Talmud on Wednesday evenings at lsjs.ac.uk/talmud.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk for our full Jewish learning programme, including Rabbanit Yafit Clymer, & find something that suits you.

How do we help our children cope with the emotional fallout of war? This is just one of Rabbanit Yafit Clymer’s current roles, achieved as Rabbanit Beit Sefer of Midreshet Amit Girls High School in Modiin where, through Yafit’s unique blend of pastoral and spiritual guidance, she’s helping girls deal with loss caused by the war, anger with God, and how to pray in these times. Having a school rabbanit, a role that doesn't exist all over the world, has been vital and we discuss what the role means and why it’s needed.

Also a teacher of Tanach & Talmud at Matan and LSJS, Rabbanit Yafit is currently studying for a doctorate in Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University.

We consider how to find the right balance in a syllabus between factual knowledge and spiritual awareness, and touch on Meshivat Nefesh, a responsa website where men and women answer halachic questions in all areas. Then, in explaining how to see God talking to us through history, Rabbanit Yafit delivers a powerfully real message that I think can uplift us all in these incredibly testing times.

Catch Rabbanit Yafit on Covenant and Continuity: Rabbi Sacks’ wisdom, taught by his students. Book at lsjs.ac.uk/shemot.

Esty is a Chareidi Mizrachi social activist, entrepreneur and trailblazer. We met when she was in London screening Woman of Valour, a documentary film about her life and activism, and I was blown away by her bravery and her achievements.

In 2012, she launched No Voice, No Vote, a social media-based protest movement calling on ultra orthodox Chareidi women not to vote for parties that barred women from their ranks, and on the back of that she founded Nivcharot, which raises awareness on women’s rights in Chareidi society. She’s a pioneer establishing all sorts of online forums promoting an honest exchange of views on subjects like divorce, birth control, sexual harassment, abuse and arranged marriages, all of which are to some extent still taboo in the Chareidi world.

Esty has a new podcast in Israel called Chareidit Meduberet (Spoken Chareidi) where she interviews people who share this fresh approach and voice to discuss challenging issues in a new, open way.

We speak about change management, using a pseudonym to write about politics as a Chareidi woman, and shifting practises away from that, the potential dangers of the future of Israeli politics, how not to feed the monster of social media, and struggling with the F word - feminism.

Click here to learn about Esty's film, Akara.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk for our full Jewish learning programme & find something that suits you.

Rabbanit Michelle Cohen Farber is the founder of Hadran, advancing Talmud study and Daf Yomi for women. Michelle studied Talmud at Bar Ilan University and at Midreshet Lindenbaum Scholars’ Programme. She’s taught gemara and halacha in Pelech Jerusalem, Midreshset Lindenbaum and Matan Hasharon. Together with her husband, she founded and leads Kehilat Netivot in Ra’anana where they live with their 5 children.

We discuss how the anchor of Daf Yomi kept her going through the traumas we’ve been through as a people, why she focuses on women learning Talmud rather than Tanach, and how, while peers left studying for teaching, she continued to invest in her own learning until she judged the right time to move to teaching, and the difference that’s made for her and for others.

Links:

Women's Gallery Episode with Dr. Rachel Levmore

LSJS Masters Degree in Jewish Education: lsjs.ac.uk/ma

The Iyun Programme: Advanced Halacha Learning for Women: lsjs.ac.uk/iyun

Unlocking Talmud: lsjs.ac.uk/talmud

Unpacking Parasha: In-depth, text based learning for women: lsjs.ac.uk/parasha

Hadran

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk for our full Jewish learning programme & find something that suits you.

This week we’re meeting Hadassah Shemtov. Hadassah lives in LA where she teaches Gemara and Chumash to high school girls, particularly within the Chabad community.

Hadassah noticed amongst the women in her community an underlying ‘estrangement from the source of our tradition’. She saw that many high school students were unfamiliar with the evolutionary process of halacha and thought it to be arbitrary rules. She found a low expectation for rigorous scholarship within Torah study that led peers to seek intellectual satisfaction elsewhere. So she co-founded the Batsheva Learning Center in 2015, and has spearheaded numerous innovative learning opportunities for women there, primarily in the New York area but also across the US.

Hadassah and I discuss standing on the shoulders of giants such as Sarah Schnierer, what Chabad schools teach that others don’t, and the leadership advantage that Chabad ‘shluchot’ have over other female leaders.

Women's Gallery Episode 10 with Dr. Erica Brown

Women's Gallery Episode 4 with Dr. Elana Stein Hain

Listen to Hadassah's podcast Real Women, Real Torah, and read her Substack.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk for our full Jewish learning programme & find something that suits you.

Dr. Erica Brown is Vice Provost for Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University and Founding Director of its Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership. An award winning author who writes extremely widely on Jewish Ethics, Bible and leadership, Erica’s new book, Morning has Broken: Faith after October 7th is out now.

Previously she served as the director of the Mayberg Centre for Jewish Education and Leadership and was Associate Professor of Curriculum Pedagogy at the George Washington University. She’s a veteran of Jewish education and leadership who’s paved the way for so many people and continues to be a role model to me and many others in the world of Jewish education and leadership.

Erica and I discuss how to choose where and when to apply our creative energy in leadership, an immersive approach to getting things done, getting women into writing, and carrying ourselves and others across the historical and difficult times we’re experiencing.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk for our full Jewish learning programme & find something that suits you.

This week I’m delighted and humbled to have with me Sarah-Jane Landsman of Kibbutz Alumim. In 2022, when there was no-one else to step up, Sarah-Jane took on a second term as Mazkirah (Director) of the kibbutz. That was how, on October 7th, she found herself in a very pivotal role, a role that really no training can provide any preparation for, and since then she’s relocated the whole kibbutz and cared for the different needs of that displaced community.

Sarah-Jane and I met in July when I was privileged to visit Kibbutz Alumim and hear her incredible story, which has really stayed with me over these difficult months. This is the story of the last 400 days.