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.

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

Dr Rachel Levmore has spent decades bridging the world of Jewish Law, academia and social activism to help people from all walks of life negotiate the difficult process of Jewish divorce. That makes her one of my real mentors professionally and my inspiration for the work that I’ve done in Get refusal. She’s a veteran who has dedicated her life to this issue.

Rachel is a Rabbinical Court Advocate, and the director of the Aguna Prevention Project. She lives in Efrat and has a PHD in Talmud and Jewish Law from Bar Ilan University.

For more information on these topics, listen to our episode with Keshet Starr on Get refusal, our episode with Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll on social activism, and read Rachel’s article, [article title].

If you’re a woman who wants to improve her own halachic knowledge, you can join our Iyun Women’s Halacha Programme.

To read Rachel Levmore's article, "Agunot, Follow These Instructions," click here.

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

Shoshana Keats-Jaskoll is a warrior with a pen and she fights, she really fights, for a better Judaism. Raised in Lakewood, she moved to Israel with her family, where she witnessed the damaging effects of extremism on the community. She co-founded Chochmat Nashim, which enables her to write, speak, and campaign to change policy and communal behaviour to create a healthier, more balanced society, highlighting where things go wrong and working on change on the ground. We’ve worked together on Get refusal, systemic change and teaching, so I know what a fearless advocate Shoshana is and I totally admire her fierce intellect and unique methods, tackling issues head-on from within the system which I think is what makes her so powerful. We discuss regulating Batei Din (ratemybeitdin.com) the unique perspective of coming from a non-observant home, the problem of outsourcing knowledge in the Jewish community and practical tips for social activism.

We’re meeting Dr Yardaena Osband in this episode, who’s quite challenging to
introduce because she wears so many hats! She’s a founding member of the Orthodox
Leadership Project, which empowers Orthodox Jewish women’s leadership as a way
of strengthening Jewish communities through professional development, education and
partnerships. She’s also a paediatrician, teacher, co-host of the Daf Yomi podcast Talking
Talmud, and board member of ORA and the Eden Center.

With so much to choose from, we spoke about women’s leadership in the Orthodox world,
touching on the education of our girls and whether that helps us to grow female leaders, and
the issue of recognition, and whether or not women need a professional title.

Visit lsjs.ac.uk to continue learning with Joanne Greenaway and other LSJS educators.

Visit the International Halacha Scholars Programme at https://ots.org.il/program/international-halakha-scholars-program/