Women's Gallery: Showcasing Women in Jewish Leadership

Seasoned shlucha Danielle Chaimovitz has nurtured communities in Estonia, Poland and Germany. A daughter of olim, she was always drawn to communal roles in Jewish life, and she and her husband have made it their specialty to help small communities thrive.

Danielle and I discuss the role of a shlucha - what does success look like? How much should your children be part of your work? Should you ever be advising your community to leave?

I'm surprised and touched to learn the incredible ways the Munich community supported them through the October 7th war, and...

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Who do you look after when you can't look after everyone? How does a leader react when she's the one in need of help? What do you do if you feel pidgeonholed by your education or career choices? Rebbetzen Yael Roodyn, much loved Rebbetzen of Finchley Federation Synagogue, gives us insights into caring for and inspiring her close-knit community, bringing out the leadership in others and ensuring that everyone feels part of the family.

...

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I'm delighted to be joined by Rabbanit Nechama Goldman Barash, one of the most refreshing and challenging voices in contemporary Jewish learning. Based in Jerusalem, Nechama teaches Talmud and halachah at the Pardes Institute and Matan, where she's known for tackling some of the most complex questions around gender and relationships with honesty, warmth and depth.

Her recently published book, Uncovered: Women's Roles, Mitzvot, and Sexuality in Jewish Law, offers a fearless, richly s...

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NEW! Talk to us at womensgallery@lsjs.ac.uk and tell us about amazing women who you'd like to hear interviewed.

Joanne Greenaway is joined by Rabbanit Chana Henkin, founder of Nishmat: The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women in Jerusalem, and Head of its Research Institute.

One of the great pioneers of women's Orthodox Torah scholarship, Rabbanit Henkin has transformed the landscape of women's halachic and spiritual leader...

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NEW! Talk to us at womensgallery@lsjs.ac.uk and tell us about amazing women who you'd like to hear interviewed.

Joanna Benarroch joined Rabbi Sacks' Office of the Chief Rabbi in 1997 and worked for Rabbi Sacks for the next 24 years, first as his Executive Director and then running his private office. Since his passing, Joanna has played a key role in establishing the Rabbi Sacks Legacy to perpetuate his values and teachings.

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NEW! Talk to us at womensgallery@lsjs.ac.uk and tell us about amazing women who you'd like to hear interviewed.

This week, I'm thrilled to welcome Dr. Yosefa Fogel Wruble to the podcast—turning the tables a bit, since Yosefa herself is an accomplished host of not one, but three podcasts in both Hebrew and English. Her mellifluous voice and natural storytelling draw you in, but it's her deep Torah insights and th...

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I'm delighted to be joined by Jo Grose, the first ever female CEO of the United Synagogue. Jo stepped into the position in 2023, after many years of senior leadership within the organisation, as well as leadership roles at PaJeS and PJ Library and an earlier career in educational publishing. She is also an active member of her local community, where her passion for community-building began, and serves as a trustee of her local Jewish school...

***1st Anniversary Edition!***

It's our birthday! For this special anniversary edition the tables have been turned on me!

Joanne Greenaway is Chief Executive of LSJS. Experienced International Arbitration lawyer and formerly Director of Get cases for the London Beth Din, she is part of Ohr Torah Stone's International Halakha Scholars Program and a Sacks Scholar. One year ago, she launched THIS podcast to inspire women to find what they uniquely bring to the world and create roles for themselves to do so - by showcasing other women in Jewish leadership who've done just that.

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

This week I am delighted to be joined by Dr. Haya Langerman. Haya is a medical advisor with a doctorate in diabetes who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 30 years. For the last 21 months she has been on the frontlines of support for hostage families and fighting for their return (after 669 days now), as a lead volunteer for the Hostage and Missing Families Forum.

We discuss what prompted Haya to drop everything a...

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learning journeys & find something that suits you.

This week I am delighted to be joined by Shana Aaronson, Executive Director of Magen, where she first began as Social Services Coordinator, supporting families where children had been physically and sexually abused.

Magen is dedicated to creating safer Jewish communities in Israel and around the world by developing and implementing programs that foster transparency, prioritizing the well-being of victims, holding perpetrators accountable, and eliminating the stigma surrounding sexual abuse. Their work...

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learning journeys & find something that suits you.

I'm delighted to welcome Rabbanit Chamutal Shoval, Director of the Susi Bradfield Women's Institute of Halachic Leadership at Midreshet Lindenbaum, and a graduate of its rigorous five‑year program as a Morat Hora'a and Manhiga Ruchanit - empowering women with halachic authority and spiritual leadership and enabling female halachic leaders to claim their place in discourse, advisory roles, synagogues, schools, and more, both in Israel and abroad.

She spent two transformative years...

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learning journeys & find something that suits you.

Gila Pfeffer is an award winning author, breast cancer prevention advocate and mum of
four. Her recent book, Nearly Departed: Adventures in Loss, Cancer, and Other
Inconveniences, was the 2024 winner of the Gilda Women's Book award and had me
laughing hysterically and sobbing in equal measure. She describes it as "about losing
both my parents to cancer, trying not to get cancer myself, then getting it anyway".

...

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learning journeys & find something that suits you.

Today I'm honoured to welcome Sharon Rosen, a leader in interfaith peace
building in Israel and around the world. Sharon served as Search for Common
Ground's Global Director of Religious Engagement from 2017 until recently. She
also co-founded and directed Education for Life, an NGO that provides tools for
the development and wellbeing of children within state educational systems. She
was also a faculty member at the Jerusalem Center...

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learning journeys & find something that suits you.

Rabbanit Nicole Duke is not an obvious leader, but her guidance behind the scenes at
crucial times and life cycle events helps countless people through both difficult
and wonderful times. First she is a shomeret, a kashrut supervisor enabling
kosher functions to take place. She is also responsible for the chevra kadisha -
the organisation dedicated to caring for the deceased and preparing them for
burial - at...

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learning journeys & find something that suits you.

I learn every day with my chavruta in Israel using Sefaria sources. So I'm delighted to be
interviewing Rabbanit Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld, Chief Learning Officer at Sefaria, the online
database and interface for Jewish texts.

Sara is passionate about Talmud education and about expanding Jewish textual knowledge
and its accessibility for all. She writes and teaches widely about Jewish texts and Jewish
law, and her current projects...

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

What's it like to be part of the Jewish community in Hungary? Home to the second largest synagogue in the world yet a hidden Jewish population that no-one can count, how does it function and what will its future be?

Jewish educator, historian and tour guide Szonja Komoroczy is Vice Rector at the Jewish University of Budapest and has lectured and published extensively in English, Hungarian, Hebrew, and Yiddish. As an educator, her...

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learning journeys & find something that suits you.

Dr Tanya White is a much loved teacher at LSJS and Matan, and a lecturer in Jewish
Philosophy at Bar Ilan University. Tanya lives in Israel with her husband and four girls, and
she writes, teaches and lectures on Tanach and Jewish Philosophy. She has a very unique
style that is both inspiring and intellectually stimulating and our students here at lsjs.ac.uk
love her. I always learn...

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...

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 a...

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...

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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...

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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...

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 s...

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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...

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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<...

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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 Profe...

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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...

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 o...

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...

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 a...

Rabbanit Surale Rosen is a graduate of Matan's 5 year halacha programme and she
founded their Women's Online Halachic Responsa Project. For the past 2 years she's led a
new programme here at LSJS called Iyun, our highest level women's learning programme,
teaching women hilchot kashrut and now hilchot brachot. She's really bringing opportunities
to women in the UK that didn't exist before, and it's been a real privilege for me personally to
have been able to connect our LSJS community to her.

Surale's also a certified Rabbinical Arbitrator, and she teaches Midrash, Talmud...

Elana Stein Hain and I talk about why finding legal loopholes in Jewish law isn't cheating the
system but rather completely in line with what Jewish law is designed for. She is Rosh Beit
Midrash and Senior Research fellow at the Shalom Hartman institute of North America and
author of a book on halachic loopholes entitled Circumventing the Law: Rabbinic Perspectives on Loopholes and Legal Integrity.

Passionate about bringing Rabbinic thought into the conversation with contemporary life,
Elana hosts the TEXTing podcast where she brings to light issues relevant to Jewish life
...

Elana Stein Hain and I talk about why finding legal loopholes in Jewish law isn’t cheating the
system but rather completely in line with what Jewish law is designed for. She is Rosh Beit
Midrash and Senior Research fellow at the Shalom Hartman institute of North America and
author of a book on halachic loopholes entitled Circumventing the Law: Rabbinic Perspectives on Loopholes and Legal Integrity.

Passionate about bringing Rabbinic thought into the conversation with contemporary life,
Ilana hosts the TEXTing podcast where she brings to light issues relevant to Jewish life

We're meeting Tal Bassali in this episode, a passionate, ambitious individual whose vision
was to create something "so beautiful that it united people together but enabled them to
remain individuals." Enter the Zehud school, a Jewish online school teaching Hebrew
and Judaic Studies to Jewish children. Living in Venice, Tal quickly realized that the type of
Jewish education she wanted for her children wasn't available locally. In creating what she
needed for her children, she's enabled hundreds of other Jewish children in far flung
communities to join her community and receive a powerful...

Let me introduce you to Keshet Starr. Keshet leads ORA, a non profit organisation addressing domestic abuse in the Jewish divorce process worldwide. She's also a prolific writer, reader and Jewish educator as well as being a lawyer like me, and I had the privilege of working very closely with Keshet and getting to know her while I was managing get (Jewish divorce) cases at the London Beit Din, and I still turn to Keshet for advice.

Keshet and I had a great chat about showing up as a female in a very male-dominated space, how to giv...

I think of Mijal Bitton as a spiritual entrepreneur - she's the Rosh Kehilla, spiritual leader, of
the Downtown Minyan in New York City, where she's building vibrant traditional Jewish life.
She's also a Torah teacher, a thought leader, and a sociologist with a current research focus
on Sefardic Jews.

Mijal has really pivoted her energies lately to leading at this time of need in the Jewish world,
speaking at the huge Stand with Israel Washington rally, working in the interfaith world and
dealing with antisemitism on campus. I have so much...

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.

"I've seen the difference it makes when women's voices and talents are included at all levels," says Joanne Greenaway, CEO at the London School of Jewish Studies, who as well as being a communal leader and educator is also an international lawyer who spent 10 years developing expertise in resolving Jewish divorce cases individually and systemically.

For this reason, Women's Gallery Podcast will spotlight incredible...