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

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 sourced exploration of women's ritual obligations, religious identity and sexuality in Jewish law. Nechama's teaching combines rigorous text study with a rare sensitivity to lived experience.

Link to the book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Uncovered-Womens-Mitzvot-Sexuality-Jewish/dp/9655243753

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

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 leadership. Together with her late husband, Rav Yehuda Henkin ztz"l, she founded the Yoatzot Halacha programme, training women experts in Jewish law and women's health, whose work has changed the way halachic guidance is sought and given across the Orthodox world.

A beloved teacher and visionary, Rabbanit Henkin has received honorary doctorates from
both Bar-Ilan and Yeshiva Universities and was awarded Israel's prestigious Agrest Prize for
innovative religious education.

She reflects on resilience amid personal loss, explains the vacuum that prompted her to start
the Yoatzot Halacha programme, discusses continuing her late husband's work on women in
halacha and demonstrates how halacha has given agency to women. We discuss the
difference between a yoetzet and a rabbi, and the changing relationships between women
and rabbis in the information age, and she inspires us with a message about serving the
community in the future.

Responsa on Contemporary Jewish Women's Issues (New Expanded Edition) is available here.

To access our full LSJS programme of learning, visit lsjs.ac.uk/learning.

Our new women's gemara course, A Taste of Talmud starts on Wed 22nd October. Book it
for free here.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish
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 for Near East Studies,
teaching courses on Bible, gender, and contemporary relevance.

From her father's survival as a prisoner of war and how that projected the family
into Israel as some of the first olim, to the challenge of seeking female leaders to
connect and build bridges with in the Muslim world, this conversation is really
wide-ranging.

Sharon is an expert on designing and implementing interreligious programming
that builds collaboration across religions and promotes peace. She is also an
experienced facilitator in conflict resolution and strategic planning. Her advice for
women and for the world, to amplify feminine traits of caring, compassion, mediation
and dialogue over dominance, strength, assertiveness and competition, demonstrates the
decades of experience it comes from.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish
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 the main Orthodox cemetery in London, and she single-handedly runs
a hotline advising, guiding and arranging help for people who have just lost a
loved one.

We discuss the emergence of women into these roles and what women can bring
to the world of kashrut in particular, as well as revealing some of the little known
world of what happens when a person passes away.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish
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 focus on applying Talmudic ideas to questions of
advancements in digital technology.

We discuss ways she uses AI to improve accessibility on Sefaria, her goals for women's
learning in the future, and worrying trends in access to texts commonly cited by antisemites.

Sara is also a member of Class Six of the Wexner Field Fellowship and an alumna of the
David Hartman Center at the Hartman Institute of North America. She serves as
Scholar-in-Residence at Ohev Sholom Congregation in Washington, DC and her research
and writing focus on the intersection between Jewish ethics and advancements in
technology. Sara's writing has been published in The Atlantic, First Things, and Religion
Dispatches, as well as numerous Jewish publications.

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 passion is to tell the story behind the facts, and, as a tour guide, to show the stories behind various layers of a city or region - historical, social, and architectural, alike. Behind the scenes, she's something of an unofficial ambassador of the community.

With a PhD and two MA degrees from Oxford and Budapest, Szonja's main field of research and interest is Hungarian Jewish history and cultural history, and she is especially intrigued by issues related to changes in national identity and language choice. I think Szonja's story and that of Hungarian Jewry is not well enough known and I'm really happy for her to share it more widely on this podcast.

For more Jewish learning journeys, connect with us at lsjs.ac.uk/connect. 

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish
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 so much from her approach and her take on ideas – really profound
and really personal and authentic.

We discuss bridging the gap between israel and the Diaspora, responding to October 7 as
an educator, what's next on the horizon for Orthodox Jewish women, and bringing Pesach
Torah concepts to life.

For more Pesach learning and other learning journeys, connect with us at lsjs.ac.uk/connect.

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.

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

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.

We discuss what drove Rabbi Sacks to keep seeking and writing, the far-reaching plans he made and high standards he held himself to, as well as his relationship-first approach and genuine interest in people and what made them tick. 

Joanna Benarroch talks about her own trajectory as a behind-the-scenes leader and the privileged position she found herself in, as well the explosion in popularity of Rabbi Sacks right across Israeli society since his death and her mission now, post-aliyah

The Rabbi Sacks & the Scholars LSJS course begins this November with a free taster class, Judaism at the crossroads of tradition and modernity. Discover the beauty and clarity of his teachings. More info and book at: www.lsjs.ac.uk/sacksandscholars.

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/

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 and
Halacha. She's invested in communal service on both local and national levels, and
participates in the joint project of the UK Foreign Ministry and Search for Common Ground,
in which leading Muslim and Jewish figures create a basis for religious dialogue in the
Arab-Israeli conflict.

We discuss access to Torah scholarship for women, and also what October 7 has meant for
Surale's ongoing relationships with Muslim leaders and the different, more fundamental
questions she now feels she needs to ask.

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

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
through classical and modern textual sources. She's also a regular contributor to the For
Heaven's Sake podcast, which recently became the most listened to Jewish podcast
internationally.

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

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

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 thoughtful reflections on personal growth that make this episode truly special.

Yosefa teaches Tanach, Biblical Exegesis, and Jewish Thought at Migdal Oz Beit Midrash,  lectures at Herzog College and Herzog Global, and serves as a Yoetzet Halacha and madrichat kallot. She's also a member of the second cohort of Sacks Scholars and hosts a widely acclaimed weekly Parsha podcast for Matan Women's Institute for Torah Study, alongside a new show on women and mitzvot with Shayna Goldberg. In our conversation, we dive into her journey from Albany, NY to Efrat, the mentors who shaped her, and how she balances spiritual growth, leadership, and daily life.

We explore topics we're all thinking about as we approach Rosh Hashana including personal growth, very practical methods for teshuva, habits that foster growth, differences between Israel and the diaspora regarding women's roles and leadership, and where we have and haven't made progress in women's learning.

To learn about the parasha in Yosefa's unique style, visit the Matan Parsha Podcast.

Stretch your mind and soul through ideas based learning in free and paid classes, courses and events - visit the new LSJS website at www.lsjs.ac.uk.

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, joyous Jewish education
wherever they are in the world.

In addition to education, Tal and I discuss the weight of our collective European memory, being
a reluctant public speaker, and how to grow into your role - all in this episode of Women's Gallery.

Visit lsjs.ac.uk to continue learning with Joanne Greenaway and other LSJS educators. You can access a women's high level learning course at LSJS at https://www.lsjs.ac.uk/courses-and-events.php?category=33

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 give control and autonomy to others, picking your battles, and sustainable female leadership - having it all (but not necessarily at the same time).

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

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 respect for her, and I can't wait to
introduce you to her.

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

Link: Wandering Jews Podcast

Link Downtown Minyan NYC 

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 female leaders making a mark in the Jewish community. Interviewing a different woman leader in each episode, Women's Gallery will explore different models of leadership in the context of schools, shuls, universities, batei din and every place where we can find incredible female leaders, showcasing the women defining Jewish leadership today.

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

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 trust.

For those unfamiliar, the United Synagogue (US) is the main umbrella body of centrist Orthodoxy in the UK, an influential organisation with over 60 synagogues and responsibility for Jewish life "from cradle to grave."

We discuss how a CEO can find honest feedback and people who will stretch them, the value of developing skills outside the Jewish community, rapidly responding to October 7th, the male-female dynamic at the US including the more challenging informal moments, successfully professionalising the role of rebbetzens, allowing for innovation in a traditional framework, and so much more.

Having had the privilege of working alongside Jo both at the US and in my role at LSJS, I know Jo as a consummate professional, an inspiring leader, and a wonderful person. It's been eye opening to explore her journey, her vision for Jewish communal life, and her reflections on leadership.

***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.

Dr. Erica Brown does a fantastic job of probing me and we discuss humanity, finding your north star, what it means to be role model, creating sisterhoods, career pivots, holding internal tensions and so much more. Many, many thanks to Erica for agreeing to interview me. 

Erica 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, as well as a prior guest on the podcast, friend and mentor. Erica's book, Morning has Broken: Faith after October 7th is available at amazon.co.uk/Morning-Has-Broken-Faith-October/dp/1592646832.

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

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 and take up this work when the war started, her decision not to go back to Israel at that time, how the Forum handles the rapidly changing situation, and what everyone can do to help the families of the hostages.

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 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 spans advocacy, education, and direct support for survivors.

Shana also volunteers as a Jewish marital law coach and birth assistant for women with histories of sexual and physical abuse. She lives with her family in Mateh Yehuda, Israel.

We speak about the difficult but essential work of confronting abuse in religious communities, the role of communal silence, how to shift shame from victim to perpetrator, and what change could look like when survivors are believed and supported.

This is a wide-ranging and powerful conversation about truth telling, accountability, and building safer futures.

If you're affected by the issues discussed, please reach out for help. Some community resources are:

Jewish Women's Aid – Supporting Jewish women affected by domestic or sexual abuse

Magen – Child protection and abuse prevention in religious communities

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish
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, alongside her husband and five daughters, at Ohr Torah Stone in Springfield, NJ teaching Talmud and Jewish law at Rae Kushner Hebrew Academy. A WIHL alumna, Chamutal follows in the footsteps of trailblazer Rabbanit Devora Evron. I also reflect on my own journey through the IHSP flagship program and the privilege of learning under Chamutal's emerging mission.

We explore role models and trailblazing pathways, titles and recognition; how we create meaningful roles for women in the synagogue setting; and encouraging more women to write halacha, publish books, build communities and shape the next 20 years of Jewish life.

Gain rare insight into the mindset and mission of this influential female halachic leader today - her vision for the future, her personal journey, and her impact on Jewish leadership globally.

This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/connect to learn about our Jewish
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".

We answer questions like: why would you choose humour as a vessel for discussing
breast cancer and loss? How do you navigate the publishing world as Jew in the current
climate? What do you say at a shivah? And, why are there so many photos online of you
holding up two large, round objects?

To find out more about breast cancer awareness, take a look at the resources below:
Cancer Research UK: cancerresearchuk.org
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation: bcrf.org
Jnetics - Improving the prevention and diagnosis of Jewish genetic disorders: jnetics.org
Sharsheret - the Jewish breast and ovarian cancer community: sharsheret.org
#FeelItOnTheFirst

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

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.

With a Master of Research in Computer Vision and Image Programming, Yael began her professional life at KPMG Tel Aviv as a trainee actuary. She later taught in several seminaries in Jerusalem, and now, as well as being Rebbetzen of her shul, handles Aish UK's Campus Follow Up for women. Yael and her husband are blessed with eight children.

Our conversation reveals a deeply thought-through set of decisions which led Yael to where she is today, the theme of which is finding the right balance of caring for others, bringing up her family, and developing herself. Yael shares creative leadership guidance, self-care principles and wisdom that can help us all feel more balanced, productive and fulfilled.

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 fascinated by the subtle differences she's discovered between communities, and how that's affected her leadership style.

Our new beginner's Gemara course starts this Thursday, 4th December - a deep yet accessible course to help students feel confident navigating the Talmud. Find out more and book at In Depth Talmud: Studies in Sanhedrin. 

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

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

In this episode we meet Rabbanit Shayna Goldberg, mashgicha ruchanit and teacher to Israeli and American post-high school students in Migdal Oz, an affiliate of Yeshivat Har Etzion. Shayna is also a yoetzet halacha, a contributing editor for Deracheha: Womenandmitzvot.org, co-host of the podcast "Women Talking Mitzvot" and the author of the book: What Do You Really Want? Trust and Fear in Decision Making at Life's Crossroads and in Everyday Living, and we found a great deal of common ground.

We discuss her role in helping young women to grow while staying connected to their home and roots, how she empowers them to take responsibility for their own decisions, how she helps them hear themselves in this process, and her conscious aim for lasting rather than drastic change.

We cover the changes she's seen in her career, a move towards questioning authority in her students' search for meaning, and the growing hunger to know how halachic decisions are made, as well as what motivates her to write and the surprising way in which that began. We also touch on the growing world of female leadership, contrasts between the secular and Jewish worlds in these areas, and our hopes for the future.

Shayna's book, What Do You Really Want?  can be purchased from Koren Publishers.

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

Aliza Lavie moves seamlessly between public leadership, scholarship, culture and creativity. A former Member of Knesset, best-selling author and leading scholar of Jewish culture, Aliza has spent her career amplifying women's voices and strengthening connections across the Jewish world. From founding global initiatives that revive women's prayer and heritage, to shaping national conversations on religion, state and gender equality, her work bridges Jewish tradition and contemporary life. As a senior academic, cultural entrepreneur and visionary leader, Aliza offers a rare perspective on how women's leadership can transform Jewish communal and spiritual life across generations.

We discuss working in the knesset, creating change at this difficult time, and the power of bringing together diverse groups of women. We talk about clarity of mission, giving a voice to those who don't have one, finding leadership in unexpected places and the vital aguna legislation Aliza passed that impacted my work at the Bet Din so much.

It's a broad conversation that bounces from prayer to politics to chessed, united by Aliza's vision of bringing back our collective knowledge to create tools for the present.

Aliza's website collecting women's prayers can be found at: tfilatnashim.com

Her book, Iconic Jewish Women, can be purchased on Amazon.

Jo meets Tali Smus, known online as The British Zioness - a university student, activist, and unapologetic Jewish voice in the UK. Raised in a religious Jewish home in London, Tali has become a prominent advocate for Jewish pride and against antisemitism on campus at King's College London while also building a significant online platform through her writing, speaking, and social media presence.

Jo and Tali explore how a young woman finds her voice in hostile environments - from confronting antisemitism at university to navigating activism and hate online. Tali reflects on public speaking without formal training, imposter syndrome, social media as a tool for advocacy, and the emotional toll of being a visible Jewish and Zionist woman. The conversation also examines campus culture, institutional responses to antisemitism, collaboration versus solo activism, and the pressures facing this generation of students.

Meet Rabbanit Yaffa Setton - Yoetzet Halacha, rebbetzen, educator and community leader serving the Syrian Sephardic communities of Brooklyn and Deal, New Jersey. Between teaching high school by day and answering halachic questions at all hours, Yaffa occupies a unique and trusted space in the lives of the women she supports. 

Follow her journey through advanced Torah learning — from Nishmat's Yoetzet Halacha training to the International Halacha Scholars Program and now Ematai's groundbreaking end-of-life care fellowship. We reflect on the kinds of sensitive, complex questions women bring her: mikvah, fertility, medical decisions, and moments of real vulnerability. We explore the delicate balance between guidance and psak, the importance of creating safe spaces to ask, and why sometimes simply having someone who understands makes all the difference.

We also talk about the strength and warmth of the Syrian community she serves, teaching Torah across generations of the same families, and the models of leadership that inspire her most - particularly Sarah's insight and Miriam's courage to step forward without being asked. It's a thoughtful, grounded conversation about leading with both knowledge and heart.

Hear from Chana Henkin, founder of the Yoetzet Halacha programme: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6NvpCAAjrpn1iL0mXgDb8k?si=w1082KvMQ0aQKNDSWxyBSQ

Book the course: Women & Mitzvot, featuring Joanne Greenaway: https://lsjs.ac.uk/women-mitzvot-2768

What can I do to hold a fractured people together in a time of grief, disagreement, and uncertainty?

Joanne Greenaway speaks with Jerusalem-based writer and educator Rachel Sharansky Danziger, exploring through her works how prayer, storytelling and leadership can create space for understanding and collaboration even amid deep disagreement.

Rachel's upbringing as the daughter of former Soviet refusenik and Israeli activist leader Natan Sharansky and Avital Sharansky shaped her belief that individual voices can make a difference. Rachel reflects on the emotional complexity of Israeli society since October 7 and discusses prayer as a language of hope that allows people with opposing views to stand together in yearning. She reflects on what's unique in women's leadership and how that is needed today. Rachel's central conviction shines throughout the conversation: even in moments of profound uncertainty, one person can effect change.

Az Nashir by Rachel Sharansky Danziger and Anne Gordon can be purchased from:

Amazon US at https://www.amazon.com/Az-Nashir-Will-Sing-Again/dp/B0DHHDL99J/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MQ70EJVHTUAZ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Ait7AEINcIWDqfQahZEJEXWPp4sy_7cbSbvw8yGEZXfGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.Kq7JKxbhQVm-ZKNq_VrLIzAH07N2aE0hUkzfg8l5Ltw&dib_tag=se&keywords=az+nashir&qid=1773674024&sprefix=az+nashir%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-1

Amazon UK at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Az-Nashir-Will-Sing-Again/dp/B0DHHDL99J/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1RLIBTL9M2ZAJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.rs3g2GbI2m_pwC6u9LZXFzvLrVcd2s-BNaV6v40I0UvGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.PUZySc6nLM2S7Bu3PInwBfuFMp18C-bDBopCsxph_is&dib_tag=se&keywords=az+nashir&qid=1773674097&sprefix=az+nash%2Caps%2C262&sr=8-1 

This LSJS podcast is powered by The Walder Foundation and a generous anonymous donor. Visit us at lsjs.ac.uk/learning if you're looking to explore and strengthen your Jewish identity.

This LSJS podcast is powered by the Walder Foundation and a generous anonymous sponsor. Visit www.lsjs.ac.uk/learning to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you. Talk to us at womensgallery@lsjs.ac.uk and tell us who you'd like to hear interviewed.

Joanne Greenaway sits down with Sarah Gordon, Vice President of Unpacked for Educators, to explore one of the most urgent challenges facing Jewish education today: how to teach Israel in a time of war, polarization, and digital misinformation.

Drawing on years in the classroom and her current work supporting thousands of educators worldwide, Sarah explains why traditional advocacy models are no longer enough, and why today's students need not just connection, but literacy and the courage to engage complexity.

Together they discuss how Israel education has evolved, the impact of social media on young Jews, and the delicate balance teachers must strike between nurturing love for Israel and encouraging honest questions.

They also explore practical strategies: teaching students how to navigate difficult conversations, helping schools define their values, and building resilience so that young people leave school not just with passion but with understanding.

The conversation touches on the emotional realities of teaching Israel during wartime, the power of culture and personal relationships in building connection, and what Jewish educators can learn from the Passover Seder about curiosity, storytelling, and shared journey.

This is a thoughtful and hopeful conversation about what it means to educate the next generation of Jewish leaders in complicated times.

This LSJS podcast is powered by The Walder Foundation and a generous anonymous donor. Visit us at lsjs.ac.uk/learning if you're looking to explore and strengthen your Jewish identity.

This week Joanne meets Danielle Abraham: Oxford-educated, Woodford-raised, and now one of the most driven women rebuilding Israel from the ground up. As founder and CEO of Regrow Israel, Danielle mobilised emergency support for farming communities devastated in the Western Negev and northern Israel in the wake of October 7th, raising over $30 million and supporting more than 110 farms. She is also co-founder of Volcani International Partnerships, an Israeli NGO tackling global food and nutrition insecurity through Israel's world-leading agricultural expertise.

In this conversation, Danielle unpacks the systematic, premeditated agricultural terrorism of October 7th, in which 40 irrigation control boxes were targeted and destroyed on a single kibbutz alone. She explains why rebuilding the farms was the only possible foundation for rebuilding the communities, and why agriculture sits at the very heart of Israel's identity. Together they move from the pioneering spirit of Ben Gurion's Israel to today's border farmers, from tikkun olam and Israel's global agricultural leadership to whether the land can be a unifying force for a fractured nation.

A conversation brimming with hard-won hope and a powerful case for a part of Israel's story that is still largely untold.

This LSJS podcast is powered by The Walder Foundation and a generous anonymous donor. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/learning if you're looking to explore and strengthen your Jewish identity.

On this episode of Women's Gallery, Dr. Ayelet Hoffmann-Libson joins Joanne Greenaway for a wide-ranging conversation about women, Talmud, academia, and the future of Jewish learning.

A senior lecturer in Talmud at Bar-Ilan University and a leading public-facing Torah scholar, Dr. Hoffmann-Libson reflects on her journey from studying at Pelech and Midreshet Lindenbaum to teaching at Harvard, Penn, and Yale. Together, she and Joanne explore how women entering the world of advanced Torah study are reshaping both the Beit Midrash and academia, why Talmud should not remain the domain of an elite few, and how learning Torah can become a profound framework for thinking about human existence, authority, individuality, and religious life.

The conversation also examines the tensions between traditional and academic approaches to Talmud, the challenge of imposter syndrome for women in leadership, and why Dr. Hoffmann-Libson believes the next generation of Jewish women will fundamentally transform religious communities.

This is a thoughtful and deeply personal discussion about Torah, truth, intellectual courage, and what it means to make the Talmud accessible to everyone.

What does an observant life look like for spiritually aspirational women? Join the Women and Mitzvot course at LSJS with Joanne Greenaway, Dr. Lindsay Simmonds, and Rabbanit Rachel Weber Leshaw by signing up here.

For full information about Hadran's #SukkahChallenge starting June 1st, click here: https://bit.ly/42LdZzK

To register for the masechet #SukkahChallenge, click here: https://bit.ly/4drIXli

Read Law and Self-Knowledge in the Talmud by Dr. Ayelet Hoffmann-Libson. Order your copy today.

This LSJS podcast is powered by The Walder Foundation and a generous anonymous donor. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/learning if you're looking to explore and strengthen your Jewish identity.

What does it mean to hold pain that has no easy resolution?

In this deeply moving conversation, Joanne Greenaway speaks with Dr. Aimee Baron about the quiet heartbreak of infertility, pregnancy loss, and unrealized expectations. Moving from working as a medical doctor to establishing an organisation in order to fill an important need in the global Jewish community, Dr. Baron brings both professional insight and profound personal experience to her work. Drawing on her own story and her work supporting others, Dr. Baron explores how individuals and communities can respond with greater sensitivity, awareness, and compassion.

Together, they discuss the gap between medical care and emotional support, the unique challenges within Jewish communal life, and the power of simply being present for someone in pain. From the role of social media to the complexities of stigma and silence, this episode asks how we can better care for those whose lives have not unfolded as they had hoped.

Honest, thoughtful, and profoundly human, this is a conversation about listening, understanding, and learning how to hold space when words are not enough.

Visit iwassupposedtohaveababy.org and listen to Dr. Baron's podcast, Taking Away the Taboo.

This LSJS podcast is powered by The Walder Foundation and a generous anonymous donor. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/learning if you're looking to explore and strengthen your Jewish identity.

This week Joanne meets Jacqueline Rose, an award-winning integrative menopause educator, coach and hormonal health specialist based in Israel. A mother of five with a background in environmental science and yoga, Jacqueline has built a second career helping women understand the full hormonal arc of their lives, with a particular focus on perimenopause, menopause and the too-rarely-discussed post-menopause. Her approach draws on functional medicine, yoga, and a deeply Jewish lens on what it means to thrive at every life stage.

They cover an enormous amount of ground: why HRT alone is never the whole answer, the five pillars Jacqueline uses to restore hormonal balance (stress, nutrition, sleep, movement and connection), and why "being symptomatic is not a prerequisite for being a menopausal woman." Jacqueline introduces a fourth, often invisible category of symptoms: spiritual ones. The identity shifts, the changing relationship to giving, to self, that so many women experience but have no language for. They also discuss what Jewish women specifically need to hear about their hormonal life cycle, the silence around post-menopause, and the quietly radical idea that menopause is not a decline but a bridge to a woman's most purposeful stage.

It's a wide-ranging, practically grounded and genuinely moving conversation about reclaiming the language of women's health from the inside out.

Find Jacqueline's podcast Things I Want My Daughters to Know at https://open.spotify.com/show/6mNNjO9khVStgtwkBqhxDw?si=586aa327e9e14c59.

This LSJS podcast is powered by The Walder Foundation and a generous anonymous donor. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/learning if you're looking to explore and strengthen your Jewish identity.

What does it take to support the women who quietly sustain Jewish life?

In this inspiring conversation, Joanne Greenaway speaks with Aliza Bulow, founder of Core, a global organization that equips and connects women who serve as spiritual guides, community builders, educators, rebbetzins, mentors, and caregivers. From a handful of participants to a worldwide network spanning more than 100 cities across six continents, Core has become a movement dedicated to strengthening the women who strengthen everyone else.

Aliza shares her remarkable personal journey: from converting to Judaism as a teenager in Portland, Oregon, to studying in Israel, serving in the IDF, and ultimately creating an innovative model of leadership development rooted in connection, wisdom, and spiritual resilience. Along the way, she reflects on faith, loss, marriage, community responsibility, and why women's often-unseen leadership is indispensable to the future of Jewish life.

Together, Joanne and Aliza explore what it means to be a community pillar, how leaders can avoid burnout, why women need stronger support networks, and how trust, hope, and faith are transmitted from one generation to the next. This is a conversation about leadership, purpose, and the extraordinary impact of women whose influence ripples far beyond what most people ever see.

If you've ever wondered who supports the people everyone else turns to, this episode is for you.

This LSJS podcast is powered by The Walder Foundation and a generous anonymous donor. Visit lsjs.ac.uk/learning if you're looking to explore and strengthen your Jewish identity.

For most Orthodox women, leadership does not begin with a microphone in a comedy club. But for award-winning comedian Rachel Creeger, humor has become a powerful way to represent Jewish life, challenge stereotypes, and create connection across communities. In this episode of Women's Gallery, Joanne Greenaway speaks with Rachel about forging a path where no roadmap existed, navigating life as an Orthodox woman in the performing arts, confronting antisemitism after October 7, and discovering that comedy can be a form of leadership. Rachel also reflects on being targeted and effectively canceled by venues because she is openly Jewish, and on her determination to respond not by retreating, but by speaking more boldly. Their conversation explores authenticity, resilience, public voice, and what happens when Jewish women refuse to be defined by other people's expectations.