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EDUCATION

FAMILIES AND RELATIONSHIPS

HALAKHA
Positive Time Bound Commandments
Mikvah, Niddah and Sexuality
Women and Halakha
Other Halakhic Topics

JEWISH HISTORY

JEWISH MARRIAGE, DIVORCE and IGGUN

JEWISH PHILOSOPHY

LIFECYCLE EVENTS AND RITUALS

SPIRITUALITY

TANACH / BIBLE
Text Study in Tanach
Women in Tanach

WOMEN IN JUDAISM

OTHER






EDUCATION

Tanach Education in Elementary Schools
Rachel Frazer

Education for children and their parents from birth to age 10
Dr. Chaya Gorsetman

JOFA Gender and Orthodoxy Curriculm - Bereishit: A New Beginning - A Differentiated Approach to Learning and Teaching
Dr. Chaya Gorsetman

Homeschooling: Fringe Movement or Viable Alternative in Jewish Education?
Viva Hammer

"Secular" and "Holy" - Educational priorities for the Modern Orthodox Community.
Deborah Klapper

Gender and education -- with a special focus on religious education. This topic includes issues of gender messages in schools, gender and curricula, single-sex versus coed education, power and hierarchy in schools, body issues, girls in the sciences and in sports, analysis of the most recent research in gender issues and the brain, and issues of gender and cultural differences.
Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman

Pre-marital education in the religious community: What does the Orthodox community consider pre-marriage education; what are the messages women and men -- receive before marriage; what is the archetypal orthodox relationship; are there ways we can be doing this better?
Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman

Teaching Torah to Children of Unaffiliated Jews
Ms. Jennifer Seligman

The Importance of Quality Jewish Educators for Girls and Women
Laura Shaw-Frank

Torah Education for Women - Issues that arise in today's Orthodox world
Laura Shaw-Frank

Women and Learning
Devorah Zlochower


FAMILIES AND RELATIONSHIPS

American Jewish families face the future
Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman

Cool Jews: The Jewish teen experience and why it matters
Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman

Darchei shalom- the Path to Building Community- Mishnah Tractate Gittin
Ms. Rahel Berkovits

American Family Law (including its implications for Jewish Communities) – e.g. surrogacy, and the new reproductive technologies
Janet Dolgin

Observant Jews and Modern Life - Psychology of Faithfulness / Dating and Marriage
Dr. Michelle Friedman

The Interface of Psychiatry and Religious Life: Post-partum Depression, Anxiety and Depression
Dr. Michelle Friedman

Creating a meaningful Jewish environment for young children - at home and/or in school
Dr. Chaya Gorsetman

The Jewish Family in the 21st Century
Blu Greenberg

Blessed With Children: Why have Orthodox Family Sizes Have Grown in Modern Times While Other Families have Shrunk?
Viva Hammer

Blood Rhythms: Sex in an Orthodox Marriage
Viva Hammer

Relationships - Between Couples, Within Families, and in Organizations
Gael Hammer

"The Mother Machine": Family Planning and Contraception
Dr. Ronit Ir-shai

Blended Families and the Jewish Community
Joan Katz

"She spat in his face, yet he did not shame her": The limits of Honor thy Father and Mother
Leebie Mallin

But Ima, Why Aren't Any Women on the Bima? - Raising Conscious and Concerned Children in the Orthodox Community.
Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus

Domestic Violence in the Jewish Community: Research indicates that Jewish women stay in abusive relationships longer than women of other ethnic groups. Reasons for this alarming statistic will be explored and discussed. Excerpts from the film “To Save a Life” will be shown as a trigger for discussion. Resources for community services will be shared
Naomi Mark

Ethical Dilemmas in Religious Dating
Naomi Mark

Jewish Step-Parenting: Challenges, Conflicts, and Choices – strategies and solutions
Naomi Mark

Orthodox Jewish Super Women: Doing it all – coping strategies for succeeding as the working mom
Naomi Mark

The Sandwich Generation: Women: Jewish women as multi-generational caregivers
Naomi Mark

Dealing with our Children - "those who comply/those who defy"
Miriam Schacter

Women and Men in Judaism: Partners in Conflict
Miriam Schacter


HALAKHA



Positive Time Bound Commandments

"Tefillin Stand" - An Interactive Workshop for Women on Wearing Tefillin
Dr. Aliza Berger-Cooper

"Tzizit Stand" - Make Your own Tzizit, An Interactive Workshop for Women
Dr. Aliza Berger-Cooper

Halakhot of Women and Tefillin
Dr. Aliza Berger-Cooper

Halakhot of Women and Tzizit
Dr. Aliza Berger-Cooper

The Ashkenazi Custom of Two Blessings for T'fillin - Is it a mistaken custom? A textual Analyses
Dr. Debby Koren

The Road To Wearing a Tallit - Addressing the Tensions of Change in the Community
Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus


Mikvah, Niddah and Sexuality

The Interface of Psychiatry and Religios Life - The Sexual Life of Orthodox Women
Dr. Michelle Friedman

Laws of Niddah
Sara Hurwitz

A Textual Analysis of Hilchot Niddah - Where do our Practices Come From?
Deborah Klapper

Mating, Marriage, and Mikvah - Towards a New Sexual Awareness
Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus

Tzniut and Sexuality - A Case of Compatibility or Mutual Exclusivity?
Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus


Tzelem: Creating a Comprehensive Curriculum on Sexuality and Relationships for the Orthodox Community
Jennie Rosenfeld

Deconstructing Mikvah: An Orthodox Feminist Perspective
Ren'ee Septimus



Women and Halakha

A Daughter's Kaddish
Dr. Norma Baumel Joseph

Women in the Jewish Legal Tradition; Responsa Responding to Women
Dr. Norma Baumel Joseph

Any topic on Women and Halakha/Ritual. For example, Women and saying Kaddish, Women and Prayer, Women and the Synagogue, Women and Megillah Reading, etc...
Ms. Rahel Berkovits

Women and Halacha - observance of mitzvot, ritual participation
Rachel Dulitz

Women and Head Covering
Sara Hurwitz

Abortion in Jewish Law: A Halakhic - Gender Perspective
Dr. Ronit Ir-shai

A Man Precedes a Women when Saving a Life (Horayot 3, 7)- What are the implications of the lesser obligation of women in mitzvot? A text-based study session on women's obligation in mitzvot
Dr. Debby Koren


Women and Zimmun - A halakhic analysis of the view presented by Rishonei Ashkenaz, including halakha l'maaseh
Jennie Rosenfeld

Women and Halakha
Lisa Schlaff

Can Women Dance with/touch a Sefer Torah?
Ms. Jennifer Seligman

Women and Zimmun
Ms. Jennifer Seligman

Women in Halacha - An Examination of Specific Mitzvot
Laura Shaw-Frank

Women and Halakha
Devorah Zlochower


Other Halakhic Topics

Halakhic Minyanim (Partnership Minyanim): Halakhic basis and consequences on Orthodox communities through case study
Michal Bar-Asher Siegal

Check Your Own Mezuzah - this workshop encourages us to keep the mitzvah of placing Mezuzot in our homes and checking them twice every seven years by teaching how to tell if a Mezuzah is kosher.
Soferet S Avielah Barclay

History and Development of Halacha
Rachel Dulitz

Halacha and Contemporary Society: Medical Ethics
Sharon Freundel

The Blessing on Blossoming Trees: Tracing a Journey From the Gemara to Present Day Halacha -- using the blessing on blossoming trees as an example, this speech traces the development of Jewish law from the gemara to its practical application today.
Viva Hammer

Laws of Mourning and tearing kriyah
Sara Hurwitz

Lighting Shabbat Candles: Laws and Minhagim
Sara Hurwitz

Agenda in Psak Halakha - Are halakhic decisions based on a search for truth or are they influenced by public policy considerations? A text-based study session
Dr. Debby Koren

Raisinettes - Safek - and Chumrot: An examination of the halakhic approach and the tendency to choose stringent rulings, using source texts
Dr. Debby Koren

The Laws of Mechitza
Leebie Mallin


JEWISH HISTORY

Relationship between Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism as preserved in texts from the first centuries
Michal Bar-Asher Siegal

Portrait of a century: Jews in film
Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman

Dignity in the Face of the Holocaust: The Chevra Kadisha During the Holocaust
Mrs. Rochel Berman

What's in a Jewish Name? Our Link to Destiny
Dr. Leila Bronner

A Woman's Voice from the Holocaust
Fanya Gottesfeld Heller

Coming of Age During the Holocaust
Fanya Gottesfeld Heller

My Story of Survival: Bearing Witness 60 Years Later
Fanya Gottesfeld Heller

Critical Issues Facing American Jewry
Blu Greenberg

Australian Jewish History and Writing Family Stories
Gael Hammer

The Geniza Woman
Professor Sara Reguer

Women of the Renaissance
Professor Sara Reguer

19th - 20th Century Polish Chasidism - A historical overview to figures and ideas in this movement/ Chasidic perspectives on the Holidays
Jennie Rosenfeld

Women and Jewish History
Lisa Schlaff


JEWISH MARRIAGE, DIVORCE AND IGGUN

Agunah - The halachic roots of the problem, the gravity and dimension of the problem, and the debate over proposed solutions
Dr. Susan Aranoff

Agony of Agunot: Divorce Law & Feminism
Dr. Norma Baumel Joseph


Prenuptial Agreements
Dean Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin

A Thoughtful Interpretation of the Basic Sources of Jewish Divorce Law
Rabbinical Court Advocate Rachel Levmore

Romance vs. The Prenuptial Agreement
Rabbinical Court Advocate Rachel Levmore

Women Rabbinical Court Advocates and their function within the Israeli Rabbinical Court System - An Historical and Ideological Overview
Rabbinical Court Advocate Rachel Levmore

"The Interpretive Strategies of Rabbinic Court Pleaders": a presentation of 3 "ideal types" of pleaders and the interpretive strategies that they employ to reconcile modern values and traditional
Attorney Susan Weiss

Are Some Pre-nupts Better than Others? A survey of pre-nuptial agreements meant to ameliorate the problem of Jewish women and divorce
Attorney Susan Weiss

Taking Form: The Tort of Get Recalcitrance: a description of how the tort of get recalcitrance is taking form in Israel and how this is part of a world-wide trend. Is it a solution to the problem of J
Attorney Susan Weiss


JEWISH PHILOSOPHY

Torat Hayyim a Living Torah: The Status of Women in the Thought of Rabbi Professor Eliezer Berkovits
Ms. Rahel Berkovits

Matan Torah: What Did Moses Receive at Sinai?
Dr. Shani Berrin

Theodicy: The Problem of suffering in Second Temple Literature
Dr. Shani Berrin

Feminism and Orthodoxy - Revolution of Small Signs
Blu Greenberg

Toward Building a Gender-Critical Approach to the Philosophy of Halakha
Dr. Ronit Ir-shai

Midrash Aggadah: Reading and exploring the philosophy and beliefs of our sages, emphasizing women issues
Rachel Keren

Rambam - especially Guide for Pereplexed and other Philosophic writings
Rachel Keren

The Duality of our Existence: Clashes and Enrichment
Rabbinical Court Advocate Rachel Levmore

Jewish Dream Interpretation: Forget Freud, Open the Talmud
Dr. Vanessa Ochs

Allegory as a Tool for Resolving Faith Conflicts
Dr. Tamar Ross

The Challenge of Feminism to Traditional Judaism
Dr. Tamar Ross

The Role of Doubt in Religious Belief
Dr. Tamar Ross

Theoretical/Philosophical Groundings for Orthodox Feminism and it's Practical Implications
Miriam Udel-Lambert


LIFECYCLE EVENTS AND RITUALS

Tahora: The Final Act of Loving Kindness
Mrs. Rochel Berman

When Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things: How We Ensure Dignity Beyond Death
Mrs. Rochel Berman

How life cycle events such as births, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and Bat Mitzvahs affect the family and how to make these events meaningful for adults as well as for children
Dr. Chaya Gorsetman


Making a Meaningful Bat Mitzvah: Getting Beyond the Party to a Celebration that Teaches Values for Life.
Viva Hammer

Beyond Miriam's Cup: Feminist Ritual Innovation
Dr. Vanessa Ochs

The Four Sons: their Biblical Sources, and the Haggada?s Interpretations
Ms. Jennifer Seligman


SPIRITUALITY

ShalhevetYah: the Holy Flame of the AlefBet, an exploration of Midrash on the Hebrew letters, lessons on how to connect with the Divine, on Social Action & more that can be found in their shapes & in the spaces in between!
Soferet S Avielah Barclay

A Journey to Heaven: The Jewish Search for Life Beyond
Dr. Leila Bronner

Faith in G-d After the Holocaust: Four Models
Dr. Ronit Ir-shai

Eish Lavan: The Torah of the Spaces - A Chassidic view on the potential role of the individual in uncovering new meaning in Torah
Jennie Rosenfeld

The Sage and the Prophet - Two Models of Jewish Spirituality
Dr. Tamar Ross

Is there a Feminine Expression of Spirituality?
Sara Yehudit Schneider

Kabbalistic Writings on the Nature of Masculine & Feminine: A Vision of how Women and Men will Relate when they have Healed Themselves and Fixed the World, based on the Talmudic tale of the sun and moon
Sara Yehudit Schneider


TANACH / BIBLE



Text Study in Tanach

The Meaning of Midrash - The place of midrash in rabbinic literature, the medium and its messages
Dr. Susan Aranoff

Midrashei Halakha: Introduction and text study of topics treated in legal Midrashim, and the Aggada in early tannaitic material
Michal Bar-Asher Siegal

The Book of Joshua
Rachel Frazer

Biblical themes and Biblical poetry, socio-historical analysis of commentaries, and associated ideas in the Five Books of Moses, Esther, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs
Sharon Freundel

Ben Zoma is already outside” -- An Ill-fated Journey into Pardes: Close readings and comparisons within rabbinic literature will be used to explore the journey and fate of this relatively less-known member of the “four who entered Pardes”
Miriam Gedwiser

From Temple to Torah -- Pilgrimage in Masekhet Hagigah: This session is geared for shalosh regalim, especially Shavuot and/or Simchat Torah
Miriam Gedwiser

God Against Baal: Monotheism Prevails
Deena Grant

Preserving the Bible Throughout the Centuries
Deena Grant

The Genesis Creation Story in it's Ancient Near Eastern Context
Deena Grant

Parshat Hashavua Drasha/Shiur
Sara Hurwitz

Family and Nationhood in Sefer Bereshit
Deborah Klapper

Topics in Midrashic and Agggadic Literature - an in-depth analysis of selected midrashim or aggadic materials from the Talmud on a range of topics.
Karen Miller

Biblical Exegesis - Specifically employing the rich breadth of midrash to enhance our understanding of the Matriarchs, Patriarchs, and Moses.
Sandra Rapoport Esq.

Development of Midrash
Lisa Schlaff

Midrash - As a way of Thinking about Diverse Issues and the Challenges of Modernity
Miriam Udel-Lambert


Women in Tanach

Buria: Model Homemaker or Radical Feminist?
Ms. Rahel Berkovits

Hannah's Prayer: Rabbinic Ambivalence
Dr. Leila Bronner

Serach and the Exodus: A midrashic Miracle
Dr. Leila Bronner

The Book of Ruth
Rachel Frazer

Self and Other: Sarah and Hagar
Miriam Gedwiser

An In-depth Study of Tamar and Judah
Tammy Jacobowitz

Images of Women in the Midrash on Eichah
Tammy Jacobowitz

Women's Bodies and Social Control in Vayikra Rabbah
Tammy Jacobowitz

A wide range of topics in Tanach with an emphasis on women and women issues
Rachel Keren

The Daughters of Zelophechad: Rabbinic reflections on assertive women
Leebie Mallin

Biblical Women: Ancient Voices, Modern Wisdom - the Sacred Art of Modern Midrash
Dr. Vanessa Ochs

The Daughters of Tzlafchad: Toward a Methodology of Attitude Around Women's Issues
Sara Yehudit Schneider


WOMEN IN JUDAISM

Women of the Wall - politics and religion in Israel, the quest for women's religious and spiritual fulfillment
Dr. Susan Aranoff

Changing lives: gender roles and their impact on American Jewish life
Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman

Netivat Sofrut - A dramatic tale of the road less traveled, including provocative discussion of the political and Jewish legal complexities of work as a certified Soferet.
Soferet S Avielah Barclay

Food & Religion: Women as Central Ritual Experts
Dr. Norma Baumel Joseph

Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dr. Shani Berrin

Women, Frumkeit and the "Modern" Orthodox World: Why has the Orthodox community increasingly measured their religiosity through references to the habits, clothing, and experiences of women?
Janet Dolgin

Advances in the Role of Women in Orthodoxy
Rachel Dulitz

The Interface of Women and Judaism: women and prayer, women and Torah learning, women in Tanach
Sharon Freundel

Orthodox Jewish Feminism; Where are we Headed?
Blu Greenberg

Issues Related to Women and the Law
Dean Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin

In My Own Lifetime: Jewish Feminism in America and Israel
Dr. Beverly Gribetz

Setting Up Your Own Women's Tefillah Group
Gael Hammer

Women in the Talmud
Sara Hurwitz

Promoting women issues in Israel.
Rachel Keren

Kol Kvod Bat Melech Pniman - The Case For Women in Leadership.
Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus

Women and Jewish communal leadership: What are the specific challenges women face in Jewish communal work and advancements; what are the professional cultures in the Jewish community and how do they affect women; what is the relationship between gender and leadership in the Jewish community at large.
Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman

Cutting Edge Orthodox Jewish Feminism
Dr. Vanessa Ochs

Businesswoman 'Par Excellence' - Gluckel of Hameln
Professor Sara Reguer

Establishing a Minyan or Women's Tefillah Group - Working with Conflict in your Community
Miriam Schacter

Tkhines: Women Talk to God
Ren'ee Septimus

Feminism in the State of Israel
Leah Shakdiel

Jewish Feminism
Leah Shakdiel

How to Start a Women's Tefillah Group
Laura Shaw-Frank


OTHER

Inside every Jew there is a mob of Jews. Jewish writers capture the varieties of the contemporary Jewish experience
Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman

Juggling acts: Negotiating the Jewish and secular pieces of our lives
Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman

Sh'ma Yisrael: a workshop for the kids (or adults) on how to write the Sh'ma with a feather-quill on parchment.
Soferet S Avielah Barclay

Dignity in the Wake of Terrorism: The Chevra Kadisha Following Terrorist Attacks
Mrs. Rochel Berman

Pesach/Chag Hamatzot in the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Second Temple sources
Dr. Shani Berrin

American Constitutional Law: Interpretations of the religion clauses
Janet Dolgin

Personhood, Discrimination and the New Genetics: Why are Jews (Askenazi Jews in particular) being associated with a disproportionate number of harmful genetic alterations and what are the consequences?
Janet Dolgin

Pastoral Counseling - What should communities expect from rabbis and how can communities support psychological health
Dr. Michelle Friedman

Capital Punishment in Jewish Thought: Contemporary American as well as rabbinic sources will be used to explore three questions: Why punish? Why not punish? How to punish?
Miriam Gedwiser

Aliyah: Can an American Oleh Really Make a Contribution?
Dr. Beverly Gribetz

As Israel's Poor Get Poorer: Who is Taking Responsibility?
Dr. Beverly Gribetz

Israel-Diaspora Jewry: Are We Engaged or Disengaged?
Dr. Beverly Gribetz

Jewish Ethnicity in Israel: Are We Siblings or Rivals?
Dr. Beverly Gribetz

Back to Basics: Judaism 101
Sara Hurwitz

Storytelling and Memory in the Haggadah
Tammy Jacobowitz

Jewish Frum Teenage Girls At Risk
Naomi Mark

Gender and Jewish adolescence. What are the specific challenges to being an adolescent religious girl? What messages do religious girls encounter at home, in school, with teachers and rabbis? How can we be doing this better?
Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman

Book Reading "Life on the Fringes" and Discussion
Rabbi Dr. Haviva Ner-David

"Ethical Wills": Jewish Tradition, Living Legacy
Ren'ee Septimus

Social Justice Issues (including peace) in Judaism and the State of Israel
Leah Shakdiel

Modern Jewish Literature and its Relationship to Particular Themes Found in Jewish Literature of all Times
Miriam Udel-Lambert






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