JOFA Conference Program by Julie Farkas

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IT’S FOR YOU

WHAT IS

JOFA?

The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) is the leading organization advocating for social change around gender issues in the Orthodox Jewish community. JOFA promotes spiritual, ritual, intellectual, and political opportunities for Orthodox women within the framework of halakha (Jewish law) in areas of women’s leadership and women’s ritual inclusion. Since its establishment in 1997, JOFA has been at the forefront of the movement advancing meaningful participation and equity for women in all areas of life: at home, in synagogues, in houses of learning, at work, and in Jewish communal organizations. JOFA achieves this through educational and advocacy programming aimed at a variety of target groups, including teens, college students, families, communities, women leaders, women scholars, rabbis, and the general public. JOFA has led some of the most significant transformations in Orthodox life over the past decade. Thanks to JOFA, today there are more opportunities for women’s ritual inclusion in synagogue, more women’s leadership in both lay and religious roles in the Orthodox community, more outlets for promoting women’s scholarship, more women in senior educational positions, and overall more awareness in the Orthodox community of the importance of gender equity. This work is bringing much-needed gender change to Orthodox Jewish society and thereby enriches and uplifts the entire Jewish people.

JOFA MEMBERSHIP

BECOME A MEMBER >> JOFA.ORG/MEMBERSHIP

WHY JOIN JOFA? • You care about the status of women in Judaism. • You deeply value women’s inclusion in religious life.

As a JOFA member, you:

•Y ou want to see your community embrace more inclusive values and practices.

• Connect with like-minded women and men from around the world who are committed to gender inclusion and women’s advancement.

•Y ou like to share these values and work together to advance a more gender-inclusive Jewish life. For all these reasons, JOFA is where you belong.

To become a member, register online at www.jofa.org/membership or visit the membership table in the lobby. Membership is discounted 10% if you sign up during the JOFA Conference. Cost of membership for one year: $100 for adults/$50 for full-time students

• Share your ideas and vision for creating a more inclusive religious community with Orthodox feminist change agents around the world. • Participate in member-exclusive content, such as engaging in live video webinars and on-line discussions. • Receive free copies of the invaluable JOFA Journal, as well as discounts on select JOFA events and merchandise.

WELCOME

The women and men participating in the conference are eager to share their ideas about how to facilitate changes in Orthodox Judaism. Some are pioneers who have been fiercely fighting the battle for decades, whereas others are relatively new to the cause. Together their collective voices will sound off today, helping to break barriers that have kept women on the outskirts of Orthodoxy. Thank you for joining our chorus. Sincerely, Judy Abel

Ariela Rosenberg Brafman

Bat Sheva Marcus

Program Co-Chair

Conference Chair

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elcome to JOFA’s 8th International Conference on Feminism and Orthodoxy. This year’s conference is titled “Voices of Change,” representing our pride in all JOFA has achieved to advance women’s roles in Orthodoxy and our hope that our voice will grow stronger as more and more people join our calls for inclusion and equity. Today’s conference offers a variety of sessions focusing on topics affecting the Orthodox community. Sessions will delve into vital subjects including scholarship, social change, sexuality, ritual, and family. In addition, several short documentary films, each offering a different perspective on challenges facing Orthodox women, will be featured. We have also included a separate track for educators, giving teachers and administrators a space to talk about the ways gender issues are addressed in our day schools.

Gerald W. Lynch Theater John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York, an international leader in educating for justice, offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu. Since opening its doors in 1988, the Gerald W. Lynch Theater has been an invaluable cultural resource for John Jay College and the larger New York City community. The Theater is dedicated to the creation and presentation of performing arts programming of all disciplines with a special focus on how the artistic imagination can shed light on the many perceptions of justice in our society. The Theater is also a member of CUNY Stages, a consortium of 16 performing arts center located on CUNY campuses across New York City.

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The Theater has hosted events in the Lincoln Center Festival since its first season in 1996, as well as, New York City Opera, Great Performers at Lincoln Center, Gotham Chamber Opera, Metropolitan Opera Guild and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater/Ailey II. The Theater has also been the site of many television and film specials including A&E’s Live by Request, Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, Robert Klein in Concert and VH1’s Soundtrack Live. For more information, and to view a schedule of events, please visit www.jjay.cuny.edu/theater. Jeremy Travis, President Robert M. Pignatello, Senior Vice President Office of Finance and Administration Jeffrey Brown, Executive Director Gerald W. Lynch Theater Johanna Whitton, Managing Director Joshua Redfearn, Stage Supervisor Amelia Vlah, House Electrician Jeffrey Kurtze, House Carpenter/Rigger Bill Grady, House Audio Engineer Kristyn Smith, Black Box Theater Technician Tim Jones, Shiva Gallery Technician Rubina Shafi, Audience Services Manager Alyshia Burke, Custodian

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FOR YOU

Welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The JOFA Conference Schedule At a Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Session Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Full Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 JOFA Conference Sessions Opening Plenary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Session #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Session #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Lunch and Affinity Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Session #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Session #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

High School Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Speaker Bios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Ads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 JOFA Conference Committee

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Session #5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

THE JOFA CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

AT A GLANCE SESSION 8:00AM – 9:00AM

Registration/Breakfast — Atrium Lobby

8:10AM – 8:40AM

Shacharit – Women’s Tefillah — L.76 Lobby Level Sponsored by Roselyn Bell and Eli Leiter

Shacharit – Partnership Minyan — L.61 Lobby Level Sponsored by Dr. Dinah and Andrew Mendes 9:00AM – 10:15AM

Opening Plenary: Voices of Change — Gerald W. Lynch Theater

10:35AM – 11:30AM

Session 1

11:45AM – 12:40PM

Session 2

12:40PM – 2:00PM

Lunch and Affinity Tables (see page 14) — Student Dining Room, Faculty and Staff Dining Room, Floor 2

2:00PM – 2:55PM

Session 3

3:05PM – 3:20PM

Mincha – Partnership Minyan — L.61, Lobby Level

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Sponsored by Dr. Dinah and Andrew Mendes 3:35PM – 4:40PM

Session 4

4:55PM – 5:50PM

Session 5

6:00PM

Ma’ariv — L.61, Lobby Level

Tefillah (Prayer) Options at the JOFA Conference The tefillot options for Shacharit will include a women’s tefillah and a partnership minyan. Mincha this afternoon will be a partnership minyan. Although we are fully aware that partnership minyanim for Shacharit and Mincha on a Sunday are ritualistically almost identical to traditional minyanim, we believe that the values of a partnership minyan go well beyond the question of which tefillot are said by women and which are said by men. We believe that the value of a partnership minyan is to maximize the dignity of the community by ensuring a respectful mechitza, encouraging full participation of women, and allowing women’s voices to be heard whenever possible. In that spirit, we are offering these minyan options as partnership minyanim but are delighted that those members of our community who generally daven in a traditional minyan will feel at home with us as well. We truly hope you will join us. 7:10 am Shacharit Traditional Minyan— Lincoln Square Synagogue, 200 Amsterdam Avenue

SESSION KEY ■B EIT MIDRASH Uniting a People in Diversity | Responding to Our Critics | Women and Megillat Esther Wherever You Go | Come Learn With Us ■C HANGE OUR WORLD — Sponsored by the David Berg Foundation Keeping Our Communities Safe | After the Summit | Breaking the Chains | Breaking Barriers Blogging for Change ■C HANGING OUR RELATIONSHIP TO PRAYER Leyn In | The Producers | How Is a Partnership Minyan Like IKEA Furniture? Kaddish, Women’s Voices ■C HANGING THE FACE OF ISRAEL Libi Ba-Mizrach | State of Marriage | The WOW Factor | Breaking Barriers ■C HANGING THE POWER STRUCTURE — Sponsored by Phyllis Hammer First Ladies | How to Talk So Your Rabbi Will Listen | Passing the Baton Women Rule | Fasting for Two ■C HICK FLICKS REVISITED The Bulletproof Stockings | Pinpoint of Light | DevOUT | The Rabbi’s Daughter A Tale of a Woman and a Robe ■E DUCATION TRACK — Sponsored by Dr. Laurel and Jonathan Hecht Educating in the Divine Image | Stretching the Walls of the School House* | Generation Gap Best Practices in Gender Education*— Sponsored by Ariel Groveman Weiner and Josh Weiner Living on a Prayer* — Sponsored by Daniela Bellows Schreiber and Laurence Schreiber

*Closed Sessions

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■H IGH SCHOOL TRACK — Sponsored by Carolyn Hochstadter Dicker and Adam Dicker; and Judy Heicklen Creating a Constructive Dialogue about Tefillah* | Effecting Change in Your High School * Navigating Relationships and Sexuality* | Generation Gap

THE JOFA CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

FULL PROGRAM SESSION 1 10:35AM – 11: 30AM

SESSION 2 11:45AM – 12:40PM

First Ladies

Responding to Our Critics

L2.84-FLOOR L2

Libi Ba-Mizrach

Mirror Image

L2.85-FLOOR L2

Keeping Our Communities Safe

Green Is the New Black

Time Is on Our Side

After the Summit

1.100-FLOOR 1

Uniting a People in Diversity

The Producers

1.101-FLOOR 1

Fertility and Jewish Law

How to Talk So Your Rabbi Will Listen

1.103-FLOOR 1

Educating in the Divine Image

Brits Do It With an Accent

1.105-FLOOR 1

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

State of Marriage

1.107-FLOOR 1 FILM TRACK

The Bulletproof Stockings

Pinpoint of Light

1.115-FLOOR 1

Leyn In

Constuctive Dialogue About Tefillah*

L.63-LOBBY LEVEL

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L.76-LOBBY LEVEL

1.113-FLOOR Babysitting in 630 1Harren Hall * Closed Session — Open to High School Students Only

SESSION 4 3:35 PM – 4:40PM

SESSION 5 4:55PM – 5:50PM

Modern Family

Women Rule

Breaking Barriers

Passing the Baton

Generation Gap

Fasting for Two

“Slut!” The Shame Effect

Here, Queer, and Machmir

Teach Your Children Well

Breaking the Chains

The WOW Factor

Come Learn With Us

Women and Megillat Esther

Wherever You Go

Tell Your Story

No More Whispers

Splitting Hairs

Blogging for Change

Baghdad, Benghazi and Brooklyn

The Y Factor

How Is a Partnership Minyan Like IKEA Furniture?

I Don’t Know How (S)he Does It

Baby, It’s You

DevOUT

The Rabbi’s Daughter

A Tale of a Woman and a Robe

Navigating Relationships and Sexuality*

Kaddish, Women’s Voices

ONLINE SCHEDULE >> JOFA2013.SCHED.ORG

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SESSION 3 2:00PM – 2:55PM

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THE JOFA CONFERENCE MAP

CONFERENCE SESSIONS

The Gerald W. Lynch Theater 9:00 am – 10:15 am

SESSION #1 10:35 am – 11:30 am

Ronnie Becher, Maharat Rachel Kohl Finegold, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, and Leah Sarna Presiding: Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus Sponsored by Sharon and Steven Lieberman

BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE? I SEE A FEMINIST LOOKING AT ME: SHAPING OUR CHILDREN’S SENSIBILITIES

Rabba Sara Hurwitz, Samantha Kur, and Rabbi Yossi Pollak Presiding: Devorah Zlochower Sponsored by Ariela Rosenberg Brafman and Yonatan Brafman in celebration of our future feminist

elcome to this morning’s opening plenary—Voices of Change. Since the first JOFA conference in 1997, we have been involved in championing the changing roles of women in the Jewish community. We have seen seismic changes in women’s learning, women’s involvement in ritual and leadership, and an ever-expanding acceptance of shifting family realities and roles. This morning we give voice to those changes by highlighting four individuals who each represent a moment in time in JOFA’s history. Ronnie Becher will speak about the early days of the organization and the shifting wind that allowed for the formation of JOFA. Rabbi Asher Lopatin, the first man to speak at a JOFA plenary, will focus on the generation of men and rabbis who stepped forward with the understanding that JOFA’s issues were not “women’s issues” alone, but were issues that faced the entire community. Maharat Rachel Kohl Finegold will address the changing roles of women of her generation and the questions with which they struggle. Our youngest speaker, Leah Sarna, a current college student, will speak to the future and what this generation hopes to fulfill in their lifetime. We are grateful to be able to say we are looking back at so much that has been accomplished and humbled by what yet remains to be accomplished. Each of these voices has added one more thread to the tapestry that is the rich and varied fabric of the Jewish community. We are so delighted that you are joining us as we hear from these voices of change— and hope that today, at the conference, you will add your voice as well.

Room 1.105 A discussion about shaping feminist values for boys and girls in the Orthodox world. Learn how to address the challenges of preaching equity within the framework of a practice that ascribes specific gender roles. Panelists will talk about their efforts to teach balance and equity while embracing Orthodox traditions.

CHICK FLICKS REVISITED: THE BULLETPROOF STOCKINGS DOCUMENTARY Dalia G. Shusterman and Perl Wolfe Room 1.107 The Bulletproof Stockings is a women’s Chassidic rock band that plays for women-only events. The short documentary film traces how the band came to be and how the band members bridge the gap between keeping their faith and following their dreams. The film will be accompanied by a talkback from Dalia Shusterman and Perl Wolfe, the band members.

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OPENING PLENARY: VOICES OF CHANGE

CONFERENCE SESSIONS

EDUCATING IN THE DIVINE IMAGE: GENDER IN ORTHODOX JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS Dr. Chaya R. Gorsetman and Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman Presiding: Dr. Tamara Beliak

Dr. Tamar Frankiel, Rivy Poupko Kletenik, and Dr. Rachel Levmore Presiding: Devorah Evron Sponsored by Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus and Dr. Elliott Schwartz

Room 1.103

Room L.63

What is it like to be a girl in our Orthodox Jewish day schools? What kind of environment is created for our daughters? This session explores the presenters’ newly released book on gender issues in Orthodox Jewish day schools. Hear how different areas of school life—including pedagogical practices, curricula, books, décor, leadership structures, rituals, dress codes, and school policies—construct gender roles and identities in our schools. Then, learn practical tips for parents, educators, students, and members of the community on raising consciousness about gender issues and promoting gender-sensitive educational practices.

Has the glass ceiling truly been shattered? What does the current field look like for women in Orthodox communal leadership positions? Hear from Orthodox women leaders who were among the first women in their respective positions. Panelists will discuss their personal journeys, including challenges they overcame and tips for the next generation of women leaders.

FERTILITY AND JEWISH LAW: FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES ON ORTHODOX RESPONSA LITERATURE JOFA CONFERENCE I DECEMBER 7-8 2013 I #JOFAconference 10

FIRST LADIES

Dr. Ronit Irshai Presiding: Jennifer Geretz Sponsored by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Room 1.101 Gender studies scholar Ronit Irshai will explore the concept of sex without procreation, the main thesis of her book, Fertility and Jewish Law. New insight is shed on halakhic responses to contemporary reproductive issues through probing the gender-based values that underlie their halakhic interpretations and determinations. This lecture explores the tendency to rule strictly on abortion and birth control while ruling leniently on issues of assisted fertility, and uncovers inherent gender perceptions underlying the decisions.

KEEPING OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE: SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE ORTHODOX COMMUNITY Dr Shira Melody Berkovits, Liana Goldmintz, and Dr. Ellen Labinsky Presiding: Lila Kagedan Sponsored by Arlene Agus Room L2.85 What does it mean to take steps to prevent sexual abuse in the Orthodox community? This panel will speak about the experiences of survivors of sexual abuse and discuss steps that parents, educators, and communities can take toward preventing abuse in the Orthodox community.

Lihi Lapid and Dr. Biti Roi Presiding: Miriam Zussman Sponsored by Miriam and Nathan Zussman Room L2.84 What is the status of the gender divide in Israel these days? How are women treated on buses, on the streets, at the markets, at mikvahs, and in politics? This session will present an in-depth discussion about how women are regarded in Israel, featuring personal reflections from panelists on the current status of women in Israel. Panelists will also explore the impact this conversation has on Jews and feminists in the Diaspora.

LEYN IN: A TORAH READING WORKSHOP Bracha Jaffe Sponsored by Erica and Robert Schwartz in memory of Nathalie Schacter Friedman and in honor of the bat mitzvah of their daughter, Gabby Schwartz Room 1.115 What roles do the Ta’amim (cantillation marks) play in the Tanakh? How many kinds of trop (cantillation) are there? What does a Tikkun look like? How do we sing the trop? Learn about Torah reading and start singing Shma Yisrael the correct way! If you have always wanted to learn how to leyn but didn’t know where to start, this is the workshop for you. Participants should be able to read and vocalize Hebrew text, but no previous experience with trop is necessary.

TIME IS ON OUR SIDE: A NEW LOOK AT MITZVOT ASEH SHE-HA-ZMAN GRAMA Dr. Elizabeth Shanks Alexander Presiding: Professor Tamar Ross Room L.76 New historical research suggests that when the rabbis formulated the rule exempting women from time-bound positive commandments (m. Kid. 1:7), they were not attempting to regulate women’s time, nor were they offering accommodations to a preconceived notion of women’s schedules. These new findings call into question the value of traditional explanations for the rule and consider the implications this new take will have for contemporary Jewish feminists.

UNITING A PEOPLE IN DIVERSITY: THE THREAD OF TOLERANCE IN OUR RABBINIC TRADITION Rosh Kehilah Dina Najman Room 1.100 In this shiur, we will learn texts which examine the origins and development of machloket (disagreement) according to rabbinic tradition. We will then discuss the possibility of truth expressed through differing opinions and its implications for unity and religious practice.

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LIBI BA-MIZRACH: STATUS OF WOMEN IN ISRAEL

CONFERENCE SESSIONS

SESSION #2 11:45 am – 12:40 pm

AFTER THE SUMMIT: NEW SOLUTIONS FOR AGUNAH Blu Greenberg and Rabbi Adam Mintz Presiding: Leon Metzger Sponsored by Judy and Gary Rosenblatt Room L.76 This is a follow-up to the JOFA–Tikvah Agunah Summit that convened in June 2013. The 2013 Summit called for systemic halakhic solutions to end the agunah crisis. Panelists will provide a recap of the summit, highlighting the lessons learned, next steps, and progress since this historic event and focusing on the possibilities for establishing a new beit din to resolve issues of iggun.

BRITS DO IT WITH AN ACCENT: ORTHODOX FEMINISM ACROSS THE POND

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Dina Brawer, Miriam Shaviv, and Lindsay Simmonds Presiding: Rachel Lieberman Room 1.103 Learn about the progress feminist leaders have made in spreading Orthodox feminism in the United Kingdom. JOFA UK held its inaugural conference in June 2013 in London. Panelists will discuss the pressing issues for British Orthodox feminists, as well as strategies for creating grassroots change.

CHICK FLICKS REVISITED: PINPOINT OF LIGHT Room 1.107 Pinpoint of Light documents a couple’s first two years of marriage, their longing for a child, and the terrifying medical issues they face on that journey. The husband is the filmmaker; as he uncovers his and his new wife’s moments of fear, hope, joy, and disappointment, we are gripped by the honesty and the poignancy of the film. The film records how Judaism serves as a source of strength for both of them as they travel uncharted territory.

GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK: WOMEN AND MONEY Judy Heicklen, Judith Stern Peck, and Gloria Perelman Schneider Presiding: Dr. Carmella Abraham Sponsored by Suri Kasirer Room L2.85 Who pays the bills in your family? Who makes the large financial decisions? Who makes decisions about charitable donations? This discussion will explore the ways that Orthodox women and men approach money and how these dynamics are affected by women’s careers and stature in the secular world.

HOW TO TALK SO YOUR RABBI WILL LISTEN AND LISTEN SO YOUR RABBI WILL TALK

RESPONDING TO OUR CRITICS

Rabbi Nissan Antine and Dr. Michelle Friedman Presiding: Carolyn Hochstadter Dicker Sponsored by the Belfer, Weiner, and Weinblatt Families in honor of Dr. Michelle Friedman

Room L.63

An exploration of strategies for congregants and community members to effectively express and communicate their concerns, thoughts, and suggestions for change around gender issues in their respective communities.

MIRROR IMAGE: EATING DISORDERS IN THE ORTHODOX COMMUNITY Dr. Esther Altmann, Professor Yael Latzer, and Dr. Sarah R. Roer Presiding: Dr. Sarah L. Weinberger-Litman Room L2.84 This panel will discuss how to nurture the development of a healthy body image and healthy eating in ourselves and in our children. Parents will be encouraged to consider how struggles with their own bodies may influence their sons’ and daughters’ body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Problematic messages in the culture at large and in the Jewish community in particular will be discussed. Data from Israel will also be presented.

Women’s ritual participation has advanced in recent years; however, the movement is not without its critics. This text-based session will explore how women’s ritual participation has developed, discuss opportunities for advancement found within halakhic boundaries, and offer halakhic responses to the criticisms that have been leveled.

STATE OF MARRIAGE: MARRIAGE AND THE STATE Dr. Melanie Landau and Susan Weiss Presiding: Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin Sponsored by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Room 1.105 The state of marriage in the Orthodox tradition poses a variety of challenges for feminists. Panelists will explore two of these challenges, their impact on the general population and proposed solutions. Susan Weiss will focus on the current state of marriage laws in Israel and the Israeli religious courts’ monopoly on conducting and terminating marriages. Dr. Melanie Landau will focus on the unequal nature of kiddushin (betrothal) and the legal and social consequences for women.

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Room 1.101

Rabbi Professor Daniel Sperber Presiding: Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin

AFFINITY TABLES

CONFERENCE SESSIONS

A moderator for each group will help facilitate a conversation geared toward sharing experiences and working together for lasting change. The goal is for these lunchtime groups to serve not only as meaningful experiences during the conference, but also to be the kernel of working groups to remain in touch in the coming weeks and months.

THE PRODUCERS: GABBAI TRAINING FOR WOMEN AND MEN

• Activism for Orthodox Feminists — Promoting Social Justice — Sponsored by Rabba Sara Hurwitz and Josh Abraham

Rachel Rosenthal and Abigail Tambor Sponsored by Allie Alperovich and Dr. Jeremy Simon

• Agunot and Agunah Activists — Sponsored by Batya and Ezra Levin

Room 1.100 Are you interested in organizing a women’s tefillah service or a partnership minyan in your community? Learn what it takes to take on a more active role in the tefillah in your community. This interactive workshop will cover the basics—what a gabbai is, what a gabbai does, what the ritual and logistical responsibilities are. Learn about the gabbai’s roles in a women’s tefillah, partnership minyan, and megillah reading. No experience is necessary. This workshop is open to women and men.

• Aspiring Shul Presidents and Their Supporters — Sponsored by Audrey and Dr. Chaim Trachtman • Challenges of Dating as a Male/Female Orthodox Feminist • E very Orthodox Shul Should Make Women Saying Kaddish Feel Welcome — Sponsored by Sarah and Robert Steinberg • Everyone Else on Campus Either Thinks I’m Not Orthodox Enough or Not Feminist Enough — Sponsored by Jennifer and Marshall Breger • Family of LGBT Orthodox • Frummie and Feminist — A Balancing Act

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12:40 PM – 2:00 PM LUNCH AND AFFINITY TABLES (OPTIONAL) FLOOR 2

Everyone should pick up lunch on the second floor, and choose one of two lunchtime options. For those interested in casual conversation, please proceed to the mezzanine or open tables in the dining rooms. For those interested in having a working lunch, there will be seventeen Affinity Tables in the student dining room for groups of people to gather around common interests and causes.

• Help! My Kid Flipped Out in Israel • I Feel Like the Only Orthodox Feminist in Town • JOFA Westchester • Making Educational Choices for My Child as an Orthodox Feminist — Sponsored by Leah Krakinowski and Andy Silberstein • M eet the Maharats — Sponsored by Hinda and Arnold Bramnick • Trying to Start a Partnership Minyan in My Community • US/Israeli Exchange Program— Coming Together, Sharing Stories — Sponsored by Rena Donin Schlussel and David Schlussel • We Have a Women’s Tefillah/Megillah Reading, and We’re Not Sure What’s Next • Work/Life Balance—Leaning In at Work without Leaning Out at Home — Sponsored Anonymously

SESSION #3 2:00 PM–2:55 PM

CHICK FLICKS REVISITED: DEVOUT Dr. Elissa Kaplan and Dr. Pamala Plastock Presiding: Miryam Kabakov Room 1.107

Sara Y. Aharon, Ronda Angel Arking, and Ellen Cohen Presiding: Morris Shamah Sponsored by Linda and Morris Shamah Room 1.103 What is the state of feminism in the Sephardic community? What are the challenges and vision for progress in this community? Panelists will address these questions and more.

BREAKING THE CHAINS: MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE AGUNAH FIGHT Dr. Rachel Levmore and Rabbi Jeremy Stern Presiding: Beverly Siegel Sponsored by Joyce and Daniel Straus Room L.76 What is the current state of agunah activism? How can communities support agunot and the organizations that advocate for them? What are the different tactics used in Israel and America? This session will explore the current advocacy strategies employed by agunah organizations, as well as strategies to prevent iggun from happening to you or your family members.

This session will feature the documentary film DevOUT, followed by a Q and A with film subjects Pamala Plastock and Elissa Kaplan. DevOUT follows the lives of six women who are trying to reconcile their alternative sexuality with their commitment to Orthodox Judaism. Find out how Chani, Pam, Elissa, Hayley, Lina, and “Miriam” have dealt with being “unacceptable” while still remaining devoted to their faith and community.

HOW IS A PARTNERSHIP MINYAN LIKE IKEA FURNITURE? IT’S DO IT YOURSELF BUT IT’S WORTH THE EFFORT Judy Abel, Evan Hochberg, and Shari Kleiner Presiding: Miriam Schacter Sponsored by Elena and Jay Lefkowitz Room 1.105 Creating a partnership minyan, and working to sustain it, can be daunting and time consuming—but, ultimately, it can be tremendously gratifying. What does it take to start a minyan—and to ensure its continuity? What particular challenges are involved in fostering a minyan that is dedicated to traditional halakha and to creating a prayer space that belongs to both women and men? The panelists, who have each been instrumental in founding a partnership minyan, will address these questions and more.

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BAGHDAD, BENGHAZI, AND BROOKLYN: FEMINISM IN THE SEPHARDIC COMMUNITY

CONFERENCE SESSIONS

“IM LA’ET KAZOT HIGA’AT LA-MALCHUT”—TA SHMA: WOMEN AND MEGILLAT ESTHER

NO MORE WHISPERS: TALKING OPENLY AND HONESTLY ABOUT MIKVAH

Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld Sponsored by Adrienne Goldfeder and Michael Turock

Sarah Mulhern and Rori Picker Neiss Sponsored by Gail Katz and Meyer Bick

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Explore diverse mikvah experiences through anonymous polling, creative activities, and open facilitated discussion. Members of the JOFA community will share mikvah stories and learn why it is crucial to make space to talk about our reactions to mikvah, both positive and negative. Learn techniques for opening up conversations about mikvah in your own community. This session is open to all.

Who is obligated in the reading of Megillat Esther? Who is eligible to read the megillah and fulfill the obligation on behalf of others? This session will explore these questions through texts and provide participants with the resources to bring answers back to their own communities.

MODERN FAMILY: UNCONVENTIONAL STRUCTURES Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman, Rabbi Steven Greenberg, and Judy Heicklen Presiding: Mierle Laderman Ukeles

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Room L.63 Not all families look alike, even if they share a commitment to Modern Orthodoxy. This panel will discuss the issues that arise for people with nontraditional family structures who embrace traditional Jewish views. What challenges arise in communities, day schools, and synagogues?

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PASSING THE BATON: MODELS OF YOUNG WOMEN LEADERS Maharat Ruth Balinsky Friedman, Dyonna Ginsburg and Gilah Kletenik Presiding: Avital Chizhik Sponsored by Dr. Amy Fox Griffel in memory of her mother Sima bat Moshe and Michlah and by Ellie Werber in memory of her mother Raizel bat Chayim and Devorah Room L2.84 A frank discussion about the future for women in Orthodox communal leadership positions. Today’s female leaders discuss the expanding halakhic, spiritual, and communal opportunities available to Orthodox women today.

“SLUT!” THE SHAME EFFECT Laila Goodman, Rachel Hercman, and Leora Tanenbaum Presiding: Dasi Fruchter

SESSION #4 3:35 PM–4:40 PM

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AGUNAH ADVOCACY AT THE JOFA CONFERENCE The plight of agunot has always been one of JOFA’s top priorities. When JOFA was formed 16 years ago, few were aware of the agunah problem; since that time, we have worked tirelessly to bring this issue to the fore, publicize the problems, and find both individual and systemic solutions. We have a special telephone advocacy table set up at this year’s conference to galvanize the force of the hundreds attending this conference in support of agunot. Please visit the table in the lobby where phone numbers and suggested text will be available to guide you. Thank you for your help in this important cause.

CHICK FLICKS REVISITED: THE RABBI’S DAUGHTER Racheli Vasserman Presiding: Suzanne Hochstein Sponsored by Debbie Pine and Mark Orenshein Room 1.107 The Rabbi’s Daughter is a documentary film that grew out of the director’s own experience as a rabbi’s daughter who struggled with the public role into which she was thrust and who eventually left observance. She documents the lives of three other rabbis’ daughters who are in similar situations, their relationships with their families and communities, and the inner tensions they deal with. The session features a talkback with the director, Racheli Vasserman, who will introduce the film and take questions at the end.

GENERATION GAP: THE ISRAEL YEAR Shoshana Benjamin, Debbie Braverman, Laura Shaw Frank, Aminadav Grossman, and Dr. Michelle Waldman Sarna Presiding: Dr. Michelle Friedman Room L2.84 Spending a post-high school year in Israel learning in yeshiva or seminary has become a rite of passage for most Orthodox day school graduates. This panel discussion will explore how gender concerns intersect with the “shana ba’aretz.” Panelists will address the process of selecting a seminary or Yeshiva, the messages conveyed to young women and men learning in Israel, and the impact of the year in Israel on post-Israel family and university life.

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Girls and women in the Orthodox community are taught to guard their bodies from the male gaze, to conform to implicit and explicit dress codes, and to physically embody the values of tzniut and modesty. There is a narrow line between preaching the sanctity of modesty and creating a culture that actively shames girls and women who explore their sexuality through relationships, behavior, and clothing. This session will discuss the phenomenon of “slut shaming” and its manifestation in the Orthodox community.

CONFERENCE SESSIONS

HERE, QUEER, AND MACHMIR: ORTHODOX LIFE IN THE LGBT COMMUNITY

KADDISH, WOMEN’S VOICES: EMOTIONAL AND PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES

Rabbi Steven Greenberg, Viva Hammer, and Miryam Kabakov Presiding: Diane Werner Sponsored by Mosaic of Westchester-Enriching our Jewish Community through LGBTQ Inclusion

Barbara Ashkenas, Shelley Cohen, and Debbie Jonas Presiding: Michal Smart Sponsored by Friends from the Stamford, CT community

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Editors Michal Smart and Barbara Ashkenas discuss their groundbreaking new book, Kaddish, Women’s Voices, sharing the reflections of 52 women from around the world. A panel discussion with contributing authors will be followed by Q and A and book signing. “This book will surely help make a practice that is just coming into its own become a fixed ritual for all time!”—Blu Greenberg

How can the Orthodox community be more inclusive of the LGBT members of the community? How can Orthodox feminists and Orthodox LGBTs work together as allies? How can parents of LGBT children and others create a more inclusive, open, and welcoming environment for LGBT individuals and their families? This session will explore the ways in which the feminist and LGBT communities can learn from each other and work together to create a more inclusive Orthodox community.

I DON’T KNOW HOW (S)HE DOES IT: BALANCING WORK AND HOME LIFE Russel Neiss, Frani Pollack, and Brooke Pollak Presiding: Allie Alperovich JOFA CONFERENCE I DECEMBER 7-8 2013 I #JOFAconference 18

Room 1.105 Can Orthodox women and men have it all? Is it possible to lean in at work, be an active member of an Orthodox ritual community, and have a fulfilling home life? This is the challenge facing Orthodox feminists who strive to reimagine gender roles and responsibilities in their homes and communities. Female and male panelists will discuss their personal experiences negotiating work, home, and ritual obligations from the particular vantage of an Orthodox feminist.

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SPLITTING HAIRS: VIEWS ON KISUI ROSH Maharat Ruth Balinsky Friedman, Amy Newman, and Dr. Naama Weinstock Presiding: Victoria Sutton Room 1.101 Jewish women make the personal choice to cover or uncover their heads and their hair for a variety of reasons. Some decide after an in-depth study of halakhic sources, others feel communal pressures, and still others follow family traditions, without understanding why. Panelists will address their own experiences and journeys with kisui rosh. They will talk about the social and communal implications of their choices and address the ways in which their decisions have affected them as role models in their communities.

THE WOW FACTOR: WOMEN OF THE WALL

WHEREVER YOU GO: FRIENDSHIP IN THE BOOK OF RUTH

Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson, Rahel Jaskow, and Cheryl Birkner Mack Presiding: Rabbi David Kalb Sponsored by Bethia Straus and Paul Quintas

Wendy Amsellem

How women choose to pray at the holiest Jewish site has incited controversy and clashes, making its way to the highest courts in Israel. What is really going on with the Women of the Wall, and how does it affect Jews and feminists in the Diaspora? Get the latest updates from activists and members of Women of the Wall. This panel will explore the monthly reality on the ground, the potential solutions for the Kotel plaza, and the implications of these events for the Jewish and feminist communities in the Diaspora.

THE Y FACTOR: MEN AND FEMINISM Rabbi Steven Exler, Simon Fleischer, and Yishai Schwartz Presiding: Susan Fader Sponsored by Evi Musher Room 1.103 What does it mean to be a male feminist in the Orthodox Jewish community? Hear from three self-identified male feminists about their personal experiences navigating feminism, and their approaches to advancing inclusivity and the role of women in their respective communities. Panelists include a congregational rabbi, a day school educator, and a recent, active college campus leader.

Naomi cannot understand why Ruth wants to continue to be with her once they are no longer related by marriage. Although the book of Ruth is concerned with family continuity and lineage, it is also a powerful meditation on the importance of friendship.

WOMEN RULE: FEMINIST INFLUENCES ON HALAKHA Rabbi Dov Linzer, Professor Tamar Ross, and Rabbi Ethan Tucker Presiding: Rabbi Jeff Fox Sponsored by Abigail and Shai Tambor Room L.63 How does the halakha change to accommodate new roles and opportunities for women? Where do these innovations come from? Do they stem from minority opinions that have been hidden for centuries? Do they arise from a sociological or a halakhic need? What are the opportunities for innovation and challenges to innovation that are intertwined with questions of gender and advancing womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roles in Judaism? JOFA CONFERENCE I DECEMBER 7-8 2013 I #JOFAconference 19

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CONFERENCE SESSIONS

SESSION #5 4:55 PM–5:50 PM

BABY, IT’S YOU: CEREMONIES FOR NEWBORN GIRLS Debra Nussbaum Cohen and Sharon R. Siegel Presiding: Ruthy Rosenberg Sponsored by Ruthy and Steven Rosenberg Room 1.105 How do we welcome our daughters into the Jewish covenant and community? Explore ways to create the ceremonies that welcome newborn girls into the Jewish community. The session will present both historical and contemporary trends.

BLOGGING FOR CHANGE Sonia Isard, Sarah Marian Seltzer, and Talia Weisberg Presiding: Gabrielle Birkner

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Room 1.101 Read a blog post lately? Blogs are going viral—and these posts can be a powerful catalyst for change. Join experienced writers and bloggers to learn first-hand about the this exciting new forum and how to shape your ideas into blogs with the potential to create real change on the ground.

BREAKING BARRIERS: RELIGIOUS WOMEN LEADING SOCIAL CHANGE IN ISRAEL Devorah Evron and Riki Shapira Rosenberg Presiding: Dr. Anat Sharbat Room L.63 This session will explore the social activism in Israel around the status of women in a religious context. Riki Shapira Rosenberg, one of the leading lobbyists advocating for women’s rights vis-à-vis religion, will discuss progress on issues such as gender segregation, events in Beit Shemesh, and the exclusion of women from public spaces. Devorah Evron, who is studying to become an Orthodox rabbi, will look at the struggle for women to become religious leaders in Israel.

CHICK FLICKS REVISITED: A TALE OF A WOMAN AND A ROBE Dr. Jennie Rosenfeld, Susan Weiss, and Director Nurit Jacobs-Yinon Presiding: Rabbi Shmuel Klitsner Sponsored by Susan Fader and Lawrence Krule in honor of their friend Steve Klitsner Room 1.107 A Tale of a Woman and a Robe is a series of film clips which explores the difficult process that women converts go through as they ritually immerse in front of an all-male panel of rabbis. The clips, which dramatize the women’s experiences of privacy and gaze under the watchful eye of the male bet din, include interviews with three leading Orthodox rabbis in Israel. The session will be accompanied by a panel discussion with the director, Nurit Jacobs Yinon, which will use these clips as a launching point to discuss the dynamics of women’s conversion.

COME LEARN WITH US: YOUNG WOMEN TACKLE GENDER ISSUES IN THE TALMUD

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL: RAISING SEXUALLY HEALTHY CHILDREN

Shoshana Benjamin, Elianna Kaplowitz, Rachel Keren, Shifra Mincer, Maya Rosen, and Emily Stone Sponsored by Lisa Javitch and Louis Benjamin

Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus Presiding: Dr. Marcy Goldstein Sponsored by Valerie Altmann and Daniel Perla

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A discussion of the major issues facing parents trying to raise children in the Orthodox community with a positive, healthy attitude toward sexuality. The session will focus on tzniut, masturbation, introduction of taharat hamishpachah, and sexual identity. It will address the issues that arise when messages from a community, school, or synagogue on these topics conflict with what is taught at home. Back by popular demand, from the 2010 conference!

FASTING FOR TWO: WHO MAKES THE CALL? Maharat Rachel Kohl Finegold Presiding: Dr. Giti Bendheim Room L2.84 For centuries, halakhic questions around pregnant and nursing women fasting have been asked by women and answered by men. This session will explore the sources surrounding fasting from the female perspective. What does it mean to study these sources with a woman who is a halakhically knowledgeable member of the clergy who has actually experienced pregnancy and nursing? The answers may surprise you.

TELL YOUR STORY: A PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP Nomi Schneck Room 1.100 What is your story, and how can you share it with others? In this session, we will examine personal narrative pieces describing struggles surrounding gender and religion. We will then begin writing and sharing our own stories.

MAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ARIV 6:00 PM L.61 LOBBY LEVEL

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This session will explore how to successfully teach Torah texts related to gender. The presenters will begin with a fishbowl-style demonstration in which they will show how the Gender and Judaism shiur is taught at Midreshet Ein HaNatziv. They will then facilitate a discussion about how our communities can best support Torah learning around issues of gender.

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HIGH SCHOOL TRACK

Sponsored by Carolyn Hochstadter Dicker and Adam Dicker; and Judy Heicklen A unique opportunity for high school students to engage with one another around feminist, gender, and religious issues that matter to them. There will be two closed sessions and one lunch discussion specifically for high school students. For the remaining three program slots, students are encouraged to choose from the general list of sessions. This track was created for high school students by high school students.

11:45 AM–12:40 PM CREATING A CONSTRUCTIVE DIALOGUE ABOUT TEFILLAH Eden Farber, Ricki Heicklen, and Shalhevet Schwartz Presiding: Chava Evans Sponsored in Honor of JOFA’s Teen Leaders by Pam and Matt Greenwood Room 1.115 Identify, discuss, and learn to advocate for changes in the tefillah culture of your school. This session will address peer-to-peer advocacy, liturgy through a feminist lens, a step-by-step guide to organizing tefillah in your school, and the pros and cons of different tefillah styles (e.g. egalitarian, partnership minyan, women’s tefillah and traditional Orthodox).

12:40 PM–2:00 PM LUNCH DISCUSSION: EFFECTING CHANGE IN YOUR HIGH SCHOOL

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Faculty and Staff Dining Room How can you communicate more effectively with the teachers and administrators in your schools? Join us for a casual discussion with a high school administrator about strategies for advocating for change in your high school.

2:00 PM–2:55 PM NAVIGATING RELATIONSHIPS AND SEXUALITY AS A FEMINIST HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT Dr. Esther Altmann, Amram Altzman, Yedidya Gorsetman, and Pessy Katz Presiding: Ricki Heicklen and Shalhevet Schwartz Room 1.115 This panel will explore the ways in which students’ feminist beliefs impact their relationships, with a particular focus on navigating traditional gender roles. Panelists will include a therapist, a current college student, and recent college graduates, and will be moderated by high school students.

SPEAKER BIOS

Judy Abel is a freelance writer based in Manhattan whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the New York Observer. She is a member of JOFA’s executive board and serves as president of Yavneh, a partnership minyan on the Upper East Side, which she co-founded. Session: How is a Partnership Minyan Like IKEA Furniture? It’s Do It Yourself But It’s Worth the Effort Sara Y. Aharon is the author of From Kabul to Queens: The Jews of Afghanistan and Their Move to the United States. She studied modern Jewish history at NYU and Brandeis University. Her speaking credits include the 92nd Street Y, Columbia University, Boston University, and Fifth Avenue Synagogue. Session: Baghdad, Benghazi, and Brooklyn: Feminism in the Sephardic Community Dr. Elizabeth Shanks Alexander is an associate professor of Talmud and Rabbinics in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1998. She has published widely in academic forums on gender and rabbinic literature. Her most recent book, Gender and Timebound Commandments in Judaism, came out in April with Cambridge University Press. Her other academic interests include oral transmission of rabbinic tradition and the literary crafting of rabbinic literature. Session: Time Is on Our Side: A New Look at Mitzvot Aseh She-ha-Zman Grama

Amram Altzman is a New York native, and is currently a first-year student at the joint program of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University. He has worked to create safe spaces for discussion of issues surrounding sexuality and gender through co-founding the Sexuality, Identity, and Society Club at his high school. Amram has also written for the Huffington Post’s Teen section, and for MyJewishLearning.com. Session: High School Track: Navigating Relationships and Sexuality as an Orthodox Jewish Feminist Wendy Amsellem is a faculty member at Drisha Institute and the Director of Drisha’s July Collegiate Program. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. from NYU in rabbinic literature. She is an alumna of the Drisha Scholar’s Circle and has a B.A. in history and literature from Harvard University. Session: Wherever You Go: Friendship in the Book of Ruth Rabbi Nissan Antine is the Rabbi at Beth Sholom Congregation in Potomac, MD. Rabbi Antine was ordained by YCT Rabbinical School in 2006 and was awarded Alumnus of the Year in 2012. He is a founding member and officer of the International Rabbinic Fellowship. Sessions: How to Talk So Your Rabbi Will Listen and Listen So Your Rabbi Will Talk; Educators Track: Living on a Prayer Ronda Angel Arking is the director of language arts programs for an international education company and is the managing editor of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. She is an active member of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Baltimore, where she teaches classes in biblical literature. Session: Baghdad, Benghazi, and Brooklyn: Feminism in the Sephardic Community

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Dr. Esther Altmann, Ph.D., is the Director of Pastoral Education at Yeshivat Maharat, the Orthodox program that ordains women as clergy, and is a clinical psychologist in private practice. Formerly on the teaching faculty of NYU, Adelphi University, Drisha, and YCT Rabbinical School, she has also been a supervising psychologist at several New York hospitals. She has served as an eating disorders consultant to Jewish Institutions and helped develop the treatment program at the Renfrew Center for Orthodox patients. She writes and lectures in schools and communities on mental health topics. Sessions: Mirror Image: Eating Disorders in the Orthodox Community; High School Track: Navigating Relationships and Sexuality as an Orthodox Feminist

Barbara Ashkenas received her B.A. in early childhood education from Ohio State University, and a Masters in Art Education from Manhattanville College. She has been professionally involved in the arts for more than thirty years. Earlier in her career, as a freelance calligrapher, she crafted ketubot, logos and invitations. More recently, as an arts educator, she conducts seminars for staff development on the integration of the arts into Jewish educational settings. She has served as the Educational Outreach Coordinator at the Stamford Center for the Arts, and as an adjunct professor of art education at Housatonic Community College; she has also participated in the Drisha Arts Fellowship program in New York City. Session: Kaddish, Women’s Voices: Emotional and Personal Perspectives A founding member of JOFA, Ronnie Becher served as Executive Vice President of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale for more than twenty years. She was an active member of the Women’s Tefilla of Riverdale and currently is on the board of Shachar, the Riverdale Partnership Minyan. She currently serves as the Educational Director of Beth El Nursery School in Westchester, NY, and is the President of JECA, the Jewish Early Childhood Association. Session: Opening Plenary: Voices of Change Shoshana Benjamin graduated from SAR High School in 2012 and spent the following year at Midreshet Ein Hanatziv in Israel. She is currently a student at Barnard College of Columbia University. Sessions: Generation Gap: The Israel Year; Come Learn With Us: Young Women Tackle Gender Issues in the Talmud Dr. Shira Melody Berkovits is a postdoctoral psychology fellow at Einstein’s Kennedy Center, where she works with parents and young children with trauma backgrounds. She is simultaneously completing her law degree at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she is a Monrad Paulson Scholar and represents adolescent defendants in the Youth Justice clinic. She has a Ph.D. in learning processes and behavior analytic psychology from the Graduate Center, CUNY, where she was an Enhanced Chancellor’s Fellow and adjunct professor, and has completed a postdoctoral psychology fellowship at the TASC Mental Health Court Program. She also works as a WINGS Youth Consultant for the Department of Synagogue Services at the OU. Session: Keeping Our Communities Safe: Sexual Abuse in the Orthodox Community

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Debbie Braverman, a lawyer-in-transition, is Senior Associate Director for Development at Barnard College. She and her husband Hillel Grossman reside in Riverdale, NY. They are raising and being elevated by their three sons and two daughters. Session: Generation Gap: The Israel Year Dina Brawer, born and raised in Milan, Italy, holds a B.A. in Hebrew and Jewish studies from the University of London and an M.A. in education and psychology from the Institute of Education, London, and studied at Pardes in Jerusalem. She is a Bradfield Fellow and an associate faculty member at the London School of Jewish Studies. For nearly twenty years, working alongside her husband, a congregational rabbi, she taught numerous kallahs, ran adult education programs, and was involved in strategic community development. She contributed to the development of the LSJS Kolot Mother and Daughter Bat Mitzvah Programme and is also the first (and only) woman to address a British Orthodox congregation at Kol Nidre. As JOFA’s first UK Ambassador, she will teach, organize events, and engage in communal discussions around religion and gender. Session: Brits Do It With an Accent: Orthodox Feminism Across the Pond Ms. Shoshana Chanales has been on the Judaic Studies faculty at SAR High School for 10 years. She currently teaches Tanakh and Machshevet Yisrael and serves as Grade Level Coordinator for the 9th grade. She has developed Tanakh and Advisory curricula for the high school in addition to being a featured lecturer in SAR High School’s Adult Education program. Session: Educators Track: Living on a Prayer

Debra Nussbaum Cohen is an award-winning journalist and essayist. Author of Celebrating Your New Jewish Daughter: Creating Jewish Ways to Welcome Baby Girls into the Covenant (Jewish Lights), she is the New York correspondent for Ha’aretz and founding writer at The Sisterhood, a blog about Jewish women’s interests and issues at the Forward, where she is a contributing editor. She has also contributed to several books, including those on Jewish ritual and spiritual growth, on explaining Judaism to Christians, and on September 11, 2001. She has been recognized as an outstanding journalist eight times, with awards from the American Jewish Press Association and the New York Press Association. She was an Arts Fellow at Drisha in 2008–09 and in 2010–11 and continues to study Torah as part of a study group. Session: Baby, It’s You: Ceremonies for Newborn Girls Ellen Cohen has been participating in Yavneh, a partnership minyan on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, since its inception in 2006. Ellen grew up in a family that, for generations, had been steeped in the rich Syrian liturgical tradition. Inspired by her family, she learned to read Torah as an adult, and with their help, she became the first woman in her family, and the first Syrian-Jewish woman at Yavneh, to read Torah with ta’amim (Syrian cantillation). She worked at the American Sephardi Federation for five years, where she developed an appreciation for the rich and wide-ranging musical traditions of various Sephardic communities. She now works for an international strategic advisory company in Manhattan. Session: Baghdad, Benghazi, and Brooklyn: Feminism in the Sephardic Community Shelley Cohen is Founder and Director of the Jewish Inclusion Project, which develops and conducts inclusion training programs for rabbinic students and is funded in part by a grant from the Ruderman Family Foundation. She is a member of the boards of RespectAbility USA; the New Jersey YM/YWHA Camps, which runs the largest Jewish inclusive camp in the United States; Beit Issie Shapiro, an innovator of the therapies and programming for children with developmental and physical disabilities in Ra’anana, Israel; and Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan. She is an active advocate for the inclusion of children with disabilities in Jewish educational and recreational environments. Session: Kaddish, Women’s Voices: Emotional and Personal Perspectives

Chava Evans is a Jewish educator, illustrator, and student at Yeshivat Maharat. She lives in Baltimore with her husband and two children. She is the madrichah for the High School Track. Session: High School Track: Creating a Constructive Dialogue about Tefillah Devorah Evron, M.A., Director of the Elga Stulman Women’s Institute for Jewish Studies Nigun Nashim, is empowering Israeli women towards social equality and progressive leadership. Using the platform of gender and Judaism, she teaches in various forums, including study groups, community centers and women’s organizations. In the Rabin pre-military “mechina” leadership program and other mechinot, she educates and inspires young women to seek opportunities for influential and nontraditional posts in military service, and to strive for standards of gender equality in the IDF. A frequent media guest, she uses Jewish-feminist language as a tool with which women can strengthen themselves and their communities, and change the face of Israeli society. Session: Breaking Barriers: Religious Women Leading Social Change in Israel Rabbi Steven Exler serves as Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale—The Bayit, a large Open Orthodox synagogue in the Bronx. He has a B.A. in biology from Brandeis University and an M.A. in Bible from Bernard Revel Graduate School, and has studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion, in the Yeshiva University Beit Midrash and at Yeshivat Maale Gilboa. His ordination is from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Session: The Y Factor: Men and Feminism

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Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson is Director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network, the international support and advocacy organization for women in the Reform rabbinate. She serves as an International ViceChair of Rabbis for Women of the Wall, is a former chair and board member of the Hadassah Foundation, a former board member of the Rodeph Sholom School in New York, and currently is on the boards of the Yedidya Center for Jewish Spiritual Direction and Friends of Kehillat Kol HaNeshamah. From 1992 to 2002, she was the Jewish Chaplain at Harvard-Westlake School, Los Angeles, and has worked in synagogue education, adult education, and hospital chaplaincy. She is currently teaching in the field of adult spiritual formation and development. She is a graduate of the Rabbinic Enrichment program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and serves as a spiritual director. Session: The WOW Factor: Women of the Wall

Eden Farber is 16, unschooled and lives in Atlanta. She is a columnist for the Atlanta Jewish Times, has been published in the JOFA Journal, and has written for online sites such as Modern Hippie Magazine, the F Bomb, Fresh Ink for Teens, and the JOFA blog. She has studied at the Drisha Dr. Beth Samuels High School program and studies Daf Yomi independently. Session: High School Track: Creating a Constructive Dialogue about Tefillah Maharat Rachel Kohl Finegold recently joined Montreal’s Congregation Shaar Hashomayim as the Director of Education and Spiritual Enrichment. Previously, she served for six years as the Education and Ritual Director at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation in Chicago. She is a founding member of the Orthodox Leadership Project, serves on the editorial board of the JOFA Journal, and was recognized as one of Chicago JUF’s “36 Under 36.” She received her B.A. in Religion from Boston University and completed the Drisha Scholars Circle. She recently graduated as part of the inaugural class of Yeshivat Maharat. Sessions: Opening Plenary: Voices of Change; Fasting for Two: Who Makes the Call? Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman is Chair of the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis University, where she is the Joseph and Esther Foster Professor of Contemporary Jewish Life and co-director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. She is the author of seven books and numerous monographs and articles on the interplay of American and Jewish values, transformations in the American Jewish family, the impact of Jewish education, gender studies and the changing roles of Jewish men and women, contemporary Jewish literature and film, and the relationship of Diaspora Jews to Jewish peoplehood and Israel. Her most recent book is The Way Into the Varieties of Jewishness. She is currently working on a new book, Love, Marriage, and Jewish Families: Paradoxes of a Social Revolution. Session: Modern Family: Unconventional Structures

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Simon Fleischer received his B.A. from Columbia University with a major in English and a concentration in psychology. He spent three years at Yeshiva University while pursuing his M.A. and M.Phil. in English literature from Fordham University. He joined the SAR High School staff after having taught composition and literature for three years at Fordham, and English for two years at Ma’ayanot High School. At SAR, he is currently the co-chair of the English department and co-architect of the Beit Midrash program, and oversees the Jewish Identity program for seniors. Sessions: The Y Factor: Men and Feminism; Educators Track: Best Practices in Gender Education Rabbi Aaron Frank is the High School Principal at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Baltimore, MD. Rabbi Frank is a graduate of the Jerusalem Fellows program at the Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem where he completed a final project entitled “Toward an Understanding of Male Gender Identity in Contemporary American Orthodox Judaism.” He served as Associate Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale under the mentorship of Rabbi Avi Weiss from 1996 until 2000. He received semikha from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and from Rabbi David Weiss Halivni. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan and an M.S. from Columbia University School of Social Work. He was an Avi Chai Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Principals’ Center Institute. He serves on the boards of the International Rabbinic Fellowship and of Kehilat Netivot Shalom, an Open Orthodox congregation in Baltimore. He also serves on the advisory board of Yeshivat Maharat. Session: Educators Track: Opening Plenary Laura Shaw Frank is a doctoral candidate in modern Jewish history at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also the Jewish History Department Chair and Israel Programs Advisor at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community High School in Baltimore. A former corporate litigator, she is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School. She is a founding board member of JOFA and currently serves on the JOFA Executive Board as well as serving as co-chair of the JOFA Conference Educators’ Track. Session: Generation Gap: The Israel Year

Dr. Tamar Frankiel, Ph.D., is President of the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, a transdenominational seminary educating rabbis, cantors, chaplains, and other community leaders. Prior to accepting this position in January 2013, she was the chief academic officer at AJRCA, and after several decades of teaching in universities. Her doctoral field is History of Religions (University of Chicago), and she has written many articles and several books on religion in the modern West. In Los Angeles, she has been a popular teacher of Jewish spirituality; is the author of The Gift of Kabbalah; The Voice of Sarah: Feminine Spirituality and Traditional Judaism; and is the co-author with Judy Greenfeld of two books on prayer, Minding the Temple of the Soul and Entering the Temple of Dreams. Session: First Ladies Dr. Michelle Friedman did her undergraduate work at Barnard College, where she majored in religion. After medical school at the New York University School of Medicine, she did an internship in medicine at St. Vincent’s Hospital and then a residency in psychiatry at Mt. Sinai Hospital and Medical Center, where she is on staff as an associate clinical professor of psychiatry. She then received a certificate in psychoanalysis at the Columbia University Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Her chief interests are the interface between psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology and the interface between psychiatry and religious life; she has published in both fields in the academic and popular press. Currently, in addition to her private practice, she is the director of pastoral counseling at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in New York. Sessions: Generation Gap: The Israel Year; How to Talk So Your Rabbi Will Listen and Listen So Your Rabbi Will Talk Maharat Ruth Balinsky Friedman recently moved to Washington, DC, to serve as Maharat at Ohev Sholom: The National Synagogue. She graduated from Barnard College in 2007, and then spent two years studying at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education in New York before attending Yeshivat Maharat. As a supporter of dialogue and pluralism, she has participated in the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s Retreat for Emerging Jewish and Muslim Leaders in August 2009, the CLAL Rabbis Without Borders student fellowship in 2009–2010, and the JCRC Community Connections Fellowship. She also served as Congregational Intern at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and interned at the Center for Jewish Living of the JCC in Manhattan. Sessions: Splitting Hairs: Views on Kisui Rosh; Passing the Baton: Models of Young Women Leaders

Liana Goldmintz, LMSW, is a clinical social worker at the Mount Sinai Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention (SAVI) Program. At SAVI, she coordinates the Takanot Program, which provides free psychotherapy to Orthodox survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Prior to working at SAVI, Liana was a training and volunteer coordinator for the SOVRI Helpline at the Beth Israel Medical Center. Session: Keeping Our Communities Safe: Sexual Abuse in the Orthodox Community Laila Goodman has been a high school educator since 1985, first as a public school teacher and for the bulk of her career in independent schools. Since 2005, she has worked at Gann Academy, a pluralistic Jewish high school in Waltham, MA. She currently is the Dean of Students, teaches biology, and also leads a liberal minyan and a meditation group. She also teaches tefillah at the religious school of Temple Ahavat Achim in her hometown, Gloucester, MA. Session: “Slut!” The Shame Effect

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Dyonna Ginsburg is the Director of Jewish Service Learning at the Jewish Agency for Israel. Upon completing her B.A. in political science at Columbia University, she made aliyah in 2002 and obtained an M.A. in Jewish education from Hebrew University. She was one of the founders of Siach, a global network of Jewish social justice and environmental professionals, and currently serves on its strategic team. She also sits on the board of Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice organization, and sat on the founding board of PresenTense, promoting social entrepreneurship in the Jewish community. In recognition of her achievements, she was awarded the World Council of Jewish Communal Service’s Ted Comet Exemplar Award for Outstanding Leadership in Strengthening the Jewish People in 2008. Session: Passing the Baton: Models of Young Women Leaders

Dr. Chaya R. Gorsetman, Ed.D., is Clinical Associate Professor of Education and the Co-Chair of the Education Department at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University. She specializes in supervision of student teachers and curriculum studies, and her research has focused on mentoring novice teachers in Jewish day schools. More recently, as the Educational Director of the Educational Leadership Advancement Initiative of the Lookstein Center of Bar Ilan, her focus has been on mentoring those in educational leadership positions. Additionally, she is interested in how gender is expressed in day schools and as such served as the director and co-author of the JOFA Gender and Orthodoxy Curriculum Project, Bereshit: A New Beginning—A Differentiated Approach to Learning and Teaching. She is the co-author of Educating in the Divine Image: Gender Issues in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools, (Hadassah Brandeis, October 2013). Session: Educating in the Divine Image: Gender in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools Blu Greenberg, JOFA’s founding president, has been involved in Jewish feminism for four decades, serving as conference chair of both the first and the second International Conferences on Feminism and Orthodoxy. She chaired the New York Federation Task Force on Jewish Women and the AJC National Jewish Family Center, and was president of the Jewish Book Council. Dialogue is another long standing passion of hers, and she has participated in various inter- and intra-faith projects. She serves on the editorial board of Hadassah Magazine and the advisory board of Lilith. Her books include On Women and Judaism: A View From Tradition, How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household, and Black Bread: Poems After the Holocaust. Session: After the Summit: New Solutions for Agunah Rabbi Steven Greenberg is a Senior Teaching Fellow at CLAL, a think tank, leadership training institute, and resource center, and is the Director of the CLAL Diversity Project. He is the author of Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition (University of Wisconsin Press), which was awarded the 2005 Koret Jewish Book Award for Philosophy and Thought. He is a founder and co-director of Eshel, an Orthodox LGBT community support and education organization, and serves on the faculty of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Sessions: Modern Family: Unconventional Structures; Here, Queer, and Machmir: Orthodox Life in the LGBT Community Aminadav Grossman is from Riverdale, NY, attended SAR High School and Yeshivat Har Etzion and is currently a senior at Columbia College, majoring in history along with a concentration (minor) in Jewish studies. Session: Generation Gap: The Israel Year

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Viva Hammer moved to New York two days after finishing law school in Sydney. She founded the first women’s tefillah group in Australia and, in New York, has participated in as many of these groups as she could. She has advocated for individual agunot and founded the Wedding Resource Center to promote the use of prenuptial agreements as global solution to the iggun problem. Professionally, she has worked in tax law for more than twenty years, as a partner in a major DC law firm as well as for the U.S. Treasury Department. She is currently at Brandeis University writing a book on why Orthodox Jews have so many children (while other Jews have so few). Session: Here, Queer, and Machmir: Orthodox Life in the LGBT Community Judy Heicklen is the President of JOFA. She earned a B.A. in economics from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business. She is a managing director at Credit Suisse and serves on the Boards of the Drisha Institute and the Halachic Organ Donor Society. She is a single mother by choice. Sessions: Green Is the New Black: Women and Money; Modern Family: Unconventional Structures Ricki Heicklen is a senior at SAR High School in Riverdale, NY. She spends her free time working on the school newspaper and Model UN. She loves creative writing, math, and debating feminism on the internet. She wears mismatched socks, refuses to eat dead animals, and wants to be a student when she grows up. She is currently co-chairing the High School track of this year’s conference. Sessions: High School Track: Creating a Constructive Dialogue about Tefillah; Navigating Gender and Sexuality as a Feminist High School Student

Rachel Hercman, LCSW, is a psychotherapist specializing in sexual health, dating and relationships. She earned undergraduate degrees in history and education from CUNY Queens College and a Master of Social Work from Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. She currently works at the Medical Center for Female Sexuality, a medical center in the tri-state area dedicated to helping women achieve a healthier, more satisfying sex life. Previously, she worked at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in Brooklyn, where she conducted individual and family therapy, led psycho-educational workshops for young women in local high schools, and was a consultant on clinical issues for area yeshivot. She has lectured in various settings and, as a writer on sex and relationship issues, her work has appeared on various websites. Session: “Slut!” The Shame Effect Evan Hochberg is the founding chair of Minyan Tiferet of Englewood and Tenafly. Previously, he founded Minyan Shirat Miriam and co-founded and co-chaired Minyan Tehillah, both in Cambridge, MA. He is an attorney serving as Senior Restitution Policy Specialist at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Session: How is a Partnership Minyan Like IKEA Furniture? It’s Do It Yourself But It’s Worth the Effort Rabba Sara Hurwitz is on the rabbinic staff at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and serves as Dean of Yeshivat Maharat, the first Orthodox program to ordain women as clergy. She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University and completed Drisha’s three-year Scholars Circle Program. She was ordained in 2009 by Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Daniel Sperber. She was awarded the Hadassah Foundation Bernice S. Tannenbaum prize in 2013; was named as one of the Jewish Week’s 36 under 36, the Forward’s 50 most influential Jewish leaders, Newsweek’s 50 most influential rabbis three years in a row; and is a Bikkurim fellow. Session: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I See a Feminist Looking at Me: Shaping Our Children’s Sensibilities Dr. Ronit Irshai, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Gender Studies Program at Bar Ilan University and a researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. In 2007–2008, she was a visiting scholar at the Women Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School. Her work analyzes the tension between feminist critique and Jewish law (halakha); Jewish theology; and Jewish bioethics. Her book, Fertility and Jewish Law: Feminist Perspectives on Orthodox Responsa Literature, was published by Brandeis University Press in June 2012. Session: Fertility and Jewish Law: Feminist Perspectives on Orthodox Responsa Literature

Nurit Jacobs-Yinon is an independent filmmaker (branded Aluma Films), director, and producer focusing in the field of documentary projects and video arts. Her films have been screened at film festivals all around the world. A Tale of a Woman and a Robe won the award for best experimental documentary from the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum. Covenant (2005) won the best documentary award at the religious film festival in Italy 2007; Holy Stone (2006), a piece of short video art, was an episode of the ”Moment Jerusalem” project for the International Jerusalem Film Festival 2007; With All Your Soul—The Story of Roi Klein garnered the highest rating for a documentary in 2007 on Israel’s Channel 1. In the past thirteen years, she has taught and given lectures on the nexus of Judaism, feminism, and religion, and has been artistic manager of the student’s competition at the EPOS film festival and a lector and judge in different film festivals in Israel. Session: Chick Flicks Revisited: A Tale of a Woman and a Robe Bracha Jaffe has a true love for leyning and has taught many bnot/bnai mitzvah, as well as leyning classes for women of all ages. It is her voice on the JOFA app for Megillat Esther as well as the leyning voice on the Kolech website. She is a life coach and currently attending Yeshivat Maharat as a full-time student. Session: Leyn In: A Torah Reading Workshop

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Sonia Isard is the Associate Editor at Lilith magazine, where she edits features, commissions new articles, and acts as lead editor for the website and blog. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she focused her studies on the history and literature of Jews in the Soviet Union. A native of Philadelphia, she now lives in Brooklyn. Session: Blogging for Change

Rahel Jaskow, originally from New York, lives in Jerusalem, where she works as a translator and editor. A former member of Women of the Wall, she was with the group for about eighteen years and served as a prayer leader. Her writing is published in several anthologies, including Women of the Wall: Claiming Sacred Ground at Jerusalem’s Holy Site (edited by Phyllis Chesler and Rivka Haut). In 2000 she released Day of Rest, her award-winning CD of Shabbat songs. Session: The WOW Factor: Women of the Wall Miryam Kabakov is Executive Director of Eshel, an organization that fosters LGBT inclusion in the Orthodox world by creating community for Orthodox LGBT people, and by galvanizing Orthodox LGBT people and their families across the nation to advocate on behalf of LGBT community members, relatives, and friends. She is also the editor of Keep Your Wives Away From Them: Orthodox Women, Unorthodox Desires (North Atlantic Books, 2010). Sessions: Chick Flicks Revisted: DevOUT; Here, Queer, and Machmir: Orthodox Life in the LGBT Community As a child, Dr. Elissa Kaplan attended afternoon Hebrew school in a Conservative synagogue, and became more Torah observant during college. Unaware that she was gay, she married an Orthodox man while in her twenties. They had three children whom they were raising in a modern Orthodox community when she came out to herself and, slowly, to everyone else. She and her ex-husband have an amicable divorce and have continued to co-parent closely. Elissa and Pamala Plastock have been together for nine years and were married in Massachusetts in 2008. Session: Chick Flicks Revisited: DevOUT Elianna Kaplowitz is an undergraduate student at Barnard College of Columbia University, majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior. She is an active member in the Columbia/Barnard Hillel community, participating in the Jewish Women on Campus (JWOC) group, Feminism and Judaism course, and Yavneh (Orthodox) services. Session: Come Learn With Us: Young Women Tackle Gender Issues in the Talmud Pessy Katz grew up in Brooklyn, NY, graduated from Bais Yaakov High School, studied at Touro College, and was a Dorot Fellow in Israel. She currently works for the College Counseling Department at SAR High School. Session: High School Track: Navigating Relationships and Sexuality as a Feminist High School Student

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Rachel Keren, a native of Jerusalem, holds an M.A. in Jewish history and Jewish philosophy from Hebrew University. A graduate of the Mandel Institute for Educational Leadership, she is currently a student in Tochnit Halacha at Bet-Morasha. For her doctorate, she is researching the halakhic attitudes of Sephardic rabbis toward women in the 20th century. She is the former chair of Kolech. Session: Come Learn with Us: Young Women Tackle Gender Issues in the Talmud Rachel Levitt Klein is Dean of Students at the Rabbi Moshe H. Levinson Upper School of the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy (MJBHA) in Maryland. After attending Michlalah in Jerusalem and Stern College for Women, she earned a master’s degree from Yeshiva University’s Azrieli School for Jewish Education and Administration. She has taught at many of the most prominent Modern Orthodox day schools, including the Frisch School, Ramaz, Maimonides School, and Fuchs-Mizrachi in Cleveland before coming to the MJBHA in 2008. She spent a year in Israel as a Mandel Jerusalem fellow and has been a participant in the Mandel Teacher Educators Institute. In the summers, she works at Camp Moshava as a teacher of improv and drama as well as Judaica. Session: Educators Track: Best Practices in Gender Education Shari Kleiner is a native New Yorker who has spent the last 13 years living in Brookline, Massachusetts. After leaving her job as an attorney at a large law firm for more focus on her personal and spiritual life, she helped found Minyan Kol Rinah, the partnership minyan in Brookline. MKR has been meeting monthly in the Coolidge Corner area of Brookline since March 2010. Shari is still trying to figure out how to transition from leadership successfully. Session: How is a Partnership Minyan Like IKEA Furniture? It’s Do It Yourself But It’s Worth the Effort Gilah Kletenik is the Congregational Scholar at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. She was featured as one of the young leaders reimagining Jewish life in the Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36,” is an inaugural recipient of the Covenant Foundation’s Pomegranate Prize, and is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Session: Passing the Baton: Models of Young Women Leaders

Rivy Poupko Kletenik is in her eighth year as Head of School at the Seattle Hebrew Academy. She lectures nationwide on all things Jewish and writes a monthly column titled “JQ” for Seattle’s JTNews. She was a 2002 recipient of the Covenant Award for Exceptional Jewish Educators and was co-editor of the CAJE publications, Turning Heaven and Earth and Eat, Drink and Be Merry. In 2010 she was awarded the Pamela Waechter Jewish Communal Professional Award by the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Sessions: First Ladies; Educators Track: Living on a Prayer Samantha Kur teaches English at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in Teaneck, NJ. She earned a B.A. in English and an M.A. in English education from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has also taught English, history, and drama in South Africa and England, and Tanakh, Talmud, and English at schools in Massachusetts and New Jersey. She studied as a fellow at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Israel, and has a degree in graphic design. She has been instrumental in the creation of partnership minyanim in Cambridge, MA and Englewood, NJ. Session: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I See a Feminist Looking at Me: Shaping Our Children’s Sensibilities Dr. Ellen Labinsky received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 2002. While working as Assistant Professor in the Traumatic Stress Studies Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where she remains on voluntary faculty, she opened a private practice in 2003 with offices on the Upper West Side of New York City and in Teaneck, NJ. She has a particular expertise in treating post-traumatic stress disorder, but enjoys seeing both adolescent and adult patients with a wide variety of clinical needs and presenting problems. Her training is eclectic, although in her work with treating anxiety disorders she makes broad use of cognitive behavioral techniques. In recent years, her work has involved numerous patients from the Orthodox Jewish community. Session: Keeping Our Communities Safe: Sexual Abuse in the Orthodox Community Dr. Melanie Landau is currently living in Jerusalem, learning at Pardes Advanced Kollel; is a member of the Yeshivat Maharat Class of 2015; and works for Encounter as Director of Davar Acher: Leadership Program. Born in Melbourne, Australia, she was a lecturer in Jewish Studies at Monash University, where she also co-founded Darsheini—Community Learning Program. She is the author of Tradition and Equality in Jewish Marriage: Beyond the Sanctification of Subordination (Continuum/ Bloomsbury 2012). For more than ten years, she has worked with women and couples harnessing the transformative potential of rituals as rites of passage. Her Jewish spiritual path is synonymous with her commitment to human freedom, social activism, and the capacity for transformation. Session: State of Marriage: Marriage and the State

Professor Yael Latzer holds a BA and MA in Clinical Social Work from Haifa University, and a Doctorate of Medical Science degree (DSc) from Medical School, Technion in Haifa. Her main areas of research are the relationship between eating and sleeping disorders, identifying at-risk groups and prevention of eating disorders among Israeli Adolescents sub groups, eating disorders and family issues, and treatment intervention for eating disorder patients. In 1992, she founded the Eating Disorders Clinic of Rambam Medical Center, where she currently serves as Director. She is an associate professor on the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences at Haifa University. Over the last 10 years she has been active as an advisor to the Israeli Knesset and has contributed dramatically to the change in treatment policy regarding eating disorders. In the 2013-2014 academic year, she will be on a sabbatical in NYC, joining a research project in the psychiatric department at Columbia University. Session: Mirror Image: Eating Disorders in the Orthodox Community

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Lihi Lapid is a journalist, an author, a wife, and a mother of an autistic child. She has been writing a weekly newspaper column in Israel’s largest newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, for ten years and has written three novels that were best sellers in Israel, Secrets from Within, Woman of Valor, and I Can’t Always Be Wonderful. Her books and weekly column deal with contemporary women’s issues. Before becoming a writer, She was a professional photographer. Session: Libi Ba-Mizrach: Status of Women in Israel

Dr. Rachel Levmore, Rabbinical Court Advocate, is the Director of the Agunot and Get-Refusal Prevention Project of the International Young Israel Movement in Israel and the Jewish Agency. She is one of a team that developed a prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal: “The Agreement for Mutual Respect.” She is a sitting member of the State of Israel Commission for the Appointment of Rabbinic Court Judges. As an expert on the agunah problem and its solutions, she is the author of Min’ee Einayikh MeDim’ah on prenuptial agreements, published in Hebrew. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Jewish Law from Bar Ilan University and lectures about halakha, women in halakha, and divorce in Jewish law, in Israel and Jewish communities around the world. Sessions: First Ladies; Breaking the Chains: Making a Difference in the Agunah Fight Rabbi Dov Linzer is the Rosh HaYeshiva and Dean of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School. He spearheaded the development of YCT to create an innovative four-year semikha program that provides its students with rigorous talmud Torah and halakhic study and sophisticated professional training in the context of a religious atmosphere that cultivates openness and inclusiveness. He has published and lectures widely on topics relating to halakha, Orthodoxy, and modernity. He is most recently the awardee of the prestigious Avi Chai Fellowship and was the convener of the 2012 Modern Orthodox Siyyum HaShas. Session: Women Rule: Feminist Influences on Halakha Rabbi Asher Lopatin is the President of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, the leading Modern and Open Orthodox rabbinical school in America. For 18 years he served as the spiritual leader of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Chicago. He received his ordination from Rav Ahron Soloveichik and Yeshivas Brisk in Chicago, and from Yeshiva University in New York as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. He holds an M. Phil. in Medieval Arabic Thought from Oxford University, where he also did doctoral work on Islamic fundamentalist attitudes toward Jews. He is the author of numerous scholarly and popular articles in several books and journals and has been the co-chair of the Muslim-Jewish Community Building Initiative of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. Session: Opening Plenary: Voices of Change

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Cheryl Birkner Mack is a teacher of Judaics and English as a foreign language. She received her bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She has taught in Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and Jerusalem. She made aliyah in 2006 and has been on the board of directors of Women of the Wall since 2007. Session: The WOW Factor: Women of the Wall Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus is one of the founders and the Clinical Director of the Medical Center for Female Sexuality, which is dedicated to helping women with a wide variety of sexual issues. She earned her Ph.D. in human sexuality at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, CA. She also holds a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University, as well as a master’s degree in public health, and has a master’s degree in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She is a founding member and Vice President of JOFA and has sat on the board of directors for sixteen years. She is a coordinator of Shachar, her partnership minyan in Riverdale, and was past chair of the Women’s Tefillah Network. Session: Teach Your Children Well: Raising Sexually Healthy Children Shifra Mincer was a student at Midreshet Ein Hanatziv for the 2004–2005 academic year. She currently lives in New York City, where she is a post-baccalaureate premedical student at Columbia University. Session: Come Learn With Us: Young Women Tackle Gender Issues in the Talmud Rabbi Adam Mintz is the founder and Rabbi of Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim, a Modern Orthodox community on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He is also Associate Professor of Jewish History at City College, New York and Scholar-at-Large at the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization at NYU Law School. Session: After the Summit: New Solutions for Agunah

Sarah Mulhern is a student at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College and a member of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. She also serves as the rabbinic intern at the Boston Synagogue, an unaffiliated traditional-egalitarian community in downtown Boston. Previously, she worked in the Department of Experiential Education at the American Jewish World Service, where she developed educational resources, led service-learning programs, and spoke and trained widely on the topics of Jewish social justice and experiential education. She has taught Torah at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, the Kehilat Hadar Shavuot Retreat, Limmud NY, Limmud Chicago, Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, and the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, among others. She previously studied Talmud, biblical interpretation, and Jewish law at Drisha in 2013, at Pardes from 2008 to 2010, and at Yeshivat Hadar in 2008 and 2013. Session: No More Whispers: Talking Openly and Honestly about Mikvah Rosh Kehilah Dina Najman has been the mara d’atra of Kehilat Orach Eliezer in Manhattan since 2006 and is head of the Gemara department at SAR Academy in Riverdale, NY, and a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. She has extensive experience teaching and speaking in the Jewish community on topics ranging from bioethics to environmental law; she has served on the board of the Halakhic Organ Donor Society (HODS) for more than 10 years and is Education Committee chair for the Agunah Task Force. She studied at Michlalah in Jerusalem, where she earned a teaching certificate; at Yeshiva University, where she majored in biology and minored in Judaic studies, music, and speech/drama; and as a Drisha fellow and then went on to study at Nishmat, where she learned in its Machon Gavoha/Niddah learning program. She received her rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Professor Daniel Sperber. She has compiled Jewish legal source material for HODS and has developed and taught halakhic curricula for the Drisha Institute as well as Ma’ayanot and SAR Yeshivot. Sessions: Uniting a People in Diversity: The Thread of Tolerance in Our Rabbinic Tradition; Educators Track: Living on a Prayer

Equally fluent in Yiddish and Javascript, Russel Neiss is a Jewish educator, technologist, and activist. Hebegan his career as an itinerant Jewish educator traveling across the deep South, and has worked in a variety of Jewish educational settings, including day schools, supplemental schools, museums, and archives. He holds a B.A. in religious studies and Jewish studies from CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College, an M.L.S. with a specialization in digitization and instructional technology from Queens College, and an M.S.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Brooklyn College. He currently serves as the director of educational technology at G-dcast, where he develops mobile and other interactive applications to raise Jewish literacy and help educators integrate technology in a pedagogically sound way. Session: I Don’t Know How (S)he Does It: Balancing Work and Home Life Amy Newman teaches Biblical literature at Gann Academy, the New Jewish High School of Greater Boston. Before moving to Boston, she lived in New York City, where she taught at Ramaz and was a board member and co-chair of Darkhei Noam. She is a graduate of the Scholars Circle program at Drisha Institute of Jewish Education, and holds a Masters of Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Session: Splitting Hairs: Views on Kisui Rosh

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Rori Picker Neiss serves as the Director of Programming, Education, and Community Engagement at Bais Abraham Congregation in St. Louis, MO, as she completes her final year of study at Yeshivat Maharat. As part of her work, she teaches private classes to brides and couples on the laws of niddah and issues in sexuality. She previously served as Acting Executive Director for Religions for Peace-USA, Program Coordinator for JOFA, Assistant Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, and on the Secretariat for the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations. Session: No More Whispers: Talking Openly and Honestly about Mikvah

Judith Stern Peck, M.S.W., has had extensive experience as both a family therapist and a family business consultant. She holds leadership positions on the boards of numerous not-for-profit institutions and is actively involved in the asset management of her own family’s business. An author and lecturer, she presents seminars on family business, women and philanthropy and intergenerational issues. She is a principal of JSP Associates, a firm designed to provide educational and consultation services to family businesses and family foundations; is director of a project team at the Ackerman Institute for the Family to research, educate, and consult on money and family life; and authored a book, Money and Meaning: New Ways to Have Conversations with Clients about Money, focusing on ideas from the project. Session: Green Is the New Black: Women and Money Dr. Pamala Plastock has had a strong Jewish identity since early childhood in Newark, NJ. She realized that she is gay and came out of the closet in 1973, only four years after the Stonewall riots, which began the modern gay rights movement. She has been active in gay rights causes throughout the past four decades. She has become more involved in daily religious observance over the past 15 years. She and Elissa Kaplan have been together for nine years and were married in Massachusetts in 2008. Session: Chick Flicks Revisited: DevOUT Frani Pollack is a licensed psychologist and social worker. She has been working with individuals, families and couples for more than twenty years, and is currently in private practice at Bala Child and Family Associates in Philadelphia. She has particular expertise in working with eating disorders, trauma, and relationships. She also spends a great deal of her time supervising and training graduate students. On a sabbatical year in Jerusalem in 2011–2012, Frani taught at the Family Institute and the Shalom Hartman Institute. She currently teaches in the Graduate School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr School of Social Work, and Council for Relationships. Session: I Don’t Know How (S)he Does It: Balancing Work and Home Life Brooke Pollak has a B.A. in Judaic studies from Yale University, completed the Beit Midrash Program at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, and has a J.D. from the New York University School of Law. She is an attorney at Day Pitney LLP in Greenwich, CT, specializing in estate planning and administration, tax planning, and tax-exempt organizations. Session: I Don’t Know How (S)he Does It: Balancing Work and Home Life

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Molly Pollak received a B.A. from Barnard College, an M.A. in English from Columbia, and is A.B.D. (all but dissertation) at NYU in English. She taught sixth through ninth grade at the Dalton School for twenty-five years and ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School. Currently she is teaching eleventh- and twelfth-grade English at SAR High School. She has trained teachers at Hasha’ar, the Drisha Scholars Circle, YCT, and various schools in the tri-state area. She has given numerous workshops on differentiated learning, the use of technology in the classroom, and cooperative learning. Session: Educators Track: Best Practices in Gender Education Rabbi Yossi Pollak is a 2005 musmakh of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School. After eight years serving in the pulpit at The National Synagogue in Washington, DC, the Stanton Street Shul on the Lower East Side of New York City, and Beit Chaverim Synagogue in Westport, CT, Rabbi Pollak has recently embarked on a new career as a Jewish educator. He is the lead instructor in Tanach for the Pre-Collegiate Learning Center of New Jersey in East Brunswick, NJ, as well as tutoring and teaching occasionally at day schools in Westchester. Session: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I See a Feminist Looking at Me: Shaping Our Children’s Sensibilities Dr. Sarah R. Roer is a psychologist with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology (health emphasis) from Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Her area of focus, both in research and clinically, is in the field of eating disorders. Her previous clinical experiences include work at the Renfrew Center of New York, St. Luke’s Obesity Research Clinic in New York, and Hadassah Ein Kerem in Jerusalem. Her research has focused on binge eating disorder, emotional eating, and night eating syndrome, a subject on which she presented at the Academy of Eating Disorders in 2008. She has presented at a number of conferences, as well as at area day schools and high schools; maintains a private practice in Manhattan; and works as a psychologist in the Ramaz Upper School. Session: Mirror Image: Eating Disorders in the Orthodox Community

Dr. Biti Roi is a lecturer in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she teaches Kabbalah and Hasidut. She holds a Ph.D. in Kabbalah from Bar Ilan University. She is a research fellow in the Kogod Research Center for Contemporary Jewish Thought and the Academic Coordinator for North American Seminars at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel, and teaches at the institute and in various programs in Israel and abroad. She has won several prizes and fellowships and her essays have been published in several academic magazines. She sits on the Board of Kolech–Religious Women’s Forum. Session: Libi Ba-Mizrach: Status of Women in Israel Maya Rosen is currently a freshman at Princeton University. She spent a year studying at Midreshet Ein HaNatziv and the past two summers studying at Yeshivat Hadar. She is a 2011 Bronfman Youth Fellow and hails from Pittsburgh, PA. Session: Come Learn With Us: Young Women Tackle Gender Issues in the Talmud Riki Shapira Rosenberg, Adv. has served as legal advisor and board member of Kolech–Religious Women’s Forum since 2001. She was head of the committee that handles sexual harassment complaints for five years and wrote the Ethical Code for Rabbis on issues of sexual harassment. She represented Kolech in “Forum Takana” and does litigation on religion and state issues with the Israeli Religious Action Center. She has written three annual reports on women’s segregation in Israel, called “Excluded for God’s Sake: Gender Segregation and the Exclusion of Women in Public Space in Israel” (2010, 2011, 2012). Session: Breaking Barriers: Religious Women Leading Social Change in Israel Dr. Jennie Rosenfeld is studying toward dayanut (for conversions and issues of marriage and divorce) at Midreshet Lindenbaum’s Institute for Halakhic Leadership and teaches Talmud in the Hartman High School for Girls in Jerusalem. She holds a Ph.D. in English from the CUNY Graduate Center, where she wrote her dissertation on “Talmudic Re-readings: Toward a Modern Orthodox Sexual Ethic” as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. A graduate of Stern College, she completed the Yeshiva University Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies for Women. She lectures in Israel and abroad on topics relating to Judaism and sexuality, as well as Talmud and Hasidism, and was named one of the “36 under 36” by the Jewish Week in 2008. She is a co-author of Et Le’ehov: The Newlywed’s Guide to Physical Intimacy (Gefen 2011; Hebrew translation 2013). Session: Chick Flicks Revisited: A Tale of a Woman and a Robe

Dr. Tamar Ross is Professor Emerita of the Department of Jewish philosophy at Bar-Ilan University. She has taught in many academic and religious settings in Israel, the United States, England, and South Africa, and continues to teach at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem, with which she has been associated since its inception in 1976. She has published widely on many topics relating to Jewish thought and the philosophy of halakha, including a book, Expanding the Palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism. She was selected by the Israeli government as torchbearer in the Independence Day ceremony of 2013 for her contribution to women’s learning. Sessions: Women Rule: Feminist Influences on Halakha; Time Is on Our Side: A New Look at Mitzvot Aseh She-ha-Zman Grama Leah Sarna is a senior philosophy major at Yale University. She is a gabbai and co-director of Minyan Urim, the partnership minyan at Yale, and a former co-president of Young Israel House at Yale, the Orthodox Community. She also co-directs Dwight Hall: The Center for Public Service and Social Justice at Yale and is a former co-director of the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project. She was a 2011–2012 JOFA Campus Fellow and is currently a Jewish Ideas and Ideals Campus Fellow. At Yale, she has participated in extensive interfaith work with both Evangelical Christian and Muslim students. She is a 2009 graduate of the Maimonides School in Brookline, MA, and studied Torah for a year at the Stella K. Abraham Beit Midrash for Women at Migdal Oz before beginning her time at Yale. Session: Opening Plenary: Voices of Change

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Rachel Rosenthal is a member of the faculty at the Drisha Institute and is a Ph.D. candidate in rabbinic literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She is a graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle and holds a B.A. in religious studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a board member at Darkhei Noam, where she serves as a lead gabbai and the co-chair of the ritual committee. Session: The Producers: Gabbai Training for Women and Men

Dr. Michelle Waldman Sarna is Director of Early Childhood at the Educational Alliance, a community of young families inspired by Jewish values for a diverse population in downtown Manhattan. She was named one of “36 under 36” change-makers by the Jewish Week for her commitment to empowering Orthodox Jewish women to assume communal leadership. She earned her Ph.D. from Fordham University and completed a post-doctoral Tikvah fellowship at NYU Law School. She served as National Associate Director of Training and Professional Development for the OU’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus and developed training for campus educators at 13 universities. She also served as the JLIC Co-Director at NYU and was honored by the Orthodox Union as an Educator of the Year in 2009. Session: Generation Gap: The Israel Year Lisa Schlaff is Assistant Principal at SAR High School in Riverdale, New York, where she teaches Gemara and Tanakh. She has an EdM in curriculum development from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, and is working on a PhD in Talmud at New York University. She has studied and taught at Drisha and is a founder of Darkhei Noam, a partnership minyan in Manhattan. She is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate fellowship program. Session: Educators Track: Best Practices in Gender Education Nomi Schneck teaches writing and literature at Yavneh Academy and Tanakh at Drisha’s Dr. Beth Samuels High School Program. She has an M.A. in Bible Studies from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. Session: Tell Your Story: A Personal Narrative Writing Workshop Gloria Perelman Schneider is a Grade Level Coordinator and teaches introductory and Advanced Placement courses in economics at SAR High School. Prior to joining SAR, she spent 15 years working on Wall Street structuring and marketing derivative products to corporate, institutional, and high-net-worth clients. She was a managing director at both Citigroup and Wells Fargo in the capital markets divisions. She holds a B.A. in economics and an M.A. in international economics and Finance from Brandeis University and recently completed an M.A. at the Davidson School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Session: Green Is the New Black: Women and Money

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Mrs. Zipora Schorr has been Director of Education of the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School since 1982. She and Beth Tfiloh are committed to an approach to Klal Yisrael that respects the wide range of observance among Jews, and works to promote unity among all branches of Judaism. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she holds teaching certifications for general studies as well as Judaic studies and has taught subjects of both Judaic and secular content at the elementary, high school, and college levels. She has done her Master’s work at Johns Hopkins University, and is currently pursuing her doctorate at Gratz College in Pennsylvania. She received the 2003 Covenant Foundation Award for Exceptional Jewish Educators at the JESNA Jewish Education Leadership Summit in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, in 2004. Session: Educators Track: Best Practices in Gender Education Shalhevet Schwartz is a junior at SAR High School in Riverdale, NY. As a six-week-old, she got several shout-outs from her mother at the first conference of Orthodoxy and Feminism in 1997, which gave her no option but to get involved in JOFA. She is currently co-chairing the High School track of this year’s conference. Shalhevet enjoys learning Talmud, watching The West Wing, and wearing mismatched socks. Sessions: High School Track: Creating a Constructive Dialogue about Tefillah; Navigating Gender and Sexuality as a Feminist High School Student Yishai Schwartz is currently a full-time fellow with the New York-based Tikvah Fund. He graduated from Yale this past May, where he studied philosophy and religious studies. He spent more than three years as the gabbai of Yale’s partnership minyan, Minyan Urim, and created JOFA’s first high school programming for the 2007 conference. Session: The Y Factor: Men and Feminism

Sarah Marian Seltzer, a journalist, essayist and fiction writer in New York City, is a blogger for the Forward’s Sisterhood blog. Her nonfiction has appeared in the Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, and online at the New York Times, the Nation, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Wall Street Journal, and her fiction has been published in Lilith. She has been honored with a grant from the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. Earlier this year, she was the journal fellow for the LABA program at the 14th Street Y and a participant in the TENT: Creative Writing Program at the Yiddish Book Center. She works part-time doing online engagement with the National Council of Jewish Women. Session: Blogging for Change Miriam Shaviv is a columnist for the Jewish Chronicle in the UK. She is formerly the London correspondent for Times of Israel, as well as the comment editor and foreign editor of the Jewish Chronicle. Between 2000 and 2004, she was a features writer, and then literary editor, of the Jerusalem Post in Israel. Born and currently residing in London, she has lived in Jerusalem, Sydney, Montreal, and Toronto. Session: Brits Do It With an Accent: Orthodox Feminism Across the Pond Dalia G. Shusterman grew up in the D.C. area and traveled as a teenager, drumming for Mardi Gras Indians at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, playing in Cirque de Ville’s traveling circus orchestra, and recording and touring the United States and Europe in a rock band called Hopewell. Ready to embark on a new adventure, she stepped off the tour bus to embrace her path as a Chabadnikit while nursing a new dream: to use her gifts within the framework of halakha. When Dalia moved Brooklyn, she soon met Perl Wolfe. A musical shidduch was made, and the first Chasidic alt-rock girl band, Bulletproof Stockings, was born. Session: Chick Flicks Revisited: The Bulletproof Stockings Documentary Sharon R. Siegel is the author of the forthcoming book, A Jewish Ceremony for Newborn Girls: The Torah’s Covenant Affirmed, to be published by Brandeis University Press in the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) Series on Jewish Women. She has also published a number of articles about rituals for newborn Jewish girls. A graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School, she is an attorney and lives in New Jersey. Session: Baby, It’s You: Ceremonies for Newborn Girls

Rabbi Professor Daniel Sperber is the author of a multivolume series on the history of Jewish law and customs, as well as tens of books and hundreds of monographs dealing with a wide range of halakhic, linguistic, and historical subjects. He was awarded the Israel Prize in 1992, has taught at Bar-Ilan University in the Departments of Jewish History and Talmud since 1968, and now is president of the Bar-Ilan Institute of Advanced Torah Studies. He has served as a communal rabbi for the past forty years in several congregations. From 1994 until 2005 he served as Chairman of the Committee on Zionist Religious Education at the Ministry of Education, and for the past several decades he has been involved in interreligious dialogue, also representing the Israeli rabbinate in this capacity. Session: Responding to Our Critics Rabbi Jeremy Stern serves as Executive Director of the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA), an international nonprofit organization which advocates against the abuse of the get (Jewish divorce) process. He received a B.A., a Master’s in Jewish Education, and rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Baruch College, specializing in nonprofit administration. With ORA, he has been instrumental in resolving over 100 contentious Jewish divorce cases and in leading community-wide initiatives to assist women who are victims of get-refusal. He lectures frequently on issues of domestic abuse, the interplay between the Jewish and American legal systems, and the role of the Jewish community in preventing and counteracting get-refusal. Session: Breaking the Chains: Making a Difference in the Agunah Fight

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Lindsay Simmonds has a degree in speech and language pathology and an M.Sc. in Gender Studies from the London School of Economics, where she is now working toward her Ph.D., which explores theories of agency and British Orthodox Jewish women. She studied at the Nishmat Center for Advanced Women’s Torah Study and was a Bruria Scholar at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Israel. She is a graduate of the London School of Jewish Studies Susi Bradfield Women Educators’ Fellowships, where she is currently an associate faculty member, teaching Gender and Judaism. She lectures widely on Judaism, gender, and feminism and is involved in several UK and international projects promoting Orthodox participation in religious rituals and advanced religious study for Orthodox Jewish girls and women. Session: Brits Do It With an Accent: Orthodox Feminism Across the Pond

Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman is the Executive Director of JOFA and a leading writer, educator, and activist in the world of Orthodox feminism. Her first book, The Men’s Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World (Hadassah Brandeis Institute, 2011) won the 2012 National Jewish Book Council award for women’s studies. Her second book, co-authored with Dr. Chaya Gorsetman, Educating in the Divine Image: Gender Issues in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools, was released in October. Her writing has appeared in the Forward, the Jewish Week, the Jerusalem Post, Lilith, the Australian Jewish News, Jewish Educational Leadership, and more. She holds a B.A. from Barnard College, an M.A. in Jewish Education from Hebrew University, and a Ph.D. from Hebrew University in sociology of education. She has taught about gender, education, and Jewish life in forums around the world, including the Florence Melton Adult Mini-school in Melbourne, Australia; the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies at the Efrata Teacher Training College; and the Bar-Ilan University Gender Studies Department. Session: Educating in the Divine Image: Gender in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools Abigail Tambor volunteered for JOFA for many years before joining the board, working on branding, Shabbat T’lamdeini, the JOFA Journal editorial board, and as co-chair of the 6th International Conference Program Committee in 2007. She currently serves on the boards of JOFA, Yeshivat Maharat, Penn Hillel, and Yavneh, a partnership minyan on the Upper East Side of New York City, where she also serves as gabba’it. She has always been dedicated to developing greater opportunities and leadership roles for women in Orthodox communities. Session: The Producers: Gabbai Training for Women and Men Leora Tanenbaum is the author of four books on girls’ and women’s lives. Her work on slut-shaming, Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation, is a staple in sociology and gender/women’s studies courses. She is a popular lecturer and media commentator on issues ranging from women’s roles in religious communities to the allure of high-heeled shoes. Her newest book, You are Not a Slut, an update on slut-shaming in the age of the Internet, will be published next year. She attended the first JOFA conference in 1997 and each one since, and she is active in Yavneh, the partnership minyan of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Session: “Slut!” The Shame Effect

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Rabbi Ethan Tucker is Rosh Yeshiva at Mechon Hadar and Chair in Jewish Law. He was a faculty member at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, where he taught Talmud and halakha in the Scholars Circle. He was ordained by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and earned a Ph.D. in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a B.A. from Harvard College. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, he was a co-founder of Kehilat Hadar and a winner of the first Grinspoon Foundation Social Entrepreneur Fellowship. He was named one of America’s Top 50 Rabbis by Newsweek in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Session: Women Rule: Feminist Influences on Halakha Racheli Vasserman, born in Jerusalem, graduated from the Ma’ale film school in 2011. Her first movie, The Rabbi’s Daughter, won several awards, and she has been continuing her career as a film director. She was director’s assistant for the successful television show Srugim and has worked on a documentary and internet series. She produces cultural events in Jerusalem for new and young artists in the city. She is also a tour guide and discussion leader in topics of Jewish and Israeli identity and Zionism. Session: Chick Flicks Revisited: The Rabbi’s Daughter Dr. Naama Weinstock is a general dentist practicing in Queens and Long Island. A graduate of Stern College and Columbia Dental School, she attended Michlelet Orot after graduating from her hometown Yeshiva of the South in Memphis. For the past decade, she and her family have resided on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where her husband, Rabbi Elie Weinstock, serves as Associate Rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (KJ). She is very active in the congregation’s activities, serves on the Sisterhood board, is active in the Ramaz Parents Council, and acts as resource to hundreds of participants in the KJ Beginners Program. Having completed the kallah teacher workshop run by JOFA in conjunction with Yeshivat Maharat and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, she also serves as a kallah teacher. Session: Splitting Hairs: Views on Kisui Rosh

Talia Weisberg is a first-year student at Harvard University, planning to concentrate in studies of women, gender, and sexuality. She created and maintains Star of Davida, an Orthodox Jewish feminist blog. She has written for more than fifty publications, including the FBomb, Jewesses with Attitude, Jerusalem Post, Jewish Press, Jewish Week, the Ms. Magazine blog, and The Sisterhood. At Harvard, she is the Communications Chair of the Radcliffe Union of Students, Columnist at Manifesta Magazine, and Coordinator of the Harvard Hillel Shalashudis Committee. In 2013, she was named as one of the Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” in recognition of her feminist advocacy work. Session: Blogging for Change Susan Weiss, Esq. has been actively working to find solutions for the problems of Jewish women and divorce for more than twenty years, first as a private attorney, then as the founder and director of Yad L’Isha from 1997 to 2004, and now as the founder and executive director of the Center for Women’s Justice (CWJ). She is also an editor of The Law and Its Decisor (a quarterly journal published by Bar-Ilan University Law School) and has written extensively about Jewish women and divorce, including a recently published book, coauthored with Netty C. Gross-Horowitz. In recognition of her essential work, she has been honored with a number of awards, including the Jewel Bellush Israeli Feminist Award (2013), Israel Bar Association Women in Law Award (2009), and La’Isha magazine’s Alternative Torch-Bearer Award (2007). She also has an M.A. in sociology and anthropology and is currently completing her doctorate at Tel Aviv University. Sessions: State of Marriage: Marriage and the State; Chick Flicks Revisited: A Tale of a Woman and a Robe Perl Wolfe was born and raised in Chicago in a Chabad-Lubavitch family and now lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She was classically trained in piano from the age of six and has been singing all her life. She began writing music in 2011 at age 25 and, quickly realizing the potential to take it further, she began the search for fellow musicians to ultimately found the Chasidic alt-rock girl band, Bulletproof Stockings. In addition to rocking out with BPS, she enjoys working as a makeup artist and fashion stylist. Session: Chick Flicks Revisited: The Bulletproof Stockings Documentary

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Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld is the director of education and community engagement at Sefaria.org. She served as JLIC educator and director of education at Princeton University’s Center for Jewish Life for five years. She has taught Talmud and Jewish Law at a variety of synagogues and schools, including at the Drisha Institute, and at United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston. She holds a B.A. in Judaica and comparative literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and has studied Talmud and Jewish law at Midreshet Lindenbaum, Drisha, Pardes, Nishmat, and Beit Morashah. Session: “Im la’et kazot higa’at la-malchut” — Ta Shma: Women and Megillat Esther

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SHALOM LEARNING is a new and innovative model in Jewish education â&#x20AC;&#x201D; standing on three pillars: Jewish values based curriculum; cutting edge technology; and teacher resources and professional development. Thank you to Aliza Sperling for her many talents and her significant contributions of time and expertise to JOFA and to ShalomLearning.

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Sarah B. Steinberg, Ed. D., CEO I www.shalomlearning.com sarah@shalomlearning.com I mobile: 201.661.3334 office: 301.660.3800 I 4929 Bethesda Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814

JOFA CONFERENCE COMMITTEE PRESIDENT

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Judy Heicklen

Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman

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Bat Sheva Marcus

Aaron Steinberg

PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Judy Abel Ariela Rosenberg Brafman

Rachel Lieberman OFFICE MANAGER

Ilana Benson Becca Linden Dahlia Topolosky HIGH SCHOOL TRACK

Chava Evans Ricki Heicklen Shalhevet Schwartz EDUCATORS TRACK

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Sarah Blechner FUNDRAISING

Carol Newman Abigail Tambor LOGISTICS

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Amy Newman TEFILLAH

Pam Greenwood Mindy Feldman Hecht Yonit Lavin HOME HOSPITALITY

Bracha Jaffe

Heather G. Stoltz COMMITTEE MEMBERS AT LARGE

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