JChatting - interviews with a Jewish flavour

Avraham Poupko is a software architect who specialized in designing large scale software systems. When he is not designing software he likes learning and teaching pshat in Tanach. Avraham is married to Gital Wolf-Poupko. Together they have 5 children and 1 grandson.   Editor’s note: Avraham is the most creative and stimulating presenter I have ever seen, no matter what the subject. His lectures were always packed!     1.        What was a place, person or event that transformed your ideas, thinking, or perspective?   In a former hi-tec workplace, we had a senior manager called Yossi Tsuria. He had a brilliant mind and was a highly effective manager. But in addition, he was also a talmid chacham and was able to find creative ways to connect the Torah with technological ideas. I try to emulate that kind of thinking. One specific example, before meeting Yossi, I had thought that a dvar Torah was only for religious people but...

  Dr. Erica Brown is the director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership and an associate professor of curriculum and pedagogy at The George Washington University. Erica has a daily podcast, “Take Your Soul to Work” and is the author of twelve books on leadership, the Hebrew Bible and spirituality. Her latest book Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile (Maggid) was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Council award. She has been published in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, First Things, and The Jewish Review of Books and wrote a monthly column for the New York Jewish Week. She has blogged for Psychology Today, Newsweek/Washington Post’s “On Faith” and JTA and tweeted on one page of Talmud study a day at DrEricaBrown. Erica was a Jerusalem Fellow, is a faculty member of the Wexner Foundation, an Avi Chai Fellow and the recipient of the 2009 Covenant Award for her work in education. Erica enjoys conducting interviews and moderating panels to ge...

  Rabbi Chaim Navon teaches Gemara and Jewish thought in Herzog College at Yeshivat Har Etzion and at Midreshet Lindenbaum. He is an author of several series of shiurim online at the VBM—The Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash of Yeshivat Har Etzion. Rabbi Navon authored a number of books including: Caught in the Thicket: An Introduction to the Thought of Rav Soloveitchik. He studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion from 1992 to 2004 and received rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein.   1.      What Jewish message does the world need to hear?   I don’t believe that a one-off, short message would particularly influence the world. Real change is made through slow, deliberate, long-term education.   2.      What area do you see that Rabanim/teachers do not stress enough?   Paradoxically, I would say – God. We have moved from a time when Rabbis would speak  only ...

  Yael Unterman grew up in Manchester and lives in Jerusalem. She is a creative educator, international lecturer and writer. She is the author of  Nehama Leibowitz: Teacher and Bible Scholar (Urim) and  The Hidden of Things: Twelve Stories of Love & Longing (Yotzeret). www.yaelunterman.com   1.       What was a place, person or event that transformed your ideas, thinking, or perspective? Firstly, thank you for having me aboard and being interested in my ideas. I hope they will be of value to someone reading. I’ve been transformed in the past decade or two by practices that take me away from purely intellectual endeavours, and towards my body, my psychological framework, and my soul. In particular,   I would note meditation practice and gratitude practice. The meditation I’ve done has primarily been through Ohr Halev, a Jewish meditation organization founded by Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels. I’ve been on nine ...

Rabbanit Michelle Cohen Farber is the founder of Hadran: Advancing Talmud Study for Women and Daf Yomi for Women, the first woman's online shiur on the daf yomi. Michelle spearheaded the first international Siyum HaShas for Women, which took place in January. Michelle studied Talmud at Bar Ilan and in Midreshet Lindenbaum's scholar's program. She has taught Gemara and Halacha in Pelech Jerusalem, Midreshet Lindenbaum and Matan HaSharon. Michelle and her husband, Seth, founded and lead Kehillat Netivot in Ra'anana where they live with their five children .  1.       What Jewish message does the world need to hear? Women of our generation have taken huge strides in their professional lives, the same should be the case for their Jewish lives. A well-educated woman needs to be educated in Jewish texts if she wants her Judaism to be meaningful to her. That means gaining access to the Talmud which is the most central book of our tradition, as almost everything...