JChatting - interviews with a Jewish flavour

  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 retreats with them, some of them week-long ones, which have

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 in Judaism i