5782 /2021-22 Cohort
Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership (WIHL)
Rabbanit Yaffa Aranoff, fourth-year fellow
Rabbanit Yaffa Aranoff holds a B.A. in history from Barnard College, Columbia University and an M.A. in Jewish History from the Hebrew University, both with honors. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Yaffa made Aliyah in 1995. From 1999-2003, she and her husband, Rabbi Yedidya Julian Sinclair, worked as the Rabbi and Rabbanit for students at Cambridge University, England. Rabbanit Aranoff loves teaching both halakha and parshat hashavua and brings her extensive academic training and love of textual analysis to bear in her writing and speaking. She has also served on the board of her synagogue, where she regularly speaks and is an active community member, and works occasionally as a speechwriter in the Knesset.
Rabbanit Elisheva Brauner, first-year fellow
Rabbanit Elisheva Brauner holds a B.A. in Jewish Education from York University and an M.A. in Tanakh from Bar Ilan University. She has worked as a teacher of Jewish Studies in elementary and high schools. She has also worked as an educational counselor at Michlelet Mevasseret Yerushalayim (MMY) and has developed educational curricula for Herzog Academic College. Rabbanit Brauner has participated in various Talmud and Torah study groups for women, and as a lecturer at conferences focused on Torah and Technology. She is a certified bridal instructor.
Rabbanit Avital Gold, second-year fellow
Rabbanit Avital Gold holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Jewish Thought from the Shalem Academic Center, and a teaching certificate in Jewish Thought from Herzog College. She has also studied at Midreshet Lindenbaum, Nishmat, and Drisha, and trained as a bridal instructor through the Gush Etzion Regional Council. Rabbanit Gold previously worked at the Tikva Center as the Overseas Program Coordinator, overseeing all logistics of programs for foreign students coming to study in Israel. She also served as an emissary of the Jewish Agency for Israel, working with youth in the communities of Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, where she taught and developed programs focused on Jewish identity and Zionism.
Rabbanit Aluma Florsheim-Dor, fourth-year fellow
Rabbanit Aluma Florsheim-Dor counsels young brides who have been subject to sexual abuse, and engages in halakhic writing on this topic. Her article, “Bedikat Taharah, (internal self-examination) for Victims of Sexual Abuse”, was published in the prestigious Torah journal Tchumin, Vol. 40 (2020).
Rabbanit Florsheim-Dor trained as an intern Rabbanit at the Va’ani Tefillah community in Jerusalem’s Nahlaot neighborhood, under the guidance of Rabbi Aharon Leibowitz. She gave classes on a variety of topics (focusing mainly on the weekly Torah portion, the Jewish holidays, Kabbalah and Hassidism) and answered halakhic questions put forth by both the women and men of the community. She also gave workshops on prayer to first-year students at the religious pre-military academy, Lapidot. She serves as chairperson of Lissan, a non-profit organization that promotes proficiency of the Hebrew language to women and girls from East Jerusalem, with a special focus on the neighborhood of Isawiya, and also offers Arabic lessons to Hebrew-speaking students of medicine and medical teams.
Rabbanit Florsheim-Dor received her B.A. and M.A. in history with honors from the Hebrew University. Her research focused on visual history and its social impacts.
Rabbanit Shani Haddad, first-year fellow
Rabbanit Shani Haddad holds a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from The University of Oregonת an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Hebrew University, and has studied Gemara, Halakha and Tanakh at Matan. At the Hebrew University, Rabbanit Haddad developed a Beit Midrash study program for English-speaking students. She also teaches Jewish Philosophy at Midreshet Torah V’Avodah.
Rabbanit Ravit Kalech, fourth-year fellow
Rabbanit Ravit Kalech is a lawyer by profession, specializing in international contract law, who worked in the legal department of the Israel Aerospace Industries for two decades. She holds an LL.M. (magna cum laude) from Tel Aviv University, where she studied in the Legal Procedure track, and is also a graduate of Bar-Ilan’s Beit Midrash Metivta program. Over the past 14 years she has been studying in Beit Midrash Shaalina for women in Modiin, and is also one of the founders of the Darchei Noam community in Modi’in, where she remains an active member.
Rabbanit Kalech gives weekly lessons in Talmud for women. as well as numerous Torah lessons in the city of Modi’in and its surroundings.
Rabbanit Shira Lieberman, first-year fellow
Rabbanit Shira Lieberman has a B.A. in Literature and Education from Herzog Academic College and studied Gemara at the Migdal Oz Beit Midrash for Women. Following her initial career as a graphic designer, in recent years, Rabbanit Lieberman has taught at The Hartman Institute and at Midreshet Lindenbaum.
Rabbanit Hila Naor, third-year fellow
Rabbanit Hila Naor holds a B.A. in Middle Eastern and Jewish History from Hebrew University and an M.A. in Conflict Management and Mediation from Tel Aviv University, as well as a teaching certificate in special education. She formerly worked as a special education teacher specializing in helping youth-at-risk complete their high school graduation requirements. Rabbanit Naor has studied Talmud and Bible in various settings. She is a member of Eschar, a mixed secular and religious community in the Galilee, where she has taken an active part in founding a congregation, is socially active in the community, and promotes Torah learning activities.
Rabbanit Idit Mevorach-Shaag, third-year fellow
Rabbanit Idit Mevorah-Shaag teaches Torah in a variety of frameworks representing the entire spectrum of Israeli Judaism, from programs in Beit Prat, Beit Midrash Negba, Ohr Torah Stone’s Midreshet Lindenbaum, and the Hadar Israel Institute, where she is also the community coordinator, responsible for organizing conferences and seminars aimed at empowering and professionalizing the leadership of the communities.
Rabbanit Mevorach-Shaag is a member of Beit Midrash Arevot – Women Connecting Traditions, a women’s Beit Midrash which fosters traditional Sephardic Judaism. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Ben Gurion University and is currently working on her M.A. in Talmud and Halakha from the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, where she completed their rabbinic track.
Rabbanit Tikva Sapira, fourth-year fellow
Rabbanit Tivka Sapira is a graduate of Midreshet Orot Etzion in Givat Washington and the Migdal Oz Beit Midrash for Women, where she engaged in advanced Talmud studies while studying for her B.A. at Herzog College.
In addition to her Talmud and halakha studies, Rabbanit Sapira also takes part in the study of Zohar, Hassidism and the writings of Ha’Ari (Rabbi Yitzhak Luria). She also organizes discussion groups on prayer in high schools and in informal education settings.
Rabbanit Sapira moderates chavruta learning sessions and gives a Talmud class at Midreshet Lindenbaum as part of the Midrashit program. She is also a Ramit (senior teacher of Talmud) at Midreshet Be’er in Ashdod.
Rabbanit Moriya Ta’asan-Michaeli, fourth-year fellow
Rabbanit Moriya Ta’asan-Michaeli studied at Nishmat and at Midreshet Shuva, as well as in the Beit Midrash at Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus. In recent years, she has served as personal assistant to government ministers, most recently working in the office of the Minister of Culture, Miri Regev. Rabbanit Ta’asan-Michaeli engages in Torah-related matters in her own community, and has started providing Talmud lessons to her community through the Tzurba M’Rabanan Institute.
Rabbanit Ta’asan-Michaeli, who has a B.A. in Political Science and History from Hebrew University and a Research M.A. in Jewish Heritage from Ariel University, takes an active part in halakhic feminism forums on social media and elsewhere.
Rabbanit Batel Picar, second-year fellow
Rabbanit Batel Picar has a B.A. in Jewish History from Bar-Ilan University, and trained in Sexual Health Education and Marriage Counseling at the Yahel Center. She also studied in Midreshet Tal Menashe, at the Midrasha in Bar-Ilan University and at Matan HaSharon.
Rabbanit Picar was involved in developing educational content and in training seminar and educational program moderators in Jewish topics to be taught in public schools under the auspices of the El Ami organization. She has held numerous educational and leadership positions in informal education settings, which include working as a regional coordinator and counselor in Bnei Akiva , managing the educational content and offering guidance to Bnei Akiva branch coordinators. Furthermore, she was in charge of educational seminars for youth and young women serving in National Service. Rabbanit Picar currently gives Torah classes and takes an active part in the leadership of the community in which she resides.
Rabbanit Avigail Unterberg, fourth-year fellow
Rabbanit Avigail Unterberg is a graduate of Nishmat – The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women, received her B.A. in Bible Studies and Political Science from Bar-Ilan University, and also studied at the Matan Women’s Institute for Torah Studies. She has experience working in a large variety of formal and experiential educational settings, and also served as a madricha (counselor) in the Maria & Joel Finkle Overseas Program at Midreshet Lindenbaum.
Rabbanit Unterberg currently teaches halakha and Bible Studies (focusing at present on the book of Genesis and the Return to Zion) at Midreshet Torah v’Avodah in Jerusalem. She is also a certified bride counselor.