Yadayim: Can't Touch This

If you have enjoyed #YourTorah, we invite you to experience PrayerFull: the guided prayer podcast, brought to you by our producer Rabba Dina Brawer with Rabbanit Leah Sarna

Rabba Dina Brawer wraps up the YourTorah journey, and shares an overview of the project. Help us understand the impact of YourTorah by sharing your feedback here in our brief form. This episode is sponsored by Yeshivat Maharat, the first institution to ordain women as Orthodox clergy, and where JOFA UK's founder, Dina Brawer, recently received semikha. Dina joins a cohort of 26 graduates who are currently leading communities and organizations across North America, Europe and Israel. Rabba Dina Brawer studied Torah in Jerusalem, New York and London. Dina’s life journey led her to do things she never dreamed of, including launching an Orthodox feminist movement in the UK and studying for Orthodox semikha (rabbinic ordination) at Yeshivat Maharat in NY - she received semikha earlier this year.

Rabba Claudia Marbach opens up the final masekhet of the Mishnah, Oktzin, looking at the study of Mishnah and how it constitutes part of the pleasures of this world. Rabba Claudia Marbach recently received semikha from Yeshivat Maharat, NY. She has launched a pop-up beit midrash for women in Boston, called One Night Shtender. Before Yeshivat Maharat, Claudia was a middle school teacher at JCDS Boston, a pluralistic Jewish Day School, for fifteen years, where she developed a Rabbinics curriculum. She founded a partnership minyan and participates in interfaith dialogue. Claudia received her BA in English from Barnard College, and JD from Boston University.

Leah Sarna opens up masekhet Yadayim, unpacking how hands are made impure and looking at how King Solomon created 'tumat yadayim' - the impurities of the hands. Leah Sarna is a fourth year student at Yeshivat Maharat, a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a Mishnah junkie. Leah has taught Torah to adults and teens around the world, stretching from New York City to London, Tel Aviv and Melbourne. Starting this summer, she will begin working as the Director of Religious Engagement at Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Chicago, IL.

Yardaena Osband introduces Tevul Yom, looking into how different statuses - for instance that of the tevul yom - impact when and how a person imparts impurity. Yardaena Osband, MD is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. Yardaena studied for two years in Midreshet Lindenbaum and received her BA in Jewish Studies and Music at Yeshiva University, Stern College for Women. Yardaena attended medical school at the Sackler School for medicine and completed her residency in Pediatrics at the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York. She has taught in many schools, synagogues, and has been a scholar in residence in many communities. She lectures on Tanach, Halacha, and Talmud with a specific interest in the biographies of the Taanim and Amoraim. Yardaena also serves on the board of ORA (Organization for the Resolution of Agunot), The Riverdale Minyan and is a founder of the Orthodox Leadership Project. Yardaena currently resides in Riverdale, New York with her husband and children.

Shayna Abramson dives into masekhet Zavim, unpacking its laws of ritual impurity, and demonstrating that even texts that may seem irrelevant to our lives have the capacity to teach us moral truths. Shayna Abramson is a native New Yorker and an alumni of Midreshet Harova and of Drisha's Beit Midrash programme. She is currently pursuing Masters degrees in Politics and Jewish Education from Hebrew University.

Rabbi Aviva Richman looks into masekhet Makhshirin, unpacking how its discussion of the purity of objects provides us with a chance to become more aware of our intentions in our day-to-day lives. Rabbi Aviva Richman is on faculty at the Hadar Institute in New York where she teaches Talmud, Halakhah, Midrash and Hasidut. She received private semikhah from Rabbi Danny Landes in Jerusalem, and is a doctoral candidate in Talmud at New York University. She lives in Riverdale, NY with her spouse, Tzemah, and kids Boaz, Elisha and Benaya. Check out Aviva's lecture series 'Rabbinic Voices and Sexual Assault' at the Hadar Institute, and her blog on the subject.

Nechama Goldman Barash introduces masekhet Niddah, tracing the laws governing sexual intimacy from their origins in Torah, through to their explication in the Mishnah - and their application today. NB: This episode contains sexually explicit material Nechama Goldman Barash is a senior faculty member at Machon Pardes, Matan and Midreshet Torah V'avodah - three learning institutions in Jerusalem. She has been studying Talmud and rabbinic texts for the last thirty years and in the last seven years has dedicated her time to studying Halakhah intensively.

Ellyse Borghi introduces masekhet Mikvaot, looking at the way in which the mikvah serves as a reminder of our role in the world as creators seeking to emulate the Divine. Ellyse Borghi is a children's lawyer by day and a Torah learner and teacher by night. Ellyse is in her second year of studies for Orthodox smicha through Yeshivat Har'El in Jerusalem. Some of the more distant places where Ellyse has taught Torah are Hong Kong, Ghana and Canberra. She is passionate about working to release Agunot and is a member of Shira Chadasha Melbourne.

Atara Cohen unpacks masekhet Tahorot, looking at how impurity flows from one object to another and exploring how the Mishnah bestows certainty on an uncertain world. Atara Cohen graduated from Princeton University with a BA in Religion and a certificate in Judaic Studies, where she focused her non-academic time on interfaith work. After studying Torah in a variety of settings, including Midreshet Nishmat, Yeshivat Hadar, and the Drisha Institute throughout college, she began to study full time at Yeshivat Maharat. She was a fellow at T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and now works at Columbia/Barnard Hillel as a rabbinic intern.