Below is the current list of sessions scheduled at the JOFA Conference. Check back often for speaker updates, and for the full schedule. The JOFA conference is being sponsored in part by the David Berg Foundation and many other private and corporate sponsors. A full list of sponsors will be available at the conference.
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, 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.
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... Read More →
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.
Debbie Braverman, a lawyer- in-transition, is Senior Associate Director, 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.
Laura Shaw Frank is a doctoral candidate in modern Jewish history at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also the the Jewish History Department Chair and Israel Programs Advisor at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community High School in Baltimore. A former corporate litigator... Read More →
Aminadav Grossman is from Riverdale, NY, attended SAR High School, Yeshivat Har Etzion and is currently a senior in Columbia College majoring in History along with a Concentration (minor) in Jewish Studies.
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. Michelle was named one of 36-under-36 change-makers by the Jewish Week for her commitment... Read More →
