Women’s Siyum HaShas

Joanne Greenaway interviews Rabbanit Michelle Farber in the “Women’s Gallery” podcast, showcasing women in Jewish leadership

Scott Kahn interviews Rabbanit Michelle Farber in “Orthodox Women & Talmud Study: Setting Higher Standards and Goals”

I put my ego aside, I showed up as a novice, and I worked hard. And I’ve discovered that I’m worth the effort and struggle to attempt something new… And now, with 1,000 days of trying behind me, I marvel at the commitment and the love of learning.

“Most women don’t even understand that they should have access to these texts, and that’s one of the things I’m trying to change,” she told The Jerusalem Report. “This book (the Talmud) is critical to you to be a part of the Jewish culture, community, and tradition.”

It takes something really special to fill a beis midrash on a random Tuesday evening in the middle of the summer. The Young Israel of Jamaica Estates did just that, as it inaugurated its newly renovated beis midrash with an exceptional presentation…

Read Rabbanit Michelle Farber’s answers to Simon Brooke’s questions aimed to inspire others with Jewish-oriented wisdom and knowledge.

How has learning the daf affected your life? What is your favorite Talmud quote? How is anchoring your learning specifically with Talmud unique in the face of other options?

Listen to Rabbanit Michelle Farber’s live interview recording from Nachum Segal Network’s “That’s Life” with Miriam L. Wallach.

Rabbanit Michelle Cohen Farber wakes up at 4:45 a.m. every day. One cup of coffee later, she powers on her computer and connects via Zoom from her home in Ra’anana to teach her first Daf Yomi lesson of the day—this one in Hebrew.

The current cycle of ‘Daf Yomi’ learning has seen more resources aimed at women from all levels of observance.

There are so many concerns in the world today; so many ways to focus on our emotional, physical and spiritual health. The world is bracing for more coronavirus outbreaks… Every day for the last 60, I’ve enjoyed an escape from the swirl of current day chaos.

On Thursday evening, February 20, a large gathering of men and women assembled at Congregation Rinat Yisrael to participate in a Daf Yomi learning session offered by Rabbanit Michelle Cohen Farber.

Michelle Farber brings her Daf Yomi experience to Teaneck. The Talmud is the “basis of everything” Rabbanit Michelle Cohen Farber said. “Most of our Judaism comes from the Talmud, and learning it creates a different understanding of our tradition and our religion.”

Among devout Orthodox Jews, the intense study of Talmud is no longer just a man’s world. Women are increasingly delving into this central religious work, and American expats in Israel are at the forefront of the trend.

Like most people at the Hadran Siyum ha-Shas for women on January 5 in Jerusalem, I hadn’t actually finished Shas myself. But it didn’t matter.

The women who have been learning a page of Talmud a day since 2012, when the last seven and a half year Daf Yomi cycle have created a new reality with their study.

What does one wear to the first major celebration of women’s achievements in Talmud learning, a “before and after” moment that will affect our community for ages to come?

The experts say to sleep on it because things will always seem brighter and clearer in the morning. And as such, hence my reflections from the morning after a night of most magnanimous historic proportions.

As Orthodox Jews worldwide conclude a grueling marathon of daily Talmud study, a growing number of Israeli women have joined the effort, spotlighting collapsing gender barriers in the male-dominated community.

I sat in a room full of people today, watching a live stream of Hadran’s Siyum HaShas for women, and thought, what a time to be alive.

And I also thought of you, my daughter.

For a few short hours, I felt no tension. Just pure joy, sweetness, love, inspiration and awe. It was the Hadran Siyum Hashas for women in Jerusalem, and the feeling was electrifying and deeply meaningful and fulfilling all at once.

Come in: There’s Room Now for Women Too in Talmud Learning. -Ilana Blumberg

An event marks the culmination of a 7.5-year daily gemara cycle — and a crescendo in decades of efforts by teachers to wrest Jewish texts from men’s-only clubs

For centuries, Talmud study has been the domain of men. Through Hadran, women are increasingly embracing it.

On January 4 next year, the seven and a half year cycle of Talmud study in which a double-sided folio page of Talmud is studied every day, will be completed.

A quiet revolution is taking place in women’s learning.

For the past 2,600 or so days Michelle Cohen Farber has opened up her home in Ra’anana at 8.15am sharp to a group of women of all ages to teach them daf yomi — a daily page — of the Babylonian Talmud.

On Jan. 5, thousands of Jewish people gathered in a hall in Jerusalem for Siyum HaShas, the celebration marking the completion of the seven-and-a-half year Daf Yomi cycle of Talmud study.