New scholarships offered to Jewish women by JOFA
JOFA Australia, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, seeks to expand the spiritual, ritual and intellectual opportunities for women within the framework of halakha (Jewish law), by advocating meaningful participation for women in family life, synagogues, houses of learning and Jewish communal organisations to the fullest extent possible.
Nomi Kaltmann
JOFA Australia president Nomi Kaltmann said: “JOFA Australia is partnering with Maaglei Nefesh, an Israeli-based mental health organisation run by Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig, to offer a training course to Australian women so that they can learn about the intersection between mental health and Halacha. We are thrilled that women in the Australian Jewish community will be offered the chance to receive access to a 12-week training course that is the first in the world to combine professional, halachic, pastoral, and spiritual training in the field of mental health.”
Women from all states and territories and of all ages are welcome to apply.
In 2017, Rabbi Yoni Rosenweig realised there was a significant dearth of published halachic material on mental health and set about to rectify the situation with his good friend Dr Shmuel Harris. Together they wrote Nafshi BeShe’elati, a comprehensive halachic work on mental health published by Maggid.
However, during this process, Rav Yoni learned something much more painful: thousands of religious and traditional Jews across the world felt alone with their mental health challenges and in many cases, alienated from their communities and religion. Rav Yoni learned how deeply intertwined mental health and spirituality is for so many. And it soon became clear that facing a perceived conflict, many decided that they had to choose between their religious identity and their mental health. They decided that they couldn’t maintain both. In response, he founded Maaglei Nefesh.
“This course has never ever previously been offered in Australia, and we are thrilled that women from across the country will receive the opportunity to receive a scholarship to complete their training,” said Kaltmann.
Since launching 18 months ago, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance Australia has provided opportunities to Australian women that actively promote leadership and support women’s Torah learning, public speaking, teaching and engagement. To date, 64 Australian women from four Australian States and Territories have received scholarships to complete training courses to become Kallah teachers, learn how to write an op-ed for a newspaper and courses that upskill Mikveh attendants. JOFA Australia has also launched the first-ever orthodox women’s speaker bureau, with more than 70 Australian women from across the country listed on a publicly available bureau.
“We have 25 scholarships available to women from across the country to undertake the Maaglei Nefesh mental health training program, and judging by the high interest, JOFA Australia intends to continue to nurture and develop the talent in this community. We encourage anyone interested in participating in filling in the application,” said Kaltmann
Where is the funding coming from? Has JOFA raised money for this? Or is this a Maaglei Nefesh funded initiative?