Women’s Gallery: Showcasing Women in Jewish Leadership

• (30) Realistic teshuva with Dr. Yosefa Fogel Wruble

  This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you. NEW! Talk to us at [email protected] and tell us about amazing women who you’d like to hear interviewed. This week, I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Yosefa Fogel Wruble to the podcast—turning the tables a bit, since Yosefa herself is an accomplished host of not one, but three podcasts in both Hebrew and English. Her mellifluous voice and natural storytelling draw you in, but it’s her deep Torah insights and thoughtful reflections on personal growth that make this episode truly special. Yosefa teaches Tanach, Biblical Exegesis, and Jewish Thought at Migdal Oz Beit Midrash,  lectures at Herzog College and Herzog Global, and serves as a Yoetzet Halacha and madrichat kallot. She’s also a member of the second cohort of Sacks Scholars and hosts a widely acclaimed weekly Parsha podcast for Matan Women’s Institute for Torah Study, alongside a new show on women and mitzvot with Shayna Goldberg. In our conversation, we dive into her journey from Albany, NY to Efrat, the mentors who shaped her, and how she balances spiritual growth, leadership, and daily life. We explore topics we’re all thinking about as we approach Rosh Hashana including personal growth, very practical methods for teshuva, habits that foster growth, differences between Israel and the diaspora regarding women's roles and leadership, and where we have and haven’t made progress in women’s learning. To learn about the parasha in Yosefa’s unique style, visit the Matan Parsha Podcast. Stretch your mind and soul through ideas based learning in free and paid classes, courses and events - visit the new LSJS website at www.lsjs.ac.uk.

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• (29) Innovation with patience: Jo Grose, CEO of the United Synagogue

  This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you. I’m delighted to be joined by Jo Grose, the first ever female CEO of the United Synagogue. Jo stepped into the position in 2023, after many years of senior leadership within the organisation, as well as leadership roles at PaJeS and PJ Library and an earlier career in educational publishing. She is also an active member of her local community, where her passion for community-building began, and serves as a trustee of her local Jewish school trust. For those unfamiliar, the United Synagogue (US) is the main umbrella body of centrist Orthodoxy in the UK, an influential organisation with over 60 synagogues and responsibility for Jewish life “from cradle to grave.” We discuss how a CEO can find honest feedback and people who will stretch them, the value of developing skills outside the Jewish community, rapidly responding to October 7th, the male-female dynamic at the US including the more challenging informal moments, successfully professionalising the role of rebbetzens, allowing for innovation in a traditional framework, and so much more. Having had the privilege of working alongside Jo both at the US and in my role at LSJS, I know Jo as a consummate professional, an inspiring leader, and a wonderful person. It’s been eye opening to explore her journey, her vision for Jewish communal life, and her reflections on leadership.

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• (28) Following Your North Star, with Joanne Greenaway and Dr. Erica Brown

  ***1st Anniversary Edition!*** It’s our birthday! For this special anniversary edition the tables have been turned on me! Joanne Greenaway is Chief Executive of LSJS. Experienced International Arbitration lawyer and formerly Director of Get cases for the London Beth Din, she is part of Ohr Torah Stone’s International Halakha Scholars Program and a Sacks Scholar. One year ago, she launched THIS podcast to inspire women to find what they uniquely bring to the world and create roles for themselves to do so - by showcasing other women in Jewish leadership who’ve done just that. Dr. Erica Brown does a fantastic job of probing me and we discuss humanity, finding your north star, what it means to be role model, creating sisterhoods, career pivots, holding internal tensions and so much more. Many, many thanks to Erica for agreeing to interview me.  Erica is Vice Provost for Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University and Founding Director of its Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership, as well as a prior guest on the podcast, friend and mentor. Erica’s book, Morning has Broken: Faith after October 7th is available at amazon.co.uk/Morning-Has-Broken-Faith-October/dp/1592646832. This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you.

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• (27) A voice for the hostages with Dr. Haya Langerman

  This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you. This week I am delighted to be joined by Dr. Haya Langerman. Haya is a medical advisor with a doctorate in diabetes who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 30 years. For the last 21 months she has been on the frontlines of support for hostage families and fighting for their return (after 669 days now), as a lead volunteer for the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. We discuss what prompted Haya to drop everything and take up this work when the war started, her decision not to go back to Israel at that time, how the Forum handles the rapidly changing situation, and what everyone can do to help the families of the hostages.    

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• (26) Exposing and destigmatising sexual abuse, with Shana Aaronson of Magen

  This podcast is powered by LSJS. Visit lsjs.ac.uk to learn about our Jewish learning journeys & find something that suits you. This week I am delighted to be joined by Shana Aaronson, Executive Director of Magen, where she first began as Social Services Coordinator, supporting families where children had been physically and sexually abused. Magen is dedicated to creating safer Jewish communities in Israel and around the world by developing and implementing programs that foster transparency, prioritizing the well-being of victims, holding perpetrators accountable, and eliminating the stigma surrounding sexual abuse. Their work spans advocacy, education, and direct support for survivors. Shana also volunteers as a Jewish marital law coach and birth assistant for women with histories of sexual and physical abuse. She lives with her family in Mateh Yehuda, Israel. We speak about the difficult but essential work of confronting abuse in religious communities, the role of communal silence, how to shift shame from victim to perpetrator, and what change could look like when survivors are believed and supported. This is a wide-ranging and powerful conversation about truth telling, accountability, and building safer futures.   If you're affected by the issues discussed, please reach out for help. Some community resources are: Jewish Women’s Aid – Supporting Jewish women affected by domestic or sexual abuse Magen – Child protection and abuse prevention in religious communities

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