It Already Belongs to You | Annie Nagel & Hadassah Shemtov on Women's Torah Study

About this episode

The episode discusses women's ownership of Torah and the challenges they face in studying it.

Does the Torah belong to every woman? This week, I host a roundtable with two women who've built their lives around Torah: Annie Nagel, who left a thriving law career for the classroom and a PhD in Tanakh, and Hadassah Shemtov, founder of Batsheva Learning Center. We trace the halachic sources on women's Torah study, where the historic hesitation came from, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe's radical reframe: that women's learning isn't damage control, but the direction history was always moving towards. We also talk about the practical experience of Torah study for women: How do you keep Torah alive when you're working eighty hours a week with three babies? What does learning look like in a season when deep scholarship simply isn't possible? And what would it take for the next generation of girls to believe, without question, that no Jewish book on the shelf is off-limits to them? EPISODE SPONSOR: This week's episode was sponsored by a woman who wants to empower other women to learn and take ownership of their birthright within Torah. * * * * * * Hadassah Shemtov is the founding director of Batsheva Learning Center, an organization that offers text-based Torah learning opportunities for…

People in this episode

Host: Tonia Chazanow

Guests: Annie Nagel, Hadassah Shemtov

Topics covered

• women's Torah study
• halachic sources
• Lubavitcher Rebbe
• practical experience
• empowerment
• education

Keywords

• Torah
• women's learning
• halacha
• Lubavitcher Rebbe
• education
• empowerment
• Tanakh
• Batsheva Learning Center

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Batsheva Learning Center, Ohel Chana High School, Young Israel of Los Angeles, UCLA School of Law

Books & works: Torah, Tanakh

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