There are so many wise Jewish women in the Bay Area. These women are educators, artists, mothers, activists, writers, lawyers, leaders, rabbis, and social workers. They build communities, create beauty, advocate for change, inspire with ritual, protect, and heal. They have so much to teach our community about strength, spirituality, resilience, and creativity. At HaMaqom, we want to learn their Torah.
Over five sessions, participants in Wise Women will learn from inspiring women educators of the Bay Area. Each session will focus on the educator’s favorite Jewish sources and how these connect to their vision, passion, and work in the Jewish community. This course will feature educators from across our community.
No prior knowledge or experience with Jewish texts required.
Join us.
“The Wise Women course was such a success this summer. We had amazing Jewish women teaching inspirational texts and sharing stories with our learners. I am so proud I have the opportunity at HaMaqom to hold up these voices and make space for them in our Jewish learning communities. I can’t wait to see what this next cohort of Wise Women brings!”
-Tamar Zaken
Meet the Educators:
Naama Sadan is a current Ph.D. student and currently the Director of Development and Sustainability at Atiq: Jewish Maker Institute (@atiqmakers). Before coming to Berkeley, she taught Judaic Studies at several different universities in Israel and developed programming in Geography, Urban Planning, and Sustainability to high school students and teachers in Jerusalem.
Yael Yechieli, originally from Jerusalem, now lives in Berkeley, works at the Palo Alto JCC (@ofjcc) as a group facilitator and community builder. For many years she facilitated Israeli-Palestinian dialogue groups and worked with Israeli youth groups in pre-army leadership programs and informal educational programs. She has been part of the Israeli “Jewish Renaissance”, teaching Talmud and Jewish thought.
Maya Katz-Ali was born and raised in a multicultural home in Oakland, California. She’s worked and studied abroad where she learned about building community across global contexts and bringing people together. Maya is passionate about working in the community with immigrant and refugee populations when she is not as busy as the OneTable Bay Area (@OneTableShabbat) Field Manager. She sees sharing stories, traditions, and values as central to our growth as a global community and hopes to encourage that both formally in her career and informally through her volunteer work.
Naomi Tucker is the founding Executive Director of Shalom Bayit, dedicated to building safe and healthy families. Shalom Bayit was the first Jewish domestic violence agency in Northern California, and one of the first of its kind in the US. With over 35 years of expertise in the field, Naomi has served in staff, board, and volunteer capacities in battered women’s programs in the US and abroad, including a five-year term as board secretary of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Nehama Rogozen is a Public Relations Officer for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (@sfmtaphoto), where she does public outreach and engagement with communities, local businesses, and elected officials. She has a master’s degree in international development and has worked in the nonprofit and government sectors both in the US and abroad. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines.
