Avigayil Halpern

Women’s Talmud Study is Still Revolutionary

By Avigayil Halpern January 30, 2020

We are still at the beginning of this period, and it can still feel like a miracle; we will learn more from this moment if we remember that it is nothing less than a revolution, and that we are responsible for helping this revolution reach all Jews.

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Lessons From an Unexpected Apology

By Avigayil Halpern September 13, 2019

My decision to not write about leaving the paper had an unexpected consequence, one I hadn’t considered in my months of thought and regret: it left space for reconciliation.

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We Are Someone’s Ancestors

By Avigayil Halpern August 1, 2019

Protest does not remove us from our Jewish people. Machlah, Noah, Choglah, Milcah, and Tirzah are our ancestors, too. Standing for what is right can create new Torah, can change the fabric of the world entirely, and in the process make us integral to that new world.

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“When he goes in he stumbles upon her”: A D’var Torah for Ki Tetzei

By Avigayil Halpern September 7, 2018

Content warning: discussion of sexual violence. The below is an edited version of a d’var Torah that was delivered at Yale University’s student egalitarian minyan on Friday night, August 24th. Parshat Ki Teitzei begins with a particularly haunting section: י) כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ וּנְתָנ֞וֹ ה’ אֱלֹקֶ֛יךָ בְּיָדֶ֖ךָ וְשָׁבִ֥יתָ שִׁבְיֽוֹ׃ (יא) וְרָאִיתָ֙ בַּשִּׁבְיָ֔ה אֵ֖שֶׁת יְפַת־תֹּ֑אַר וְחָשַׁקְתָּ֣…

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Can a Fully Feminist, Fully Traditional Jewish Space Exist? A Dialogue

By Avigayil Halpern May 12, 2015

AVIGAYIL HALPERN: When I was fourteen and just beginning to explore what it would mean to me to be a halakhic, or Jewish-law-abiding, Jewish feminist, I was delighted to stumble across a blog called Star of Davida. The blog’s author, who went by the name “Talia bat Pessi,” explored her own beliefs and experiences as…

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Egalitarian Men: It’s Time to Move Beyond Comfort

By Avigayil Halpern January 20, 2015

  I read with enthusiasm and appreciation my good friend Amram Altzman’s recent piece on Jewish masculinity and egalitarianism. So much of Amram’s work centers on exploring the significance of egalitarian practice for him and other men, and this is necessary and important. I was deeply disturbed, however, by how little women with egalitarian practice…

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