CHEIRUT

Cheirut is an international network of organizations that are dedicated to helping agunot.

Cheirut meets on a quarterly basis and collaborates regularly to work together on international cases, share advocacy strategies, promote collective projects, and provide peer support to one another.

Current members include: Boston Agunah Taskforce (MA), Center for Women's Justice (Israel), GET JEWISH DIVORCE JUSTICE (LA), GETToutUK (London), Go Getters (South Africa), JEWEL (France), The LEV Organization (NY), Mavoi Satum (Israel), ORA (U.S.), the Rackman Center (Israel), Unchain My Heart (Australia), Yad La'Isha (Israel), Young Israel Israel Region (Israel)

Cheirut Summit 2024

Highlights from 2023's Cheirut Summit

A Three Part Virtual Series

Click here to access recordings of all three sessions:

Session 1: Agunot, Get Refusal, and Domestic Abuse: Where are we now in the US and around the World?

Discussion moderated by Dr. Lisa Fishbayn Joffe. Panelists: Ann Pava, Keshet Star, Esq., Dr. Shana Frydman, and Advocate Orit Lahav

Session 2: Where are we Going: Exploring the Solutions

Discussion moderated by Rabbi Mark Dratch.
Panelists: Rabbi Shlomo Weissmann, Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin, and Dr. Rachel Levmore.
Presentation by: Leah Gottfried and Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein

Session 3: What's Happening Online?: Social Media, Agunah Advocacy, and Collective Action

Discussion moderated by Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt
Panelists: Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll, Adina Sash, and Dr. Lisa Fishbayn Joffe
Presentation by former agunah.

Access Session 1

Access Session 2

Access Session 3

Learn more about our panelists:

Adina Miles Sash is an American Orthodox Jewish activist and social media influencer known for her Instagram persona, FlatbushGirl. She focuses her activism on the day-to-day challenges faced by Orthodox Jewish women in relation to Jewish Law. Sash is a multifaceted professional, serving as an EMT with the first all-female ambulance corps, a doula, and a kallah teacher. Recently, she has gained attention for raising awareness about the Agunah crisis, accumulating millions of views across her various advocacy platforms.

Ann Pava, President of Micah Philanthropies, is an activist, philanthropist, and thought leader. She currently serves on the executive committee of JFNA and co-chairs its new Community and Jewish Life Committee. Ann is a past Chair of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, a past chair of National Women’s Philanthropy of JFNA, and Founding Chair of the Hebrew High School of New England. She is past Chair of the Jewish Federation of Western Mass as well as a recipient of both JFNA’s Kipnes-Wilson Friedland Award for outstanding women philanthropists and the Harold Grinspoon Lay Leadership Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.

She currently chairs the committee for GPATS (Graduate Program for Advanced Talmud Study for Women) at Yeshiva University and in addition to JFNA, serves on the boards of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, (JOFA) and Prizmah. Along with her husband Jeremy, she co-chaired GA 2021 on behalf of JFNA. She and Jeremy are PJ Library Alliance members and founders of the Jewish Free Loan of Greater Hartford. A hallmark of her success over her career is her ability to inspire, mentor and empower others, especially women to lead and the make the world a better place.

Ann enjoys spending time with Jeremy and their beautiful family including their three married children and six grandchildren and has become the world’s best babysitter.

Dr. Rachel Levmore, To’enet Rabbanit, Rabbinical Court Advocate -- is the Director of the Agunah and Get-Refusal Prevention Project, of Young Israel in Israel and the Jewish Agency. She is one of the authors of the halakhic prenuptial “Agreement for Mutual Respect” for the prevention of get-refusal and disseminates “The Tripartite Agreement” for the prevention of the classic agunah. Dr. Levmore was the first female Rabbinical Court Advocate to serve as a member of the State of Israel Commission for the Appointment of Rabbinical Court Judges. She is the author of the book "מנעי עינייך מדמעה" on prenuptial agreements. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Talmud & Jewish Law from Bar Ilan University; writes and lectures about halakha, women in halakha and divorce in Jewish Law, in Israel and around the world.

Isaiah Joseph Rothstein serves as Rabbinic Scholar and Public Affairs Advisor at Jewish Federations of North America, and is a founder of Jewish Federations’ JEDI Initiative for Jewish Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, the Jewish Youth Climate Movement, and Kamochah, a community for Black Orthodox Jews.

Prior to JFNA, Isaiah was rabbi-in-residence at Adamah, Isabella Freedman, and Be’chol Lashon, and served as rabbi for youth at Carmel Academy, Young Israel of Stamford, NCSY, and Camp Yavneh. Isaiah studied at Kushner Yeshiva High School, Lev HaTorah, Machon Lev, and Binghamton University, and received rabbinic ordination and a masters of social work from Yeshiva University.

Raised in a multi-racial Chabad family from Monsey, NY, he sees himself as a human bridge, connecting disparate parts of the Jewish community and America. Isaiah is a member of Rabbis Without Borders, and Schusterman Foundations’ ROI + Senior Fellowships, and was listed in Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36.”

When not working to keep the world safe for the Jewish people and democracy, Isaiah is writing a musical about Queen Esther.

Keshet Starr, Esq., is the CEO of the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA), the nonprofit organization addressing the agunah (Jewish divorce refusal) crisis on a case-by-case basis worldwide. At ORA, Keshet oversees advocacy and early intervention initiatives designed to assist individuals seeking a Jewish divorce, along with prevention initiatives to eliminate abuse from the Jewish divorce process. Keshet has written for outlets such as the Times of Israel, The Forward and Haaretz, and frequently presents on issues related to Jewish divorce, domestic abuse, and the intersection between civil and religious divorce processes. Keshet has also authored academic work focused on get refusal and domestic abuse, and is a Wexner Field Fellow. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Keshet lives in central New Jersey with her husband and four young children.

Leah Gottfried is an award winning writer/director and actor who draws on her life in the Orthodox Jewish community to tell authentic stories about her world. She is the creator, director, writer and star of the hit web series SOON BY YOU which centers on Orthodox Jews dating in NYC. Leah studied film at Yeshiva University and NYU and has been running her own production company, Dignity Entertainment for the last ten years.

Lisa Fishbayn Joffe is the Shulamit Reinharz Director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies at Brandeis University, where she teaches Jewish studies, feminist theory and legal theory. Her research focuses on gender issues at the intersection between secular and religious law. She is the author of three books: Women’s Rights And Religious Law, The Polygamy Question, and Gender, Religion And Family Law: Theorizing Conflicts Between Women’s Rights And Cultural Traditions ). She holds law degrees from Osgoode Hall in Toronto and Harvard Law School. Dr. Joffe is a co-founder of the Boston Agunah Taskforce, devoted to research, education and advocacy for women under Jewish family law and a member of the steering committee of Cheirut, an international coalition of agunah advocates.

Orit Lahav is a lawyer specializing in issues of government and politics and the intersection of religion and state. She is responsible for the overall functioning of the organization and all advocacy activities including work with Knesset members, drafting proposed legislation, and serving as spokesperson in the media for all matters pertaining to organizational activities. She received a Bachelor’s Degree (cum laude) from Bar Ilan University and a Masters Degree in law from Hebrew University. Orit is an expert in legislation, politics, and public policy. For two years, Orit worked as a parliamentary assistant to MK Aliza Lavie, a former member of Yesh Atid. She also worked in the Jerusalem prosecutor’s office in the Department of Administrative Law and worked as a lawyer in the legal department of the Ministry of Finance. Orit spent a year studying Judaics at the women’s seminary “Migdal Oz,” is a graduate of the “Yud Chet” organization and Pozen Foundation Program in Community Leadership, and a graduate of Ein Prat.

Rabbi Shlomo Weissmann: Menahel (Director), Rabbi Weissmann received rabbinical ordination from RIETS in 2001 and advanced rabbinical ordination (Yadin Yadin) in 2014. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Prior to his association with the Beth Din of America, Rabbi Weissmann worked as an attorney at several prominent law firms, including Debevoise and Plimpton LLP. In addition to managing the operations of the Beth Din of America, Rabbi Weissmann serves as a frequent arbitrator (dayan) and mediator of cases before the Beth Din. He also lectures widely about the interface of Jewish and secular law, especially as it relates to rabbinical court arbitration, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University.

Dr. Shana Frydman is the CEO/Executive Director of Shalom Task Force, a national organization whose mission is to combat domestic violence and foster healthy and safe relationships in the Jewish Community through its core services including a hotline/chatline, legal services and expansive preventative educational programming. Dr. Frydman leadership is informed by her work as a trauma informed therapist and advocate and her work in the field of domestic abuse and family violence within the Jewish community for over twenty years. She is the co-chair of the UJA Task Force on Family Violence and serves on the advisory board of the New York City Mayor’s Office. Shana lectures regularly about domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexuality, trauma and culturally informed practice and has published on related topics. She earned her MSW at University of Maryland, and Doctorate at Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work/CUNY Grad Center.

SKJ fights for a better Judaism by highlighting where things go wrong and working towards change on the ground. Co founder of Chochmat Nashim, she writes, speaks, and creates campaigns to change policy and communal behavior for a healthier, more balanced society.

SKJ was born and raised in Lakewood, NJ. She moved to Israel with her family where she has been witness to the damaging effects of extremism on the community. She began advocating for a more moderate community a decade ago and hasn’t stopped since. Blessed to live in the modern Jewish State, she tries to do her part in making it the best it can be. Sometimes activism can be hard. Shoshanna regularly unwinds with a hike in beautiful Israel, or a splash of Speyside single malt scotch.

Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin is the director of The Filmmakers Legal Clinic, formerly The Indie Film Clinic at Cardozo School of Law, which is supported by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. Professor Greenberg-Kobrin served as the dean of students at Columbia Law School from 2005 to 2016, where she also taught courses in deals, negotiation and leadership. Prior to her work at Columbia Law, she was an associate at the New York office of Arnold & Porter, where her practice focused on international corporate and securities matters, mergers and acquisitions, sovereign debt issuances and financial institutions. Professor Greenberg-Kobrin also serves as senior fellow and director of the Leadership Program at the Heyman Center on Corporate Governance, and has helped lead ORA since its founding as the President of ORA’s board of Directors.

Cheirut Summit 2024

Highlights from 2023's Cheirut Summit

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