Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA)

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The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) is a grassroots non-profit organization established in 1997 to educate and

advocate for women's increased participation in Orthodox Jewish life and to create a community for women and men dedicated to such change. An invaluable resource for a community constantly balancing tradition and modernity, JOFA is guided by the principal that halakhic Judaism offers many opportunities for observant Jewish women to enhance their ritual observance and to increase their participation in communal leadership.

Programmes

JOFA works to expand the spiritual, ritual, intellectual and political opportunities for women within the framework of halakha. Through programs such as the Bereishit and Shemot Curricula, film screenings, workshops and many others JOFA creates venues for women to find meaningful participation in family life, synagogues, houses of learning and Jewish communal organizations.

Advocacy

Advocacy for agunot has been an integral part of JOFA’s mission since the organization’s founding. JOFA sees the agunah issue as a community problem and believes there is a critical need for a systemic, halakhic solution to the plight of agunot. JOFA addresses the issue through education of the Jewish community, grass-roots activism, and advocacy efforts on behalf of agunot.

Publications

The JOFA Journal features works by female scholars, writers and artists who explore a different theme in each issue
Three times a year, JOFA commissions scholarly essays, Vehigadet Levitekh, "And You Shall Tell Your Daughters," which showcase original divrei Torah by leading female scholars.
Ta Shma: Come and Learn is an halakhic source guide series by female scholars Rahel Berkovits and Devorah Zlochower.
JOFA's interactive Megillat Esther CD-ROM teaches the te'amim (cantillations) for leyning the megillah. It also provides halakhic sources related to women's reading of Megillat Esther and guidelines for organizing a megillah reading.
The Jewish woman and ritual manuals, called Orthodox Jewish Woman and Ritual, contain historical perspectives on ways in which Jewish women have celebrated life cycle events in the past and offers suggestions for meaningful ways to mark these events in our own lives.