JOFA's Regional Conferences reach out to people where they live. They offer women and men the opportunity to learn from rabbis and scholars and to discuss issues relevant to their community arising from the evolving nature of women's observance. JOFA plans to partner with additional communities throughout the US, building upon regional conferences that have already been held.

If you would like to explore the possibility of bringing JOFA to your community, please contact us at conference@jofa.org or 888-550-JOFA.

Past Regional Conferences:

• Los Angeles - May 18, 2008
  Wedding Preparations for the Orthodox Marriage:
  What Every Bride and Groom Must Have Before the Chuppah: Gett Protection
  
  Why is it necessary for an Orthodox couple to think about divorce while preparing for a wedding? Why should couples and their families detract from their simcha with thoughts of gittin before the chuppah is even built? Join us to explore the intricacies of a halakhic marriage and the importance of pre-marital preparations.
  
  Click here to view the conference program
   
• Washington DC - February 2-3, 2008
  Continuing the Conversation:
  The Roles of Women and Men in Orthodox Judiasm
  
  Click here to view the Saturday Evening program
  Click here to view the Sunday program
  
  
• Los Angeles - November 2006
  Teaching Our Daughters: What Should We Expect from Their Orthodox Day School Education?
  
  The Los Angeles Regional Conference addressed the problems inherent in longstanding, but outdated traditional educational models that leave gaps in a woman's education and present a male-centered tradition. The conference sought to find ways to more fully educate and inspire girls.
  
  Click here to view the conference program
  
  
• St. Louis - February 2006
  Women and Men in Partnership:
  Rituals Around the Shabbat Table
  Innovations in Kiddushin
  
  The St. Louis Regional Conference explored issues about the state of Feminism and Orthodoxy, and how to move forward. A session about innovations in kiddushin explored issues poskim raise with the bride's participation and discussed new ways to include women's voices in the wedding and sheva brachot. Participants at the conference also studied the halakhic sources pertaining to the permissibility of women participating in kiddush, hamotzi, and zimmun.
  
  
Click here to view the conference program


• Chicago - January 2006
  Women and Men in Partnership:
  Women in Synagogue Access and Participation
  Mikvah and Sexuality Reconciling Law and Desire
  
  The Chicago Regional Conference discussed innovative and practical ways to include women in synagogue leadership roles where halakhically permissible. The conference also examined a selection of halakhic texts pertaining to niddah and mikvah, and discussed how women and men feel about the observance of this mitzvah.


Click here to view the conference program


• Boston (@Brandeis U) - March 2005
  Choosing Limits / Limiting Choices: Women's Status and Religious Life
  
  The conference, Choosing Limits/Limiting Choices, examined the concern that traditional gender roles may be linked to the survival of Jewish public religious life, the growth of Jewish women's classical text study, the social and psychological factors that attract women to Orthodoxy, and the plight of Orthodox women denied a divorce by their husbands.
  
  Click here to view the conference program


• Baltimore - December 2004
  M'chayil L'chayil - From Strength to Strength: Shaping our Jewish Experience
  
  The conference, M'chayil L'chayil -- From Strength to Strength: Shaping our Jewish Experience, explored women's relationship to Jewish ritual, paying particular attention to life cycle events, the synagogue and Torah study. The conference discussed what women and men can do to enhance their own spiritual and intellectual connections to Judaism and expand women's opportunities for participation in both the public and private rituals of Jewish life within the framework of halakha.
  
  Click here to view the conference program


• Washington DC - February 2002
  Halachic Woman: Facing the 21st Century
  
  Highlights of the Washington DC Regional Conference include:
  
  • Keynote address Halachic Woman: Facing the 21st Century
  • Reconsidering Women's Role in The Covenant: Rabbi Soloveitchik's Thought As A Source for Feminism
  • Women's Voices: A Tapestry in Time
    
    
• New York City - 2001
  JOFA in Progress
  
  The conference, JOFA in Progress, was an opportunity to exchange ideas, explore issues, review existing programs, and develop new initiatives.
  
  Click here to view the conference program

To order tapes from past conferences, click here