New Course on Biblical Women Previews at Convention

While the more than 3,000 women attending the International Convention of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries in New York City come to be refreshed and reinvigorated, they also come to learn and to teach, attending a wide range of workshops on dozens of topics.

One new adult-education program being introduced at the convention this year is Portraits of Biblical Women, a new ten-part series produced by Jewish.tv, the multimedia portal of Chabad.org.

Written and taught by Chana Weisberg, an editor and writer at Chabad.org, the first class in the series, Sara’s Courage, will focus on the life and example of the first Biblical matriarch.

Weisberg says she feels passionately about the topic. “What I loved about working on this series,” she says, “is that it gave me the opportunity to explore the lives of some of the greatest Jewish heroines from the past. I found that many of their challenges and life experiences mirror our own, male and female.”

“Their life choices provide insight, encouragement and motivation for us today,” she continues. “I hope that these classes will provide important food for thought for all of us, men and women, on how we can lead more meaningful and enriching lives."

Chana Weisberg, a writer and editor at Chabad.org, produced the Portraits of Biblical Women series for Jewish.tv

Each class will include a video, source sheets with texts and commentaries, charts, review materials and links to a wealth of related articles and videos on Chabad.org and Jewish.tv. The series will air on Jewish.tv every Thursday from March 14 to May 23.

According to Weisberg, the classes were designed so that each can be taught independently, as part of an ongoing series, or as a theme for the popular Rosh Chodesh gatherings hosted by many emissaries at the beginning of each new Jewish month.

“While many of us are familiar with the male biblical characters—their stories, their challenges and their successes,” notes Weisberg, “we know relatively little of their female counterparts. This course takes a deeper look, and in closely studying the text with the aid of the commentaries, it demonstrates what a pivotal role these women held in forging the destiny of the Jewish people."

Some themes to be explored in Portraits of Biblical Women will include: Finding G-d During Difficult Times; When to Rely on Your Wife; Was Abraham the First Feminist?; Can a Change of Name Create a Change of Destiny?; Do You Follow Your Convictions?; Chasing Youth; and Countering the “If Only” Life.

Weisberg explains that a prepared series of classes such as this is a great help to women emissaries who are “juggling so many responsibilities, and wear so many diverse hats as educators, directors, fundraisers, school principals and programming co-coordinators.”

She notes that while their time is precious and limited, their voice is unique. A previous course, A Taste of Text, debuted in 2011. It was widely used and very well received by teachers and students alike, and continues to be available for study on Jewish.tv.

Weisberg hopes that this new series “will encourage even more shluchos, women emissaries, to expand their adult education programs, facilitate their class preparation, and help them to have an even greater impact on their students."