JLearn On Thursdays : Session 1- Is this Toarah and its Reward? Finding a way forward in the Face of Suffering without Triumph with Lauren Deutsch , ESQ 

Thursdays, December 5, 12, 19 and January 9, 11am–12:30pm

Yiddish Room

What does it mean to be Jewish in an antisemitic world? As Jews feel increasingly
vulnerable, we turn to history and tradition to help find resilience. These four classes
will examine suffering, faith, identity, and reckoning across the Jewish cannon.

Lauren Deutsch, Esq. is an attorney, activist, and Torah scholar, living in
Rochester, New York with her husband and three children. Lauren worked
in migrant women’s health services prior to law school, and began her
legal career representing survivors of domestic violence at The Legal Aid
Society of Rochester in 2010. She has worked in reproductive justice, labor
justice, and currently works in disability justice as the Executive Director of
Disability Law United, a national legal services organization.
Lauren’s research interests include bruising injuries in victims of color,
effective care and services for clients living with trauma, and the impact
of poverty on health equity. Lauren lectures on Jewish topics in family law,
biblical literature, and Jewish philosophy, and is currently a scholar at
Ohr Torah Stone’s International Halakhic Scholars program.

Week 1: The 10 Martyrs; Why do we read this on Yom Kippur?
Week 2: The book of Jonah, through the lens of Assyrian imperialism and the psychology of trauma
Week 3: The Righteous Suffer: Elisha ben Abuye becomes Aher, Job rejects God’s goodness
Week 4: The Esh Kodesh M’Piaseczna; the Torah of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the roots of the Torah of October 7