Bring me to your community
I’ve taught engaging, liberatory Torah to communities across the US and internationally, to students of all ages and Jewish backgrounds. I would love to bring my work to your community! I offer scholar-in-residence weekends, online classes, and more. Be in touch at avigayil.halpern@gmail.com - let’s dream together!
Sample Classes
“Maintenance Work and the Mishkan: Care, Repetition, and Torah”
The Torah repeats the process of building the Mishkan twice: first in God’s instructions, and then in the Israelites’ fulfillment of this guidance. This class explores the sanctity of this repetition and of what the artist Merle Feld calls “maintenance work” — the tedious daily tasks we must do to care for one another.
“‘Chatting and Laughing’: (How) Should We Talk About Sex?”
This class draws on rabbinic texts and the work of modern queer and feminist thinkers to explore models of conversation about sex. How do we talk about this intimate, messy part of our lives with honesty, compassion, and frankness?
“Drops of Blood: Queer Moments in Hilchot Niddah”
This class seeks out glimpses of queerness, defined broadly, in halakhic texts regulating menstruation. We'll think together about bodies, time, and the idea of the gaze, and how offering attention to these themes can illuminate queer angles in material that is broadly heteronormative.