I regularly teach outside of my university classroom. I teach to university communities and Jewish communities. If you would like me to visit your community or your classroom, please reach out. You can find my email on the contact page.
Some of my popular topics include:
Our Stories, Our Choices: Jewish Experiences of Abortion
For the last few years, people who have had abortions have bravely shared their experiences. These stories are contributing to the normalization of abortion. In this session, Professor Michal Raucher will share narratives her research team collected from Jews who have terminated pregnancies in the United States. Their experiences reflect the experiences of many people in the US, but there are also important differences. As we read these texts together, we will consider what these experiences teach about Jewish perspectives on abortion.
Jews for Choice: Abortion Advocacy in the US Today
The dominant cultural discourse in the US is that religion is anti-abortion. Yet, the majority of religious people support the legalization of abortion, and 62% of abortion patients are affiliated with a religious tradition. This talk explores abortion advocacy among Jews and Jewish groups in the US today The dominant cultural discourse in the US is that religion is anti-abortion. Yet, the majority of religious people support the legalization of abortion, and 62% of abortion patients are affiliated with a religious tradition. This talk explores abortion advocacy among Jews and Jewish groups in the US today
Religious perspectives on abortion
Religious groups have been a part of the American legal discourse on abortion since the late 1970s. While initially the religious discussion was dominated by a few Christian groups that were opposed to abortion, today many more religious groups have taken positions on the issue. In this session we will read some of the diverse position statements from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim organizations released in the last few years as the abortion landscape has changed significantly in America. We will explore how different religious groups consider the morality of abortion, what sources they use, and what values they reflect.
Books to Babies: Reproducing Ethics among Haredi Women in Jerusalem
In this talk, Dr. Raucher analyzes the ways Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish women in Israel make ethical decisions about their reproductive lives. Although doctors and rabbis cooperate with each other as authorities over reproduction, Haredi women insist on their autonomy from these authorities when they make decisions regarding the use of contraceptives, prenatal testing, fetal ultrasounds, and other reproductive practices. Together we will explore how, after several pregnancies, Haredi women express agency to make reproductive decisions without rabbinic involvement. Haredi women instead draw on their embodied experiences of pregnancy, cultural norms of reproduction, and theological beliefs regarding their relationship to God during pregnancy.
Breaking the Stained-Glass Ceiling: When Women became Orthodox Rabbis
Decades after women had been ordained as rabbis in liberal Judaism, Yeshivat Maharat became the first Orthodox Jewish rabbinical seminary in the world to ordain women as rabbis. While Yeshivat Maharat supporters celebrated this paradigm-shifting moment as a much-need symbol of the intersection between feminism and Orthodoxy, their opponents rejected the very idea that women were permitted (according to Jewish law) to be rabbis. In this talk, we will examine the history of women’s Orthodox ordination and explore how Orthodox women navigate this complicated context as religious leaders.
Reproduction in Israel: Pro-Natalism and Pro-Abortion
Israel has the highest fertility rates among countries with similar GDP, educational levels, and political contexts. This is largely due to strong pro-natalist norms that cut across religious, educational, and ethnic identifies. In this session, we will explore some of the reasons given for why pronatalism is so strong in Israeli culture. We will also look at the abortion law in Israel. In the 1970s, Israel legalized abortion for a variety of reasons and until the end of a pregnancy. Additionally, the Israeli national health insurance pays for abortions. Is Israel’s abortion law a challenge to its pronatalist culture? In this session we’ll discuss how Israel balances these two seemingly contradictory aspects of reproduction.
When and Why Israel Legalized Abortion
Israel has one of the most liberal abortion laws in the world. This is often understood to be in contrast to the ways Israel encourages reproduction among Jews. In this session, we will learn the history of abortion legislation in Israel. Together we’ll consider the motivations behind Israel legalizing abortion and read from the Knesset deliberations in the 1970s.
Justification to Reproductive Justice: The Evolution of Official Conservative Movement Positions on Abortion
In the 1980s, the Conservative movement released four teshuvot (rabbinic responsa) about abortion. While these teshuvot offered an alternative to Christian anti-choice beliefs dominant at the time, these texts ultimately reflect a justification framework for abortion. This framework assumes that abortion is generally prohibited but permitted in certain circumstances. In this session we will explore the assumptions behind these teshuvot and then examine the evolution within the Conservative movement’s public statements on abortion.
Teaching the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on a College Campus
Since October 7, 2023 clashes on college campuses around the Israeli/Palestinian conflict have drawn vast media attention and triggered enormous controversy with serious implications, including the resignations of multiple university presidents. But through all this, little attention has been paid to how the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is taught in the university classroom and how students have been impacted by their learning experiences. Dr. Michal Raucher, associate professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University, has been teaching the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to undergraduates for a decade. Please join us to hear Dr. Raucher discuss her approach to teaching this deeply charged subject; the challenges raised by October 7 among Rutgers’ particularly diverse student body; how she pivoted to keep students engaged in learning; and about various opportunities students have had to learn about the conflict outside the classroom.
Click here for a recording of a recent talk I gave at Eastern Michigan University.
Here’s a panel discussion at John Carroll University
You can find a video of me teaching in a synagogue community here.