Fighting for divorce: Jewish and Muslim Perspectives

In by MFC University of Toronto

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2022-02-03

Country: Canada
City: Toronto, Ontario
A panel discussion with Muslim and Jewish religious and legal figures. The focus of the event is to open dialogue on issues of women in both faiths navigating religious regulation on divorce, and how both communities can help, and learn from each other. With a panel of Muslim and Jewish religious and legal figures, speakers will highlight real experiences of both legal advocates for religious divorce and community members who have faced stigma in their decision to pursue and advocate for divorce. Our esteemed speakers Keshet Starr and Sarah Shah are extremely knowledgeable in this regard. Keshet Starr, Esq., is the CEO of the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA), the nonprofit organization addressing the agunah (Jewish divorce refusal) crisis on a case-by-case basis worldwide. At ORA, Keshet oversees advocacy and early intervention initiatives designed to assist individuals seeking a Jewish divorce, along with prevention initiatives to eliminate abuse from the Jewish divorce process. Keshet has written for outlets such as the Times of Israel, The Forward and Haaretz, and frequently presents on issues related to Jewish divorce, domestic abuse, and the intersection between civil and religious divorce processes. Keshet has also authored academic work focused on get refusal and domestic abuse, and is a Wexner Field Fellow. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Keshet lives in central New Jersey with her husband and four young children. Sarah Shah (they/them) received a doctoral degree in 2019 from The University of Toronto in Sociology. Shah's research includes analyses of religion as it pertains to gender attitudes, family organization, mental health outcomes, and group identity. Their research unpacks how religion dialectically structures and is structured by gender and family relations, immigration and racialization processes, and mental health. In their current book project on Pakistani Canadian Muslim families, Shah looks at Muslim religious reflexivity, or the critical ways in which diasporic Muslims navigate and negotiate their religious identities and practices. As an educator, Shah prioritizes active learning and strives to maintain an interactive classroom with meaningful engagement. Shah's aim is to present social theories and empirical material to students in ways that allow them to integrate reflexive analyses of their own lived experiences. Shah has taught several courses on family, gender, and race.