Bitya Rozen-Goldberg
Bitya was born in Strasbourg in a house where old Alsacian Jewish traditions met a love for texts and people. For as long as she can remember, Bitya has loved to learn, to question, to tell stories, and to inspire others with her passion. Her first taste of leadership and informal Jewish education began in the Jewish scouts where she directed camps for several years. She studied ancient history in Strasbourg, Boston, and the Sorbonne. In parallel to her academic studies, Bitya learned at Midreshet Lindenbaum, Beit Morasha, and Pardes. In 2016, Bitya became an ordained rabbi by her teacher Rabbi Daniel Landes, in one of the first Orthodox ordinations of women alongside men in Jerusalem. Bitya has built a successful tour-guiding practice and has earned a reputation as a guide who is deeply engaged in the multitude of stories, realities, beauties, and complexities of Israel in general and Jerusalem in particular. Upon ordination Bitya’s passion for Jewish education, guiding others along their journeys, and sincere questioning have come together in the establishment of Ta Shma, a pluralist Beit Midrash for French speakers based in Jerusalem. As the founder and director of Ta Shma, Bitya teaches Talmud and inspires her students to have an unmediated interaction with their own textual traditions. Ta Shma brings together other like-minded French speaking Jews who are committed to tradition, innovation, and equality. Bitya and her husband Raphael, an algorithm engineer, are involved in different egalitarian minyans. Together with their children they live and bike in Jerusalem.