Director of Jewish Engagement, Leichtag Foundation
Chaya Gilboa was born in Jerusalem to an ultra-Orthodox family. Her B.A. in Jewish Philosophy from Ben Gurion University (2008) was followed by a stint as a Hillel International Israel Fellow at Berkeley University and an M.A. in Public Policy from Hebrew University (2013), where she wrote her thesis on Haredi women, religion and state. In 2012, she was scholar-in-residence at the Paideia Institute in Sweden, where she taught Talmud and established an educators' track. In 2014, Chaya became Founding Director of Hevruta, a pluralistic, integrated gap-year program for Israeli and North American post-high school students at the Hartman Institute. Chaya is committed to creating alternatives within the realm of religion and state, establishing Hashgacha Pratit, an alternative kashrut system and active in crafting egalitarian wedding ceremonies and other initiatives that combine feminism and Jewish identity. Chaya is the mother of Michael and Avshalom and partner to Marek.